Meet Zé Pistola, a convicted murderer whom I befriended last year.
Zé, who's nickname literally means "Joe Pistol", is holding a self portrait of when he got his first gun, at the age of 17.
He was born in the southern mountains of Brazil, in a time when bullets were the only true judges. The first time he shot a man he was only 13 - he got hold of a neighbor's riffle and shot a man in the stomach, after finding out he had attempted to rape his mother. After a short time in a reformatory, Zé began a career trafficking firearms across state borders.
In his early twenties, he got used to spend long periods of time hiding in the mountains. He became a local legend, a bogeyman. The police offered rewards for his capture and a local gangster announced that he'd find him and deliver him, most likely dead. Zé heard about this through friends and instead of running, he decided to confront the bounty hunter. He found him in the streets of a nearby town and, without hesitating, shot him point-blank in the head. That's when Zé got convicted for murder. The town people were thankful for the killing, though - apparently the gangster was quite a pain for the locals - and Zé kept his "legend" status.
During his time in prison, he was offered to work as a mercenary for the military, to fight off southern rebels - probably the same that Zé used to sell guns to. It was a troubled time of revolution and eventually only he knows which roads he travelled on. According to friends, he lived a low profile life and even started a family after all that.
Zé passed away recently, aged 70, from complications related to cancer.
The man I met was very humble and kind. We spent three days discussing modern-day views on politics, religion and mostly astronomy - which was his latest passion. But his true passion was playing the accordion, which he never got chance to play as much as he'd like. He welcomed me into his home for a cup of tea and a musical session, which was when he showed me that photograph and said he had lived many adventures, seen too many troubles, regretted wasting his youth and missed his teenage good looks. He wished he had never picked up a gun, but law and justice were always two separate worlds in his view of the universe.
Fortunately, Zé let me be the shooter this time and I captured both young and old in one shot. I hope he's resting in peace. He is survived by his son and friends.
Praia Grande, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
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