In 1993, convicted Brazilian murderer Darly Alves da Silva and his son escaped from a lightly guarded "maximum security" prison that had no outside wall, no functioning guard towers and no searchlights. Da Silva was favoured with presents and privileges by police sympathetic to his killing of Francisco (Chico) Mendes Filho, a leader of a union of rubber tappers whose livelihood was threatened by deforestation carried out by ranchers, of whom the murderer was one.