The favelas of Rio de Janeiro are akin to Algiers' notorious Casbah. Teeming shanty towns, about 200 in number, they spot the city's steep hills, shelter its slippery underworld. The Pépé le Moko of the favelas is a little man (5 ft. 2 in., 105 Ibs.) who says his real name is João da Costa Rezende but who is better known as Carne Séca, or Dried Meat.
Dried Meat is popular and well-regarded among his kind. When flush, he gives away fish and beans to favela dwellers. He dances a graceful samba. Sentimental and gallant, he has the names of his two...
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