False: It is false that the sign made by drug dealers in Rio de Janeiro, who indicate the letter “L” with their hands in a video that circulates on social networks, is related to the former president and candidate for the Presidency of the Republic Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ( PT). The gesture symbolizes the Amigos dos Amigos (ADA) criminal faction, according to a specialist consulted by Comprova and reports on the subject. On the eve of the second round, the disinformation piece tries to create a relationship between criminals and the presidential candidate, although the video is from 2018, four years before this election period.
Investigated Content: Video with images of the arrest of drug dealers in Morro do Urubu, in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, with male voiceover narrating details of the action. In the images, the criminals make an “L” with their hand and over the image the title says “Traffickers take a picture in the armored vehicle”. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) is not mentioned, but the comments on the post on Kwai associate the symbol with the initial of the name of the former president and candidate for the Presidency of the Republic. On TikTok, the recording is accompanied by the phrase “Drug dealers do the L”. On WhatsApp, an excerpt of the video circulates with a photo of the PT member with a horn and the following inscription: “This is my boy, so proud of you, mate!”
where it was published: Kwai, TikTok, Twitter and WhatsApp.
Completion of Proof: The association created between drug traffickers making the letter “L” in a video report with former president Lula, who uses the initial letter of his name in the electoral campaign, is false. The gesture is a reference to a leader of the Amigos dos Amigos (ADA) faction, Paulo César Silva dos Santos, known as Linen is that it disappeared in the early 2000s. The criminal group, which operates in Rio de Janeiro, is a dissident of the Terceiro Comando and rivals the Comando Vermelho.
The investigated content was shared on video platforms without referring to Lula, however, it leads to misinterpretations by internet users, since the recording was cut, highlighting the traffickers who make the “L”, and does not inform the original context of the case. material. Despite being published on the eve of the second round, it is actually an excerpt from a report shown by TV Record in 2018 — that is, four years before the current election period.
On WhatsApp, the message circulates with a photo of Lula, whose image is accompanied by horns and a phrase attributed to the former president: “This is my boy, I’m proud of you, mate!”
Images from the same video were also used in advertising of the president and candidate for reelection, Jair Bolsonaro (PL), establishing an undue relationship between the traffickers and his opponent in the dispute.
Falsefor Comprova, is content invented or that has undergone edits to change its original meaning and has been deliberately disclosed to spread a falsehood.
Scope of publication: Comprova investigates suspicious content with the greatest reach on social networks. As of October 19, the publication had more than 860,000 views on Kwai, 48,700 likes and another 14,200 shares. On TikTok, there were 603,000 views and 13,400 likes, while the Twitter post registered the lowest performance, with just over 200 interactions. On WhatsApp, there is no possibility to measure reach.
What does the publisher say?: Comprova contacted the Mundo d@s News profile via Kwai, but there was no response until the publication of this check. He also tried to contact the TikTok account that posted the video on the platform, Willianlima3513, however, it is not possible to send messages between profiles that do not follow each other.
How do we check: We searched Google for the keywords “traffickers”, “signal”, “L” and “Lula”. Among the results, the first was the verification of the In fact, from SBT, which in September already denied the relationship of the gesture made by traffickers with Lula. The post also explained that the symbol is used by the ADA faction, in reference to one of their leaders, Lino.
The query still returned reportage from The Intercept, which describes the activities of criminal groups in Rio de Janeiro and clarifies the use of the “L”.
In a new search, now with the term “ADA”, among the main results was found a post on twitterfrom 2020, also talking about the symbology of the lyrics in the faction, and a video posted in 2021, on the YouTube channel “ADA do Linho”, with a funk entitled “Faz o L Só Quem É ADA Antes Morrer”, which brings this same sentence in four moments of the composition.
Based on information contained in the content investigated here, we arrived at the original video, which is a TV Record report on the arrest of drug dealers in Complexo do Alemão, in 2018.
The report also got in touch with the public security specialist and professor at the Fluminense Federal University (UFF) Lenin Pires to explain the reason that led a certain group of drug traffickers to make the letter “L” with their hands, and even Lula’s advisors, to express their opinion on the case, but there was no response.
