Clowning is serious business for doctor to homeless in Brazil's 'crackland'

Flavio Falcone, a psychiatrist, talks to homeless people in an area known as "cracolandia," or crackland, a dangerous wasteland of about eight blocks in the historic center of Sao Paulo, Brazil, February 9, 2021. Costumed as a jester with a bright red nose, Falcone has become an icon in Brazil's crackland. Falcone's patients know him as The Clown, not as a doctor. "This character represents the exposure of mistakes, of the fragility of what exists in the shadow. The exposure of failures," said Falcone. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - In his white doctor's jacket, psychiatrist Flavio Falcone could not get homeless drug addicts to talk.

But costumed as a jester with a bright red nose, he has become an icon in Brazil's "cracolandia," or crackland: a dangerous wasteland of about eight blocks in the historic center of Sao Paulo where addicts twitch and pushers roam.