 Bagarella sided with Luciano Leggio of the Corleonesi in the late 1950s.Bagarella became the brother-in-law of Salvatore Riina in 1974 when he married Bagarella's sister, Antonia.Two of Bagarella's brothers were also Mafiosi; his elder brother, Calogero Bagarella, was shot dead on December 10, 1969, in the Viale Lazio in Palermo, during a shootout with rival mafioso Michele Cavataio and his men, known as the Viale Lazio massacre.