Suspected murder-for-hire TV host dies before trial

Wallace Souza, a TV host and drug kingpin who Brazilian police say created a death squad in order to provide fodder for his highly rated reality-TV crime show, has died. Souza, 51, was a disgraced policeman, a popular member of the elected legislature and, according to authorities, a high-ranking crime figure in the jungle outpost of Manaus, which has long had a reputation for lawlessness. He was best known as the host of a gory midday serial called, Canal Livre, a sort of Brazilian America’s Most Wanted.