Florisvaldo de Oliveira

Florisvaldo de Oliveira (November 18, 1958 – September 26, 2012), commonly known as "Cabo Bruno", was a Brazilian vigilante, serial killer and former officer of the Military Police of São Paulo State accused of more than 50 murders on the outskirts of São Paulo during the 1980s.[2] Considered "one of the most controversial characters in the police chronicle",[3] he initially admitted these deaths but later denied them in his testimony.[4]

Florisvaldo de Oliveira
Born(1958-11-18)November 18, 1958
Uchoa, Brazil[1]
DiedSeptember 26, 2012(2012-09-26) (aged 53)
Pindamonhangaba, Brazil
Cause of deathMurdered by assailants
Other names"Cabo Bruno"
Conviction(s)Murder
Criminal penalty113 years' imprisonment, released after 27 years
Details
Victims50
Span of crimes
1982–1983
CountryBrazil
State(s)São Paulo
Date apprehended
September 22, 1983

Biography

Florisvaldo de Oliveira was born in Uchoa in São Paulo State.[5] The nickname "Cabo Bruno" came from his childhood in Catanduva, a provocation from his friends comparing him to a local alcoholic called Bruno.[6] Even his mother began to call him just like that.[6][n 1] Cabo Bruno was known as a vigilante,[7] a person that kills for self perceived justice, usually in the outskirts. It was said that he killed "for hating the fringes", although testimonials suggested that some executions were motivated by the victims' appearance.[8]

He acted almost always in his spare time,[9] in the district of Jabaquara, and some residents said that "in his time there was so much insecurity."[10] Traders were allegedly his biggest "customers",[11] but he denied that.[12] José Aparecido Benedito was the only survivor of Cabo Bruno's murders: after being shot, he pretended to be dead and managed to escape.[13] Reports from journalist Caco Barcellos made him notorious, as it was he who covered the criminal's last imprisonment for the Jornal Nacional.[2] Most of the shootings that he was charged with took place in 1982, and many bodies riddled with bullets found in the region during that year caused panic.[8] The cars he used—a Chevrolet Chevette, Ford Maverick and a Chevrolet Impala—whose colors were always changed, also elevated his fame.[8]

He was arrested for the first time on September 22, 1983 by court order,[4] after being accused of more than twenty murders (being recognized by several witnesses), although he confessed to only one: on February 6, 1982, in the slum of Jardim Selma, where he was denounced by a friend of the victim, who survived.[14] Many years later he would admit to about twenty murders, and according to his second wife: "The other [victims] put it on my account. There were people who killed and presented themselves as Cabo Bruno."[12] According to her, he assumed, "it would not make much difference."[12] At that time, São Paulo Military Police estimated that Cabo Bruno and at least twelve police officers, including two high officials (a captain and a lieutenant), would be responsible for several executions in the city's South Zone.[15] Police further reported that many of the executions would have been made based solely on the victim's appearance, including a boy killed because of a small cross tattooed on his wrist—to Cabo Bruno, any tattoo would indicate a criminal, according to his religious reasoning.[15] By the time the investigations began, the gang was apparently protected by the higher ranks, but the advance gathering of evidence and clues led to the whole corporation's collapse.[15]

After 12 trials[4]—in one of them, several other police officers went to court to press, but the evidence was aplenty[16]—Cabo Bruno was sentenced to 113 years in prison.[17] After fleeing three times, the last time on May 30, 1991,[2] he was detained at the José Augusto César Salgado Penitentiary in Tremembé. He claimed to have become an evangelical and said he preferred not to be called Bruno.[18] In 1998, an exhibition of oils on acrylic painted by him was held in São Paulo.[11] In July 2008, as a pastor in the ecumenical chapel of the prison,[3] he married there to a housewife who did volunteer work.[19] In his work as a pastor, Lindemberg Alves became one of his followers.[3]

Liberation and death

In 2009, after completing one sixth of his sentence, he requested the conversion to a semi-open regime. The State Public Ministry requested a criminological psychosocial examination, done in two stages and with favorable opinions to the progression of the sentence,[3] which was granted on August 19.[17]

