Family. For most of us, it's who we grew up with and those we visit during the holidays.

Others spend a bit more time together working day-to-day in a family-run business.

For Jean and Pierre Lafitte, smuggling and piracy made them a tidy fortune in Louisiana and Texas while being

able to hang out as brothers.

And we've learned about the O'Malley's successful piracy business in Ireland.

But neither family were outliers.

In the late 15th century, three men, Khazir, Oric, and Ishak became pirates for the Ottoman

empire.

Being Muslim, they had grown tired of the harassment and raids from the Hospitlers, a Christian military order, and other

Christian crusaders. When the Spanish crowns had taken nearly all land previously under Muslim

rule, the decision to join bands of privateers or pirates for hire was easy.

The last stronghold, Granada, fell in January of 1492, causing Jewish and Muslim settlers to

flee to avoid persecution. Aside from raiding ships, Oric ferried Jewish and Muslim people

to North Africa, where he hoped that they would find safety.

The people he transported called him Baba Oric.

Europeans thought they said Barbarossa, and the name stuck.

By 1504, he and Khazir operated from the island of Jirba.

The brothers asked for Abu Abdallah Muhammad IV's permission to use the port at La Ulet. the ruler agreed, in exchange for one-third of their plunder.

They captured a Sicilian warship full of Spanish soldiers on their way to Naples, a Spanish

colony at the time.

In 1505, the brothers expanded their raids to Spanish and Portuguese shipping operations.

Ishak joined his brothers in 1509. After several battles and raids, the Barbarossa brothers

...