Lampião

"Captain" Virgulino Ferreira da Silva (Brazilian Portuguese: [viʁɡulĩnu feˈʁejɾɐ da ˈsiwvɐ]; 7 June 1897 – 28 July 1938), better known as Lampião (older spelling: Lampeão, Portuguese pronunciation: [lɐ̃piˈɐ̃w], meaning "lantern" or "oil lamp"), was probably the twentieth century's most successful traditional bandit leader. The banditry endemic to the Brazilian Northeast was called Cangaço. Cangaço had origins in the late 19th century but was particularly prevalent in the 1920s and 1930s. Lampião led a band of up to 100 cangaceiros, who occasionally took over small towns and who fought a number of successful actions against paramilitary police when heavily outnumbered. Lampião's exploits and reputation turned him into a folk hero, the Brazilian equivalent of Jesse James or Pancho Villa.