Drug Lord Peixao's 'Resort' Had an Artificial Lake, Paddle Boats, and a Prayer Hill

[Judi Lynn]

The site was one of the hideouts used by the drug lord, according to the police; the residence was demolished in an operation this Tuesday (11)

Mar.12.2025 1:39PM

A house on an 800-square-meter lot, with a back exit to a river and an artificial lake. Marble finishes, a gym, a sauna, and paddle boats stood out from the surrounding buildings in the Parada de Lucas favela, in Rio’s north zone.

This was the residence used, according to the police, by Álvaro Malaquias, known as Peixão, identified as the leader of the TCP (Third Pure Command) in the Israel Complex. The three houses believed to belong to the drug lord began to be demolished this Tuesday (11) in a police operation against him, as he remains on the run.

A imagem mostra um canteiro de obras em uma área externa, com um trator amarelo e uma equipe de trabalhadores. Ao fundo, há uma construção em andamento e um painel publicitário. O ambiente é cercado por palmeiras e um lago com pedras na margem.
RIO DE JANEIRO, RJ, BRASIL, 11-03-2025: Civil and Military Police dismantle the "crime resort" in the Israel Complex, in the north zone of Rio de Janeiro. (Foto: Eduardo Anizelli/Folhapress, COTIDIANO) - Eduardo Anizelli/Folhapress

The Israel Complex is the base of self-proclaimed evangelical drug traffickers who, according to the police, use narco-Pentecostalism for territorial expansion. In one of the residences, there was a swimming pool with a graffiti mural that read: "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord."

In another house, nicknamed the "crime resort," there was an artificial lake with koi fish, paddle boats, and a hill that served as a prayer site for the drug lord. According to the police, Malaquias calls his gang the "Troop of Aaron," referencing Moses' brother, the biblical prophet.

More:
https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2025/03/drug-lord-peixaos-resort-had-an-artificial-lake-paddle-boats-and-a-prayer-hill.shtml

[Tanuki]

1. More on the narco-Pentecostalists:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/10/brazil-gang-boss-drug-trafficking-closing-churches

"Reports that a powerful Rio drug lord known for his extremist religious beliefs ordered Catholic churches near his stronghold to close have spooked worshipers and security experts and exposed the advent of a “narco-pentecostal” movement made up of heavily armed evangelical drug traffickers.

Claims emerged in the Brazilian press over the weekend that Álvaro Malaquias Santa Rosa – a notorious gang boss known as Peixão (Big Fish) – had determined that three places of worship should shut down in and around the agglomeration of favelas that he controls in northern Rio.
...
In the past, Peixão’s troops have been accused of ransacking Afro-Brazilian temples and banning Afro-Brazilian celebrations in the Complex of Israel, where more than 100,000 people live. But this week’s reports were the first relating to Catholic places of worship.
...
Experts say the backdrop to the rise of narco-pentecostalism is the breakneck spread of evangelical churches through Brazil in the almost four decades since 37-year-old Peixão was born in Rio’s dilapidated northern suburbs.

Since then, Brazil’s evangelical community has exploded, from less than 7% of the population in 1980 to 22% in 2010 and about 30% today. The Catholic congregation, meanwhile, has shrunk dramatically. In 1991, 83% of Brazilians identified as Catholic, compared with about 50% today.
The evangelical revolution has been particularly fervid in Rio, especially in deprived suburbs and favelas where preachers provide crucial support to downtrodden residents whose relatives face unemployment, alcoholism and drug addiction.

But a byproduct has been the disturbing melding of Christian extremism and members of the drug factions who govern many such communities. Some observers credit preachers with reducing levels of violence by embracing Rio’s drug lords and trying to convince them to spill less blood."...(more)

[Judi Lynn]

3. Thanks for providing the Guardian article! Hadn't heard of these guys before tonight.

The article I posted from Brazil''s Folha was the only time I had seen anything about them.

The Guardian article was outstanding. Poor people are the ones who usually turn to fundamentalist churches, which are emotional, plain-spoken, and family-like, and make them feel less helpless. What a shame.

Same situation works right in the U.S. Their congregations are more uneducated, insecure, and easily led, just right for any leader looking for people to mislead, control, fleece.

The Guardian article was perfectly timed for anyone who hasn't heard of Latin American Pentecostals before! Wonderful!

Makes perfect sense that Brazil's Bonsonaro claims to be a Brazilian Pentacostal, doesn't it?

Thank you.

[JoseBalow]

2. But did he have hippos?

It's not a proper narco-compound if you don't have a zoo, ése...

(5:46)

[Judi Lynn]

4. You bet! All the better drug lords should have them.

Great video. Hippos look like very interesting characters!

I read once that villages around that compound got somewhat used to seeing the occasional hippo wander into town to check things out!

Thanks for sharing the video.

[JoseBalow]

5. They're now an invasive species terrorizing the countryside

Truth is always stranger than fiction!

The NatGeo video above is over 17 years old when there were 16 hippos living nearby. There are now over 160 wild hippos, ranging over 100 miles away. This video is from last year...

(12:06)