MYSTERIOUS KILLINGS IN RIO CITY

The Governor and police chief of this city-state of four million people have joined in denying police responsibility for a wave of mysterious killings attributed to a “death squadron”.

In the past week some 10 bodies of known criminals have been found by the roadside or in waste lots in Guanabara (Rio city) State and the surrounding State of Rio De Janeiro.

The bullet-riddled bodies usually carry labels with a skull and crossbones and the initials ‘E.M.’ — Esquadrao Da Morte — and sometimes the alleged reason for the summary execution, such as “I was a car thief” and “we were planning bank holdups.”

The evening newspaper “Ultima Hora” says it regularly receives telephoned tipoffs from a gravel-voiced man who identified himself as “Rosa Vermelha” (Red rose) and attributes the killings to a police execution squad “in the defence of society.” But Governor Fransisco Negrao De Lima of Guanabara formally denied that his police had any part of these crimes.

State Security Secretary General Luis De Franco said the “death squadron” was a myth and that its skull and crossbones emblem and the dreaded “E. M.” initials were used by the killers to cover their tracks. He said inquiry was opened on each body found in Guanabara State, and it was the responsibility of the Rio De Janeiro State authorities to do the same.

“The police are certain that the deaths are the result of vendettas between rival gangs of car thieves, drug trafickers and holdup men fighting for control of their fields of action.” — Reuter.