Val Valentino spent years enduring boos and the occasional death threat as a magician bent on exposing the secrets behind the world’s most popular tricks. Today the 68-year-old from California is treated like a hero.⁠ ⁠ It’s not because he stopped violating the magician’s code. He just moved to Brazil.⁠ ⁠ Residents of the South American country live in constant fear of being taken advantage of—by corrupt politicians or scheming criminals—and don’t take kindly to being tricked, by magicians or anyone. They can’t get enough of Valentino.⁠ ⁠ The Masked Magician—or Mister M, as Valentino is known here—rose to fame in the 1990s through his hit American TV series “Breaking the Magician’s Code,” showing audiences how to levitate and saw a woman in half.⁠ ⁠ U.S. magicians labeled Valentino a traitor. They accused him of spilling trade secrets, bankrupting their shows, and stripping magic of its wonder.⁠ But Valentino is now living his best life in balmy Brazil. He has become one of Latin America’s most unlikely heroes. He has staged sold-out performances, appeared on talk shows and gotten engaged to a Brazilian political aide more than 20 years his junior.⁠ ⁠ Carnival-goers have taken to wearing his distinctive black-and-white mask and Brazilian rappers have composed songs in his honor, celebrating Mister M as a legend who “keeps it real” even when society pressures you to lie.⁠ ⁠ Read more at the link in our bio.⁠ ⁠ 📷: Tommaso Protti for @wsjphotos