Vito Rizzuto
Encyclopedia
Vito Rizzuto known as Montreal's Teflon Don, was alleged to be the leading Mafia
boss of the Sicilian Mafia in Canada
and heads the Rizzuto crime family
.
, Sicily
, Italy
, on February 21, 1946, and was brought to Montreal
by his parents in 1954. Vito was the first child of Nicolo "Nick" Rizzuto
and his wife, Libertina Manno. He was named after Nick's father, who was murdered in Patterson, New York
when Nick was only nine. On Vito's eighth birthday, in 1954, the Rizzuto family, which by then included a daughter, Maria, arrived in Canada by ship, landing in Halifax and moving on to Montreal, where thousands of Italian immigrants thrived in a long-established community.
Vito married Giovanna Cammalleri, and had three children. His oldest son, Nicolo Rizzuto (Nick Jr.) – named after his grandfather – was born on December 4, 1967. He was shot and killed near his car in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
a borough in Montreal on December 28, 2009. Another son is Leonardo Rizzuto. His father, Nicolo Rizzuto was shot and killed in his home in Montreal on November 10, 2010. The gunman shot him from outside the house.
of New York
. 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 and the murder of Paolo Violi
, a Bonanno underboss who had been named boss of Montreal's family.
According to law enforcement officials Rizzuto oversaw a criminal empire that imported and distributed tonnes of heroin, cocaine and hashish in Canada, laundered hundreds of millions of dollars, lent out millions more through loansharking operations and profited handsomely from illegal gambling, fraud and contract killings.
Though only considered a soldier of the New York Bonanno crime family
by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
, Rizzuto is considered by Canadian officials to be the most powerful mob boss in the country. The Canadian authors Lee Lamothe and Adrian Humphreys consider the strength of the Rizzuto clan to rival that of any of the Five Families
in New York and dubbed it the Sixth Family. Rizzuto worked closely with the Sicilian Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan – major illicit drug traffickers – that was led in Canada by Alfonso Caruana
.
According to Francesco Di Carlo
, a Sicilian mafioso turned government witness, Vito Rizzuto is in charge of Cosa Nostra in Canada, he said in an interview with W-Five
in 1998.
of Cosa Nostra in New York. According to the book The Sixth Family:
in relation to racketeering conspiracy
charges, including loansharking and murder
, in connection with the 1981 gangland killings of three rival Bonanno crime family captains, Philip Giaccone
, Dominick Trinchera
and Alphonse Indelicato, made famous by the Hollywood movie Donnie Brasco
. Rizzuto is alleged to have been one of four gunmen hired by former Bonanno crime family captain Joe Massino
to kill the three other captains. Massino had allegedly believed that they were planning a power grab after the incarceration of then-boss Phillip Rastelli.
Rizzuto was arrested on January 20, 2004 in Montreal. On August 17, 2006, after a legal battle of 31 months, he was extradited to the United States
, and appeared before a United States magistrate judge
of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
in Brooklyn
If convicted, he would have faced a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Massino, who is serving a life sentence for murder and became a state witness afterward, testified against Rizzuto, as did Massino's brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale
, who was among the men who carried out the slaying.
On May 4, 2007, Rizzuto pleaded guilty to being present at the triple murder in 1981. As part of a plea bargain agreement, he received a 10-year prison sentence to be followed by a three-year supervised release. He testified that he was involved in the affair, but had only yelled "It's a holdup" while others did the shooting. His ten-year sentence will be lowered due to having spent three and a half years in jail. It is believed that he will serve five years in the U.S., and another three years in Canada under supervised release. According to Lee Lamothe, author of The Sixth Family, this was a fate that was far from the worst that could happen to Mr. Rizzuto.
Rizzuto is being housed in ADX Florence
in Colorado and is scheduled for release on October 6, 2012.
