Luciano Liggio

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Luciano Leggio

Luciano "Lucianeddu" Liggio alias Luciano Leggio (born January 6, 1925 in Corleone , Sicily , Italy ; † January 16, 1993 in Sardinia ) was a member of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and from 1958 until his arrest in 1974 the head of the Corleonesi , a clan from the notorious Mafia stronghold Corleone.

Life

Luciano Liggio, born under the name Luciano Leggio, came from a poor rural background. His schooling was marginal. When the Mafia in 1943 after the invasion of the Allies newly constituted, Liggio was developed by Michele Navarra recruited, the head of Corleoneser Mafia family. On March 10, 1948, Liggio carried out one of the most famous murders of the Mafia for Navarre. He killed the union leader Placido Rizzotto . After the fact, Liggio went into hiding. In the mid-1950s, he changed his name to Liggio and expanded his business from the agrarian Corleone to Palermo . He also came increasingly into conflict with Navarre. Liggio had gathered a group of loyal young men around him. Among them were Salvatore "Totò" Riina , Bernardo Provenzano and the brothers Leoluca Bagarella and Calogero Bagarella . As the conflict escalated, Navarre's people carried out an unsuccessful attack on Liggio. The retribution came quickly: On the way back from Lercara Friddi to Corleone, Navarre and a doctor friend were murdered. Navarra's car was then riddled with dozens of bullets. After that, Liggio and his supporters eliminated the people of Navarre, some of whom were murdered on the street during the day. Liggio became the undisputed boss of the Corleonesi. The First Mafia War in 1962/1963 increased the pressure of the police on the Cosa Nostra and in 1964 Liggio was arrested for the first time. In 1969 he was acquitted in court under dubious circumstances and went into hiding again. The Corleonesi always held a certain special position within the Cosa Nostra because, for example, unlike in the Cosa Nostra, they did not reveal the names of their members to the other families, a behavior that the established Palermo bosses only grudgingly accepted. Liggio's constant underground life, which his colleagues imitated, was also a novelty within the Cosa Nostra. As a result, they not only hid themselves from the law, they were also elusive for competitors.

The massacre in Viale Lazio on December 10, 1969, which marked the end of the First Mafia War, showed Liggio's power in the Sicilian Cosa Nostra: Two of his best killers, Bernardo Provenzano and Calogero Bagarella, belonged to the killer squad, that killed Michele Cavataio . Bagarella was shot in the chest and fatally wounded by Cavataio. Liggio was then, along with Stefano Bontade and Gaetano Badalamenti , one of the three bosses who provisionally headed the Cosa Nostra in the triumvirate until 1974, and he was then a member of the re-established commission , the regular "Senate", in which the most important bosses met. Liggio now expanded its activities to the Italian mainland and set up Corleonesi branches in Bologna , Rome , Naples and Milan . It is known that during this period Liggio had several important personalities kidnapped, mainly on the Italian mainland, in order to extort money. In 1971 the son of Count Cassina, who was a wealthy Palermitan entrepreneur, was kidnapped. 1973 was John Paul Getty III. , the grandson of one of the richest men in the world, kidnapped in Rome and only released for a ransom of $ 2.5 million. After Liggio went into hiding in Catania for about two years, he went to Milan. In 1974 he was finally arrested during a routine examination in Milan, where he had stayed for years under the false name "Antonio Farruggia". His true identity was not known even to his own wife. His right-hand man Salvatore "Totò" Riina was his successor at the head of the Corleonesi. In the Second Mafia War from 1981 to 1983, the Corleonesi gained control of the Cosa Nostra. Liggio himself was sentenced to life imprisonment in the mid-1970s.

The "Scarlet Pimpernel" (his nickname) was an unscrupulous killer who, according to statements from several Pentiti, even frightened other mafiosi with his outbursts of anger. He suffered from poor health throughout his life, including chronic inflammation of the spine ( spondylosis ). While in custody, the completely uneducated Liggio developed into a well-read man who, among other things, also painted. In the so-called Maxi Trial in the second half of the 1980s, in which he stood on trial again with more than 400 other Mafiosi, he defended himself (successfully) against the accusation that he had headed the commission and several others from prison Murders ordered in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In the early 1990s, his paintings were even exhibited publicly in Palermo, which led to heated controversy. He donated the proceeds from the exhibition to the city of Corleone for charitable purposes.

On January 15, 1993, Totò Riina was arrested in Palermo after having fled for decades. The following day, Luciano Liggio died of a heart attack in a maximum security prison in Sardinia .

Films and documentaries

  • 2007: Der Boss der Bosse (OT: Il capo dei capi ) : 6-part series about the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, in which Liggio (played by Claudio Castrogiovanni) plays a larger role over several episodes.
  • 2019: Shooting the Mafia : Documentary about Letizia Battaglia with interview excerpts from Luciano Liggio.

swell

literature

Web links

Interview by Enzo Biagi with the imprisoned Luciano Liggio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbXjy33BQcw&feature=related

personal data
SURNAME Liggio, Luciano
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Luciano Leggio
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Sicilian mafioso
DATE OF BIRTH January 6, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Corleone
DATE OF DEATH January 16, 1993
Place of death Sardinia