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B

LAME Tom Cruise. The

staroftheMission:Impos-

sible movies makes dis-

guises and prison breaks

lookeasy–putonamask

and wig and bluff your

way out of trouble.

But Brazilian druglord

Clauvino “Shorty” da Silva learnt the hard

waythatmoviemagicworksbetteronthe

silver screen than it does in real life.

In what’s being described as one of the

most audacious attempted prison es-

capesofalltime,DaSilvatriedtosashay

outoftheGericinómaximumsecurity

facilityinRiodeJaneirodisguisedashis

19-year-old daughter, Ana Gabriele

Leandro da Silva.

His disguise was elaborate. He swopped

clothes with the teen, changing into her

pink T-shirt and tight jeans, and wore a

long dark wig. But the pièce de résistance

was the silicone mask he pulled on that

resembles Ana’s face.

Da Silva might have got away with it

too if guards hadn’t become suspicious

of his exaggerated feminine gait. But

it was when he asked for Ana’s ID doc-

ument, which had been held at the

security point during her prison visit,

that the jig was up.

“When he started talking, pretend-

ingtospeaklikeawoman,theguard

realised it was an attempted jailbrea

and identified him,” says Moyses Henri-

ques,deputyheadofprisonoperations

in Rio.

Prisonauthoritiesreleasedavideo

that went viral. It shows the hardened

criminal removing a pink T-shirt and

black bra before taking off the wig and

peelingawaythemasktorevealhisface.

DaSilva,adrugtraffickerwhowasserv-

ing a 73-year sentence, was part of the

notorious Red Command gang which

controls much of the Rio drug trade.

After the botched attempt he was

putinsolitaryconfinementinahigh-

security unit – where he took his own

life.Guardsfoundhisbodyhangingfrom

bedsheets in his cell.

D

A SILVA’S breakout attempt

involved leaving his daughter

inside the jail where she’d

findawaytosaunterout

after Papa was long gone. She

nowfaceschargesofabetting

aprisonescape,RionewspaperExtra

reports.

Seven other visitors – including a preg-

nant woman suspected of smuggling the

disguise into the prison – are also under

investigation for their involvement.

This wasn’t Da Silva’s first attempt

at freedom. Aping the plot of another

movie, e aws an edemption, he

and 30 other convicts tunnelled their

way out of the same prison via the sewer

system in 2013. Four of the convicts were

captured almost immediately but Da

Silva made it out with fellow gang mem-

bers nicknamed Fish, Spider-Man and

Sledge Hammer.

They were all rearrested a month later

while attempting to seize control of a

shanty town in Rio’s western districts

with a group of heavily armed men.

But it was his latest attempt that drew

maximum attention. Local tabloids had

a field day. “White Chicks 2 coming to

cinemas soon?” read a headline on the

front page of Rio newspaper Meia Hora.

Rosental Alves, a Brazilian journalist,

says authorities in the South American

country have an “old and bad tradition

of exhibiting suspects in humiliating

ways, as though they were trophies”.

But the bizarre details of the failed es-

cape justified the public release of the

video because it drew attention to a po-

tential security lapse, he adds.

“The disguise used was so unusual, so

cinematic and spectacular,” he told The

New York Times. “I’ve never heard of

someone using a latex mask to escape

from prison.” S

SOURCES: NYTIMES.COM, WASHINGTONPOST.COM,

COMPLEX.COM, VICE.COM, APNEWS.COM, THEGUARDIAN.COM

He tried to escape

prison dressed as his

teenage daughter.

Just days later he

took his own life

COMPILED BY DENNIS CAVERNELIS

TRAGIC

RUSE

The clothing and silicone mask used in the attempt.

OVE: A video

leased by

ison authori-

s shows

horty” da

lva’s attempt

look like his

enage daugh-

r, Ana (LEFT).

24 | 22 AUGUST 2019 you.co.za