PHOTO: Domingos Brazão arrested for being behind Marielle Franco murder in 2018

Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that Domingos Brazão arrested for being behind Marielle Franco murder in 2018.

Two powerful politicians and Rio de Janeiro’s former chief of police have been arrested as part of a federal police operation targeting the suspected masterminds of the 2018 assassination of Rio councillor Marielle Franco.

The operation – named Murder, Inc – was launched at the crack of dawn on Sunday and came just over six years after the shooting of Franco and her driver, Anderson Gomes, caused an international outcry.

Chiquinho Brazão had released a statement on March 20, after the accusation that he was the mastermind behind the crimes leaked to the press. The note expressed that he was “surprised by the speculation” and affirmed that his relationship with Marielle Franco had always been “friendly and cordial.”

On social media, Anielle Franco, Minister of Racial Equality and sister of Marielle Franco, expressed gratitude to the federal police, the federal government, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes for their efforts. “We are closer to justice,” Minister Franco stated. “God knows how much we dreamed of this day! Today marks another significant step toward getting the answers we’ve been seeking over the last few years: who ordered ‘Mari’ to be killed and why?”

Franco, the councilwoman, worked as an assistant to then-state lawmaker Marcelo Freixo in 2008, as he presided over a special committee investigating militias in Rio’s state assembly. Freixo’s final report indicted 226 suspected militia members and politicians and government employees, including Domingos Brazão.

The brutal assassination of the 38-year-old Black, bisexual Rio de Janeiro city councilwoman shook Brazil profoundly and reverberated across the world.

Brazilian media reports said three prominent figures were arrested: the federal congressman, Chiquinho Brazão; his brother, the former state congressman, Domingos Brazão, who is a councillor for Rio’s court of auditors; and the former head of Rio’s civil police, Rivaldo Barbosa.

The Brazão brothers have long faced accusations of involvement in organised crime – claims they have denied. During the 1980s, the men were reportedly known in Rio as the “Irmãos Metralha” (The Beagle Boys) – a reference to the Disney cartoon villains.