Lampião, better known as Virgulino Ferreira da Silva, was the most famous leader of the Cangaço criminal bands in northeastern Brazil in the early 20th century. He started his criminal life in 1919 seeking revenge after his father was killed by police. As the leader of the Cangaço, Lampião was known for his cruelty, killing, kidnapping, torturing and stealing livestock, though some saw him as a folk hero like Robin Hood for stealing from the wealthy to give to the poor. Lampião had a lover named Maria Bonita, with whom he had a notorious romance similar to Bonnie and Clyde. In 1938, Lampião and Maria Bonita were

1. Lampião
Rei do Cangaço

2. Cangaço
The Cangaço were the name they gave to the
Brazilian northeastern criminal bands. At first, they
were a group of “soldiers” that worked for a farmer
doing the dirty jobs farmers couldn't

3. Lampião "Captain" Virgulino Ferreira da Silva better known as
Lampião was the most famous bandit leader of the Cangaço.
Lampião's exploits turned him into a 'folk hero', the Brazilian
equivalent of Jesse James.

4. From Virgilio to Lampião
At first he was an artesan that worked for his father, Jose Ferreira
Dos Santos. His family had problems with some other family, mostly
because of lands, but wasn't until 1919 that he started his criminal
life.That year his father died in a confrontation with the police. He
wanted vengance for what the police did to his father.

5. Criminal Life
Lampião was known because of his
cruelty. He killed, kidnaped, stoled
livestock, tortured, raped and much
more. Somehow the people looked at
him like the Brazilian sertão´s Robin
Hood, because he stoled from farmers,
politics, police… to give to poor people
that were suffering hunger.

6. Lampião and Maria bonita
Lampião had a lover called Maria Gomez de Oliveira, better
known as Maria Bonita. they had the same “romance and
violence“ notoriety like Bonnie and Clyde from the USA.

7. Death
Lampião and his band were betrayed by one of his members and
were ambushed in one of his hideouts. A police troop armed with
machine guns, attacked the encamped bandits at daybreak.
Lampião, Maria Bonita and nine of his troops were killed, some forty
other members of the bandit group managed to escape.The heads of
those killed were cut off and sent to Salvador, the capital of
Bahia.Later they were put on public exhibition in the cities

8. Viewer discretion is advised
Lampião