He was captured in Colombia in 2001, where he had taken refuge with left-wing guerrillas, and was jailed here, but had exercised authority from his cell until prison conditions were recently made more rigorous for him and other gang bosses.
Brazil does not have a federal prison system, so da Silva's government temporarily moved the crime lord to Sao Paulo and then, when authorities there demanded that he move on, tried to dump him on some of the country's poorest and most remote states.
In each case, there were public protests, and the federal government was forced to pay off a small state to put him in a prison.
"The Fernandinho Beira-Mar situation has shown that drug trafficking gangs today are not just a local issue but a problem with national and even international dimensions," said Julita Lemgruber, director of the Institute for the Study of Security and Citizenship.
"The state of Rio is not going to win this battle, but it can take steps to neutralize this explosive combination of drugs and arms," Lemgruber said.
RSS