The streets of the Brazilian city were filled with thousands of people who had come out to celebrate the weeklong activities which formed the Dias Dos Muertos or Days of the Dead.
People dressed in macabre costumes of monsters from the folklore of Brazil and other countries paraded in the streets to music played by roving bands of musicians who were similarly attired. Other people went to cemeteries and churches throughout the city, with candles and flowers and to offer prayers for the dead.
However, in the midst of these annual activities, operations continued at the Barrancos Penitentiary in the heart of the city.
Antonio Palmeiras was escorted by a contingent of heavily-armed prison guards towards a waiting armoured car.
A reputed drug dealer and racketeer, Palmeiras had turned State's witness and had agreed to rat on his former colleagues in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
The still of the night was shattered by a whizzing noise and Palmeiras fell to the ground clutching the right side of his neck as blood flowing freely from a gaping wound there.
As the prison's alarms wailed, Antonio Palmeiras breathed his final breath and lay still. A silver stiletto with a skull's head hilt, protruding from his neck.
The following morning, Rio de Janeiro reverted to normal as the city rested in preparation for another night of ritual activities for the Days of the Dead, which some regarded as Halloween in Brazil.
In her office in the city, attorney and independent senator Rita Collor was not superstitious and paid no attention to the celebration of the Days of the Dead.
From behind her big-rimmed glasses, 28 year old Rita read at the morning paper which highlighted the assassination of Antonio Palmeiras.
Palmeiras was once a key member of the Ricardo Rocha crime family which had taken over the city's southern barrios with its illegal drug operations.
Rita played an instrumental role in defending victims of the Rocha Cartel in her regular identity as an attorney.
But no one knew that the mild-mannered and dowdily-attired lawyer was actually the sexy Brazilian Superwoman known as Samba.
In her sexy, super powered alter-ego, Rita shut down several of the Rocha Cartel's drug operations and captured Palmeiras, who in exchange for a lighter prison sentence had promised to reveal the intricacies of his former boss' operations.
"The police can do little to find Palmeiras' killer. I shallhave to find the killer and bring Rocha to justice...." the 28-year-old attorney resolved with a smile, excited to become Samba again.
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