Radu Anghel

Radu Anghel din Greci, also known as Radu Anghelu or Radu lui Anghel (1827 – October 1865), was a Wallachian brigand, or ''hajduk''. As a smallholder in Dâmbovița County, he first delved in illegal activities during his teens, thus protesting against the exploitative boyardom. Leading a gang of outlaws, he established a presence across a zone that covered parts of Dâmbovița, Muscel, and Argeș; he happened to do so at the same time as an outlaw of the exact same name, who was more narrowly focused on the village of Beleți-Negrești, and with whom he was often confused. Always more feared than his namesake, the Radu Anghel of Dâmbovița was beloved by peasants, with his deeds recorded and propagated in Romanian folklore; he was regarded as a generous benefactor and a gentleman thief, though he was noted for sometimes tormenting and torturing his upper-class captives. He became the object of Wallachian manhunts, continued by the Romanian Land Forces upon the establishment of the United Principalities in 1859–1860.

Radu was eventually tracked down to his hiding spot in Râncăciov, and mortally wounded in the resulting battle. He was transported to Câmpulung, where his death was witnessed by artist Mișu Popp, who painted two posthumous portraits of the ''hajduk''. His associates were hunted down and killed over the following days, though some were said to have been alive, and consequently feared by the establishment, into the 1870s. In addition to serving as the inspiration for ballads and anecdotes, his criminal career was memorialized by modern storytellers such as N. D. Popescu-Popnedea and I. C. Vissarion, and officially described as a work of popular emancipation under the Romanian communist regime. Anghel was an indirect inspiration for films directed by Dinu Cocea in the 1960s, and more closely inspired George Cornea's 1993 production, ''Doi haiduci și o crâșmăriță''. Provided by Wikipedia