Since his arrest, several family members have died, including his son Nick Rizzuto Jr. killed in 2009, Vito’s brother-in-law Paolo Renda disappeared, Agostino Cuntrera (who is believed to have taken control of the family), was killed in 2010 and in November 2010, Nicolo Rizzuto was killed.
against Rizzuto in connection with alleged Mafia involvement in building a bridge across the Strait of Messina
connecting the Italian mainland with Sicily, one of the biggest public works projects in Italy's history. The 3,690-metre-long, suspension-type bridge, planned to open by 2011, is expected to cost about €5 billion ($7.3 billion CAD).
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
boss of the Sicilian Mafia in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and heads the Rizzuto crime family
Rizzuto crime family
The Rizzuto family is a Mafia organization based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The family territory covers most of southern Quebec and Ontario. The FBI considers the family connected to the Bonanno family, but the Canadian law enforcement considers it a separate crime family...
.
Family
Vito Rizzuto was born in Cattolica EracleaCattolica Eraclea
Cattolica Eraclea is a comune in the Province of Agrigento in the Italian region Sicily, located about 80 km south of Palermo and about 20 km northwest of Agrigento nearby the Platani river valley....
, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, on February 21, 1946, and was brought to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
by his parents in 1954. Vito was the first child of Nicolo "Nick" Rizzuto
Nicolo Rizzuto
Nicolo Rizzuto , also known as Nick Rizzuto, was the crime boss of the Sicilian faction of the Italian Mafia in Montreal who later pushed out the Calabrian Cotroni family. Rizzuto was born in Cattolica Eraclea, Sicily, in 1924, and immigrated to Canada in 1954 when the family settled in Montreal...
and his wife, Libertina Manno. He was named after Nick's father, who was murdered in Patterson, New York
Patterson, New York
Patterson is a town in Putnam County, New York, United States. The town is in the northeast part of the county. Interstate 84 passes through the southwest part of the town. The population was 11,306 at the 2000 census. The town is named after early farmer Matthew Paterson...
when Nick was only nine. On Vito's eighth birthday, in 1954, the Rizzuto family, which by then included a daughter, Maria, arrived in Canada by ship, landing in Halifax and moving on to Montreal, where thousands of Italian immigrants thrived in a long-established community.
Vito married Giovanna Cammalleri, and had three children. His oldest son, Nicolo Rizzuto (Nick Jr.) – named after his grandfather – was born on December 4, 1967. He was shot and killed near his car in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce , also nicknamed NDG, is a residential neighbourhood of Montreal located in the city's west-end. It is one of five districts of the borough of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce...
a borough in Montreal on December 28, 2009. Another son is Leonardo Rizzuto. His father, Nicolo Rizzuto was shot and killed in his home in Montreal on November 10, 2010. The gunman shot him from outside the house.
Criminal career
His father Nicolo Rizzuto 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 familyBonanno crime family
The Bonanno crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia ....
of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. 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
Calabrian
Calabrian may refer to:* Calabrian languages, the languages and dialects spoken in Calabria* Calabrians, the people of Calabria, southern Italy...
factions and the murder of Paolo Violi
Paolo Violi
Paolo Violi was an Italian-Canadian mobster and longtime underboss of the Bonanno crime family's faction in Montreal, the Cotroni crime family. The Violi and Cotroni families were from Calabria while the Rizzuto crime family, like the Bonannos, were from Sicily...
, a Bonanno underboss who had been named boss of Montreal's family.
According to law enforcement officials Rizzuto oversaw a criminal empire that imported and distributed tonnes of heroin, cocaine and hashish in Canada, laundered hundreds of millions of dollars, lent out millions more through loansharking operations and profited handsomely from illegal gambling, fraud and contract killings.
Though only considered a soldier of the New York Bonanno crime family
Bonanno crime family
The Bonanno crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia ....
by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
, Rizzuto is considered by Canadian officials to be the most powerful mob boss in the country. The Canadian authors Lee Lamothe and Adrian Humphreys consider the strength of the Rizzuto clan to rival that of any of the Five Families
Five Families
The Five Families are the five original Italian-American Mafia crime families which have dominated organized crime in America since 1931. The Five Families in New York remain as the powerhouse of the Italian Mafia in the United States.-History:...
in New York and dubbed it the Sixth Family. Rizzuto worked closely with the Sicilian Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan – major illicit drug traffickers – that was led in Canada by Alfonso Caruana
Alfonso Caruana
Alfonso Caruana is a member of the Sicilian Mafia and was the head of the Sicilian Cuntrera-Caruana family branch in Canada. He acquired Canadian nationality in 1978....
