Dragut Rais real name was Turgut. He was known among the Barbary Corsairs as Turgut Reis. He was born into a poor family from the Mentese Region of Anatolia, an area known today as Bodrum, Turkey in the village of Turgat Reis, sometime between 1514-1518 

In 1538, Dragut Rais began to serve in the Barbaresque Navy under the command of Ar Reis, and later became a protégé of Aruj & Khayr Ud-Din. He was called upon to help fight against Andrea Doria, a Genoan who drove the French out of Corsica, and who fought on and off with Tunis and the Barbary Corsairs until his death. During this same year, the Barbarossa's defeated at Prevesa, the fleet of the Holy Emperor of Spain, Charles V, commanded by Andrea Doria of Genoa. Andrea Doria was forced to retreat to Italy.

After, Doria's defeat, Dragut had freedom of action all over the Mediterranean Sea for several years. During this time he ravaged both the Kingdom of Naples and Sicilian coasts, where he abducted about seven thousand men and made them slaves. Procida was not hit because the entire population moved to the mainland during the sacking of the nearby island of Ischia. In Capri, Barbarossa destroyed the castle which today still bears his name.