Nemesis One Man and the Battle for Rio's Biggest Slum

Antônio Francisco Bonfim Lopes was a hardworking young father before he became the king of Rocinha, the largest slum in Rio; the head of a drug cartel; and perhaps Brazil's most wanted criminal, known as “Nem.” 

Nemesis is the riveting account of Nem's ruthless ascent, his sway over its anarchic outlaw culture, and ultimately—his downfall. Struggling to come up with funds to pay for the hospital bills necessary to save a sick baby's life, a twenty-four-year-old Nem is forced to take a loan from a local mafioso, a decision that plunges him into the heart of Rio's criminal underworld. Over the next sixteen years, as he grows in stature, Nem will try to bring welfare and justice to a playground of gang culture and destitution. 

Drawn from years of in-person interviews and told with humanity and warmth—Nemesis is an unflinching, dramatic investigation into the rise of a crime lord in Rio and the menacing conditions of life inside the favela.

MISHA GLENNY is the author of DarkMarket, McMafia, The Rebirth of History, The Fall of Yugoslavia (which won the Overseas Press Club Award in 1993 for Best Book on Foreign Affairs) and The Balkans: Nationalism, War, and the Great Powers, 1804–1999. He was a BBC Central Europe correspondent—he covered the fall of Communism and the wars in the former Yugoslavia—and has been regularly consulted by the U.S. and European governments on major policy issues. He lives in London.