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Leoluca Bagarella (; born 3 February 1942) is an
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional It ...
criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...
and member of the
Sicilian Mafia The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily ...
. He is from the town of
Corleone Corleone (; scn, Cunigghiuni or ) is an Italian town and ''comune'' of roughly 11,158 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, in Sicily. Several Mafia bosses have come from Corleone, including Tommy Gagliano, Gaetano Reina, Jack Dragn ...
. Following
Salvatore Riina Salvatore Riina (; 16 November 1930 – 17 November 2017), called (, Totò being the diminutive of Salvatore), was an Italian mobster and chief of the Sicilian Mafia, known for a ruthless murder campaign that reached a peak in the early 1990s ...
's arrest in early 1993, Bagarella became the head of the stragist strategy faction, opposing another faction commanded by the successor designate
Bernardo Provenzano Bernardo Provenzano (; 31 January 1933 – 13 July 2016) was an Italian mobster and chief of the Sicilian Mafia clan known as the Corleonesi, a Mafia faction that originated in the town of Corleone, and ''de facto'' the boss of bosses (''il capo ...
, creating a real rift in
Cosa Nostra The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily ...
. Bagarella was captured in 1995, having been a
fugitive A fugitive (or runaway) is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...
for four years, and sentenced to life imprisonment for Mafia association and multiple murders.


Early life

Bagarella was born in
Corleone Corleone (; scn, Cunigghiuni or ) is an Italian town and ''comune'' of roughly 11,158 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, in Sicily. Several Mafia bosses have come from Corleone, including Tommy Gagliano, Gaetano Reina, Jack Dragn ...
on 3 February 1942. Bagarella sided with
Luciano Leggio Luciano Leggio (; 6 January 1925 – 15 November 1993) was an Italian criminal and leading figure of the Sicilian Mafia. He was the head of the Corleonesi, the Mafia faction that originated in the town of Corleone. He is universally known with th ...
of the
Corleonesi The Corleonesi Mafia clan was a faction within the Corleone family of the Sicilian Mafia, formed in the 1970s. Notable leaders included Luciano Leggio, Salvatore Riina, Bernardo Provenzano, and Leoluca Bagarella. Corleonesi affiliates were no ...
in the late 1950s. Bagarella became the brother-in-law of
Salvatore Riina Salvatore Riina (; 16 November 1930 – 17 November 2017), called (, Totò being the diminutive of Salvatore), was an Italian mobster and chief of the Sicilian Mafia, known for a ruthless murder campaign that reached a peak in the early 1990s ...
in 1974 when he married Bagarella's sister, Antonia. Two of Bagarella's brothers were also Mafiosi; his elder brother,
Calogero Bagarella Calogero Bagarella (; January 14, 1935 – December 10, 1969) was an Italian criminal and member of the Sicilian Mafia. He was from the town of Corleone and belonged to the Mafia clan of Corleonesi. Biography Calogero Bagarella was born in Corleo ...
, was shot dead on December 10, 1969, in the Viale Lazio in Palermo, during a shootout with rival mafioso
Michele Cavataio Michele Cavataio (18 March 1929 – 10 December 1969), also known as ''Il cobra'' (The cobra) was an Italian mobster and powerful member of the Sicilian Mafia. He was the boss of the Acquasanta mandamento in Palermo and was a member of the first ...
and his men, known as the Viale Lazio massacre.Mafia Boss Provenzano Accused of 1969 Palermo Murders
Bloomberg, November 29, 2007
Servadio, ''Mafioso'', p. 228-30 A second brother, Giuseppe, was murdered in prison in 1972. On 21 July 1979, Bagarella killed police chief
Boris Giuliano Giorgio Boris Giuliano (; October 22, 1930 – July 21, 1979) was a police chief from Palermo, Sicily. He was the head of Palermo's Flying Squad. He was killed by the Sicilian Mafia while investigating heroin trafficking and money laundering. Not ...
.Reputed Head of the Mafia Is Arrested in Palermo Chase
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', June 26, 1995
Giuliano was shot dead in the Lux Bar in
Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its h ...
having a cappuccino while waiting for his car to take him to work early in the morning.Sterling, ''Octopus'', p. 215-16 Bagarella shot Giuliano in the neck three times and, standing over the body, fired four bullets into Giuliano's back before making his escape.Mafia killer with a code of cruelty
The Independent, June 26, 1995
''A Palermitan diary: Twenty years of reporting at the foot of Italy'', by Attilio Bolzoni inIl sacrificio di Boris Giuliano
La Sicilia, July 21, 2013
Giuliano's
flying squad The Flying Squad is a branch of the Serious and Organised Crime Command within London's Metropolitan Police Service. It is also known as the Robbery Squad, Specialist Crime Directorate 7, SC&O7 and SO7. It is nicknamed The Sweeney, an abbrevia ...
was investigating Bagarella after he had discovered his hiding place. Bagarella had managed to escape in time, but inside Giuliano discovered weapons, four kilograms of heroin and false documents with photographs depicting Bagarella.Quella P38 dietro l'omicidio Giuliano
, Antimafia Duemila N°14, July–August 2001
Bagarella shot five times and killed investigative journalist
Mario Francese Mario Francese (; 6 February 1925 – 26 January 1979) was an Italian crime reporter of the ''Giornale di Sicilia''. He was the first journalist to expose the role of Toto Riina and the Corleonesi within the Sicilian Mafia, and because of this he ...
on 26 January 1979, in front of his house in Palermo.Follain, ''The Last Godfathers''
p. 112
/ref>
, Antimafia Duemila, January 26, 2014


