The toughest town in Brazil is grimy, industrial Caxias (pop. 136,000), on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Its political boss is Federal Deputy Tenorio Caval-canti, who sports a beard, a flowing cape, a revolver, a bulletproof vest and 47 wounds from various shooting scrapes. He owns real estate, a newspaper and a steel-gated house, and he has boasted that he could hold it against a siege. One morning last week while Tenorio was away, 200 troops rolled up in armored trucks, with bazookas and machine guns, and cracked the fort without a shot. Tenorio's henchmen opened the doors,...
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