Finally, the team reached out to the person responsible for posting the video on Kwai, both through the chat tool and through the comments, but there was no response. The report also tried to contact the profile that inserted the video on TikTok, but the platform does not allow the exchange of messages between users who do not follow each other.
The video
The video circulating on social media is an excerpt from a reportage TV Record, aired in August 2018 about the arrest of drug dealer Marcos Vinicius Tostes da Silva, known as pitbull or MV and named by the police as traffic boss in Morro do Urubu, north of Rio de Janeiro. The original recording, which is 2 minutes and 27 seconds, shows the criminal and also other traffickers making the letter “L” with their hands in a photo.
The investigated content is less than a minute long and the video cut highlights precisely the criminals’ gestures. In one of the publications, the passage is accompanied by the phrase “Drug dealers make the L” and, in another, it is accompanied by a photo of Lula and a phrase attributed to the presidential candidate as if he were praising Marcos Vinicius.
What does the letter L mean
Contrary to what the false publication suggests, the letter “L” used by drug traffickers is not related to former President Lula, but to the criminal faction Amigo dos Amigos (ADA), created under the leadership of Paulo César Silva dos Santos. , the Linen. The initial of the criminal’s nickname (Linho) was what motivated the traffickers’ gestures.
Professor at the Department of Public Security at UFF, anthropologist Lenin Pires points out that the ADA has always made the “L”, precisely because of the allusion to one of its founders. “Linho is an important historical figure who sought to establish this identity, as an alternative to dissidence, a rift with both the Third Command and certain segments of the Red Command. At Amigo dos Amigos, Linen is a reference,” he explained. O drug dealer disappeared in January 2003, in São Paulo, however, the mark remained.
A report by The Intercept, from December 2018, about factions in Rio de Janeiro already brought the information that the traffickers used the “L” as a symbol of the criminal group.
Two years later, on Twitter, The Intercept ran a thread about Rio’s factions, mentioning the difference in behavior and vocabulary. once again explained the use of the letter “L” and also mentioned the use of different symbols and expressions that identify other factions. This is a common practice among these groups, as shown by a report by Extra, from 2015revealing that the “RL” in graffiti and quotes in Rio was a reference to Rogério Lengruber, one of the founders of Comando Vermelho.
Video of drug traffickers is used by Bolsonaro’s campaign
In one of his TV advertisements, Bolsonaro uses an excerpt from the same video to try to improperly establish the relationship of Lula with drug dealers. The play deals with voting in prisons and in it appears the drug dealer Pitbull making the “L”.
The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) determined the withdrawal of air propaganda, after responding to a petition made by the legal team of Lula’s coalition that pointed out, among other irregularities, manipulation of data on voting in prisons.
why do we investigate: Comprova investigates suspicious content that goes viral on the internet related to the 2022 presidential elections, the pandemic and public policies of the federal government. The content investigated here uses images from a 2018 report to falsely associate the “L” made by traffickers with support for the presidential candidate Lula. The dissemination of pieces of disinformation is a practice harmful to democracy, because the population has the right to make their choices based on reliable content.
Other checks on the topic: Comprova has frequently denied content related to presidential candidates running in this second round of elections. It recently showed that the acronym “CPX”, in a cap worn by Lula, means complex (set of slums) and has no relation to criminal factionthat a video claiming that Lula called supporters are bums and drug dealers is falseand also that it is the association of Lula and the PT with drug seizures in Mato Grosso do Sul is misleading.
Other verification agencies have denied content similar to that verified, such as De Fato, responsible for revealing that drug traffickers did not make Lula’s symbol in photos posted on social networksand To the Facts, which denied the invasion of drug traffickers in polling stations in Rio de Janeiro to force votes for Lula.
Investigated by: A Gazeta, Alma Preta, Tribuna do Norte, Plural Curitiba and SBT; Verified by: Uol, Estado de S.Paulo, Folha de S.Paulo, CNN Brasil, Estado de Minas, Metropolis, Correio do Estado and O Dia
Source: CNN Brasil
