A top Brazilian criminal leader is isolated in prison after he negotiated his own arrest

Authorities say one of Brazil’s top criminal leaders has been locked up in a 6-square-meter (65-square-foot) isolation cell at a maximum security prison to avoid being killed by rivals

RIO DE JANEIRO -- One of Brazil's top criminal leaders was locked up in a 6-square-meter (65-square-foot) isolation cell at a maximum security prison to avoid being killed by rivals, authorities said Tuesday.

Luiz Antônio da Silva Braga, the boss of the largest militia group in the state of Rio de Janeiro, surrendered to federal police on Sunday. The criminal leader better known as Zinho was sent to the Bangu 1 prison, where drug traffickers and militia men are also held, Rio state's public security secretary Victor Santos said.

“Today, Zinho’s custody is a responsibility of the state,” he told TV channel GloboNews. “He is now in an isolated cell for us to secure his physical integrity.”

Militias emerged in the 1990s when they originally were made up mainly of former police officers, firefighters and soldiers who wanted to combat lawlessness in their neighborhoods. They charged residents for protection and other services, but more recently moved into drug trafficking themselves.

Zinho, whose militia group dominates Rio's west region, had 12 arrest warrants issued against him until he surrendered after a negotiation. He had been on the run since 2018, and rose to the top position of the group after his brother Wellington da Silva Braga, known as Ecko, was killed in 2021.