Heavy-handed police raids like the one that claimed dozens of lives in Rio de Janeiro Tuesday have only ever bolstered the drug gangs they are meant to curtail, according to Brazilian organized crime expert Carolina Grillo.

Tuesday's operation saw 2,500 heavily armed officers descend on two poor neighborhoods in Rio's north to flush out members of the Comando Vermelho (Red Command) gang.

Clashes between security forces and gang members left at least 119 dead, according to an official count, in the deadliest such operation to date in the city known for its idyllic beaches, samba and sun, but also an epidemic of armed violence.

Grillo, a sociologist and coordinator of the Group for the Study of New Illegalities (GENI) at Rio's Federal Fluminense University, spoke to AFP about the futility

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