Complexo do Alemão—one of the most dangerous and poorest slums in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A 731-acre sea of crumbling shacks in which pariahs survive and criminals thrive. That's where drug king Pezão had his secret luxury mansion.
While everyone around him was living in a mass of hot crap, the criminal's grand base was a triplex with swimming pool on the roof, bathrooms with jacuzzi, a professional kitchen packed with top-of-the-line stainless steel appliances, and air conditioning and LCD televisions in every single room. The triplex also had a private disco club inside and, what is even worse, the drug lord was a fan of Justin Bieber.
According to government delegate Marcos Vinicius Braga:
I've never seen anything similar to this, [his mansion is] much better than most homes in Leblon [a rich neighborhood in Rio, west of the beach of Ipanema]
Pezão destroyed walls in his residence to extract hidden drugs, money and diverse weaponry before running away from the government invasion. However, the police were able to confiscate six tons of drugs and large quantities of weapons.
His sumptuous triplex was found by police and military forces this Sunday at 11am local time, while cleaning the area of drug traffickers and criminal gangs in preparation for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Before these operations, favelas like Complexo do Alemão were completely ruled by these crime gangs. No police forces were even allowed inside.
It took them three hours to reach the mansion, which is situated on top of a hill from which the criminals had a vantage point of the whole shanty town. [WSCOM, R7 and Melonorte—in Portuguese]