Luciano Leggio is born 6 January 1925, in "a hovel at 2 Via Lanza", Corleone, near the police barracks. He is the fourth of seven children of Rosa Maria Palazzo and Francesco Paolo Leggio.
Though some sources claim Leggio's name is misspelled "Liggio" due to a court reporter's error, in fact both are common spellings of this surname in Corleone. Luciano's grandfather is in Church records as "Liggio."
Luciano is crippled and frail from Pott's disease, a form of tuberculosis affecting the spine, probably contracted from drinking goat's milk.
He is first imprisoned at age 18, for stealing wheat. When he finishes his sentence, he kills the guard who had him arrested.
Luciano is arrested in 1942 with Gioachino Riina for cigarette smuggling.
By 1944, Luciano is leader of the Barbacia family gang, notorious cattle rustlers from nearby Godrano.
Leggio shoots a guardia campestre---a rural watchman---Calogero Comaianni, on 27 March 27th 1945, killing the guard outside his own home in via Sferlazzo.
Luciano is one of three men implicated in the 10 March 1948 murder of trade unionist Placido Rizzotto. All are acquitted due to lack of evidence.
Luciano, with a cadre of loyal gangsters including Gioachino Riina and Bernardo Provenzano, goes to war with Dr. Michaele Navarra and his followers. In June 1958 Leggio is ambushed and escapes with slight injury to his hand.
A couple of months later, on August 2, Navarra is assassinated.
Luciano builds up the Corleonesi mafia through the 1960s and 70s, particularly through the heroin trade.
He is captured in 1964 in Corleone, in the company of the former fiancee' of the late Placido Rizzotto, Leoluchina Sorisi. At this time Leggio has a son, Paolo, with Leoluchina[1], who is named as a defendant at Bari in 1969, for hiding Leggio, a fugitive.
He is acquitted twice in the murder of Navarra. He is convicted in absentia in 1970.
Luciano goes to Milan to evade capture, and there continues to engage in kidnapping and murder. He is captured there on 16 May 1974 and begins to serve a life sentence in Bad'e Carros, the high security prison in Nuoro, Sardinia, for the killing of Navarra.
Luciano dies of a heart attack in prison in Sardinia on 16 November 1993. He is 63.
Jones, Thom L. "La Primula Rossa: The story of Luciano Leggio (Part 1)." Accessed online 30 September 2015.
Wikipedia entry: Luciano Leggio. Accessed 6 October 2015.Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.
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Categories: Corleone, Palermo | Sicily, Rural Entrepreneurs | Corleone Mafia | Gangsters | Liggiani | Italian Roots