In March of 2018, socialist Rio City Councilwoman Marielle Franco and her driver, Anderson Gomes, were assassinated by gunmen linked to the Bolsonaro regime. While the gunman, Ronnie Lessei, a former military policeman, was caught back in 2019, he had so far refused to name those who paid him to kill Marielle Franco.

The Intercept Brasil reports that Ronnie Lessei has made a plea deal with federal authorities. In the agreement, they declared that he said that he was paid to assassinate Franco by right-wing Rio City Councilman Domingos Brazão, a close ally of Bolsonaro.

In addition to being a city councilman, Brazão was a major developer in Rio de Janeiro. Brazáo used his ties to paramilitary gangs to increase his political influence and grow his business, earning the nickname “King of Jacarepagua,” a rapidly expanding suburb in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro.

As a city councilwoman, Marielle Franco highlighted and called for investigations into how Brazáo used illegal methods and violent intimidation to grow his construction and real estate empire. Brazáo had been suspected in the killing of Franco for years, but Lessei’s plea deal is the hardest evidence that has emerged linking the political titan to Franco’s death.