Famous gospel singer Flordelis dos Santos de Souza, known as Flordelis, was also found guilty of related crimes, including unsuccessfully trying to poison Anderson do Carmo with cyanide at least six times before resigning and arranging his murder. Do Carmo, 42, was shot multiple times in June 2019 as he returned to the gated home they shared with their dozens of children – both biological and adopted – just outside Rio. Flordelis’ son Flávio was sentenced to 33 years in prison last year for pulling the trigger, and his adopted brother Lucas Cezar was sentenced to seven years for helping to buy the deadly weapon, a sentence reduced for cooperating with police. Four others, including a biological son and another adoptee, were also given prison terms earlier this year in a case that – with its mix of religion, celebrity and politics – made headlines around the world. At last week’s trial, Flordelis’ lawyers argued that she was unaware of the crime committed by people who wanted to protect her from alleged sexual and physical abuse by the evangelical preacher. A judge rejected those arguments and said she was the mastermind behind the crime which was made to look like a robbery gone wrong. Flordelis ordered the killing “because the victim maintained tight control over the family’s finances and strictly managed conflicts, refusing to give preferential treatment to close (friends) of the former MP at the expense of other family members,” the court said. Flordelis’ co-defendant, daughter Simone Rodrigues, was sentenced to 31 years, four months and 20 days for her role in the attempted murder of Do Carmo. Two of her other children and a granddaughter were acquitted of murder and attempted murder. Flordelis, now 61, was born and raised in Jacarezinho, a large Rio favela, where she began her singing career in the 1990s and met Do Carmo, who was 16 years her junior, when he was in beginning of his adolescence. The couple founded a church together – the Florida Ministry – and became famous for their huge family of 55 children, most of them adopted. Thousands of people frequented the empire of nine churches where Flordelis sang, while she also appeared on television as an example of a devoted mother. He parlayed that reputation into a congressional seat in 2018, winning more votes than any other candidate in Rio and joining the new government of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. But investigators said that soon after she took office she began plotting Carmo’s removal. She was stripped of parliamentary immunity in June 2021, paving the way for her trial.
