Antônio da Costa Santos (also known as Toninho; 4 March 1952 – 10 September 2001) was a Brazilian architect and politician of the

Workers' Party Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism ...

(PT). Toninho took office as Mayor of

Campinas Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in São Paulo (state), São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's popul ...

(the third largest city in the state of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, with over 1,000,000 inhabitants), on 1 January 2001. He was shot to death at 10:15 pm, 10 September 2001, as he was driving home alone from a shopping mall.Lilian Santos (28 February 2002)
POLÍCIA DE SÃO PAULO DIVULGA LAUDOS DOS CASOS DOS PREFEITOS DO PT...
São Paulo State Public Security Secretariat (SSP-SP) official site. In Portuguese; accessed on 17 August 2009. The details and motives of his murder, which stunned the country, is still largely unknown . His assassination was overshadowed by the deadly

9/11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

on the US approximately a day later. Toninho was succeeded in office by the vice-Mayor, Izalene Tiene. He left a daughter and a widow.

Murder investigations

The murder took place in a poorly lit access road leading out of the mall. Witnesses in other cars only said to have seen a silver Vectra driving at high speed and heard shots. Two bullets shattered his car's windows and the last hit him on his left shoulder. Another car (a green Vectra) had been the object of a robbery attempt a few minutes before, on the same route.

Local police version

Initial investigations by the Campinas Civil Police promptly led to accusations against four local criminals. Robber Anderson Rogério Davi or "Boca", 20, was arrested on 5 October, and he pointed to three other accomplices, and two of them (Flávio Roberto Mendes Clara, 19 and A.S.C, 17) were arrested on 10 October. According to the police, the men confessed that they were driving two motorcycles, looking for a car to rob. They overtook Toninho's car, but as he accelerated instead of stopping, Flávio would have shot him. A 38 caliber weapon found with Flávio would have been the crime weapon.
''Assaltante confessa ter matado Toninho do PT''
Folha da Região (Araçatuba), 10 October 2001. Accessed on 17 August 2009.

Federal police version

However, subsequent investigations by the

Brazilian Federal Police The Federal Police of Brazil () or Department of Federal Police () is a federal law enforcement agency of Brazil and One of the most know nationals Polices forces of the Executive Power of Brazil. Besides with Polícia Rodoviária Federal (Feder ...

showed that the confessions and evidence were invalid. Federal investigators instead attributed the murder to accomplices of a certain

Wanderson de Paula Lima Wanderson is a given name, a Brazilian variant of the Anderson (given name), given name and Anderson (surname), surname Anderson. Notable people with the name include: *Wanderson de Paula Sabino (born 1977), known as Somália, Brazilian striker *Wa ...

, nicknamed Andinho, who at the time was among the police's most wanted for a number of crimes. The main clue was a match between the bullets (9 mm and caliber 45) recovered from Toninho' murder scene and from the kidnapping of an 8-year-old boy in Campinas, four days after the murder. Wanderson was arrested on 25 February 2002, in

Itu The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)In the other common languages of the ITU: * * is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established ...

. According to the police, a 9 mm pistol found in Andinho's hideout matched that used on Toninho and on the kidnapping. The police claimed that three men from Andinho's gang, driving a silver Vectra, had attempted to stop a green Vectra shortly before Toninho's murder, intending to carry out a

flash kidnapping Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * The Flash, several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Barry Allen ** Wally West, the first Kid Flash and third adult Flash ...

. The green Vectra was hit by caliber 45 bullets and showed silver paint streaks from an attempt by the robbers to block its path, which also smashed one of the robbers' car headlights. This detail is confirmed by a security camera from the mall that recorded a car with one headlight off. While running away from that crime, the robbers ran into the Mayor's car, and either attempted to rob it too, or were irritated because Toninho was driving at the speed limit and blocking their way. However, the three suspects had already been killed by the police before they could be interrogated. Two of them (Valmir Conti or "Valmirzinho", 29, and Anderson José Bastos or "Alemãozinho", 22) were hiding with other two alleged members of Wanderson's gang in an apartment in

Caraguatatuba Caraguatatuba, widely known by its abbreviation ''Caraguá'', is a city in the eastern part of the southern state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 123,389 (2020 ...

. All four men died on 2 October 2001 in a shootout with a team from the Campinas Civil Police. No policemen were hurt. On 26 January 2006, two members of that team were formally indicted by the São Paulo's Public Attorney for connections to Wanderson's gang. Claudio Julio Tognolli (2006)
''MP denuncia policiais acusados de chacina em Caraguatatuba''
Law information site www.conjur.com.br, accessed on 17 August 2009.

Political crime

The police have always maintained that Toninho's murder was a common crime and that the criminals were not aware of the victim's identity. However, suspicions that the murder may have been targeted and may have had political motives were widespread, and have increased recently. Just before his death, Toninho had started investigations on alleged overbudgeting in contracts with urban cleaning companies. Toninho said he had received death threats, but was not going to be intimidated by them. The murder of Celso Daniel, mayor of

Santo André Santo ('saint' in various languages) may refer to: People * Santo (given name) * Santo (surname) * El Santo, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (1917–1984), Mexican wrestler and actor * Bob Santo or Santo, stage name of Ghanaian comedian John Evans Kwad ...

and also a PT member, a few months later (22 January 2002) also contributed to these suspicions. Toninho's widow Roseana recently complained angrily against President Lula's alleged lack of interest in her husband's murder investigations.

References

External links