A NETFLIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY SERIES
Manaus was haunted...
VOICE OF WALLACE SOUZA
...dark.
They're committing an injustice.
They wanted to find a reason to destroy me,
so they arrested Moa.
It's a political conspiracy which began with Moa's statement.
Moa was very scared.
I spoke with him.
He was a very troubled person.
He believed the criminal organization wanted him dead.
So, in exchange for protection,
he agreed to tell us everything.
We had something important to offer him:
his personal safety.
In our jail,
no one had ever been killed.
Back in the day,
I had lots of guns...
I had money.
I had power.
The King, the Big Boss...
FORMER DRUG TRAFFICKER
NOW SHOPKEEPER
Yeah, I was famous.
When you started killing people,
your fame would grow more and more...
but the wrong kind of fame.
BIG DRUG BOSS ARRESTED
THE KING OF TRAFFICKING
In 2009,
I was in a federal jail,
along with Moa.
We talked a lot.
There were around 30 of us prisoners
at the Federal Police Station
when it exploded.
It was a real explosion, like dynamite.
Dust, blood...
It was nasty.
Doors, windows,
and even a wall were destroyed by the blast.
We all thought that someone was trying to kill Moa.
We didn't know whether he was dead or alive.
The explosion happened directly within the confinement area.
We went there and it was total chaos.
The Federal Police Chief
is not ruling anything out.
We are looking at all possibilities.
The police are even considering a targeted attack.
Moa...
Moa was a person marked to die.
He snitched on Wallace Souza.
He was a guy who revealed a lot.
Moa had to die.
We immediately thought it was an attempt to eliminate our main witness.
CHIEF DETECTIVE - CIVIL POLICE
We held an emergency meeting.
And then...
I received a phone call.
Moa...
had survived.
You know you were evacuated...
To guarantee your safety,
until everything is clarified...
Because of the bomb that exploded.
Do you feel you're in danger here?
Yes, sir.
Yes.
So we took measures
to protect the life of our witness.
We decided to take him to a secret location.
Moa...
he was known as a cop who had turned to crime.
Moa asked us if he should spill the beans.
We told him what we thought:
"Snitch on them all."
Everyone agreed with him.
Actually, Wallace was the enemy of the traffickers.
He attacked everyone on his TV show to gain more power.
Wallace went after me a lot.
What we do down here on Earth,
we pay for it.
They wanted to find a way to destroy me.
So they unfortunately arrested a naive...
unsuspecting guy,
and offered him a deal,
including a plea bargain.
Moa...
he claims that I ordered killings,
that I trafficked drugs.
But what are the charges?
Where's the concrete proof?
From Moa's statement,
the scale of the criminal group became clear.
Due to the volume of facts to be investigated,
we had the idea of creating a group,
which we called Task Force.
SECRETARY OF INTELLIGENCE - TASK FORCE
The Task Force was composed of members of the Civil Police
and of the Prosecutor's Office.
HEAD OF TASK FORCE
From the very beginning,
when Moa was arrested...
the aim of the Task Force was to verify every allegation
he had made.
According to his testimony,
he had been killing for Wallace Souza.
More than a dozen killings.
But Representative Wallace Souza stated
he did not know Moa.
That he did not know
nor had ever met the person called Moacir Jorge.
"I don't know this guy."
"Never seen him."
And then a photo of Moacir appears
in Wallace's swimming pool.
Wallace is there in the pool next to Moa,
apparently socializing.
POLITICAL JOURNALIST
And from that moment on,
lots of contradictions started to emerge
in Wallace's arguments.
And he says...
Because his name is Moacir Jorge.
So, he gives the following explanation:
"I knew him as Jorge, not as Moacir."
Moa was involved with drug trafficking.
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST
He is in the pool of the host of a crime show
that in theory fights violence and drug trafficking.
It does not make sense.
No...
No, Moa was...
was a friend of Raphael, right?
Wallace's son.
