Cause of death Gunshot Name Nicola Rizzuto Nationality Canadian Canada | Spouse(s) Libertina Manno | |
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Full Name Nicolo Rizzuto but known as Nick to family Criminal penalty had to make payment of taxes owed ($628,000), was fined ($209,000) and received administrative penalties Grandchildren Nicolo Rizzuto, Bettina Rizzuto, Sebastiano Rizzuto, Leonardo Rizzuto People also search for Vito Rizzuto, Nicolo Rizzuto, Bettina Rizzuto, Leonardo Rizzuto, Sebastiano Rizzuto | ||
Nicolo rizzuto the last montreal mafia godfather gunned down
Nicolo "Nick" Rizzuto (February 18, 1924 – November 10, 2010), was the leader of the Sicilian faction of the Rizzuto crime family in Montreal, Quebec and linked to the Bonanno crime family who later pushed out the Calabrian faction. Rizzuto was born in Cattolica Eraclea, Sicily, in 1924, and immigrated to Canada in 1954 when the family settled in Montreal. His son Vito Rizzuto was also a prominent mob figure.
Contents
- Nicolo rizzuto the last montreal mafia godfather gunned down
- Early life
- Mob war
- Legal problems
- Assassination
- Family
- In popular culture
- References
Early life
Rizzuto was born in Sicily in the town of Cattolica Eraclea. In 1925, his father Vito immigrated to the United States with his brother-in-law Calogero Renda. Vito's wife stayed with her son Nicolo in Sicily. In 1933, Vito was murdered in Patterson, New York by rival gangsters forcing Nicolo to grow up with a stepfather. Nicolo married into the mob by tying the knot to a girl named Libertina Manno, in 1945, the daughter of Antonio Manno, a local Mafia leader. In 1954, Nicolo took his new family and settled in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was able to form his own crew with help from several other Sicilian relatives and associates living there.
Rizzuto had ties to organized crime in Canada, the United States, Venezuela and Italy. He began his Mafia career in Canada as an associate of the Cotroni crime family that controlled much of Montreal's drug trade in the 1970s while answering to the Bonanno crime family of New York. He was, however, more closely linked to the Sicilian Mafia, in particular the Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan, who came from the same region in the province of Agrigento.
Mob war
During a time of power struggle between the Sicilian and Calabrian factions of the Cotroni crime family, Rizzuto was aspiring to become his own mob boss. Paolo Violi complained about the independent modus operandi of his Sicilian 'underlings', Rizzuto in particular. "He is going from one side to the other, here and there, and he says nothing to nobody, he is doing business and nobody knows anything," Violi said about Rizzuto. Violi asked for more 'soldiers' from his Bonanno bosses, clearly preparing for war, and Violi's boss at the time, Vic Cotroni remarked: "Me, I'm capodecina. I got the right to expel."
Although Rizzuto was in Venezuela at the time, he was linked to the 1978 murder of Paolo Violi, a Bonanno soldier who had been named acting boss of the Cotroni family. By the 1980s, the Rizzutos emerged as the city's pre-eminent Mafia crew after a turf war between the Montreal family's Sicilian and Calabrian factions.
Legal problems
Rizzuto was arrested on November 23, 2006. Before the arrest, Rizzuto appeared to be immune to police investigations in Canada. But he did serve five years in prison in Venezuela between 1988 and 1993 after being convicted of cocaine possession. An undercover Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer was later informed that Rizzuto was paroled early after an associate of the family delivered an CND$800,000 bribe to Venezuelan officials. October 16, 2008 Rizzuto was released from prison.
On February 11, 2010, Nicolo Rizzuto entered a guilty plea to tax evasion charges. The charges stem from a Canada Revenue Agency investigation for the tax years 1994 and 1995. Nicolo Rizzuto was accused of failing to declare the interest earned on more than 5 million dollars deposited in three Swiss bank accounts. The Court ordered Rizzuto that in addition to almost $628,000 in taxes owed, Rizzuto pay a $209,000 fine plus and administrative penalties.
Assassination
On November 10, 2010, Rizzuto was killed at his residence in the Cartierville borough of Montreal when a single bullet from a sniper's rifle punched through two layers of glass in the rear patio doors of his Montreal mansion. His death is believed to be the final blow against the Rizzuto crime family.
Family
Rizzuto had two grandsons by his son Vito and his wife Giovanna Cammalleri, Leonardo Rizzuto and Nicolo "Nick" Rizzuto Jr. On December 28, 2009, Nick Rizzuto Jr. was shot and killed near his car in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, a borough in Montreal. Paolo Renda, Nicolo's son-in-law, disappeared on May 20, 2010, and is presumed to have been kidnapped. A month later Agostino Cuntrera, who was believed to have taken control of the family, was killed together with his bodyguard on June 30, 2010. On December 23, 2013, Vito died from complications of lung cancer at a Montreal hospital.
In popular culture
Mafia expert Antonio Nicaso and Peter Edwards published a book about Nicolo's son Vito's final events, Business or Blood: Mafia Boss Vito Rizzuto's Last War (2015). It was later adapted into the 2017 television drama series Bad Blood, in which Nicolo was portrayed by Paul Sorvino.