Terrorist campaign

Bagarella married Vincenzina Marchese in 1991. The powerfully built Bagarella modelled himself on the eponymous character of the film ''
The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 The Godfather (novel), novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al ...
'', so when he married the attractive niece of a boss he had the movie theme played at a lavish party. According to
pentito ''Pentito'' (; lit. "repentant"; plural: ''pentiti'') is used colloquially to designate collaborators of justice in Italian criminal procedure terminology who were formerly part of criminal organizations and decided to collaborate with a public ...
Toni Calvaruso, Vincenzina committed
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and sub ...
on 12 May 1995, due to her depressive state after a series of miscarriages, her brother
Giuseppe Marchese Giuseppe Marchese (born 12 December 1963) is a former member of the Sicilian Mafia, who turned state witness (pentito). Giuseppe ''Pino'' Marchese was born in Palermo in a family with long-standing ties to the Mafia. His father Vincenzo and his un ...
becoming a pentito and her husband's involvement with the kidnapping of 12 year-old
Giuseppe Di Matteo Santino Di Matteo (born 7 December 1954), also known as ''Mezzanasca'', is an Italian former member of the Sicilian Mafia from the town of Altofonte in the province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy. Di Matteo took part in the killing of Antimafia judge ...
(who was subsequently killed nearly a year after her own death).Longrigg, ''Mafia Women'', p. 122 Riina's reign as "boss of bosses" suffered a severe setback when hundreds of mafioso were found guilty at the Maxi Trial in 1986/87. Once the convictions were upheld by higher courts in January 1992,Giovanni Falcone, Paolo Borsellino and the Procura of Palermo
, Peter Schneider & Jane Schneider, May 2002, essay is based on excerpts from Chapter Six of Jane Schneider and Peter Schneider, Reversible Destiny: Mafia, Antimafia and the Struggle for Palermo, Berkeley: U. of California Press
Riina ordered the murder of high-profile prosecutor
Giovanni Falcone Giovanni Falcone (; 18 May 1939 – 23 May 1992) was an Italian judge and prosecuting magistrate. From his office in the Palace of Justice in Palermo, Sicily, he spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the power of the Sicilian ...
, a decision that was taken over an objection by
Ignazio Salvo Ignazio () is a masculine Italian given name. Notable people with the name include: Arts *Ignazio Collino (1736–1793), Italian sculptor *Ignazio Fresu (born 1957), Italian sculptor *Ignazio Gardella (1905–1999), Italian architect and designer ...
, who had argued that Falcone was best neutralized through political machinations. Following Riina's arrest in January 1993, Bagarella was believed to have taken over the Corleonesi, rivalling Riina's putative successor,
Bernardo Provenzano Bernardo Provenzano (; 31 January 1933 – 13 July 2016) was an Italian mobster and chief of the Sicilian Mafia clan known as the Corleonesi, a Mafia faction that originated in the town of Corleone, and ''de facto'' the boss of bosses (''il capo ...
. In a meeting at Villabate, it was decided that both Provenzano and Bagarella should be in charge of holding the Corleonesi mandate together. On 27 May 1993, a bomb under the
Torre dei Pulci The Torre dei Pulci is a historical tower in Florence, Italy. The tower was the residence of the Pulci family in medieval and Renaissance times, including poet Luigi Pulci. It was in origin a purely defensive tower, which was enlarged until it be ...
killed five people: Fabrizio Nencioni, his wife Angelamaria, their daughters nine-year-old Nadia and two-month-old Caterina and Dario Capolicchio, aged 20. Thirty-three people were injured. Further attacks on art galleries and churches left 10 dead with many injured, and caused outrage among Italians. At least one high-ranking investigator believed most of those who carried out murders for Cosa Nostra at this time answered solely to Bagarella, and that consequently Bagarella actually wielded more power than Provenzano, who was Riina's formal successor.Follain, ''Vendetta'', p. ? Provenzano protested about the terrorist attacks, but Bagarella responded sarcastically, telling him to wear a sign saying "I don't have anything to do with the massacres". Bagarella stopped ordering murders some time before his own capture, apparently due to the suicide of his wife Vincenzina.


