M Besouro
«Besouro gave his closest friends peacocok feathers taken from the tough guys' hats in Bahian bay area.»
«São Cipriano has a book about this... saying that it comes from the Africans ... the charms that you put in your body. There's a fava bean that you put in your body... it's not practiced anymore... you put the bean, iron can't penetrate you. Besouro had done that. Fava bean in the body. A bullet would hit him... and fall on the ground. Cobrinha Verde had it also. A knife couldn't cut him, nothing could cut him. After he lost his power, it didn't work anymore.»
«In the capoeira rodas of Trapiche de Baixo (until today the poorest neighborhood of Santo Amaro) and in the folk parties, the young Besouro started to make a name for himself. His strong side was the agility, the quickness of thought, the calmness and the surprise, besides having a body closed by strong sorcery and prayers. Paulo Barroquinha, Boca de Siri, Noca de Jacó, Doze Homens and Canário Pardo, all locals, were his companions in the memorable capoeira rodas that hypnotized anybody that would go by.»
«He was a great capoeira player, same thing with handling a machete and a razor-knife. Including in the game of "santa-maria". A violent game where the capoeiristas played with a razor-knife stuck between their toes.»
«Besouro Preto, from Santo Amaro, was my father's (Maximiano Pereira dos Santos) cousin, and I heard people talk about Besouro Preto, and I also wanted to become a tough guy, I wanted to be a tough guy who would beat everybody up, who would show up and become a winner (..) In São Pedro farm I met mestre Juvenço, who worked as a blacksmith and was a capoeirista, and who as Besouro's friend. He told me many stories about Besouro, until he died.»
«[Besouro's] first contact with the world of capoeira took place with an old african called Alípio, who was a captive in the Pantaleão Mill. When planting sugarcane, the student heard and learned from the old man the teachings of capoeira. Uncle Alípio was a Babalawo [candomblé priest] and had been a slave when young, a son of a black woman who was brought in a ship from the port of São Jorge da Mina in Dahomey [Benin].»
«Besouro was a tough guy. His fame was even bigger. His fame made a street to close up. Once a young girl who was raising me, wanted to take me to school. I was very afraid. Besouro was in town and it was all locked up. The police surrounded the town. They wanted to catch Besouro. I didn't want to go to school, because I was afraid of Besouro.»