12. The Birth of a Bandit
Lampiao was born Virgulino Ferreira da Silva in the semi-arid state of Pernambuco, sometime around 1900. The third son of José Ferreira dos Santos and Maria Sucena da Purificação, he worked as a craftsman until age twenty one. Two things stood out about him where he grew up: he was literate, and wore reading glasses. Family feuds were common at the time, and Lampiao’s family often fought with neighboring ones, and sometimes with the police, who were readily bribed to act as muscle for the highest bidder. In one such confrontation with police, Lampiao’s father was killed in 1919, and he vowed revenge. Along with two brothers, he joined the bandit group of a cangaceiro named Sinho Perreira. He took to the outlaw life like a duck to water, and when Sinhô Pereira retired from the cangaço in 1922, he handed over the reins of leadership to Lampião.
Lampiao’s first act as bandit leader was to invade the city of Belmonte, Pernambuco, where he murdered a leading merchant who held sway over the region. He then crossed the border into the neighboring state of Alagoas, and for nearly two decades afterwards, crisscrossed Northeastern Brazil. Within a year, the reach of his band expanded to the states of Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte, and Ceará. He caused so much panic and disorder, that the police chiefs of various Northeastern states met in early 1923 to create a joint task force aimed at combating the cangaço. That did not stop Lampião and his men from returning to Pernambuco in June, 1923, to attack the town of Belém de São Francisco, which they thoroughly looted. They also besieged the nearby town of Salgueiro, killing off its trade and cutting it off from supplies.
