Lampião
"Captain" Virgulino Ferreira da Silva, better known as Lampião (Portuguese pronunciation: [lɐ̃piˈɐ̃w], Oil Lamp), was the most famous leader of a Cangaço band, marauders and outlaws who terrorized the Brazilian Northeast in the 1920s and 1930s.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Virgulino was born on June 7, 1897 in the village of Serra Talhada, in the semi-arid backlands (sertão) of the state of Pernambuco, as the third child of José Ferreira da Silva and Maria Lopes, a humble family of peasants. Until 21 years old, he was a hard-working leathercraft artisan (he was also literate and used reading glasses—both quite unusual features for the rough and poor region where he lived). He lived with his family in a deadly feud with other local families until his father was killed in a confrontation with the police in 1919. Virgulino sought vengeance and proved to be extremely violent in doing so. He became an outlaw and was incessantly pursued by the police (whom he called macacos or monkeys).
For the next 19 years, he traveled with his small band of cangaceiros (men of cangaço-bandits) which was never larger than about 50 heavily armed men on horses wearing leather outfits including hats, jackets, sandals, ammunition belts, and trousers to protect them from the thorns of the caatinga (dry shrubs and brushwood typical of the dry hinterland of Brazil's Northeast.)
Their weapons were mostly stolen from the police and paramilitary units and consisted of Mauser military rifles and a variety of smaller firearms including Winchester rifles, revolvers and the prized Mauser semi-automatic pistol. Lampião used to attack small cities and farms in seven states, kill people and cattle, take hostages for ransom, torture, fire-brand, maim, rape, and ransack. He was joined in 1930 by his girlfriend, Maria Déa, nicknamed Maria Bonita (Beautiful Maria), who, like other women in the band, dressed like cangaceiros and participated in many of their actions. They had a daughter in 1932.
[edit] Death
Finally, on July 28, 1938, Lampião and his band were betrayed by one of his supporters and were ambushed in one of his hideouts, the Angico farm, in the state of Sergipe, by a police troop armed with machine guns. In a quick battle, Lampião, Maria Bonita and 9 of his troops were killed. Their heads were cut and sent off to Salvador, the capital of Bahia, for examination by specialists at the State Forensic Institute, and later, for public exhibition, and only after 1971 were the families of Lampião and Maria Bonita able to reclaim the preserved heads to finally bury them.
[edit] Notable band members
Lampião was active for a number of years and thus many men and women passed through his band. More notable ones included:
- Antonio Ferreira - Lampião's eldest brother, died in an accident in 1926.
- Levino Ferreira - Lampião's brother, killed in battle with police in July 1925.
- Luis Pedro - a member of the band for over a decade, he returned to die by Lampião's side even though he may have been able to escape.
- Corisco - feared for his cruelty. There was speculation that he would take control of the band after Angicos, where had not been present. He was killed by police in 1940.
- Angelo Roque - a trusted lieutenant who was also not present when Lampião was finally killed. Operated until 1940 when he surrendered to police after being assured that he would not be killed for his crimes. He was initially sentenced to 95 years in prison, which was later reduced to 30 years and then commuted in 1950.
[edit] Folk hero
Thus started the legend of Lampião and Maria Bonita, who became subjects of innumerable folk stories, books, comics of Cangaço popular pamphlets (cordel literature), songs, movies, and a number of TV soap operas, with all the elements of drama, passion, and violence typical of "Far West" stories. By many, he was considered a folk hero, a kind of Robin Hood and the head of a peasant revolt against the all-dominant, feudal farmers of the region (the so-called coronels). The fact remains that he was the most notorious of the many rural bandits (in his own admission) that infested the poor hinterland of Northeast Brazil. Lampião was mentioned in the lyrics of "Ratamahatta", song of Brazil metal band Sepultura, from their Roots record.
[edit] References
- Chandler, Billy Jaynes (1984). The Bandit King: Lampião of Brazil. Texas A&M University Press. p. 288. ISBN 978-0890961940.
