Calogero Bagarella was born in Corleone to a family of Mafiosi that gave Cosa Nostra various affiliates.
He was the second son of Salvatore Bagarella and Lucia Mondello, who moved to the town of Corleone after marriage.
As a boy, Calogero worked at a mill with his childhood friend Bernardo Provenzano.
From the second half of the 1950s, Calogero Bagarella became affiliated with the Corleonesi clan headed by the doctor, Michele Navarra, and was a lieutenant of Navarra's right-hand man Luciano Leggio, along with Bernardo Provenzano and Salvatore Riina.
[2][3] He was part of a Mafia hit-squad consisting of Bernardo Provenzano, Emanuele D’Agostino, and Gaetano Grado of Stefano Bontade’s Santa Maria di Gesù Family and Damiano Caruso, a soldier of Giuseppe Di Cristina, the Mafia boss of Riesi.