Federal Police arrest suspects of ordering Marielle Franco to be killed

Preventively detained since March 2019, Élcio Queiroz is also a former PM and was the driver of the car that followed Marielle and Anderson through the center of Rio. On June 14 of this year, he made a plea bargain where he admitted his participation in the crime and provided new details of the execution to investigators. In 2020, he was sentenced to five years in prison and paid a fine for possession of ammunition and possession of firearms, ammunition and magazines.

Former firefighter Maxwell Simões, better known as Suel, is also arrested. He would have participated in planning the crime and hiding the evidence, having provided, a year after the murders, a vehicle used to dispose of weapons that belonged to Ronnie Lessa. In 2020, he was detained “for deliberately hindering” the investigations. The following year he was sentenced to four years in prison. The former firefighter was arrested at his residence on July 24, 2023, and transferred to the Brasília Federal Penitentiary the following day, the 25th.

Another PM is also suspected of participating in the crime. According to Queiroz, former military police officer Edmilson Oliveira da Silva, better known as “Macalé”, was responsible for inviting Lessa to kill Marielle and for providing the car used in the executions. He was murdered in the west zone of Rio in November 2021, after being shot several times by men inside a white BMW vehicle.

Alessandra da Silva Farizote and João Paulo Vianna dos Santos Soares were also targets of the PF operation. They are known as “Gato do Mato”, who are investigated for having received and discarded the murder weapons. Ronnie Lessa’s brother, Denis Lessa, is accused of having received the materials used in the murder (murder weapon, cap, coat and silencer) on the day of the execution.

Edilson Barbosa dos Santos, known as “Orelha”, is accused of being responsible for receiving the vehicle used in the crime from the hands of Ronnie, Maxwell and Élcio after the crime. According to Queiroz’s statement, he was responsible for destroying the car in a car wreck. Denounced by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in August 2023 for impeding and embarrassing investigations into the case, he was arrested at the end of February this year.

The PF also searched the homes of two suspects. They are: Jomar Duarte Bittencourt Junior, known as “Jomarzinho”, and Maurício da Conceição dos Santos Júnior, known as “Mauricinho”. They are accused of leaking information and alerting those responsible for the executions through electronic messages.