It was the television show with the highest ratings in Manaus, the lawless Amazon city, and somehow its breathless reporters always seemed to get to the scene of a shocking crime first.

The show’s host, Wallace Souza, was a former police officer whose fame as a TV host helped to get him elected three times to the State Assembly with a record number of votes.

But now police think they know how Mr Souza’s show got its scoops: they claim that he organised at least five murders to boost the ratings and further his political ambitions in the process.

Mr Souza’s son, Rafael, has been in prison since May on charges of homicide, drug trafficking and illegal possession of arms, and Brazil is now gripped by the case of the TV presenter who may have gone too far.

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