WALLACE'S DRIVER
They were having a party.
I went out to buy something for the barbecue.
There were lots of people from the gym.
They all practiced jiu-jitsu together.
You know, friends of Raphael.
Wallace's eldest son, from his first marriage.
He lived with Wallace.
PRODUCER - CANAL LIVRE
Raphael is my friend.
But he was very needy and naive.
So he was hanging with people that he shouldn't be with.
Wallace went home,
he got changed and went for a swim,
and that's when he saw Raphael who was having a barbecue.
WALLACE'S SISTER
They were celebrating someone's new belt at the gym.
Everyone's there in the pool,
and Wallace, whenever someone was there, would jump in as well.
Wallace was like that.
A state representative,
a public figure,
a show host
who fought crime
and then Moa...
Who is Moacir? A former Military Policeman
expelled from the police.
While he was in the department,
he committed nine homicides.
Someone said, "Let's take a picture." And everybody's in it.
Moa's in it. Wallace is in it.
I was on the edge.
But Moa,
he never worked for Wallace. Never.
Wallace had no ties with Moa.
It was a total coincidence.
Just that.
In theory, they were just having a barbecue.
But the photo says a lot.
Something's up.
There's something fishy going on.
Moa's statement was the basis of our investigation.
Nearly every situation he talked about
involved Wallace, directly or indirectly.
Drug trafficking...
homicides...
illegal possession of firearms...
and gang formation.
Details that only someone close to the top could have known.
He had access to privileged information.
And it's important to highlight
that Moa was the first
to confirm what was really happening
on the Canal Livre TV show.
Killing for ratings.
Barbaric.
CHIEF PROSECUTOR, TASK FORCE
Many of the killings
were produced to sell the show.
This was the catalyst for us to bring the evidence forward.
In an investigation,
you start solving the puzzle
with the most visible pieces.
Canal Livre...
was really the key element
in the unraveling of this whole plot.
The Task Force tried to find
old recordings of the Canal Livre show.
Now, we go live to all of the Amazon...
For the love of God.
The show of the people,
Canal Livre.
Courage.
Action.
Controversy.
Emotion.
Yes, yes, yes. Call him, call him, call him.
So, coming up, the champion, Wallace Souza.
Once again, criminals are showing their audacity.
Criminals gunned down
this citizen.
Where is the security
for the workers?
The question remains: Until when?
Until someone man enough shows up
to put a bullet in these criminals?
Moa decides to talk.
He begins by asking,
"Wasn't there a murder once
where a body was burned?"
And then we looked it up.
It smells of burnt meat.
It smells of barbecue.
AUGUST, 29, 2008
There's the body.
Look, there's still smoke.
It's a man.
Looks like barbecue meat on the griddle.
The video of the burnt body really caught our eye.
The reporter states things
that even forensics would have trouble knowing.
Here's the body.
There's still smoke.
- It's a man. - He knows the gender.
It seems to have happened in the middle of the night. Right?
- In the middle of the night. - Gives the time.
Dumped here.
No bullet wounds.
No bullets.
They set him on fire using gasoline, for sure.
He knows there are no bullet wounds
and that he was burned with gasoline.
Very precise info for someone who had just arrived.
It's really sick stuff. Really sick.
Kill his enemies, his competitors...
and, at the same time, generate content for the show.
Really sick.
Regarding the burning body found in the jungle,
Raphael,
Representative Wallace Souza's son,
was allegedly involved in this crime.
Moa said that Wallace Souza ordered the killings
and that Raphael carried some out.
Moa, in his statement, makes it clear
that he got a call from Raphael.
He called to ask him to perform an arrocho.
"Arrocho" means drug theft.
There were shipments coming from the countryside.
He said it was his father's request.
Moa apparently refused to help.
Stealing drugs.
This kind of crime is quite common.
They kill people to keep the drugs.
Moa declared...
that during the following day,
he was at the home of Wallace Souza with Raphael...
They were watching Canal Livre.
