Sete Coroas

Sete Coroas was born in Bahia but made his name in the favelas and bohemian underworld of Rio de Janeiro during the First Republic. He settled in Barroso, a locality in Morro da Favela (today's Morro da Providência)—one of the oldest favelas in Brazil—and became one of the most notorious malandros of his era.

His apelido came from an audacious act in 1920. During a gala funeral for a wealthy citizen, the anonymous favela dweller robbed the procession, stealing everything he could carry—including the seven elaborate flower crowns (coroas) that adorned the coffin. The quantity and quality of the objects stolen earned him a nickname that would soon be known throughout the entire city.

What followed were years of "audacious robberies" that elevated him from police records to newspaper headlines, theatrical performances, and popular songs. The composer Sinhô (José Barbosa da Silva) wrote a samba in his honor in 1921—reportedly the first Brazilian song to explicitly celebrate a "bandido". The press, which had done much to build his fame, began to worry about the precedent.

But Sete Coroas was more than a thief. According to Madame Satã, speaking in 1971, he was "the greatest malandro of Rio de Janeiro that I knew from 1907 until today". Satã continued: "The one who taught me to be a malandro and met me when I was 9 years old was the late Sete Coroas". This places their meeting around 1909, when Satã was a child newly arrived in Rio.

Sete Coroas was a cafetão (pimp) in the Lapa district and a master in what Satã called "the fine art of malandragem": the game, the navalha (razor), the papo (smooth talk), the rasteira (leg sweep), and the valentia (courage/bravado). He transmitted the combat techniques that combined capoeira movements with razor fighting—the characteristic style of Rio's street warriors. According to sources that document his time at the Dois Rios Correctional Colony on Ilha Grande, Sete Coroas was recognized as a capoeira practitioner among the prisoners.

His companions included Camisa and Benedito—described by one morro leader as "terrible" and actually worse than Sete Coroas himself. All three died during this era. In 1923, when Sete Coroas died, he left Madame Satã as his successor in Lapa and Saúde. The young João Francisco dos Santos would go on to become the most famous malandro in Brazilian history, but he never forgot who taught him.

Sete Coroas achieved something rare: immortalization in popular memory. Beyond the sambas, he was elevated to the realm of Afro-Brazilian religion, becoming an Exu (spirit entity) whose ritual songs are still sung. The black, favela-dwelling outlaw who defied the rich, the police, and the state became a figure of worship.