Brazilian deputy suspected in a series of murders
Thursday, April 14, 2011, 01:04 GMT 05:04 MCK
--bbc.co.uk/Russian--
The police of the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro local parliamentarian arrested on suspicion of involvement in a series of murders.

According to investigators, André Luiz Ferreira da Silva heads the illegal paramilitary group, which controls the 13 districts in the west of the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Such groups are operating in many poor neighborhoods of major Brazilian cities. Initially, many of them arose as a reaction to the lawlessness of drug cartels.

But some of these illegal units today are actually very engaged in extortion and robbery.