Florisvaldo de Oliveira

Florisvaldo de Oliveira (November 18, 1958 – September 26, 2012), commonly known as "Cabo Bruno", was a Brazilian vigilante, serial killer and former officer of the Military Police of São Paulo State accused of more than 50 murders on the outskirts of São Paulo during the 1980s.^[2] Considered "one of the most controversial characters in the police chronicle",^[3] he initially admitted to these deaths, but later denied them in his testimony.^[4]

Florisvaldo de Oliveira was born in Uchoa in São Paulo State.^[5] The nickname "Cabo Bruno" came from his childhood in Catanduva, derived from a provocation from his friends comparing him to a local alcoholic called Bruno.^[6] A nickname that even his mother began to exclusively use on him.^{[6][n 1]} Cabo Bruno was known as a vigilante,^[7] a person who is contracted to kill others, generally from the suburbs. It was said that he killed "for hating outlaws", although testimonials suggested that some executions were motivated by the victims' appearance.^[8]

He acted almost always in his days off,^[9] specifically in the district of Jabaquara, with some residents saying that "in his time there was not so much insecurity."^[10] Traders were allegedly his biggest "customers",^[11] although he denied that.^[12] José Aparecido Benedito was the only survivor of Cabo Bruno's massacre: after being shot, he pretended to be dead and managed to escape.^[13] Reports from journalist Caco Barcellos made him notorious, as it was he who covered the criminal's last imprisonment for the Jornal Nacional.^[2] Most of the shootings that he was charged with took place in 1982, with the many bodies riddled with bullets found in the region during that year causing panic.^[8] The cars he used—a Chevrolet Chevette, Ford Maverick and a Chevrolet Opala—whose colors were always changed, also helped elevate his fame.^[8]

He was arrested for the first time on September 22, 1983, by court order,^[4] after being accused of more than twenty murders (due to being recognized by several witnesses), although he confessed to only one: on February 6, 1982, in the slum of Jardim Selma, in which he was denounced by a friend of the victim, who survived.^[14] Many years later he would admit to about twenty murders, and according to his second wife: "[His victims had placed a burden on me]. There were people who killed and presented themselves as Cabo Bruno."^[12] According to her, he took responsibility as "it would not make much difference."^[12] At that time, the São Paulo Military Police estimated that Cabo Bruno and at least twelve police officers, including two officials (a captain and a lieutenant), would be responsible for several executions in the city's South Zone.^[15] Police further reported that many of the executions would have been made based solely on the victim's appearance, including a boy killed because of a small cross tattooed on his wrist—to Cabo Bruno, any tattoo would indicate a criminal, even if that particular one was done for religious reasons.^[15] When the investigations began, the gang was apparently protected by higher ranks, but the sufficient accumulation of evidence and clues led to the collaboration of the whole organization.^[15]

After 12 trials^[4]—which in one of them, several other police officers went to court to press, but the evidence was aplenty^[16]—Cabo Bruno was sentenced to 113 years in prison.^[17] After fleeing three times, with the last one happening on May 30, 1991,^[2] he was detained at the José Augusto César Salgado Penitentiary in Tremembé. He claimed to have become an evangelical and said he preferred not to be called Bruno.^[18] In 1998, an exhibition of oil-on-acrylic paintings by him was held in São Paulo.^[11] In July 2008, as a pastor in the ecumenical chapel of the prison,^[3] he married there to a housewife who did volunteer work.^[19] In his work as a pastor, Lindemberg Alves became one of his followers.^[3]

In 2009, after completing one sixth of his sentence, he requested the conversion to a semi-open regime. The Ministério Público Estadual requested a criminological–psychosocial examination, done in two stages and with favorable opinions to the change,^[3] which was granted on August 19.^[17]

Despite the semi-open regime, that year he was denied the benefit of temporary leave, which he could only have after 2017, due to his history of escaping.^[20] However, on August 22, 2012, the Taubaté court granted him freedom after 27 years of imprisonment.^[21] In addition to the assessment of the prosecutor, which was based on a law prescribing for the definitive release of prisoners with good behavior and imprisonment for more than twenty years, documents with praise from officials and from P2's own management regarding his conduct in prison strengthened the decision.^[21] He plasticized the original release order and thereafter always carried a copy with him, along with a list of ten dreams that he would like to accomplish before he died.^[12] "In my escapes, they [the police] would always stop me," he complained in a joking tone. "Now that I have the [release] order, no one will stop me anymore."^[12]

Just over a month after leaving prison, Cabo Bruno was killed with eighteen to twenty shots in the neighborhood Quadra Coberta, in Pindamonhangaba, around 11:30 pm on September 26, 2012.^[22] He was returning from a religious service in the municipality of Aparecida accompanied by relatives, which were unharmed when he was gunned down. According to preliminary information from the Military Police, it was two men who arrived on foot and shot only at him, with no robbery being announced, and that there was a car near the scene, possibly used by the shooters in their escape. With no leads on the perpetrators, it was categorized as probably an execution-style killing which was to be investigated by the Civil Police.^[23] As he was declared dead at the scene, Bruno was not taken to a hospital; crime scene experts collected shell casings from a .40 Smith & Wesson and another weapon, a .380 ACP.^[23]

• List of serial killers by country
• List of serial killers by number of victims