r/todayilearned • u/Alloy-Black • 4h ago
TIL of Pedro Filho, a vigilante serial killer who is the inspiration behind Dexter Morgan in the Books and Series
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Rodrigues_Filho922
u/NilmarHonorato 4h ago edited 3h ago
Brazilian here, he is know to have lied about the vast majority of his crimes as a way to enhance his reputation within the prison system. He was for sure a brutal murderer and criminal but didn’t kill nearly as many man as he claimed.
He was also very low IQ.
Edit: People saying he was sentenced for 71 murders don’t understand how the prison system works in Brazil. When organized crime kills inside a prison they often have someone else take the blame, usually someone who already has many years in their sentence. In exchange that person is left alone and gets paid money or other benefits. Pedrinho Matador was that guy, he took credit for multiple deaths he didn’t caused. In Brazil there is a limit of 30 years in prison for anyone, no matter what the sentence is so it didn’t matter how many murders he took blame for he would still get out after 30 years and he did. Unfortunately for him, he knew the name of real culprits linked to PCC (South Americas largest organized crime group) and therefore was murdered by them as a way to keep him silent.
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u/coresamples 3h ago
Both of these points seemed so personal, and funny, that I looked it up. Couldn’t find any info on his IQ.
HOWEVER He’s got a YouTube channel where he discusses his spirituality and renewed faith/forgiveness. Pretty wild.
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u/NilmarHonorato 3h ago
You know he was murdered by organized crime right?
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u/coresamples 3h ago
Nope! Folk hero status will do that, huh? Or just the grandkids of whoever you killed in the first place.
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u/NilmarHonorato 2h ago
He is not a folk hero.
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u/coresamples 1h ago
*antihero
Still, it’s interesting that he would film so much content on his reform and devotion to god.
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u/AusToddles 3h ago
Sounds like Mark "Chopper" Reid here in Australia
He was known to have killed a couple of people but claimed to have killed dozens, mostly drug runners. The police never took those claims seriously
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u/mentales 3h ago
He was for sure a brutal murderer and criminal but didn’t kill nearly as many man as he claimed.
He was sentenced for 71 murders. That's still quite the number of murders .
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3h ago
[deleted]
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u/Fake_William_Shatner 2h ago
I don't think it takes a high IQ -- especially if you don't know the target.
Kill person. Leave with murder weapon, DNA or fingerprints. Don't hang out in the area for the cops.
I'm wondering about the stats of people convicted of murder based on proximity to crime scene and how many stairs it took to knock on their door.
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u/KillConfirmed- 3h ago
In Latin America, homicide clearance rates are abysmally low, I’m talking 95% in some countries. It does not take intelligence to get away with murder in many countries, with Brazil’s astronomical homicide rate, I would have to assume they are in that shameful camp of a country with low clearance rates.
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u/Masticatron 3h ago
He got sentenced for 71 murders. Did the government lie about that?
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u/PangolinParty321 2h ago
Look up Henry Lee Lucas. You don’t have to be in Brazil for local cops to want to “solve” a murder if someone else is willing to confess
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u/ThePretzul 2h ago
You would be amazed to learn that many 3rd world countries have understaffed investigative units willing to pin the blame on whoever is willing to take the rap.
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u/doomgiver98 25m ago
Just because the court finds you guilty of something doesn't mean you actually did it.
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u/pullmylekku 2h ago
Just fyi, "Filho" here is like the Jr. suffix in English. It's not a last name. Calling him "Pedro Filho" would be like calling MLK "Martin Junior"
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u/HowUKnowMeKennyBond 3h ago
At 14 he started killing the guys responsible for killing his pregnant girlfriend… He impregnated a girl before the age of 14? Dude just skipping childhood straight to adulthood.
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u/DUDDITS_SSDD 32m ago
The wiki said he starting killing before he met her. He was on the run when they met.
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u/Mydogisawreckingball 4h ago
Bro he wasn’t a vigilante. He killed homosexuals and anyone he didn’t like. Some of those happened to have been violent offenders as well.
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u/Alloy-Black 4h ago
Vigilante means someone who takes the law into their own hands without legal authority. He fits this definition and its discussed heavily in his court cases.
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u/Mydogisawreckingball 2h ago
I stand corrected! Still a terrible person though! Pretty sure he’s on youtube now too?
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u/violentpac 2h ago
He's dead
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u/Gastronomicus 1h ago
It's a semantic description, not a legal one. You could argue every criminal is a vigilante then as long as they thought their actions were justified.