Raphael then allegedly told him,
"It's all good."
The way Raphael was behaving suggested
that he had taken part in the event.
The burnt body
was Renato Fernandes Teixeira.
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST AND PRODUCTION RESEARCHER
We understand that Renato was still alive when he was set on fire.
He was about 37 years old.
He lived alone.
The last time Renato was seen alive was at the gym.
He received a phone call...
he left the gym,
and that was the last time he was seen.
I looked for some of Renato's relatives,
as well as witnesses,
and they didn't want to talk.
They are afraid.
Afraid that something might happen to them.
He was killed in such a brutal manner.
This war...
on crime...
Move to the left, please.
We're doing this for your own safety.
It's like giving away part of yourself.
Since I was a child,
my goal was always to help...
fulfill my duty.
Wallace Souza...
had a goal.
To infiltrate society.
To infiltrate politics.
To infiltrate the police force,
so that the criminal organization led by him could control more areas.
Moa described precisely
how big the organization was.
So, the Task Force decided to concentrate its efforts
on people linked to the criminal organization.
The Task Force decided to check on Wallace's security guards.
Among those who worked for him,
there were former cops
who had been expelled from the force
for criminal activities.
How can someone so righteous
have a team composed of criminals?
They were very dangerous people.
I once heard someone asking Wallace,
"Man, what is that guy doing with you all the time?
This is not right. You're a public person.
You know?
This guy is not a good person."
And he'd answer,
"But what about his four kids?
He knocked on my door asking for help
because he can't raise his four kids.
What else can I do?"
So that was Wallace,
a guy who would get into trouble because he wanted to help everyone.
Did you interrogate everyone who worked for him?
Some. Some of them.
They were with him every day.
They should know something.
I never took part in any kind of crime.
But...
I was brought in to make a statement.
And I was asked,
"Are you friends with Wallace?" I said, "Yes."
"Would you do everything he asked?"
"Yes, I would do anything."
"Why do you ask, chief?" He said, "I just wanted to know."
I said, "You're insinuating things.
I would never do anything wrong, even if someone ordered it.
And Wallace wouldn't ask anyone to do anything wrong."
They kept asking, "Do you know anything?"
I said, "I know what I'm talking about.
I've never seen Wallace do anything wrong.
Based on my understanding of right from wrong,
I've never seen Wallace do wrong. Never."
They all told more or less the same story.
So they chose to defend Wallace
as a way of protecting themselves.
They wouldn't want Wallace as an enemy
because they knew what he was capable of.
Junior Sujo,
he testified here... in February?
Was it in February? Junior Sujo?
January or February?
He said in his statement
that he had witnessed a homicide
and that someone potentially linked
to Representative Wallace Souza was involved.
Ten days later, he is executed with 15 bullets.
It's what we call "silencing witnesses."
When you deal with a criminal organization,
even your own safety is at risk.
There were a number of threats to the members of the Task Force.
We received several anonymous calls...
telling us that
we were messing with powerful people,
that we had to stop.
The investigation had to be stopped
because the consequences would be severe.
We noticed strange cars
tailing us.
So we started to move around with bodyguards
because we knew we were targets.
I asked myself many times
if the exposure was worth it.
But we needed to make it very clear that
threatening us wouldn't solve anything,
the investigation wouldn't be stopped.
Nothing would shake our line of work or our focus.
THE SON
TO TESTIFY: RAPHAEL SOUZA
Raphael Saraiva de Souza. Is that your name?
That's right.
Son of Francisco Wallace Cavalcante de Souza
and Anna Julia Saraiva de Souza, born on January 6, 1982?
Correct.
- Born here in Manaus? - Manaus.
In all his statements, Raphael was always cocky.
FEDERAL TESTIMONY 2010
He always seemed full of himself.
- What did you study? - Law.
- Did you graduate? - No.
I took a break because of politics.
I was working with my father, so I took time off college.
He denied
many things.
Moacir Jorge. What was your relationship with him?
