A prisoner who made headlines over the weekend when he tried to escape by dressing up as his 19-year-old daughter was found dead in his cell, Brazilian authorities said Tuesday.
Clauvino da Silva, a Brazilian gang leader, appeared to have hanged himself with a sheet, Rio de Janeiro prisons authorities said. An investigation has been opened.
Police are investigating her role as a possible accomplice.
Authorities found convicted drug dealer Clauvino da Silva, 42, hanged in Rio de Janeiro.
He was serving a sentence of 73 years and 10 months in solitary confinement on counts of drug trafficking, the BBC reports.
Silva, also known as Baixinho or “Shorty,” attempted to escape prison Saturday when his 19-year-old daughter visited him for the day.
During her visit, she stayed in his cell while he tried to make his escape by dressing up as her, donning a pink T-shirt, a black wig, silicon mask and tight jeans to conceal his identity.
www.foxnews.com/world/brazil-gang-leader-daughter-disguise-found-dead
The convicted drug trafficker was discovered unconscious in the high-security unit to which he’d been transferred at the Bangu prison complex as punishment after his foiled escape attempt.
“The inmate appears to have hanged himself with a bed sheet,” Rio’s prison authority said in a statement.
The pint-sized gang leader — who went by “Shorty” — made headlines over the weekend for trying to walk out the front door of the prison while impersonating his 19-year-old daughter, who had been visiting for the day.
Silva’s death represents the second major humiliation for Brazil’s notoriously overcrowded jail system in just over a week. In late July 58 prisoners were killed – 16 of them beheaded – during an eruption of horrific gang violence in the Amazon state of Pará.
h/t kpm