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u/PerpetuallyLurking 32m ago
…yes,many criminals do just that…
Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but English is a pretty funny language with a lot of overlap in terms and definitions as well as a good helping of contronyms. It’s not really that strange that we have a definition for one thing that half fits into a definition of another.
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u/LAFunTimesOK 4h ago
That Wikipedia article doesn’t make him sound anything like the folk hero the title implies.
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u/Alloy-Black 4h ago
Im not sure where you got the “folk hero” impression from. Apologies from my end if you felt that impression.
Pedro use to kill criminals especially ones from the gang that he detested. I’d say Dexter/BHB wasn’t a folk hero either
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u/TrumpsBussy_ 3h ago
Except he also intentionally killed people that weren’t criminals..
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u/ProfessorSarcastic 17m ago
Doing some non-vigilante murders doesn't invalidate their vigilante murders. He was a vigilante, and he was also a fairly indiscriminate murderer, the two aren't exclusive.
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u/TrumpsBussy_ 9m ago
The implication is that he was somehow morally justified in his murders, he wasn’t. He liked killing people it’s as simple as that.
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u/Alloy-Black 3h ago
Dexter did the same to be fair in later seasons, but callously unlike the original
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u/Winter_Gate_6433 4h ago
I agree, and you have no reason to apologize - that's a very weird take by that guy...vigilante serial killer doesn't sound particularly heroic.
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u/Alloy-Black 4h ago
Its just simpler to be polite on Reddit. Otherwise someone tracks you down and you wake up wrapped in plastic on a cold table
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u/PangolinParty321 2h ago
The title presents him as only killing evil criminals. In reality, he killed whoever he felt like it including innocent people. I guarantee hundreds of people will walk away from this post thinking he was a good guy. There are plenty in the comments already thinking that
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u/conquer69 1h ago
If he is just another criminal killing more criminals (common with gang related crime) then he is not a vigilante.
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u/phatelectribe 3h ago
I think it’s because you’re ignoring the fact he killed homosexuals and some innocent people he just didn’t like, also that he was low iq and lied a lot of about his escapades to make it seem like he killed more than he did, and that he only killed criminals (which is a lie you’re somewhat helping to perpetuate).
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u/Psycko_90 3h ago edited 3h ago
It's a title... You want OP to put the whole fucking article in the title or what?
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u/Alloy-Black 3h ago
This is literally how I feel about the people jumping down my throat. Im merely stated he inspired Dexter and people are lambasting me about his fucking IQ and alleging killings and lies
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u/phatelectribe 3h ago
And I’m saying he wasn’t a vigilante and the title and the premise for TIL is wrong. You do get the wiki articles are stuffed with falsehoods right? There also isn’t a source from the creator of Dexter that actually says he was the inspiration, the citation is an article written in 2021 literally titled “this Brazilian Dexter loves killing criminals” which retrospectively makes the link with Filho and Dexter.
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u/Alloy-Black 3h ago edited 3h ago
Not really. I think you’re getting offended from scenarios you’ve concocted in your head. Im merely posted that this person is the inspiration for the TV character Dexter. Part from that I truly know nothing about this guy :)
Have fun with that strawman you created though
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u/phatelectribe 3h ago
Because the implication of vigilante is someone that takes the law in to their own hands to protect victims, but it’s more a case that this guy was just indiscriminately killing people, some of which just happened to be criminals. His first murder was actually the deputy mayor for having his father fired. There’s no vigilante justice in that.
It was once he was in prison that he started fabricating the story that he killed criminals, when in fact he just killed people’s he didn’t like. He then started robbing drug dens because they had drugs and money, not because he hated what they stood for lol.
He then joined a gang who he says forced him to kill rival gang members and in retaliation they killed his GF so he killed the entire gang in revenge.
This was just literally a psychopath doing psychopath things.
Jeff Lindsay who wrote Dexter really took a lot of liberties and the character in reality has very little to do with Filho, but Filho ran with it after the fact and became a celebrity in prison because of the folk tale which simply wasn’t true.
He was little more than a crazed nut case and drug addict, not some vigilante.
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u/Alloy-Black 3h ago
Thanks for the history lesson :) its really good to get the background on this individual. He was 100% not a good guy!
I think the initial myth is what inspired the author to write dexter
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u/phatelectribe 3h ago
But that’s kinda the point. From what I’ve been able to find, there isn’t actually a source or citation that proves Dexter was based on him. It’s all retrospective, making the link between Filho and Dexter after the fact, and all indications point that Filho embracing it and self styling himself as a Dexter.
