Meet the Brazilian, the most feared contract killer, who caused 500 victims

On August 6, 1971, when he was just 17 years old, Julio Santana tightened his grip on his shotgun and committed his first murder. Sot, 64, says he stopped counting when the victims reached 492. However, he still hasn't forgotten the look on the face of the first victim.

In the village where he grew up, deep in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, he was known as a good sniper. But he had only killed animals for food. The first man he killed was Antonio Martins, a 38-year-old blond, white-skinned fisherman known by the nickname "Verdhacuku". He had raped a 13-year-old girl in the neighboring village, and the girl's father had paid Julio's uncle to kill her. Hulioja was surprised that his uncle, a respected policeman, was also a contract killer.

He guarded the victim for three hours in the forest, but he was reluctant. He feared that he would go to hell if he killed a man. But when the uncle explained how he had tricked the girl, promising to show her dolphins in the sea, and then raped her on the boat, Julioja pulled herself together. The uncle was sick with malaria, too lazy to do it himself, reports tch.

Julio shows only part of his face, as he does not want the neighbors to recognize him. Now he lives in a quiet town, and has land where he grows vegetables with his wife.

Hulloj knew that from that distance, less than 40 meters, he would not be wrong. Even today, he does not forget the horror that appeared on the victim's face, the moment the bullet caught him in the chest, a second before he fell on the boat. He got rid of the body by ripping open its stomach and throwing it into a river with piranja. After that he swore to God that he would never kill anyone again. But fate wanted him to become one of the most feared contract killers.

Santana killed a 22-year-old teacher, a famous communist activist, while working as an assassin for the Brazilian government.

After the murder, the uncle, who was a policeman with high-level contacts, hired him as a hitman for the Brazilian government against communist rebels in the Amazon. From 1967 to 1974, the Araguaia rebels attempted to overthrow Brazil's military dictatorship by enlisting farmers and fishermen in their cause.

His life has now become a book, after a collaboration with a journalist, Klester Kavalkanti, and is titled "The Name of Death"

Julio was 18 years old when he played a leading role in the team that tracked down and captured Jose Zhenoino, a student and communist leader. He remembers how they tortured him, along with others, for days on end. Years later, José Zhenoino became a congressman and chairman of the Labor Party. In an interview with Cavalcanto, the journalist who followed Julio's life, he said he remembered the little boy who had caught him. They had rewarded him with a "Coca-Cola", his favorite drink, which the family could not afford.

Julio shows only part of his face, as he does not want the neighbors to recognize him. Now he lives in a quiet town, and has land where he grows vegetables with his wife.

Shortly after Zhenoino's capture, Santana killed another communist militant, 22-year-old teacher Maria Lusia Petit. She was declared missing, but was buried in a mass grave, along with other victims.

The house where Julio Santana, the contract killer who left behind more than 500 victims, lived for some time.

After two decades, when the legal order was established, the victims Santana was supposed to kill suddenly changed. From politicians, now they were husbands who cheated on their wives, or gold miners in the mines. After killing a cheating wife, Santana was caught by the police. He was forced to give the motorcycle as a bribe to be released.

It was at this time that he realized that his uncle was deceiving him. He would find people to kill, but give them a very small part of the payment. He kept most of it for himself. It paid him $60 to $80 per kill, the minimum wage in Brazil. Julio confronted and argued with his uncle and has not spoken to him since.

Julio was 18 years old when he played a leading role in the team that tracked down and captured Jose Zhenoino, a student and communist leader. He remembers how they tortured him, along with others, for days on end. Years later, José Zhenoino became a congressman and chairman of the Labor Party. In an interview with Cavalcanto, the journalist who followed Julio's life, he said he remembered the little boy who had caught him. They had rewarded him with a "Coca-Cola", his favorite drink, which the family could not afford.

He stopped killing only in 2006, when he turned 52, and his wife gave him an ultimatum: "Either leave that life, or forget about me and the children." She had filled her mind that the 10 prayers that Hulioja made to the god after each murder, did not save him from hell.

Psychologically burdened, he joined an evangelist group, and he thinks that there God gave him the strength to continue his life even after that evil work. He never told his two children, who are now parents themselves, what work he did.

Today he lives in a small, quiet town, and refuses to be photographed, since the neighbors don't know who he is. He has a farm, together with his wife, where they spend their days growing vegetables. He is grateful to the woman for making him understand, and says that he is done with that life.