History of the Rizzuto Crime Family by Jack Marino of Amici Journal



The Montreal Mob was started as a crew within the Bonanno crime family by crime boss Joseph Bonanno in 1952. The crew was headed by Vic Cotroni in the 1950s and by the 1960s the group evolved into an important branch of the Bonanno crime family. They once controlled most of southern Quebec and Ontario. In 1954 Nicolo Rizzuto moved to Montreal from Cattolica Eraclea, Sicily. He started working for Cotroni as a heroin dealer and mob associate. Nicolo profited handsomely from heroin dealing, illegal gambling, fraud and contract killings. Nicolo became disgusted with the leaders of the Cotroni crew, who were mostly of Calabrese descent. In 1969, he formed a meeting with Vic Cotroni and his right hand man Paolo Violi. Nicolo told them he was an associate for 14 years and wanted them to make him a made member of the American Mafia. They told him he couldn't be made at that time. In 1972 Rizzuto heard Violi had a murder contract on him and so he fled to Caracas, Venezuela, where he stayed with a Sicilian drug lord and childhood friend. In 1975 Rizzuto moved back to Montreal and started his own crew, after he heard Cotroni and Violi were doing a year in jail for lying in court about their mob membership. This gave Rizzuto the chance to overthrow the Cotroni crew.

The Rizzuto crime organization was created to respond and counter the Cotroni's continued pressure tactics against Sicilian crime figures in the area. The Sicilians were constantly bullied and harassed by Cotroni and his crew. In January 1978, Violi was shot to death by two Rizzuto gunmen outside a Montreal bar. In September 1978, Frank Borello, a Cotroni soldier was brutally murdered. In October 1980, Violi's brother Rocco was killed near his house by the Rizzuto's. They decided not to kill Vic Cotroni, over him being in really poor health at the time. Cotroni passed away in 1984. Nicolo Rizzuto was said to have made his peace with Cotroni in December 1980.

In May 1981, Rizzuto's son Vito was dispatched to New York to help out in the murders of the three capos opposed to Bonanno crime family boss, Philip Rastelli. The men killed were Alphonse Indelicato, Dominick Trinchera and Philip Giaccone. The capos were shot to death with shotguns and pistols. According to FBI agent Joseph Pistone, the murderers were Bonanno mobsters Dominick Napolitano, Joseph Massino, Salvatore Vitale, Joseph DeSimone, Nicholas Santora, Vito Rizzuto, Louis Giongetti, Santo Giordano and Gerlando Sciascia. Benjamin Ruggiero and John Cersani were lookouts, and were sent in after to clean up and dispose of the bodies. Vito was indicted on the murders of the three men in January 2003. Nicolo Rizzuto retired from the mafia a year later and made Vito the boss. On May 4, 2007, Vito pleaded guilty to being present at the triple murder. As part of a plea bargain agreement, he received a 10-year prison sentence to be followed by a three-year supervised release. Vito testified that he was involved in the affair, but had only yelled "It's a holdup" while the other mobsters did the shooting. Vito was also involved in the Mafia involvement in building a bridge that would connect the Italian mainland with Sicily. The Rizzuto crime organization did not become a crime family of La Cosa Nostra until the murder of Gerlando Sciascia in March 1999.

Vito Rizzuto will be released from prison next October. He still has important allies in Montreal, New York and Sicily, waiting for him to return. A few months ago, he said that it is very lonely in his dark cell in Florence, Colorado. Will Vito avenge the murders of his father and son? We will have to see what happens when he gets out of prison.







The End

What's the status of the family now? There's been alot of killing in the past few years. Some kinda internecine disputes inside the membership of the family apparently.

What's the real deal? Haven't been able to find alot of reliable information.

That's a very good question. I'm not sure about that.

So Rizzuto wasn't made by 1969 and Paolo Violi was? If the books were closed from 1957, Violi couldn't also have been made.

I thought Rizzuto was already made in Sicily.

Which sources did you use?

Rizzuto was a member of the Sicilan mob, but would have had to be made in the US.

My understanding is both Nick and Vito Rizzuto were/are made members of the Bonanno family.

Not very sure about that one.

Nick and Vito were both made in Canada into the Sicilian mafia, not American.

I am absolutely fascinated with this family. As a long lover of Montreal, the Rizzuto's have constantly been a source of intrigue for me. I just got the Sixth Family and will be crushing that back shortly. Thanks for all posting on this family.

The Sixth family does an excellent job with telling the Rizzuto's history, going back as far as the 1930s. They also explain a lot about the Rizzutos/Montreal mafia's organizational structure.

But when it comes to telling the events of the last decade, Mafia Inc. does a better job IMO.

If so, why would Rizzuto bother to ask to be made into the Bonanno family? (if this actually happened in the first place).

I haven't read it, but heard It's a fantastic book.

There are a ton of mob researchers from the Netherlands. The Dutch must love MOB stuff!!!

? You sure? They were made Bonanno members.

Hhhmmmmm, I've always thought Nicolo was the Sicilian made guy and his son Vito was a Bonanno made guy.

That's what's made the Rizzutos so hard to read over the years. I think it comes with the more unique set up of Italian OC in Canada, where the lines between the Sicilian Mafia, the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, and the American LCN are not as clear as they are in the U.S. This has led to a lot of debates ranging between - what I've always thought - were two extremes. One, the Rizzutos just being a faction of the Bonanno family. And the other, the Rizzutos being the "Sixth Family." I've always thought the truth fell somewhere in the middle.

I'm very sure they were made in Canada. Would I bet my life on it? No.

I wonder if the Rizzuto's are still as powerful over Vito being locked up and his dad being murdered.

We will find out soon enough.

Its a fact that they started as a Bonanno crew, but in time they got more independance from New York, because of the attacks from the feds/gov. Hence, they became the "Sixth Family". Their family is build upon the ruins of the Bonanno crew. Thats why they are made Bonanno members, maybe a bit renegade.

True that. You're running a Muk again, lol.

Thanks Sonny, I'll check that out too.

I'm going to check amazon for the book in a little bit.

Yeah you should, its a good book. But i didnt like all the fantasy stuff in it. Were a bit old for stuff like that, they are strong but nowhere a "Sixth Family". But the drug deal they have is far more organized than in New York.

Just bought it on the net. Can't wait to check it out.

I realize they started out as a Bonanno crew. The debate revolves around whether they stayed as such or whether they evolved into their own independent crime family. From what I can tell, they were quasi-independent - for lack of a better term. And that due to geography as much as anything else. You had guys who were nominally Bonannos but practically independent for the most part. Guys who weren't American LCN at all but tied to the groups in Italy. And so on. At the same time, I never really bought into the "Sixth Family" hype said about them over the years. Even before their decline began.

Somebody told me the other day he thinks it was a Rizzuto family member who killed Sal Montagna and that they are at war with the Bonanno's. Don't know about that one.

I agree, we could say that the real thing that broke the chain was the killing of George from Canada. That was the last thing, and the Rizzutos were looking for a reason to say "Fuck you New York". And thats what they did with the killing of Georgie.

Hmmmmmm, seems like you're still running a Muk (lol).