Robinho's Christmas in notorious 'prison of the famous' – drugs, killers and 'jail Tinder'
Robinho, the disgraced former Manchester City, Real Madrid and AC Milan forward, is banged up alongside high-profile murderers as he serves a nine-year sentence for rape
Celebrity murderers, contraband cocaine, and inmates hooking up via their own version of Tinder; São Paulo’s Tremembé prison complex is infamous in Brazil.
Nicknamed ‘the prison of the famous’ for its population of high-profile criminals, even convicted killers were among those let out this Christmas to spend time with their families. But Robinho, perhaps its best-known inmate of all, was told he didn’t qualify for leave and had to spend the festive period behind bars in rural São Paulo state.
Ex-Real Madrid and Manchester City star Robinho, who was convicted of rape by an Italian court in 2017, started a nine-year sentence at Tremembé last March. The former Brazil international - once named by the legendary Pelé as his heir apparent - and five other men took part in the sickening gang rape of an Albanian woman in a Milan nightclub in January 2013.
Legal battles and appeals meant the 40-year-old - full name Robson de Souza - was only locked up in March 2024. He is serving his time at Tremembé - formally known as Penitentiary II Doctor José Augusto César Salgado, or P2 - because Brazil does not extradite its own citizens.
It marks a staggering fall from grace for the disgraced forward, who won two La Liga titles with Madrid and a Serie A crown with AC Milan in a glittering career that saw City manager Mark Hughes pay £32.5m for his services in 2008. He married his wife Vivian Guglielminetti the following year and the couple have three children together.
Among the Copa America winner’s fellow lags at Tremembé is Lindemberg Alves, who was sentenced to a colossal 98 years and ten months in prison for murdering his ex-girlfriend Eloá Cristina in 2008 after a 100-hour stand-off with police. Brazilian law, however, caps actual time served at 30 years.
Another killer, Cristian Cravinhos, is serving a 38-year sentence for the brutal 2002 murder of married couple Manfred and Marísia von Richthofen in São Paulo. Cravinhos and his brother Daniel were recruited for the execution by the victims’ daughter, Suzane von Richthofen, who was dating Daniel at the time and callously hoped to benefit from an inheritance windfall.
In a book about the von Richthofen murders, journalist Ullisses Campbell noted how inmates in the male section of the prison had created their own version of Tinder to woo females housed separately 5km away, sending full-length pictures via visitors, along with letters which had to be read aloud by security staff.
Love blossomed between one such couple: Vinícius Nunes, who killed his own brother, and Jaqueline Moraes, who murdered her husband by stabbing him 56 times. However, when Nunes eventually met Moraes in person, he claimed he had been catfished as she was heavier and more wrinkled than depicted in her old picture. He ditched her at the prison gates for a younger inmate, Marlene, to whom he later got engaged.
Many Brazilian household names, including doctor Roger Abdelmassih, former senator Luiz Estevão, and journalist Antônio Marcos Pimenta das Neves have served time at Tremembé.
P2 does not house gang leaders in bid to lower the chance of violence. Among its 430 inmates are those involved in high-profile crimes, politicians, doctors, and security force agents. Cells vary in size from eight to 15 square metres, with up to to six people housed in the biggest cells.
A controversial book about Tremembé was banned from sale in 2019 after a judge dismissed it as “gossip”. The author, one-time inmate Acir Filló, claimed to have exclusive interviews with P2’s most notorious prisoners. And in May 2020, a raid by prison agents found a man attempting to smuggle 122g of cocaine and 125g of marijuana into P2.
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle in an unbeatable new deal that saves £192 and includes more than 1,000 live matches each season across the Premier League, EFL and more.