The young ex-wife of a suspected crime lord has been arrested for carrying out 10 gang-related revenge murders.
Valesca Teixeira dos Santos is accused of participating in 10 homicides in the municipality of Itaitinga in the north-eastern Brazilian state of Ceara to get back at her crime lord ex.
She was arrested in the city of Sao Paulo in the south-east of the country and taken to Ceara on the night of 18th December.
According to the police, the crimes the 22-year-old stands accused of were motivated by a “falling out” between her and her ex-husband.
After the pair divorced, the suspect joined a rival criminal gang to that of her drug dealer ex, identified as 44-year old Jose Flavio de Souza (‘Ze Flavio’), who has been charged with a number of crimes including homicide, drug trafficking, intimidation, crimes against public administration, criminal damage, unlawful possession of firearms, and gang affiliation.
He is the suspected leader of a criminal gang in Itaitinga.
According to investigators, after the pair’s divorce, the woman started a relationship with a man believed to be a rival gang member, which sparked a spate of murders of rival gang members at the hands of Ze Flavio’s associates.
Santos then used her inside knowledge from her former relationship to instigate a wave of revenge killings against members of her ex’s gang.
Both gangs are said to be vying for control of the drug trade in Itaitinga.
The investigations that culminated in Santos’ identification began after a triple homicide at a bar in Itaitinga in July, when three young men, 24, 28 and 16, were killed by gunfire.
The gang retaliated and killed Santos’ 22-year-old brother-in-law, Eduardo do Carmo Gomes. The police concluded that Eduardo Gomes had passed information about the three victims to their killers under his sister-in-law’s orders.
Local media said the victim’s 20-year-old brother Lucas do Carmo Gomes and his associates carried out a number of murders, which were met again with reprisal killings.
Amongst the numerous murder victims was Santos’ sister, 16-year-old Alicia Mariana Oliveira Duarte, who was Eduardo Gomes’ partner.
Santos has been placed in preventive detention as the investigation continues.
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