Despite the semi-open regime, that year he was denied the benefit of temporary leave, which he could only have as of 2017, because of his history of escaping.[20] However, on August 22, 2012, the Taubaté court granted him his freedom after 27 years' imprisonment.[21] In addition to the opinion of the prosecutor, which was based on a law providing for the definitive release of prisoners with good behavior and imprisonment for more than twenty years, documents with praise from officials and from P2's own management regarding his conduct in prison, unitarily strengthened the decision.[21] He plasticized the original release license and always carried a copy with him, along with a list of ten dreams that he would like to accomplish before he died.[12] "In my escape, they [the police] would always stop me," he complained, jokingly. "Now that I have the license, no one will stop me."[12]

Just over a month after leaving prison, Cabo Bruno was killed with eighteen or twenty shots in the neighborhood Quadra Coberta, in Pindamonhangaba, around 11:30 pm on September 26, 2012.[22] He was returning from a religious service in the municipality of Aparecida accompanied by relatives, when he was gunned down by two men; his relatives were unharmed. "According to witnesses, it was two men who arrived on foot and only shot at him," explained the lieutenant of the 2nd Company of the 5th Battalion of the Military Police. "It was probably an execution, but it will now be up to the Civil Police to investigate."[23] As he was declared dead at the scene, Bruno was not taken to a hospital; crime scene experts collected shell casings from a .40 Smith & Wesson and another weapon, a .38 automatic Colt pistol.[23]

After Cabo Bruno's death, his family auctioned off a number of paintings by the ex-PM in order to restart life elsewhere.

See also

Notes
  1. Florisvaldo was a soldier and did not have the corporal rank; the title was part of his nickname.[2]

References
  1. Luiz Carlos Ferreira (25 March 2015). "Cabo Bruno kills 50 and dies with 20 shots" (in Portuguese). F5. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  2. "Cabo Bruno is captured" (in Portuguese). G1. 30 May 2007. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
  3. "Cabo Bruno must go to semiaberto", Alexandre Petillo, Jornal da Tarde, 08/15/2009, p. 8A
  4. Ademir Fernandes (31 May 1998). "More than a thousand have died in the hands of vigilantes" (in Portuguese). Jornal do Commercio. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
  5. Bruno Paes Manso and Joaquim de Carvalho (19 May 2013). "Cabo Bruno and his angels and devils saw the movie theme". O Estado de S. Paulo. ISSN 1516-2931.
  6. Rogério Pagnan (19 October 2012). "The Capo Bruno only I knew". Folha de S. Paulo (in Portuguese). Company Folha de Manhã. ISSN 1414-5723.
  7. Marcelo Godoy (18 February 2008). "Officials propose task forces to dismantle rotten band" (in Portuguese). Notícias Hi Brazil. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
  8. "From Opal, PM terrified the southern zone in the 80s", Jornal da Tarde, 15/8/2009, p. 8A
  9. Caco Barcellos, Route 66, Editora Record, 2003, p. 133
  10. "Paving is just a promise seven years ago" (in Portuguese). Folha de S. Paulo. 2000. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
  11. "Inspiration that springs in the xylindro" (in Portuguese). Season. 21 September 1998. Archived from the original on 13 October 2008. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
  12. Rogério Pagnan (19 October 2012). "He carried in his pocket the license and his wish list". Folha de S. Paulo. Company Folha da Manhã. ISSN 1414-5723.
  13. Paloma Cortes and Solange Azevedo (2004). "Killed by men of the law" (in Portuguese). Época. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
  14. "The PM reports crimes committed by some of his men," Jornal da Tarde, 24/9/1983
  15. "Police: the new decisions of Reale Junior", Jornal da Tarde, 26/9/1983, p. 7
  16. "Change of address" (in Portuguese). Season. 29 November 1999. Archived from the original on 6 September 2008. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
  17. "Cabo Bruno will go to the semi-open regime", Jornal da Tarde, 21/8/2009, p. 5A
  18. ""Special - letters from Brazilian Onesimos" (in Portuguese). Editora Ultimato. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
  19. "Cabo Bruno House in Prison", Jornal da Tarde, 7/19/2008, p. 6A
  20. "Cabo Bruno has temporary exit denied", Jornal da Tarde, 9/10/2009, p. 9A
  21. Laura Leiming (23 August 2012). "G1: Justice grants freedom to Cabo Bruno after 27 years of imprisonment" (in Portuguese). G1. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  22. Cabo Bruno is murderd in the interior of SP (September 27, 2012) News Band.
  23. "One month after leaving prison, Cabo Bruno is assassinated" (in Portuguese). Look. 27 September 2012.
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