Léon Ortiz
Léon Ortiz | |
|---|---|
Ortiz's mugshot taken by Alphonse Bertillon in 1894 | |
| Born | Léon Schiroky November 18, 1868 |
| Disappeared | 1901 |
| Citizenship | France Mexico |
| Education | Biology and economics (middle school level) |
| Occupation(s) | accountant burglar anarchist |
| Years active | 1880s-1890s |
| Known for | Illegalist activism |
| Height | 179 cm (5 ft 10 in) |
| Movement | Anarchism |
| Opponent | Bourgeoisie |
| Criminal penalty | 15 years in deportation |
| Spouse | Toinette Cazal (1894) |
| Parents |
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Léon Ortiz, also known as Léon Schiroky and nicknamed the "Rocambole of Anarchy", born on 18 November 1868, in Paris and disappearing after 1901, was a French-Mexican accountant, burglar, and anarchist militant. He is particularly known for his involvement in the birth of illegalism, of which he was a prominent figure.
Orphaned from his father as a child, he grew up in poverty before gradually turning to anarchist activism. In this context, he became politically active with his friends Louise Michel, Charles Malato, and Jacques Prolo, a group that founded La Révolution Cosmopolite, a 1880s anarchist publication in France. Later, as a contributor to l'Endehors, he met Émile Henry, who became his friend. After joining the nascent illegalist movement through his contact with the Intransigeants of London and Paris and Vittorio Pini, Ortiz embarked on a significant series of burglaries and robberies with his group, the Ortiz Gang —all while evading the police across Western Europe. According to French authorities of the period, he may have funded Émile Henry to commit the Café Terminus bombing.
Arrested, he was put on trial and specifically targeted by the Trial of the Thirty, being one of the few to be convicted, while all other anarchists were acquitted. Sentenced to fifteen years of deportation to the Guyane penal colony, he collaborated with French authorities there before being released. He disappeared after 1901, when he traveled to New York or Puerto Rico.