The president of Estácio de Sá’s Escola de Samba (Carnaval Group), Flávio José Eleotério, 48, was found dead, Tuesday, October 9, with four shots to the chest in the trunk of his own car, in Rio de Janeiro,
The police found the body while checking a car that had been reported as abandoned in Bonsucesso, a poor neighborhood in the north side of Rio.
Eleotério, who was also a police agent was thrown inside the trunk after being shot in his car, around 8 pm, according to the police version. The inside of his car was all messed up.
While authorities are not offering any explanation or the motives of the murder, there is speculation that it was a robbery that became murder after the robbers found out that the victim was a policeman.
Eleotério had spent Monday afternoon meeting with managers of the Escola de Samba, discussing details on the participation of Estácio de Sá in the 2007 Rio Carnaval Parade. The wake is being held on the Escola de Samba’s grounds.
Estácio, after many years as a second group Escola de Samba has just been promoted to the first group after winning first place in 2006 among the second division escolas.
Flávio Eleotério was being investigated by the police under the suspicion of being a bicheiro (illegal numbers runner). The benefactor of Estácio is Carlos Teixeira Martins, better known as Carlinhos Maracanã, a renowned bicheiro himself.
Rio’s Escolas de Samba traditionally have been run by bicheiros. They won’t be disappearing soon from the scene, but some of the schools have been using other ways to raise money, like commercial sponsorship.