Brazilian drug lord disguises as 19-year-old daughter and tries to sneak out of prison with women visitors
A feared Brazilian gang leader tried to escape prison by dressing up as his teenage daughter when she visited him and then walking out of the penitentiary's main door in her place.
Clauvino da Silva, 42, who was once part of the leadership of the Red Command, one of the most powerful criminal groups in Brazil that controlled drug trafficking in Rio de Janeiro, tried to slip out of the Gabriel Ferreira Castilho unit in the Gericinó high-security prison in the west zone of the city in the disguise on Saturday, according to the Daily Mail.
His plan was apparently to leave his daughter, 19-year-old Ana Gabriele, inside the jail, but eventually failed because the nervousness he displayed gave him away, prison officials said.
After he was caught, da Silva, who is also known as Baixinho, which translates to "Shorty," was taken to a side room and made to undress.
Rio's State Secretary of Prison Administration (SEAP) released photos which showed him in a silicon girl's mask and long dark-haired wig, wearing tight jeans and a pink shirt with a cartoon image of donuts.
A spokesperson for SEAP said, "Clauvino was wearing a pink t-shirt with a black bra underneath, had long black hair, tight jeans, white sandals, a coat, and glasses but even though he had the face of a girl, he didn't move like a woman."
"Officers were suspicious of his appearance, particularly as he was in the middle of seven other women visitors who were leaving the prison and who appeared to be deliberately surrounding him to shield him from being seen clearly by us."
SEAP also released a video in which the 42-year-old can be seen removing the mask, some of his clothes, saying his full name for the camera, and complaining that he "shouldn't have to take everything off."
In response, the agents warn him, "This is not the time to mess around. Just take off the clothes. No one is going to do anything to you here."
Officials believe da Silva took advantage of the visiting hours and secretly exchanged clothes with his daughter. The suspicion is that the clothes were smuggled in by one of the other visitors, who was pregnant, as it is against the rules for her to be searched when she enters the prison.
After the failed escape bid, da Silva, who is serving a life sentence of 73 years and 10 months and had previously escaped another jail in Feb 2013 through the sewage networks, was transferred to a unit of a maximum-security prison and will face disciplinary action, officials said.
They are also looking into the role of the daughter and the seven other female visitors who tried to shield him during the escape as possible accomplices in the failed ploy.