On 2004-03-17 18:05:00, Marina wrote:
" Has anyone heard about the drug war in Rio??? If any of you happened to watch "City of God", that movie gives you a brief idea of what goes on in Rio. Do you know what scares us the most? The fear of a lost bullet. Innocent people that die just because they happened to be at the wrong place in the wrong time. By the way, If you're thinking of visiting Rio, don't worry, you'll be safe, since the drug war shouldn't go any further than the shanty towns up the hills. Trust me, they are far from the postcards. "
No, I didn't know things were heating up particularly in Rio. But it sounds
just like So. Florida. If you're very wealthy and you can afford to live or stay within about a half mile of the beach or in one of the many gated country club communities, you'll think you fell into a post card. The other 1.9 million or so residents live in a war zone.
Case in point:
http://www.local10.com/news/2097080/detail.htmlhttp://www.sheriff.org/about_bso/other/ ... llings.cfmThis murder occured within eyesight of the back door of the house we'd lived in till just around a year before. My sister sold the place for $75k, but that was the very first offer after the house had been on the market for less than a week. (long story, no we were not at all happy w/ the way the executrix has handled my dad's estate) More recently, the house sold for around $130k. This place is about 1.5 mi from the ocean by road, about .5 mi as the ghetto bird flies. (and they do run routine helicopter searches in that neighborhood... just looking around in people's yards with search lights)
There's a lot more to this story than attempted hubcap theft, as you can imagine. The victim turned out to be the younger brother of a DEA agent working in Bolivia. Phillip left Bolivia for the relative safety of So. Florida after his older brother's cover was blown somehow and the family started drawing credible death threats. The two young men "found" dead of "apparent" murder suicide were most likely executed by police.
How do I know this? Well, my daughter worked at a local gym at the time where a lot of BSO officers worked out. In their casual discussion immediately following the incident, no one ever even considered
if one of the 4k cops who made a show of force had something to do w/ these boys' deaths, but only whether or not it was justified. Besides, the police version of the story was just rediculous.
They say they (meaning a half dozen or so of these out of town, off duty officers) just happened to be hanging out together near a shopping center 20 or so miles north of the funeral home on the afternoon following the memorial service. They just happened to get an anonymous tip about a couple of boys acting suspicious in a car behind the shopping center. When they (all of them) went to investigate, they "discovered" the car running w/ a garden hose between the tailpipe and a window and both boys shot in the head.
No one disputes that these were the boys who murdered the cop. The only real question is whether it was a result of panic over getting caught trying to lift some hubcaps or if it was a hit related somehow to the family's activities Bolivia.
And people think I'm nuts to have moved my kids out of Sunny So. Florida to the frozen hills outside of Pittsburgh! :roll:
You know, if Mama Cass Elliot would have shared that damn sandwich
with Karen Carpenter, they would both still be alive today!!!!!!!
--chongo
