Virgulino Ferreira da Silva, better known by the soubriquet Lampião, was the most famous bandit of the Cangaço and is the most famous folk hero of Country of Brazil. Born in the small city of Serra Talhada in northeast of Brazil in the year of 1897, Lampião eventually became the leader of a small band of bandits that spread fear & hope throughout the Sertão, the Brazilian badlands, until his death in 1938 in a small farm of Angicos. Lampião exploits would never escape the imaginary of the Brazilian mind, specially of those who lived in the badlands were stories of the bandit, fictional or real, dominated the fiction industry.
To better understand who Lampião was and what was the Cangaço one should first understand the Sertão, the badlands where Lampião and his bandits roamed. Localized in the northeast of Brazil, the Sertão is a semi-arid region known for its dryness, compared to the rest of Brazil, and is known to have long years of absolute drought and short years where the rain cause great floods. One could compare it to Australian Outback. However more than the Australian Outback or even the American Frontier the Brazilian Sertão is known for the state of absolute misery held by the population. Thanks to the the irregular rain activity, the lack of investment by the Brazilian government, and the centralization of power in the hands of local colonels that controlled most of the important resources of the land putting the lower-class into a state of servitude, made living in the Sertão a miserable experience to members of said lower class. Hunger and poverty were common problems in the Sertão for much of Brazil existence as a independent nation, and up until the 80's it wasn't uncommon for many to simply die of hunger. Morally, Society in the Sertão was also vastly different from most of Brazil. Law enforcement were controlled by the local colonels who used their power to erase their enemies, robbery was considered an unpardonable crime while homicide is accepted by many a normal occurrence. What does it take for one to make banditry their life.
The Cangaço, named after "the canga" better known as the Yoke in American speaking countries, was one of the main paths someone who had no qualms in killing to survive could take in the Sertão. The first was the path of a Jagunço, or mercenary, who worked for the many Colonels that controlled the outback doing their dirty deeds in exchange of money, clothing and a place to stay. And for those that for one reason or another couldn't work under their rule the path of a Cangaçeiro was their next option. The Cangaçeiro were nomad bandits that traveled in group through out the semi arid desert who worked with some of the most poor citizens of the region to survive.
There are three types of people who follow that path. The first and the most common one are the ones who are forced out of hunger to join those groups: They make most part of the grunts and generally never rise to positions of leadership under those groups. The second type are the Avengers: People who join the bandits to acquire means to kill someone who has done harm upon them and their family. Those are the most romanticized of the Cangaçeiros. Unable to find in the current justice system ways to realize their righteous vengeance they turn themselves into the outlaw life. While this is absolutely the most romanticized of the versions, Cangaçeiros that are truly in this life to realize their vengeance tend to settle down after managing to do so. The last type of bandit, and the one that Lampião better represents, is the opportunistic one: Here the bandit falls in love with all the benefits of this kind of life. Lampião might have started his career as the second type but it didn't take look before he threw away all pretense of revenge and begun treating his outlaw life as a legitimate career.
Virgulino joined the group of Sinho Pereira after losing his father in a dispute between families. Sinho Pereira was a competent Cangaçeiro and while he never reached the heights other Cangaçeiros have reached, Lampião had deep respect over his old boss and his crew who Lampião considers to be his real family. It was under the command of Sinho Pereira that Virgulino got the famous nickname of Lampião, or Oil Lamp in english: In night battles Lampião could fire so quickly with his Winchester Rifle that the light coming out of the barrel of his gun was continuous almost like an Oil Lamp. Amusingly Sinho Pereira disliked that habit because of how quickly Lampião was able to spend the ammunition of the crew. Out of everything Sinho Pereira has taught Lampião, ammunition management wasn't his forte. When the old bandit retired, he gave command of his crew to Lampião who quickly rose to the ranks of second-in-command.
Now "Capitão Lampião", the cangaçeiro quickly rose his influence not only in the region of where he was born, not only in the outback, but throughout the entirety of the Northeast of Brazil. He had alliances with many colonels, many important regilious figure and the admiration of many of the regular citizens of northeast who struggled with their daily lives. Lampião adventures and hijinks against authority, his cruelty against those who betrayed his code of law and his opportunism transformed into legendary tales, some commissioned by the bandit himself, that dominated the imaginary of the northeasterners.
That fascination didn't stop with his death in a surprise ambush by the police. Lampião was, and still is, arguably the most famous folk hero of Brazil and definitively the most famous legend of the entirety of Northeast of Brazil. His characterization changes between selfless Robin Hood-type hero to Crazed Killer but no matter what version you're talking about the bandit king dominates the scene symbolizing complete freedom. He has talked with Jesus, Robbed Satan and played football with God. And now Lampião, King of Bandits will enjoy life once again in this War of Legends