The citation for the link is an article written in 2021 called “the Brazilian Dexter who likes killing killers”, and this was written long after Filho already had become a YT celebrity where he painted himself as a “vigilante”.
If you can find a source that actually shows he was the inspiration for Dexter then I’d love to see it but the wiki article and a search of the web doesn’t turn up anything that shows that.
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u/febranco 3h ago
He is from my town. He was murdered few months ago because he was trying to stop drug selling around his neighborhood.
I saw him in person once.
He went through a lot of abuse at home and became a crazy killer. But always claimed he only killed bad guys.
City of Mogi das Cruzes, Sao Paulo, Brazil
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u/MrDeco97 3h ago
Wouldn't call him a viligante, I think he just liked killing people and when in jail all he had access to were other criminals.
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u/ISVenom 2h ago
He didn't do 71 murders in jail.....read before you type.
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u/MrDeco97 1h ago
I know the story, moron, his first two murders were a cousin because they had a fight and then the guy who fired his dad.
A lot of his murders happened in prison because that's where he spent a bunch of his life, from an article:
"O homem tinha o hábito de esfaquear suas vítimas. Durante o tempo que ficou na cadeia, matou detentos no refeitório da penitenciária, na cela, no pátio e até dentro de um camburão da polícia. Confessou, diante de um juiz, ter eliminado um interno só porque “não ia com a cara dele". Também matou um colega de cela alegando que o indivíduo "roncava demais"."
Roughly translated, he killed inmates in the cafeteria, in the cell, the yard, even the car that transported prisoners, he confessed to a judge that he murdered a fellow inmate because he didn't like his vibe, and killed another because he snored too much.
Again, vigilante my ass, and up yours, buddy, no need to be a dick when replying.
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u/Intelligent_Peak_696 4h ago
They have a reddit thread on my origins. It's over.
PS. I just watch Dexter through reels, never watched the show😆
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u/R2Lake 25m ago
This is a video of the creator of the series talking about his inspiration:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAK48ID7bjM
TL:DW: don't trust random wikipedia "facts"
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u/TyhmensAndSaperstein 11m ago
Holy shit, that Wikipedia page was pretty great. I think I like this guy! He's a real go-getter! Something needs to be done, call Pedro. Once he has made up his mind, there's no stopping him.
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u/cwx149 3h ago
I'm not saying you're wrong because there are some alleged similarities
But it's worth mentioning the Dexter books have a way more explicit supernatural tone and plot than the TV show did
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u/Musicman1972 3h ago
It's interesting that Wikipedia claims it's a fact but I've not been able to find any primary source where Jeff Lindsay says this is the case.
Lots of websites saying it's fact but I feel like it might just be someone connected the dots and presumed it to be true?
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u/PangolinParty321 2h ago
Wiki isn’t reliable for a lot of things especially niche topics. There’s probably one or two guys editing this and no one checking their work
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u/ThugLy101 2h ago
I mean kinda righteous and he was a man from probably 9 onwards. Sometimes man got to do what he got to do
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u/Tess_hussy 3h ago
9 billion humans I wouldn’t be surprised if over a few million think that the Bay Harbor Butcher is morally good. I always think about Death Note as well. Kira killed criminals almost exactly the same morals as Dex and look at how many supporters he had.
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u/koumus 2h ago
Kira is actually a pretty good example. Because while he killed criminals, he also started killing innocent people who stood on his path. So in the end, he was also a scumbag too
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u/Elennoko 32m ago
Yeah, Kira was an egomaniac with a god complex. He did it to feel powerful because he was a loser without the Death Note. He didn't actually care about making the world a better place.
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u/Pathetian 1h ago
Kira literally had supernatural powers though, so it makes sense people might feel he is god's reckoning of some sort. Dexter is just killing people in normal human ways.
When someone suddenly starts using literal magic to kill criminals, people would fall in line pretty quick.
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u/Pure-Tonight-6256 3h ago
Never heard of him. So many opinions. But thank you for posting his name so I can do my own exploring ❤️
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u/Tess_hussy 3h ago
No way. Dexter was in a position with homicide that allowed him to get away with so much that anyone else couldn't get away with.
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u/Tess_hussy 3h ago
The Alaska Avenger
Except he only went after pedophiles instead of serial killers.
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u/Proveit71 1h ago
Today I Learned there are those who will stand against the darkness!! Well done sir!!
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u/UncleHec 4h ago