how the ‘king of new cangaço’ became one of Brazil’s most wanted thieves

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The mastermind of this and other similar crimes, Pimentel, also known as Ian or Gordo, is considered one of the forerunners of so-called “city domination”, spectacular actions in which heavily armed robbers surround access to a location to rob bank branches. His pioneering spirit earned him the nickname “king of the new cangaço”, in reference to another nickname used to describe this type of crime.

Pimentel is described by agents who investigated him for more than a decade as “systematic, meticulous and suspicious,” with a nebulous trajectory. On the run since 2020, when he escaped with other inmates from the Nelson Virgínia penitentiary, in Contagem (MG), he became one of the most wanted criminals in the country. In the list of antecedents, there are dozens of crimes, in a history that spans several states – in common, the victims were subjugated by the military capacity of their group.

— It was remarkable. The .50 machine gun broke the armored vehicle in two — recalls Police Chief Marcos Vignolo, then recently joined the Civil Police of Minas Gerais, who was on duty when the incident occurred on the BR-381.

He describes the investigation that followed as “unforgettable”:

— There were about eight criminals armed with guns, plus .50, spread out in three cars. We were frightened by the violence of the action.

Two robberies in one month and arrest

Born in 1980 in Ipatinga (MG), into a poor family, Pimentel began his criminal career in Vale do Aço itself. The first investigation in which he is mentioned concerns the theft of a cooperative in the neighboring town of Timóteo, in December 1998, ten months after he turned 18. He and three other men stole R$8,600 from the scene.

In January, the group returned to the co-op for another robbery. But this time, the result was different: already an adult, Pimentel ended up being arrested in the act. The testimonies of his companions already indicated a trait that would become one of the trademarks of the future “king of cangaço”: careful planning. According to one of the thieves, the boss “had the whole travel plan”, with “departure times, the easiest way to get the money”, probably relying on an internal informant.

Denounced in March 1999, Pimentel did not stay long in the Dênio Moreira penitentiary and escaped on October 18, 2000. After his first stint in the penitentiary system in the past, he intensified his own operations and began to get involved with major bank robbers. Investigators report that this is when the criminal broadened his horizons, no longer operating only in Vale do Aço. In the 2000s, arrest warrants against him were already accumulating, ranging from Santa Catarina to Amazonas, via São Paulo and Bahia, while he embarked on increasingly daring actions.

Former Minas Gerais civil police chief and now retired police chief, Wanderson Gomes da Silva says Pimentel was part of a network of more than 50 bank robbers spread across the country, who summoned each other for missions, based on the specific needs of each robbery. Behind these crimes, Pimentel led the life of a traveling bandit, having established a base for short periods in states like Mato Grosso and Espírito Santo.

— They met a lot in Goiás, I think because of the geographical location. People came from Pará, from Bahia, from Pernambuco (when they were planning a flight). Ian also lived for a long time in an apartment hotel in Goiânia — says the delegate, who explains the predominance of Pimentel in the group. —Those who possess heavy weapons are always reminded of these actions.

Another criminal with ready access to high-caliber equipment was João Ferreira Lima, who accompanied Pimentel on bank and armored vehicle robberies across the country. Between the two, he was called João da .50, in reference to the caliber of the anti-aircraft machine gun he used. Access to weapons, smuggled at high prices from neighboring countries like Bolivia and Paraguay, has brought about a revolution in this universe by allowing more agile actions with fewer people.

Previously, to steal an armored vehicle, bandits had to plan hours in advance to close roads with trucks, cornering the armored vehicle and forcing the driver and guards to surrender. Equipped with rifles and .50 machine guns, all they had to do was open fire on the vehicle, as happened during the Prosegur robbery in 2008.

Lima was not among the criminals led by Pimentel that day, but his name appears in episodes such as the robbery of the branches of Banco do Brasil and Itaú in the municipality of São Gotardo, Minas Gerais, in January 2007. Eight police officers, two police officers and a judge, in addition to four civilians, were held hostage during the action, which killed Sergeant Vandec Costa da Silva. Around 2 million reais were recovered by the gang, who fled through local roads after laying siege to the town. The planning belonged to Lima and Pimentel.

It didn’t take long for the gang members to start falling. In February 2008, Lima was arrested by Wanderson’s team in Guaraí, TO, as he prepared to leave in a Chrysler Caravan with a Browning .50 machine gun. On the run since 1987, he told police he would go to Venezuela, where he would join FARC members to steal a ton of gold. He also confessed to having participated in the death of Senator Olavo Pires, executed with a machine gun in 1990. João da .50 is still serving his sentence in Minas today.

Pimentel, however, remained at large. Since 1998, he had expanded his extensive record, with robberies of armored vehicles, banks and even a gold mine in Goiás, during which extreme violence often resulted in deaths. Hopping from town to town to commit crimes, Pimentel had little contact with his family. Even his love life was limited to banditry: for years he had a relationship with the daughter of an accomplice, whom he even threatened when she considered ending the relationship.

— He is very violent, but not very violent in appearance, because he speaks little. And he doesn’t trust anyone. He only used his cell phone once, he never made two calls from the same device, — describes Deputy Wanderson.

Pimentel’s arrest took place in November 2009, weeks after one of the group’s most daring actions. On Rodovia Anhanguera, in São Paulo, around fifteen men surrounded two armored vehicles and fired anti-aircraft machine guns. Previously, the bandits had already shot at the wheels of cars passing on the road to block the passage, forcing the armored vehicles to stop. Insurance broker Ivo Zanatto, 59, died in the action and two other security guards were shot dead. The 6.9 million reais theft lasted only ten minutes.

Pimentel was found three weeks later, in Goiânia, thanks to a court-authorized telephone interception of a drug trafficker’s cell phone. The “king of the new cangaço” was in front of a telephone booth in the Parque Industrial Oeste neighborhood where he was negotiating the purchase of a cocaine refining laboratory, which would mark an expansion of his presence in organized crime. At that time, he was the target of 13 arrest warrants, in different states.

In total, Márcio Carmo Pimentel’s convictions for theft, theft and other crimes exceed a century of imprisonment. He was incarcerated in the federal penitentiaries of Catanduvas (PR) and Porto Velho, but most of his second stint in the prison system was spent in the Nelson Virgínia prison, one of the largest in Minas Gerais and with a long history of closures due to overcrowding and understaffing. To redeem the days of his sentence, he took an administrative assistant course and entered writing competitions.

The poor conditions of the place facilitated the escape undertaken with three other detainees in February 2020. It is even suspected that the group could have counted on internal help to escape. A few months later, in October, the Federal Police (PF) launched an operation against a corruption scheme in the prison, which resulted in the arrest of the prison director. Inmates jokingly called the unit which honors a former minister of the Federal Court (STF) from the 1950s “Nelson Alegria”.

Since his escape, no official information has been available on Pimentel’s whereabouts. Sources interviewed by GLOBO are convinced that he continues to commit crimes and speculate that he could move into drug trafficking. The authorities, however, suspect him of participation in an attempted theft in the style of the new cangaço in Varginha, in October 2021, when the intervention of the federal highway police left 26 dead.

Names close to him also continue in the routine of thefts, appearing in major thefts such as that of an armored vehicle at the airport of Caxias do Sul (RS), in 2024, which left two dead. One of the investigators interviewed by GLOBO reports having information that Pimentel is currently in Bahia, a state that in the past was home to Lampião and his group, the first cangaceiros.