Not much was known in Neves' life beyond the fact that he was a UFE captain since 2001. Neves had a record of police brutality and extrajudicial killings since 2004, along with the assassination of two left-wing politicians. He left the police force in November 2005, reportedly disillusioned with justice system’s failure on the war on crime in Sao Paulo. However, ties between Neves and UFE remained as the Crachá Preto and UFE were part of the conspiracy which followed.