gogs67
Aug 24th, 2009, 09:41 AM
A TV presenter in Brazil (http://explore.dailymail.co.uk/locations/countries/brazil) is being investigated for allegedly running a ruthless death squad to boost his show's ratings.
Wallace Souza, 58, is accused of ordering murders before alerting TV crews to get to the scene before detectives.
The ex-policeman turned state senator also ran a drug smuggling ring and used his killers to eliminate his rivals, police say.
Last night his 25-year-old son Rafael was under arrest charged with homicide, drug trafficking and illegal gun possession.
Under Brazilian law Souza cannot be arrested because he is a politician, but state judicial authorities are to meet to decide whether the case goes ahead.
Souza's show, Canal Livre, has been running on a channel in Sao Paulo for 20 years.
He said the allegations were absurd and that he and his son were being set up by political enemies and drug dealers under threat from his relentless crime coverage and crusading legislative probes.
He added that his news crews got to murder scenes first by using police informants and radio scanners monitoring police channels, and by following the coroner's van from the city mortuary.
'I was the one who organised legislative inquiries into organised crime, the prison system, corruption, drug trafficking by police, and paedophilia,' Souza said.
In one murder after another, the Canal Livre crime TV show had an uncanny knack for being first on the scene, gathering graphic footage of the victim.
Too uncanny, say police, who are investigating the show's host, state legislator Wallace Souza, on suspicion of commissioning at least five of the murders to boost his ratings and prove his claim that Brazil's Amazon region is awash with violent crime.
'The order to execute always came from the legislator and his son, who then alerted the TV crews to get to the scene before the police,' state police intelligence chief Thomaz Vasconcelos charged.
The killings of competing drug traffickers, he said, 'appear to have been committed to get rid of his rivals and increase the audience of the TV show.'
Souza's lawyer, Francisco Balieiro, said that the only witness is a disgraced police officer hoping for leniency in nine murders he is charged with.
'There is not one piece of material proof in these accusations,' Balieiro said.
Vasconcelos said the accusations, which have made headlines in Brazil, stem from the testimony of several former employees and security guards who worked with the Souzas, allegedly as part of a gang of former police officers involved in drug trafficking.
Souza became a media personality after a career as a police officer that ended in disgrace, according to Vasconcelos.
He said the lawmaker was fired for involvement in scams involving fuel theft and pension fraud.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1205961/Murder-ratings-Brazilian-crime-host-went-killing-spree-boost-viewing-numbers.html
Wallace Souza, 58, is accused of ordering murders before alerting TV crews to get to the scene before detectives.
The ex-policeman turned state senator also ran a drug smuggling ring and used his killers to eliminate his rivals, police say.
Last night his 25-year-old son Rafael was under arrest charged with homicide, drug trafficking and illegal gun possession.
Under Brazilian law Souza cannot be arrested because he is a politician, but state judicial authorities are to meet to decide whether the case goes ahead.
Souza's show, Canal Livre, has been running on a channel in Sao Paulo for 20 years.
He said the allegations were absurd and that he and his son were being set up by political enemies and drug dealers under threat from his relentless crime coverage and crusading legislative probes.
He added that his news crews got to murder scenes first by using police informants and radio scanners monitoring police channels, and by following the coroner's van from the city mortuary.
'I was the one who organised legislative inquiries into organised crime, the prison system, corruption, drug trafficking by police, and paedophilia,' Souza said.
In one murder after another, the Canal Livre crime TV show had an uncanny knack for being first on the scene, gathering graphic footage of the victim.
Too uncanny, say police, who are investigating the show's host, state legislator Wallace Souza, on suspicion of commissioning at least five of the murders to boost his ratings and prove his claim that Brazil's Amazon region is awash with violent crime.
'The order to execute always came from the legislator and his son, who then alerted the TV crews to get to the scene before the police,' state police intelligence chief Thomaz Vasconcelos charged.
The killings of competing drug traffickers, he said, 'appear to have been committed to get rid of his rivals and increase the audience of the TV show.'
Souza's lawyer, Francisco Balieiro, said that the only witness is a disgraced police officer hoping for leniency in nine murders he is charged with.
'There is not one piece of material proof in these accusations,' Balieiro said.
Vasconcelos said the accusations, which have made headlines in Brazil, stem from the testimony of several former employees and security guards who worked with the Souzas, allegedly as part of a gang of former police officers involved in drug trafficking.
Souza became a media personality after a career as a police officer that ended in disgrace, according to Vasconcelos.
He said the lawmaker was fired for involvement in scams involving fuel theft and pension fraud.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1205961/Murder-ratings-Brazilian-crime-host-went-killing-spree-boost-viewing-numbers.html