This story explains why more and more movies start with the words ‘Based on a true story’ – because real life makes movie-land fairly trivial. Trump is a great example of that.

And this story, about the ‘heist of the century’.

This happened THIS WEEK, on Monday, amidst Brazil’s spiraling gang war.

The gangsters hail from Brazil and the cross-border target – “using a degree of firepower usually reserved for wars” – was a Paraguayan security and police headquarters. They got their mitts on $8 million in cash and ESCAPED IN SPEEDBOATS!

They reckon the gangsters are part of the First Capital Command:

The First Capital Command (Primeiro Comando da Capital – PCC) was inspired by the Red Command (Comando Vermelho). Both criminal organizations [sic] were formed by prisoners as self-protection groups in Brazil’s brutal prison system. The PCC arose in São Paulo in the 1990s, and has fought a bloody ongoing feud with police in the city. The group, now the largest and best-organized criminal organization in Brazil, is believed to have members in two-thirds of the country’s states, and controls drug trafficking routes between Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay.

[image source]

The Guardian goes into greater detail:

Around 50 gangsters turned the city of Ciudad del Este into a battle zone for more than three hours early on Monday morning.

Soon after midnight, they torched vehicles to block access roads into the police headquarters, which they then raked with gunfire and bombarded with grenades and molotov cocktails filled with bullets to give the impression of a larger attacking force.

But the attack on the police was only a diversion: soon after it was launched, another, larger group of gunmen assaulted the headquarters of a private security company, Prosegur.

They killed a policeman, who was reportedly asleep in his car, then choked the main road outside the building with burning cars and shot at any vehicle that approached. Anti-aircraft guns were deployed in case the police tried to approach the area by helicopter, though that did not happen.

Using explosives, the thieves blasted the main concrete wall housing access to the vault. It is unclear how many they were able to break into, but they reportedly stole $8m of the $49m held inside. Closed-circuit cameras show the heavily armed assailants wearing ski masks and speaking Portuguese.

A battle then ensued with police who had been called to the scene. But the gangsters – who had infrared sights and automatic weapons – were more heavily armed. The officers only had their regulation handguns because the arsenal at headquarters was blocked.

Some of the aftermath:

But that wasn’t the end of it. The next session saw the gang throwing SPIKES behind them to prevent people from chasing them. Obviously!

The thieves split into three groups and drove off in security vans, lobbing explosives and spikes behind them to prevent anyone from following. Police later found an abandoned van containing heavy weapons, traces of blood and bulletproof vests.

They are thought to have crossed the Parana river in speedboats.

Brazilian police intercepted one group 50km (31 miles) on the other side of the border in Itaipulandia, killing three and arresting four others.

Six others were arrested in Brazil on Tuesday.

Holy shit.

[source: guardian]