Killing for Ratings

Sat, 26 June, 2010

Literally. That is the accusation against Wallace Souza, a former police officer, politician and TV host inBrazil. Souza hosts a highly rated real crime television program based in Manaus, a city deep in the Amazon rainforest. Souza and his son Rafael (who is currently incarcerated on multiple charges, including homicide) are accused of orchestrating these murders, and then sending out his TV crews to get exclusive video and thereby boost his ratings on his TV show “Canal Livre” (Free Channel).

But wait, there’s more: Souza is also accused of being a drug trafficker, and that the victims were his competition for drug operations in the area. Talk about killing two birds with one stone.

State police intelligence chief Thomaz Vasconcelos stated in an interview with The Associated Press, “The order to execute always came from the legislator and his son, who then alerted the TV crews to get to the scene before the police,” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/11/wallace-souza-brazilian-t_n_257061.html

Canal Livre depicts the rise of crime in and around Manaus, and the state of Amazonas in Brazil. The city ofManaus has a population of 1.7 million people in a region that is otherwise sparsely populated, but largely lawless. It is a hub city for all sorts of goods as it sits on the confluence of the Negro and Solimoes rivers. It is also a hub for drug traffickers throughout the Northern part of South America.

Below is a clip from the Canal Livre show. It shows a Canal Livre reporter arriving at the scene of a homicide before the police arrived, where the victim was burned and the body was still smoking. WARNING: As you can imagine, the video is not suitable for children, or for the squeamish.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jll87TT8yMY