Cazuza, a journalist with Rádio Xingó FM in Canindé de Sáo Francisco, a municipality in the northeastern state of Sergipe, was shot dead after leaving a party.
Two days later, police arrested José Ferreira Melo, also known as Zé de Adolfo, who confessed to killing Cazuza. Melo told police that the mayor of Canindé, Genivaldo Galindo da Silva, had offered him 3,000 reales (approximately US$1,500) to kill Cazuza, and that he had bought the murder weapon with the 500 reales ($US250) that the mayor paid him as an advance.
Cazuza had persistent criticized the mayor, denouncing his alleged corruption and malfeasance on a daily basis. According to the Brazilian magazine ISTOÉ, Galindo had threatened publicly to kill the journalist.