Justice

Rio's Biggest Prostitution Crackdown in a Generation

Before it hosts the World Cup and the Summer Olympics, the city is taking aim at brothels long popular with tourists.
Julie Ruvolo

RIO DE JANEIRO — On the eve of June 14, as tourists streamed into town for the highly publicized Rio+20 Conference, armed members of the Copacabana Police Precinct and Rio’s public prosecutor’s office arrived at a brothel called Centauros, in the heart of Ipanema Beach.

They arrested prostitutes, management and the owner, seized documents, computers and used condoms, and walked out with $150,000 dollars in cash.