Antônio da Costa Santos (also known as Toninho; 4 March 1952 – 10 September 2001)[1] was a Brazilian architect and politician of the Workers' Party (PT).
Federal investigators instead attributed the murder to accomplices of a certain Wanderson de Paula Lima, nicknamed Andinho, who at the time was among the police's most wanted for a number of crimes.
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.
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.
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.
[citation needed] The murder of Celso Daniel, mayor of Santo André 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.