“No,” Silva said. “It isn’t.”
Epilogue
The following article appeared in The Estado de Sao Paulo, Brazil’s leading newspaper, on the eleventh of March, 2008, three weeks and one day after the murder of Juan Rivas.
KILLER SHOT IN ESCAPE ATTEMPT
At approximately 5:30 P.M. yesterday evening, Castor Salles, 28, was shot and killed while attempting to escape from police custody.
Salles, “Big Castor” to his cronies, was being transported to Federal Police headquarters when the incident occurred.
Already accused and incarcerated for assault, he was to be questioned about his involvement in the PCC, the country’s largest and most dangerous criminal enterprise.
But upon arrival in the underground garage, he managed to slip his handcuffs. Using them as a weapon, he succeeded in stunning Haraldo Goncalves, one of the agents accompanying him. He then made a grab for Goncalves’s pistol.
Salles was about to turn the weapon on his captors when he was shot to death by Agent Arnaldo Nunes, another federal policeman.
Hector Costa, the delegado in charge of the case, called the incident “a lamentable but clear-cut case of self-defense.”
Mario Silva, the Federal Police’s Chief Inspector for Criminal Matters, praised Nunes for his courage and quick thinking during the confrontation.