Brazilian gang leader dresses up as his daughter in bid to escape prison

A Brazilian gang leader tried to escape from prison by dressing up as his daughter when she visited him behind bars and walking out the penitentiary's main door in her place, authorities said Sunday. But prison officials said the nervousness displayed by Clauvino da Silva, also known as "Shorty," as he tried to leave the prison in the western part of Rio de Janeiro dressed as a woman gave him away.

His plan was apparently to leave his 19-year-old daughter inside the jail. Police are looking into her possible role as an accomplice in Saturday's failed escape attempt from Gericinó prison.

His daughter and seven other people who had recently visited Silva are being questioned, BBC News reports. Officials believe they smuggled the items Silva used to disguise himself in.

Rio's State Secretary of Prison Administration released photos showing da Silva in a silicon girl's mask and long dark-haired wig, wearing tight jeans and a pink shirt with a cartoon image of donuts. They also released a video in which da Silva can be seen removing the mask and some of the clothes, and saying his full name.

Authorities say da Silva was part of the leadership of the Red Command, one of the most powerful criminal groups in Brazil that controlled drug trafficking in a large part of Rio.

After the failed escape bid, da Silva was transferred to a unit of a maximum-security prison and will face disciplinary sanctions, officials said.

BBC News reports this was not Silva's first escape attempt. In 2013, he was among a group of 31 prisoners who fled the Vicente Piragibe Penal Institute in Gericino through the jail's sewer system. He was later apprehended.