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48-561: Cotroni is an Anglicization of the Italian surname Cotrone . Notable people with the surname include: Cotroni crime family , an Italian-Canadian crime family Vincenzo Cotroni (1911–1984), Italian-Canadian mobster Frank Cotroni (1931–2004), Italian-Canadian mobster References [ edit ] ^ Auger and Edwards The Encyclopedia of Canadian Organized Crime p.63. [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with

96-512: A Sicilian Mafia delegation led by Giuseppe Genco Russo . As part of the agreement, Sicilian mobsters would come to the U.S. to distribute the narcotics. Galante brought many young men, known as Zips , from his family home of Castellammare del Golfo , Trapani , to work as bodyguards , contract killers and drug traffickers. In 1958, after being indicted on drug conspiracy charges, Galante went into hiding. On June 3, 1959, New Jersey State Police officers arrested Galante after stopping his car on

144-576: A Sicilian, ran the family's operations in the west end of Montreal; Cotroni's brother Frank ran the family's operations in the Saint-Laurent district; Canadian-born Nicola Di Iorio ran the Sorrento Gang; and the Calabrian Paolo Violi served as Cotroni's deputy. The two most important non-Italian members of the family were Courville and William Obront , the "Canadian Meyer Lanksy " performed

192-523: A boost when the official boss, Rastelli, sought Commission approval to kill Galante. Joseph Massino , a Bonanno soldier loyal to Rastelli, relayed the request to the Commission, which swiftly approved a contract on Galante. On July 12, 1979, Galante was killed just as he finished eating lunch on an open patio at Joe and Mary's Italian-American Restaurant at 205 Knickerbocker Avenue in Bushwick , Brooklyn . He

240-576: A cop bug his place of business". The Bonnano family, to whom the Cotroni family answered to, shifted their support from Violi to Rizzuto, whom they felt to be a more competent criminal. During the war in Montreal, Violi and his brothers were murdered along with others through the mid 1970s to the early 1980s, when the war ceased. Peter Edwards, the crime correspondent of the Toronto Star wrote: "Vic Cotroni

288-512: A favor to Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini . Genovese allegedly gave the murder contract to Galante. On January 11, 1943, Galante allegedly shot and killed Tresca as he stepped outside his newspaper office in Manhattan, and then got in a car and drove away. Although Galante was arrested as a suspect, no one was ever charged in the murder. After the Tresca murder, Galante was sent back to prison on

336-417: A judge ruled that the government had illegally revoked Galante's parole and ordered his immediate release. The New York crime families were alarmed at Galante's brazen attempt to take over the narcotics market. Genovese crime family boss Frank Tieri began contacting Cosa Nostra leaders to build a consensus for Galante's murder, even obtaining approval from the retired Joseph Bonanno. In 1979, they received

384-615: A parole violation. On December 21, 1944, Galante was released from prison. In 1953, boss Joseph Bonanno sent Galante to Montreal , Quebec, to organize the family’s drug business and rackets there. He worked with Vincenzo Cotroni of the Cotroni crime family in the French Connection . The Bonannos were importing huge amounts of heroin by ship into Montreal and then sending it into the United States. Police also estimated that Galante

432-546: A refusal to testify". Following Cotroni's imprisonment, Violi took over control of the family, and on 9 January 1975, Violi told Pietro Sciarra to go to New York to ask Philip "Rusty" Rastelli of the Bonanno family to appoint him the new boss of the Cotroni family. Following his imprisonment, Cotroni transferred the day-to-day activities of the family to Violi, a capodecina together with Frank, Di Iorio and Greco. Cotroni's role became more that of an adviser to Violi. Greco led

480-500: A role similar to a chief financial officer for the family, in charge of money laundering and stock fraud . In the late 1960s, the Cotronis engaged in a violent feud with French-Canadian mobster Richard Blass , with Cotroni associate Joe Di Maulo doing much of the enforcing. On 7 May 1968, Blass and Robert Allard attempted an ambush of Frank outside his home; two of his bodyguards were killed but Frank escaped. The Montreal underworld

528-473: A truck in Williamsburg, Brooklyn . In the ensuing gun battle, Galante wounded Meenahan and a six-year-old bystander; both survived. On February 8, 1931, after pleading guilty to attempted robbery, Galante was sentenced to 12 and a half years in the state prison. On May 1, 1939, Galante was released from prison on parole . By 1940, Galante was carrying out " hits " for Vito Genovese , the official underboss of

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576-539: The Commission d'Enquête sur le Crime Organisé (CECO) that the Cotroni family was "exceptional" in having Sicilians and Calabrians working together. Sabationo testified: "Such a mixture of Calabrian and Sicilian gangsters does not occur in Italy". At the height of their power in the 1960s and 1970s, the Cotroni family was divided along geographical lines, with each capo running a particular district of Montreal. Lugi Greco,

624-521: The East Harlem section of Manhattan . His parents, Vincenzo "James" Galante and Vincenza Russo, had emigrated from Castellammare del Golfo , Sicily , to New York City in 1906, where Vincenzo was a fisherman. Carmine Galante had two brothers, Samuel and Peter Galante, and two sisters, Josephine and Angelina Galante. On February 10, 1945, Galante married Helen Marulli, by whom he had three children: James Galante, Camille Galante, and Angela Galante. For

672-778: The French-Canadian professional wrestler Armand Courville , ended up joining the family. Cotroni and Courville became infamous in Montreal for their roles in the "baseball bat elections" of the 1930s, working as enforcers for the Quebec Liberal Party and using baseball bats to threaten or assault voters opposed to the Liberals. When the Union Nationale won the 1936 election , Cotroni and Courville switched their loyalties. The two men forged political connections that ensured immunity from prosecution for decades afterwards. In

720-519: The Garden State Parkway close to New York City. Federal agents had recently discovered that Galante was hiding in a house on Pelican Island off the Jersey shore . After posting $ 100,000 bail, he was released. On May 18, 1960, Galante was indicted on a second set of narcotics charges; he surrendered voluntarily. Galante's first narcotics trial started on November 21, 1960; one of his co-defendants

768-812: The Hells Angels during the Quebec Biker War . On 17 August 2004, Frank Cotroni died of brain cancer, leaving the Rizzuto Sicilian faction as the most powerful crime family in Canada. On 4 November 2012, Joe Di Maulo, a longtime ally of the Cotroni family, was murdered outside his Montreal home. Police believe his murder is part of an ongoing power struggle between the Sicilians and their rivals. Carmine Galante Carmine Galante ( Italian: [ˈkarmine ɡaˈlante] ; February 21, 1910 – July 12, 1979)

816-620: The Luciano crime family . Galante had an underworld reputation for viciousness and was suspected by the NYPD of involvement in over eighty murders. