The Most Dangerous Man in the Country

Filinto Muller was the most despised police chief in Brazilian history and later a detested senator. Muller bore the brunt of many accusations of police wrongdoing owing to charges by yellow-journalist David Nasser. This volume examines the totality of Muller's life and is the result of 11 years of research in which 66,704 documents, 500 newspapers clippings, and 165 visual items were examined. Numerous interviews were likewise conducted. This work has uncovered little archival evidence to substantiate direct charges against Muller. This book argues, however, that Muller was responsible for the invention of modern-day death squads, the first of their kind in the Americas.