By Helena de Moura, CNN
(CNN) -- Brazilian football star Adriano appeared before a prosecutor on Wednesday and denied accusations of associating with a top Rio de Janeiro drug gang, state officials and Adriano's lawyer said.
During a preliminary hearing, Rio de Janeiro state prosecutor Alexandre Themistocles interrogated the stand-out striker, who goes by only one name as do many Brazilian footballers, over his alleged relationship with Fabiano Atanasio da Silva, one of Brazil's most wanted drug suspects.
According to law enforcement agencies in Rio de Janeiro, da Silvia is a drug kingpin who rules many of Rio's slum neighborhoods with an iron fist.
Investigations against Adriano were launched after Rio de Janeiro's O Dia newspaper published photos of the footballer posing with da Silva while making a hand gesture that is commonly known to represent a drug gang known as Commando Vermelho, or the Red Command.
The Red Command is the oldest and one of the most powerful gangs in Rio de Janeiro, dominant in the slum neighborhoods known as favelas, according to authorities.
