Murder in Italy: Rome police say officers "attacked immediately" by American teens Finnegan Lee Elder and Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth - CBS News

Last Updated Jul 30, 2019 7:47 AM EDT

Rome -- A commander of Italy's Carabinieri police force said Tuesday that two American teens accused of murdering an Italian officer set upon the officer and his partner as soon as they approached the pair and identified themselves as law enforcement. Finnegan Lee Elder and Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth are facing charges of murder and extortion in the stabbing death of Mario Cerciello Rega. The murder charges carry possible life prison sentences.

Providing further detail of the events that unfolded in the Friday killing last week, Carabinieri Commander Francesco Gargano said officers Mario Cerciello Rega and Andrea Varriale "were attacked immediately" by the two Americans.

"They did not have the possibility to use weapons and react," Gargano said, adding that the officers were attacked as soon as they identified themselves as Carabinieri police officers. That claim contradicts the Americans' own accounts to investigators. They say they didn't know the two officers were police, as they were in plain clothes.

CBS News correspondent Seth Doane reports the suspects were visited in a Rome prison by U.S. Embassy officials on Monday.

Documents released on Monday, in which investigating judge Chiara Gallo explains her decision to allow the continued detention of the pair, provided context of the fatal encounter. The document revealed that the teenagers had been drinking alcohol and that the judge believed they had shown a "total absence of self-control and critical capacity." She said they had "demonstrated an excessive immaturity."

Thousands mourn Italian cop allegedly murdered by U.S. teens

Surveillance video shown by Italian media, though not independently confirmed, purportedly shows the teenagers at the scene in Rome where they allegedly tried to buy about $90 worth of cocaine just before midnight last Friday. They are seen fleeing with a bag they stole after the drug deal went wrong.

An eyewitness said he saw them running away from the scene.

Two plainclothes officers from the Carabinieiri police force were called, including Mario Cerciello Rega, whom Elder has admitted to stabbing. He claims it was self-defense because he believed he was being strangled.

In the court documents released on Monday, however, judge Gallo noted that there were no signs of strangulation found on Elder, and said the multiple stab wounds inflicted on the officer were not indicative of "legitimate defense."

The teens also told interrogators they hadn't realized they were fighting police officers, but Gallo dismissed that as "impossible," saying the officers had identified themselves repeatedly verbally, and shown their badges.

Natale-Hjorth claimed during questioning that he did not know about the stabbing until after he and Elder had returned to their hotel room and had a nap. The teens have offered contradictory accounts as to who hid the murder weapon behind a ceiling panel in their hotel room.

Photo released of blindfolded teen suspected of fatally stabbing officer in Rome

A photo that surfaced of Natale-Hjorth blindfolded in police custody sparked cries of mistreatment earlier this week, especially as it emerged shortly after the police said he had confessed to involvement in the killing.

Italian officials were quick to call the blindfolding of the suspect a mistake by a single officer, who had been moved to a different post amid an investigation into their actions.

On Tuesday,  Rome prosecutor Michele Prestipino said stressed that the suspects were questioned by magistrates in a lawful manner, in the presence of lawyers and an interpreter. He said the questioning was recorded.

Prestipino said investigations were still underway to determine why Natale-Hjorth was blindfolded.

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2019-07-30 11:39:00Z
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Brazil prison riot leaves dozens dead and almost 20 decapitated at Alatmira prison in Para state - CBS News

Prisoners armed with homemade knives are seen on the roof of a building inside the Alatmira prison compound during a riot at the facility in northern Brazil's Para state, July 29, 2019. TV RECORD/Reuters

Rio De Janeiro -- At least 57 prisoners were killed by other inmates during clashes between organized crime groups in the Altamira prison in northern Brazil Monday. Sixteen of the victims were decapitated, according to prison officials.

Para state prison authorities said a fight erupted around 7 a.m. between the Rio de Janeiro-based Comando Vermelho and a local criminal group known as Comando Classe A.

"Leaders of the (Comando Classe A) set fire to a cell belonging to one of the prison's pavilions, where members of the (Comando Vermelho) were located," the statement read.

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State prisons chief Jarbas Vasconcelos said the fire had spread rapidly with inmates held in old container units that had been adapted for the prison while another building is under construction.

The fire prevented police forces from entering the building for several hours, he told a news conference.

Policemen and soldiers are seen in front of a prison after a riot, in the city of Altamira, Brazil, July 29, 2019. REUTERS

Two prison staff members were held hostage, but eventually released.

"It was a targeted attack. The aim was to show that it was a settling of accounts between the two groups, not a protest or rebellion against the prison system," Vasconcelos said.

Authorities have not found any firearms following the riot, only makeshift knives.

Prison authorities said 46 inmates will be transferred to other prisons, 10 of which will go to stricter federal facilities.

Brazil's over-packed prisons 

President Jair Bolsonaro was elected on the promise of curbing widespread violence in Brazil, including in the country's often overcrowded, out-of-control prisons. 

The Associated Press obtained a July 2019 report from the National Justice Council that it says was filed by a local judge in charge of the facility, showing that the prison had 343 detainees. It is intended to house a maximum of 163.

Yet Vasconcelos said the situation did not meet the official requirements to be considered overcrowded. "It is not a unit that has a prison overcrowding, we consider overcrowding when it exceeds 210%," Vasconcelos said during the press conference.

The judge who filed the report described the overall state of the prison in the city of Altamira as "terrible."

History of prison riots 

In many of Brazil's prisons, badly outnumbered guards struggle to retain power over an ever-growing population of inmates who are able to run criminal activities from behind bars.

The killings echoed those of 55 inmates who died in a series of riots in May in several prisons in the neighboring state of Amazonas.

In early 2017, more than 120 inmates died in prisons across several northern states when rival gangs clashed over control of drug-trafficking routes in the region. The violence lasted several weeks, spreading to various states.

Para state authorities spent the afternoon in Altamira, drafting a security plan to avoid possible retaliations in the region. Police forces from the nearby municipality of Santerem were sent as reinforcement in the coming weeks.

A woman cries after receiving information that her brother was one of the inmates who died during a prison riot, in front of a prison in the city of Altamira, Brazil, July 29, 2019. REUTERS

Prison authorities said they had not received any prior intelligence reports of an upcoming attack.

The prison is run directly by the state, not a third-party private operator as in the Manaus prisons where the riots took place in May.

Last year, inmates had already set fire to another wing inside the same prison unit, according to the state prosecutors' office.

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2019-07-30 09:59:00Z
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UK PM Johnson's no-deal Brexit gamble hammers sterling - Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - The British pound GBP= tumbled on Tuesday as investors bet Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit brinkmanship with the European Union could trigger a messy divorce that would sow chaos through the world economy and financial markets.

FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures during a speech on domestic priorities at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, Britain July 27, 2019. Lorne Campbell/Pool via REUTERS

Sterling crashed through trading barriers, falling to an intraday low of $1.2120 in shallower overnight Asian trade, the lowest since March 2017. The pound has lost 3.6 cents since Johnson was named Britain’s new prime minister a week ago.

Ever since the 2016 EU referendum, the pound has gyrated to the rhetoric of the Brexit divorce: after the result was announced, it had the biggest one-day fall since the era of free-floating exchange rates was introduced in the early 1970s.

Since the 2016 vote, sterling has now lost 28 cents, one of the most significant falls for the currency in recent decades.

“We see more GBP weakness to come,” ING said in a note to clients. “The current sterling meltdown is in line with our view that GBP risks are heavily skewed to the downside given the Brexit uncertainty and rising odds of an early election (our base case).”

Johnson, who was hailed by U.S. President Donald Trump as Britain’s Trump, has promised to strike a new divorce deal with the European Union and to energize the world’s fifth-largest economy after what he casts as the gloom of Theresa May’s premiership.

On entering Downing Street on Wednesday, Johnson set up a showdown with the EU by vowing to negotiate a new deal and threatening that, if the bloc refused, he would take Britain out on Oct. 31 without a deal to limit economic dislocation.

TOUR OF THE UNION

He told reporters in Scotland on Monday that he wanted to get a new deal but that the government had to prepare for a no-deal Brexit.

When asked about his remark during the campaign for the party leadership that the odds on a no-deal Brexit were a million to one, he said: “Provided there is sufficient goodwill and common sense on the part of our partners, that is exactly where I would put the odds.”

Many investors say a no-deal Brexit would send shock waves through the world economy, tip Britain’s economy into a recession, roil financial markets and weaken London’s position as the pre-eminent international financial center.

Supporters of Brexit say that while there would be some short-term difficulties, the disruption of a no-deal Brexit has been overplayed and that in the long-term, the United Kingdom would thrive if it left the European Union.

Johnson’s ascent has placed an avowed Brexiteer in charge of the British government for the first time since the 2016 EU Brexit referendum.

Johnson will tell Welsh farmers on Tuesday they will get a better deal after Brexit, part of a countrywide tour to win support for his “do or die” pledge to leave the European Union by Oct. 31.

“I will always back Britain’s great farmers and as we leave the EU we need to make sure that Brexit works for them,” Johnson said before arriving in Wales.

“Once we leave the EU on the 31st of October, we will have a historic opportunity to introduce new schemes to support farming – and we will make sure that farmers get a better deal. Brexit presents enormous opportunities for our country and it’s time we looked to the future with pride and optimism.”

Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Additional reporting by Andy Bruce, Elizabeth Piper and William James; Editing by Jon Boyle

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2019-07-30 07:43:00Z
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Deadly Prison Riot in Northern Brazil Result Of Gang Turf War - NPR

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A police officer patrols the surroundings of the Altamira Regional Recovery Centre after at least 52 inmates were killed in a prison riot, in the Brazilian northern city of Altamira, Pará state, on Monday. Bruno Santos/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Bruno Santos/AFP/Getty Images

At least 57 prisoners were killed by fellow inmates during a prison riot in northern Brazil in what authorities have described as a "targeted act" by gang members directed at a rival group.

The riot at Altamira prison began early Monday and lasted throughout the morning, according to authorities. Two prison officials were reportedly taken hostage, but later released after negotiations.

In a statement put out by Pará state, where the prison is located, officials said that the riot was triggered when members of the Comando Class A gang set fire to a cell where rival gang members from Comando Vermelho (Red Command) were kept.

Most of the inmates that died were killed in the fire, officials said, but at least 16 of them were decapitated.

"It was a targeted act," state prison director Jarbas Vasconcelos said in a statement, according to Reuters. "The aim was to show that it was a settling of accounts between two gangs."

Vasconcelos said the fire spread through an old wing of the prison where prisoners were being held while a new building was under construction. According to The Associated Press, Altamira houses more than twice as many inmates as its maximum capacity.

Vasconcelos said the fire prevented police from entering the building for several hours.

As NPR's Philip Reeves reports from Rio De Janeiro, in some penitentiaries, criminal gangs have de facto control, and can easily access weapons; however, in this case, the number of dead is unusually high.

President Jair Bolsonaro was elected last year on a campaign promise to crackdown on crime, including in the country's overcrowded and often violent prisons.

As we reported in May, violent clashes at four prisons in the same general area of Brazil killed 55 people in violence that was also blamed on gangs.

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2019-07-30 07:33:00Z
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Prison riot in Brazil leaves 16 inmates decapitated and dozens more killed - CNN

Jarbas Vasconcelos, the superintendent of the penitentiary system in the state of Para, said 16 of the 52 inmates that died in the Altamira prison on Monday were decapitated.

The incident is the latest in a string of deadly violence that has plagued Brazil's prisons in recent months.

In May, 55 inmates were killed in gang-related riots at four prisons in western Brazil.

The local prison authorities said at the time the deaths were a result of violent clashes among rival factions within the same drug gang, known as the Family of the North.

Human rights groups have accused the government of doing too little to prevent the violence at prisons that have become recruitment centers for gangs -- and even facilitating clashes by allowing the cells to become overcrowded.

The clashes pose a challenge to the new far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, but could also end up giving his approval rating a boost as he is seen as tough on crime and has previously vowed to crack down on criminal gangs and prison violence.

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2019-07-29 18:00:00Z
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Boris Johnson booed as he meets Nicola Sturgeon in Scotland - Guardian News

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2019-07-29 17:44:35Z
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Brazil jail riot 'leaves more than 50 dead' - BBC News

At least 52 people have been killed in a prison riot in Brazil which saw rival gangs battle for five hours, officials say.

Gang members from one prison block invaded another part of Altamira jail in Pará state, local media reported.

Officials giving a news conference said 16 of the dead were decapitated. Other reports said part of the prison was set on fire, suffocating many.

Two prison officers who were taken hostage have since been freed.

The violence began at around 07:00 local time (10:00 GMT), and ended at around noon, officials said.

Video reported to be from the prison carried by Brazilian media showed smoke billowing from at least one prison building, while another clip appeared to show inmates walking around on the rooftops.

The two rival gangs involved have not been named by authorities.

The prison in Altamira where Monday's violence broke out has a capacity of 200, but was occupied by 311 prisoners, Brazilian news outlet G1 said.

• Prison without guards or weapons in Brazil
• Brazil prison riots: What's the cause?

Violence in Brazilian prisons is not uncommon. The country has the world's third-largest prison population of some 700,000 people, and overcrowding is a widespread problem.

Clashes between rival gangs are frequent, as are riots.

In May, 40 people were killed on the same day in four different prisons in Manaus in Amazonas state - a day after 15 died in prison fights in the area.

Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has vowed to bring in tighter controls in prisons, while building more across the country.

But this will not be straightforward as most prisons are controlled at the state level.

What causes prison riots in Brazil?

Overcrowding

A crackdown on violent and drug-related offences has seen the country's prison population boom in recent decades.

Overcrowding makes it hard for prison authorities to keep rival factions separate. It also raises tensions inside the cells, with inmates competing for limited resources such as mattresses and food.

Gang warfare

Killings between rival gang members are common in Brazilian prisons.

This was exacerbated when a two-decade truce of sorts broke down in recent years between two of the country's most powerful gangs - the Sao Paulo-based First Capital Command (PCC) drug gang and Rio de Janeiro's Red Command.

Lack of resources

Many Brazilian prisons are underfunded.

Poorly-trained and badly-paid prison guards often face inmates who not only outnumber them but who also feel they have little to lose as they face long sentences already.

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2019-07-29 17:41:49Z
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