Police move to end feud linked to 95 murders

Brazilian authorities are trying to stamp out a 60-year-old family feud they claim has led to at least 95 murders.

Police said they had sent 130 officers into six rural communities in north-east Brazil to make arrests meant to end the bloodshed involving the Oliveira, Veras and Suassuna families.

Cristiano Jacques, police chief in the town of Patos, told a news conference that the families are suspected of killing 64 members of rival clans as well as 31 people in their own families. Police did not describe the origin of the conflict.

He said: “All their crimes are planned in advance, with clear-cut tasks handed out among members of the organisation. There are those who plan, finance, recruit gunmen, and execute.”

Investigators told police the families have been fighting for more than 60 years, but the violence has increased in the last decade.

The head of security for Rio Grande do Norte state, Aldair da Rocha, said law enforcement moved in now because police in Paraiba learned there were plans to commit another murder during the coming weekend.

The families have committed eight murders between them this year, officials said.