Arrest and conviction

On 24 June 1995, Bagarella was arrested, having been a
fugitive A fugitive (or runaway) is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...
for four years. Bagarella was convicted of multiple murders and imprisoned for life. These included the murders of Giuliano,Primo ergastolo per Bagarella
Corriere della Sera, March 1, 1997
Delitto Dalla Chiesa: ottavo ergastolo a Riina
Corriere della Sera, March 18, 1995
of Francese,Biografia Mario Francese
Fondazione Francese
of Giuseppe Russo, of Falcone, of Giuseppe Di Matteo, of Antonino Burrafato, of Salvatore Caravà,Condannati Leoluca Bagarella e Giovanni Brusca
of Ignazio Di Giovanni, and of Simone Lo Manto and Raimondo Mulè. In 2002, Bagarella had protested about his treatment under the
Article 41-bis prison regime In Italian law, Article 41-bis of the Prison Administration Act, also known as carcere duro ("hard prison regime"), is a provision that allows the Minister of Justice or the Minister of the Interior to suspend certain prison regulations. Currently ...
law that placed heavy restrictions on jailed Mafia bosses to prevent them from running their criminal empires from behind bars. At a court appearance that June, Bagarella made some thinly veiled threats to the Italian government, saying the Mafia is "tired of being exploited, humiliated, oppressed and used like goods exchanged among the various political forces."Mafiosi given 'soft jail time' by Berlusconi
The Observer, July 25, 2004
Some interpreted this as a sign the Mafia was annoyed that its previously cozy relationship with politicians had broken down, speculating about Mafia bosses having been in some sort of clandestine negotiations with politicians.Dickie, ''Cosa Nostra'', pp. 441-42 In 2005, he launched boiling oil against an
'Ndrangheta The 'Ndrangheta (, , ) is a prominent Italian Mafia-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society based in the peninsular and mountainous region of Calabria and dating back to the late 18th century. It is considered one of the most powe ...
boss prisoner, leading to a further one year sentence.Bagarella, olio bollente su un detenuto - Corriera della Sera 13/7/2008
/ref> Following the violence, he was transferred to a prison in
Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second most ...
. In total, Bagarella was given 13 life sentences plus 106 years and ten months, and solitary confinement for 6 years. On 20 April 2018, he was sentenced to a further 28 years in prison.


In popular culture

Characters based on Leoluca Bagarella were featured in the 2007 Italian TV series ''Il Capo dei Capi'', the 2014 TV series ''Furore'', the 2018 TV series ''Il cacciatore'', the 2007 film ''L'ultimo dei Corleonesi'', and the 2013 film ''La mafia uccide solo d'estate''.


References


Bibliography

*Dickie, John (2004).
Cosa Nostra. A history of the Sicilian Mafia
', London: Coronet, *Follain, John (2012). ''Vendetta: The Mafia, Judge Falcone and the Quest for Justice'', London: Hodder & Stoughton, *Jamieson, Alison (1999).
The Antimafia: Italy's fight against organized crime
', London: Palgrave Macmillan, *Longrigg, Clare (1998).
Mafia Women
', London: Vintage *Servadio, Gaia (1976), ''Mafioso. A history of the Mafia from its origins to the present day'', London: Secker & Warburg {{DEFAULTSORT:Bagarella, Leoluca 1942 births Corleonesi Fugitives Fugitives wanted by Italy Italian people convicted of murdering police officers Living people People convicted of murder by Italy Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Italy Sicilian Mafiosi Sicilian Mafiosi sentenced to life imprisonment