I did not know him as Moa.
I always knew him as Jorge.
Okay. So Moacir himself not only states...
that Raphael had committed homicides,
but also that Raphael once paid him in drugs.
I've never killed anybody.
I don't need to deal drugs. I've always worked.
I'm a good son.
It was as we had expected.
Full of himself.
Arrogant.
A prince.
So what did the Task Force begin to identify?
We started to put more names together...
making connections,
creating a map...
of his security guards,
the son,
Moa...
But what were our thoughts?
That it wasn't just about TV ratings.
At a certain point...
they started to keep the money...
confiscated from drug dealers during police raids
on the dealers' homes.
Shots fired!
A big police raid in Raquel's Alley, where they deal drugs.
This is one of the most notorious drug traffickers.
And, eventually...
they began to keep the drugs themselves.
And then it evolved.
To sell these drugs, they needed to acquire territory.
He started to believe they could take over
the drug-selling points.
They started to kill rival drug dealers
and to film the scene, creating a buzz.
Six individuals. Six of them.
They arrived to execute Alessandro,
also known as Bebetinho.
JULY 13, 2008
Two people have been shot.
They are being treated by the emergency services.
The information we have
is that suspects in a Honda Civic
shot this citizen here.
He's already dead.
Bebetinho.
A drug dealer.
I got close
and saw a corpse inside the car.
His body was riddled with bullets.
PHOTOGRAPHER
I took a photo, then another...
and then I left because
there were people who didn't want me to take any photos.
The death of Bebetinho.
Moa had talked in detail
about this murder.
Raphael was somehow involved.
Bebetinho...
he was the son of Bebeto,
the drug lord from a region in Manaus called "Praça 14."
A big reputation.
A history of violence.
14TH SQUARE
Bebeto...
a big deal in the drug trade.
Bebeto of the 14th controlled the southern district.
A respected guy.
Do you see the guy on the corner with the cap?
He's a lookout.
Keeping an eye on things.
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST
That house over there on the corner
is the house of Bebeto of the 14th.
And in July, 2008...
Bebeto was looking for the person
who had killed his son, Bebetinho.
Bebeto...
his son was his successor,
and everyone in Manaus expected a violent reaction.
Then the rumor went around that Raphael Souza
had taken part in his killing.
Bebeto...
started saying he would kill Raphael.
BEBETINHO MAY BE AVENGED
BEBETO MAY AVENGE THE DEATH OF HIS SON
It was a declaration of war.
And that's when Wallace begins
to try to calm the situation down.
There were many reports
of a meeting between Wallace and Bebeto.
But no one really knew what had happened in the meeting.
I remember someone on the Task Force saying
that they received a phone call from Bebeto.
He wanted to share some information.
He wanted to collaborate.
But that meeting never took place.
Bebeto of the 14th was assassinated,
and the suspicion was
that Representative Wallace Souza had something to do with this crime.
Bebeto's death
pushed the Task Force to call for a new meeting.
We were starting to realize something very disturbing.
The criminal syndicate was much more dangerous
than we'd ever thought.
Bebeto of the 14th...
Bebetinho...
The burning corpse...
"If anybody drops dead in this city, it's because of Representative Wallace."
One day I'm this person, the next day I'm someone else?
I raise my kids with affection.
I love those around me.
And I'm supposed to be ordering killings
so I can put them on my show.
You know?
It's ridiculous. It's a story
created in the minds of sick people.
I love my country.
I uncovered public security issues and brought them out into the open.
I wanted society to discuss everything.
I messed with things no one else had dared to dig into...
and that may be why they want to destroy me.
This... this image
of a monster they're creating...
with lies.
I'm certain that
the fake mask will eventually fall to pieces.
It will be taken apart. Bit by bit.
It will all be taken apart.
A 63-page report has been released,
and it explains the cause of the explosion
at the Federal Police Station.
The report concluded that
what exploded was a homemade bomb
used for illegal fishing.
