Ronnie Lessa Says He Would Earn up to $20 Million for Councilor Marielle Franco's Murder

[Judi Lynn]

Confessed murderer of the councilor stated in a plea bargain that, with the crime, he would become a partner in land development and create a militia in Rio

May.28.2024 1:31PM

Francisco Lima Neto

SÃO PAULO
The former military police officer Ronnie Lessa revealed in his plea bargain that the agreement made with the brothers Domingos and Chiquinho Brazão to kill councilor Marielle Franco (PSOL) would yield him up to $20 million. The statement is in a video of the plea bargain, obtained by TV Globo and shown on Fantástico this Sunday (26). According to him, in exchange for the crime, he and his accomplice Edimilson de Oliveira — murdered in 2021 — would become partners in two illegal land developments in the west zone of Rio.



Ronnie Lessa says he would earn up to $20 million for Marielle Franco's murder - Reprodução/TV Globo

He then mentions two different amounts for the crime, $10 million and $20 million.

"Nobody gets an offer of $10 million just to kill someone. So, I wasn't hired to kill Marielle as a hitman. I was called for a partnership," he says.

https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2024/05/ronnie-lessa-says-he-would-earn-up-to-20-million-for-councilor-marielle-francos-murder.shtml

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Wikipedia:

Assassination of Marielle Franco

The assassination of Marielle Franco and Anderson Gomes took place on March 14, 2018, in Estácio, Rio de Janeiro. The assassins were in a car that pulled up alongside the Rio de Janeiro councilwoman's car and fired several shots, which also killed the driver. An investigation conducted by the authorities pointed to political motivations.[

Assassination

Marielle arrived at the Casa das Pretas, on rua dos Inválidos, in Lapa, to mediate a debate promoted by the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) with young black women, around 7:00 pm. According to images obtained by the police, a Cobalt with a Nova Iguaçu license plate, a city in the Baixada Fluminense region of Rio de Janeiro, was parked near the venue. Around 11:00 pm, Marielle left the Casa das Pretas with an aide and a driver and was soon followed by a car of the same model that had been parked near the site. Around 11:30 PM, on Joaquim Paralhes Street in Estácio, thirteen shots were fired from a vehicle pulled up next to Marielle's car. Nine hit the car frame and four hit the windows. The councilwoman was hit by three shots to the head and one to the neck[2] and the driver was shot at least three times in the back, killing them both. The aide was hit by shrapnel, taken to a hospital, and was later released. Police pursued for about four kilometers. The executioners fled the scene without taking any property.[3]. . .

. . .

Mention about Jair Bolsonaro by the doorman of Vivendas da Barra
According to an exclusive report on October 29, 2019, broadcast by Jornal Nacional, which had access to details of the case, the name of the President of the Republic was mentioned in a statement made by the doorman of the Vivendas da Barra Condominium, where Jair Bolsonaro and Ronnie Lessa, one of the main suspects of having murdered Marielle Franco and Anderson Gomes, live.

According to the doorman, the other suspect in the crime, Élcio de Queiroz, who would be the driver of the car used in the crime, entered the condominium on March 14, 2018, hours before the murder, claiming that he was going to the house number 58, which belongs to Bolsonaro. With that, the doorman would have contacted the villa, pondering about allowing Queiroz to enter the condo. According to the doorman, the authorization was given by someone inside the house, whom he called "Mr. Jair".[68]

. . .

Confession of interference by the governor of Rio de Janeiro
On May 4, 2020, the governor of Rio de Janeiro, Wilson Witzel, admitted in an interview on the program Roda Viva, on TV Cultura, that he interfered in the Civil Police operations in relation to the suspects of the attack. Witzel stated that he asked Police Officer Giniton Lages to arrest, in March 2019, retired military police officer Ronnie Lessa and former military police officer Élcio de Queiroz, on charges of acting in the double homicide. These arrests, as the governor admitted, were recommended despite the fact that there is still no confirmation of the possible mastermind of the crime. Witzel explained that he did not have access to the investigation, but he used his experience as a federal judge and suggested the arrests when the police chief said that he already knew who the perpetrators were. The intention was to open a new phase of the investigation, with the purpose of discovering the mastermind. Witzel's confession came amid accusations against President Jair Bolsonaro of interference in the Federal Police.[84]

More:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Marielle_Franco

[Judi Lynn]

1. Recent article: A Brazilian rising political star's killing was a mystery -- until an explosive federal report

Revelations in a 500-page Federal Police report allege ties between a federal police chief and organized crime in the killing of Rio councilwoman Marielle Franco.

April 1, 2024, 1:35 PM CDT / Source: The Associated Press
By The Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO — Two days after Rio de Janeiro city councilwoman Marielle Franco’s 2018 assassination, her widow sat down with the chief of the state’s civil police, Rivaldo Barbosa, who pledged to do everything in his power to hold the guilty parties to account.

In fact, the man Brazilian media once exalted as “Rio’s Sherlock” had the exact opposite intent, according to newly revealed allegations. Federal Police arrested Barbosa on March 24 — over six years later — for allegedly helping orchestrate Franco’s killing and taking money to obstruct the very investigation he would oversee.

“Hours after my wife’s murder, I was in front of a man who knew exactly what had happened and, more than that, who was part of ordering it,?? Mônica Benício told TV Brasil through tears after his arrest.

The explosive revelations in the nearly 500-page Federal Police report offer an unprecedented glimpse into how organized crime has undermined Rio’s institutions and reveal the extent of corruption in a city where militias allegedly pay police to look away. The death of Franco, a rising political star who resisted militias’ expansion and fought for the poor, has driven home the consequences of allowing organized crime to run roughshod over Rio’s sprawling landscape.

“The Marielle case is quite emblematic,” said Jacqueline Muniz, a professor of public security at the Federal Fluminense University and ex-director of Rio’s public security secretariat that oversees police. “In Rio, we govern with crime — not against it.”

Barbosa’s arrest came only after federal authorities started investigating once leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office in 2023. Federal Police made a plea deal with former police officer Ronnie Lessa, who told them that two politician brothers hired him to kill Franco and informed him Barbosa had signed off beforehand. Police say they ordered her dead because she was an obstacle to militias’ interests.

More:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/killing-brazilian-politician-marielle-franco-exposes-alleged-ties-poli-rcna145876

(My emphasis)

[Judi Lynn]

2. Found a short video saying a witness to the murders has been killed (in English)

You may find this one very interesting:

(I listened to videos tonight, heard one which said the area where she was assassinated had been named after former President Obama. )