VIOLENCE EASED IN THE BRAZILIAN BUSINESS CAPITAL SAO PAULO ON TUESDAY AFTER POLICE STRUCK BACK AGAINST GANGSTERS WHO TERRORIZED THE CITY IN A BLOODY FIVE-DAY WAR IN WHICH 115 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KILLED, REUTERS REPORTED. POLICE SOURCES SAID POLICE UNITS HAD MOUNTED OVERNIGHT OPERATIONS, MOSTLY IN SLUMS AND ROUGH AREAS OF THE SPRAWLING CITY OF 20 MILLION PEOPLE. ABOUT 90 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ARRESTED. STATE CIVIL POLICE CHIEF MARCO ANTONIO DESGUALDO TOLD A NEWS CONFERENCE THAT AT LEAST 115 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KILLED SINCE FRIDAY, INCLUDING 71 GANGSTERS, 32 POLICEMEN AND CIVIL GUARDS, EIGHT PRISON GUARDS AND FOUR CIVILIANS. THE NUMBER OF GANGSTERS KILLED BY POLICE WAS A JUMP FROM THE FIGURE OF 38 GIVEN BY SECURITY OFFICIALS ON MONDAY. LOCAL NEWSPAPERS REPORTED A DEAL HAD BEEN STRUCK BETWEEN AUTHORITIES AND LEADERS OF THE ORGANIZED CRIME GROUP ORCHESTRATING THE VIOLENCE, THE FIRST COMMAND OF THE CAPITAL, OR PCC IN PORTUGUESE, TO HALT THE BLOODSHED. THE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE DENIED A TRUCE HAD BEEN NEGOTIATED. UPRISINGS IN ABOUT 70 BRAZILIAN PRISONS LINKED TO THE VIOLENCE ALSO ENDED ON MONDAY NIGHT AND ABOUT 200 HOSTAGES WERE FREED, THE AUTHORITIES SAID, WITHOUT EXPLAINING MORE. THE VIOLENCE BROKE OUT ON FRIDAY IN RETALIATION FOR THE TRANSFER OF JAILED CRIME BOSSES AND OTHER GANG MEMBERS TO A REMOTE PRISON. GANGSTERS HIT POLICE POSTS, VEHICLES AND OFF-DUTY POLICEMEN ACROSS THE CITY AND ELSEWHERE IN THE STATE, AND TORCHED DOZENS OF BUSES. THE INCIDENTS CAUSED PANIC IN SAO PAULO, THE WORLD'S THIRD-LARGEST METROPOLIS AND A COSMOPOLITAN CITY WITH A DYNAMIC BUSINESS AND NIGHT LIFE. THE CITY WAS EERILY QUIET OVER MONDAY NIGHT AS RESIDENTS FOLLOWED A SELF-IMPOSED CURFEW. RESTAURANTS, CINEMAS AND SHOPPING CENTERS WERE CLOSED AND ROADS NORMALLY CLOGGED BY TRAFFIC WERE DESERTED AFTER DARK. HEAVILY ARMED POLICE, SOME WEARING BLACK SKI MASKS, MANNED POSITIONS THROUGHOUT THE CITY. BUT LIFE WAS RETURNING TO NORMAL AS SCHOOLS, OFFICES AND SHOPS IN SAO PAULO THAT HAD CLOSED EARLY ON MONDAY WERE OPEN. POLICE SQUADS ESCORTED BUSES THAT STARTED RUNNING AGAIN SUSPENDING OPERATIONS ON MONDAY. POLICE SAID THEY HAD RESPONDED IN FORCE TO THE ATTACKS. "WE HAVE OUR WIRE TAPS, WE HAVE OUR INFORMERS," SAID A POLICE SERGEANT AT THE FORTIFIED CIVIL POLICE HEADQUARTERS, MACHINE GUN SLUNG ON HIS SHOULDERS. "GOVERNOR MARCOLA DECREED THE CURFEW," HE SAID IN A JOKING REFERENCE TO PCC CHIEFTAIN MARCOS WILLIANS HERBAS CAMACHO. "TODAY THERE WILL BE MORE DEATHS BECAUSE WE ARE IN THE STREETS," THE SERGEANT SAID, DECLINING TO GIVE HIS NAME. LEADING NEWSPAPERS O ESTADO DE S.PAULO AND FOLHA DE S.PAULO BOTH REPORTED STATE AUTHORITIES HAD NEGOTIATED A TRUCE WITH MARCOLA, WHOSE TRANSFER TO A REMOTE PRISON ALONG WITH SEVERAL HUNDRED OTHER PRISONERS TRIGGERED THE VIOLENCE. THE PRISONERS WERE ALSO PROTESTING HARSH CONDITIONS IN THE OVERCROWDED JAILS, INCLUDING PERIODS OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT WITH NO ACCESS TO PHONES OR TELEVISION AND JUST ONE HOUR OF EXERCISE PER DAY. JAILED CRIME BOSSES ARE KNOWN TO RUN OUTSIDE OPERATIONS BY USING THEIR CELL PHONES.