.
According to Francesco Di Carlo
Francesco Di Carlo
Francesco Di Carlo is a member of the Mafia who turned state witness in 1996...
, a Sicilian mafioso turned government witness, Vito Rizzuto is in charge of Cosa Nostra in Canada, he said in an interview with W-Five
W-FIVE
W5 is a Canadian news magazine television series produced by CTV News. The program is currently initially broadcast Saturday nights at 7 p.m...
in 1998.
Boss of the Sixth Family
The journalist Lee Lamothe and Adrian Humphreys dubbed the Rizzuto clan the Sixth Family to put them on an equal footing as the Five FamiliesFive Families
The Five Families are the five original Italian-American Mafia crime families which have dominated organized crime in America since 1931. The Five Families in New York remain as the powerhouse of the Italian Mafia in the United States.-History:...
of Cosa Nostra in New York. According to the book The Sixth Family:
- "By 2003, the Rizzuto organization was variously listed in FBI and DEA files as merely ‘the Canadian crew of the Bonanno Family’ or the ‘Montreal faction of the Bonannos.’ The reality is far different. The territory under its control is huge—more than a million square miles of Quebec and Ontario directly fall under its influence, an area larger than one-quarter the size of the entire United States. It includes major cities, the busiest border crossings between the U.S. and Canada, and many mature Mafia clans that are, by and large, cooperating under the Sixth Family’s banner. Where American Mafia bosses controlled criminal activity in portions of a city or a New York borough or the criminal activity in an industrial or commercial sector—such as construction or New York’s garment district—the Sixth Family was an enterprise with a true global reach. The Sixth Family had outpaced any crew in the Bonanno Family and, indeed, man-for-man, dollar-for-dollar, had eclipsed the family as a whole. (...)
- The nucleus of the Montreal-based Sicilian Mafia ... (comprises) hundreds of soldiers and associates,’ says a Canadian police report drafted in 2004. Those who merely do business with the Sixth Family or work with them in short-term ventures are not included in this. Neither, generally, are the businessmen who do mostly non-criminal favors for the organization."
Indictment, arrest, trial and incarceration
In 2003, Vito Rizzuto was indicted by a Brooklyn federal grand juryGrand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
in relation to racketeering conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
charges, including loansharking and murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
, in connection with the 1981 gangland killings of three rival Bonanno crime family captains, Philip Giaccone
Philip Giaccone
Phillip Giaccone also known as "Philly Lucky" and "The Priest" was a Bonanno crime family member.-The three capos murder:...
, Dominick Trinchera
Dominick Trinchera
Dominick "Big Trin" Trinchera was a Bonanno crime family capo who was murdered with Alphonse Indelicato and Phillip Giaccone for planning the overthrow of aspiring Bonanno boss Phillip Rastelli.-Biography:Born in Rockland, New York, Trinchera was the son of an immigrant from Rome, Italy and an...
and Alphonse Indelicato, made famous by the Hollywood movie Donnie Brasco
Donnie Brasco (film)
Donnie Brasco is a 1997 crime drama film directed by Mike Newell, starring Al Pacino, Johnny Depp and Michael Madsen. It is loosely based on the real-life events of Joseph D. Pistone, an FBI agent who infiltrated the Bonanno crime family, one of the Mafia's Five Families based in New York City...
. Rizzuto is alleged to have been one of four gunmen hired by former Bonanno crime family captain Joe Massino
Joe Massino
Joseph Charles Massino , also known as "Big Joey" or "The Ear". Massino was the boss of the Bonanno crime family before he became a government witness in 2004. The media nicknamed him the "The Last Don" or "The Horatio Alger of the Mob"...
to kill the three other captains. Massino had allegedly believed that they were planning a power grab after the incarceration of then-boss Phillip Rastelli.
