The World - News from Nov. 10, 1988

A death squad carrying out the orders of jailed drug traffickers is believed to be behind a rash of killings at Rio de Janeiro jails, Brazilian officials said. Nineteen inmates have died in the last 10 days. The latest to die were two inmates who had been beaten and hanged at the city’s Frei Caneca jail. Rio state officials believe most of the slayings have been carried out by the Red Falange, a group that operates inside the jails, apparently to press demands by drug traffickers that they be moved out of maximum-security detention. However, six of the deaths may have been linked to conflicts within the Red Falange, the officials said.