REPORTER TORTURED, SLAIN BY DRUG LORD, POLICE SAY

An undercover TV journalist reporting on crime and drugs in Rio de
Janeiro's shantytowns was tortured and put to death with a sword by a drug
lord who runs his territory like a medieval fiefdom, police said.

Tim Lopes of Globo television was captured June 2 as he tried to infiltrate
a dance party in northern Rio de Janeiro, where gangs sell drugs and stage
illicit sex shows.

Lopes, 50, was taken to a nearby shantytown, where he was shot in the feet,
brutally beaten and killed by drug lord Elias Pereira da Silva, police
said. Gang members then burned Lopes' body.