Rizzuto was arrested on January 20, 2004 in Montreal. On August 17, 2006, after a legal battle of 31 months, he was extradited to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and appeared before a United States magistrate judge
United States magistrate judge
In the United States federal courts, magistrate judges are appointed to assist United States district court judges in the performance of their duties...
of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the entirety of Long Island and Staten Island...
in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
If convicted, he would have faced a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Massino, who is serving a life sentence for murder and became a state witness afterward, testified against Rizzuto, as did Massino's brother-in-law Salvatore Vitale
Salvatore Vitale
Salvatore "Good Looking Sal" Vitale was a New York City caterer and former underboss of the Bonanno crime family of La Cosa Nostra before becoming a government informant.-Biography:...
, who was among the men who carried out the slaying.
On May 4, 2007, Rizzuto pleaded guilty to being present at the triple murder in 1981. As part of a plea bargain agreement, he received a 10-year prison sentence to be followed by a three-year supervised release. He testified that he was involved in the affair, but had only yelled "It's a holdup" while others did the shooting. His ten-year sentence will be lowered due to having spent three and a half years in jail. It is believed that he will serve five years in the U.S., and another three years in Canada under supervised release. According to Lee Lamothe, author of The Sixth Family, this was a fate that was far from the worst that could happen to Mr. Rizzuto.
Rizzuto is being housed in ADX Florence
ADX Florence
The United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility is a supermax prison for men that is located in unincorporated Fremont County, Colorado, United States, south of Florence. It is unofficially known as ADX Florence, Florence ADMAX, Supermax, or The Alcatraz of the Rockies...
in Colorado and is scheduled for release on October 6, 2012.
Since his arrest, several family members have died, including his son Nick Rizzuto Jr. killed in 2009, Vito’s brother-in-law Paolo Renda disappeared, Agostino Cuntrera (who is believed to have taken control of the family), was killed in 2010 and in November 2010, Nicolo Rizzuto was killed.
Wanted in Italy
On February 11, 2005, an arrest warrant was issued in RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
against Rizzuto in connection with alleged Mafia involvement in building a bridge across the Strait of Messina
Strait of Messina
The Strait of Messina is the narrow passage between the eastern tip of Sicily and the southern tip of Calabria in the south of Italy. It connects the Tyrrhenian Sea with the Ionian Sea, within the central Mediterranean...
connecting the Italian mainland with Sicily, one of the biggest public works projects in Italy's history. The 3,690-metre-long, suspension-type bridge, planned to open by 2011, is expected to cost about €5 billion ($7.3 billion CAD).
External links
- Bloodlines: Project Omertà and the fall of the Mafia's Royal Family (2001), Antonio Nicaso and Lee Lamothe, HarperCollins Canada ISBN 0-00-638524-9
- "Reputed Montreal mob boss sent to face U.S. charges", Toronto StarToronto StarThe Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
, August 18, 2006. - " Canada's Teflon Don jailed in New York", The Globe and MailThe Globe and MailThe Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
, by Sinclair Stewart and Tu Thanh Ha, May 5, 2007.4 - "Beyond Ireland's Eye" by Everton Mclean The TelegramThe TelegramThe Telegram is a daily newspaper published in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.-History:The Evening Telegram was first published on April 3, 1879 by William James Herder. It adopted its current name in 1998, although it was also briefly published under this name in 1881...
, 24 February 2008 - Rizzuto, l'ascension et la chute d'un parrain
See also
- Rizzuto crime familyRizzuto crime familyThe Rizzuto family is a Mafia organization based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The family territory covers most of southern Quebec and Ontario. The FBI considers the family connected to the Bonanno family, but the Canadian law enforcement considers it a separate crime family...
- Cotroni crime family
- Five FamiliesFive FamiliesThe Five Families are the five original Italian-American Mafia crime families which have dominated organized crime in America since 1931. The Five Families in New York remain as the powerhouse of the Italian Mafia in the United States.-History:...