Everyone believed that Moa was the target.
But the Federal Police found out that it had been human error.
There is an illegal practice called "bomb fishing."
FEDERAL POLICE CHIEF - AMAZON STATE
The shock wave kills the fish.
They rise to the surface and are collected.
We confiscated such bombs,
and they were being examined and deactivated by our experts.
Investigators succeeded in recovering the memory card
of one of the forensic team's cameras.
At around five o'clock, they started working on the bombs.
When one exploded, it was like a domino effect.
That's when we were certain it was an accident
and not a targeted attack.
They used this...
to harm the show's reputation.
They claimed that the show killed people.
That's why we got there first. Because we knew where the bodies were.
But the crew would arrive first because people would call us.
They wouldn't call the police anymore.
They called us.
Look, there are some locals around.
People that lived in the area.
And a photographer.
It's a photographer, right?
That photographer wasn't from Canal Livre.
Maybe he's from a newspaper.
His camera...
it looks professional.
Who is this photographer?
I don't know.
They used to dump bodies here.
If you dug this place up, you'd find lots of bodies.
I got a call that they'd found a body here in the Tarumã Jungle.
I was like, "Great, let's go, quick."
And we were the first crew to arrive.
Sort of here...
The body was around here. It was on fire.
Since I was alone,
I thought I'd get the front page shot.
I think...
they set him on fire with diesel.
We took good pictures.
Then the other crews arrived.
Wallace's guys, the crew from Rede Amazônica TV.
They arrived as we were leaving.
We exchanged info.
Smells like barbecue.
There's the body.
Hey, man. How are you?
Hi.
REPORTER - CANAL LIVRE
What happened that day with the smoke?
I got there late and three other teams were already there,
as well as forensics
and others doing their reports.
I was late that day.
Why do people keep saying you already knew everything,
that you knew he hadn't been shot?
No. I got there late.
I got info from the forensics team.
Most info we get from them.
So you spoke to them beforehand?
Yes. We get there and do the work.
"How was it?" "We've found this and that," and so on.
All reporting is done like this.
The suspicion was around the privileged info they had.
The show's crew arrived
at the same time or a little before the police.
That's a lie. I got there first.
You know?
Our crew went to the location.
We're a crime show. So we went there to film.
When we got there, two other camera crews were already at work.
Filming.
We were the third crew to arrive.
SECRETARY OF INTELLIGENCE
Was there any evidence that they had been the first to arrive?
I don't remember.
Well...
There is one detail...
that does not fit with the story of Renato's murder.
There's a statement from Moacir Jorge, Moa,
where he says that
the boat from where they were going to steal the drugs from Renato
was called Almirante Monteiro.
But, according to the Navy, this boat, the Almirante Monteiro
had an accident where many people died in February, 2008.
And in June, it was renamed Cidade de Alenquer.
So, when Renato died, the Almirante Monteiro no longer existed.
Almirante Monteiro could not be the boat.
They have no proof, just accusations.
Only accusations.
Blaming the Representative was easy.
He was a rising political candidate.
You know these things happen.
The political game.
The whole thing was a settling of scores.
It was like, "Let's get this guy out of the picture."
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE FEBRUARY 28, 2009
I got a phone call.
Someone wanted to say something about the Wallace case.
ATTORNEY - HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE
She really wanted to speak.
So, with her authorization, we used a video camera.
I was really taken aback.
- What's your name? - Mary Tereza Ramos de Albuquerque.
Mrs. Mary, to whom are you married?
Moacir Jorge Pessoa da Costa.
Better known as?
Moa.
He told me that...
he had been forced to admit to things he never did.
He said he was tortured.
A bag was put over his head.
They were forcing him to say it.
I said, "I don't understand."
He explained, "What they want is for me to say
that I took orders from Wallace Souza to kill people.
That I am Representative Souza's hitman."
It was Dr. Thomaz who told him to say that.
Subtitle translation by Ashley Cardaman