Rio’s ‘narco-pentecostal’ gangsters accused of ordering Catholic churches to close

Bible-bashing drug boss accused of targeting Afro-Brazilian religions and Catholic congregations

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 Alvaro Malaquias Santa Rosa - a notorious gang boss known as Peixao (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.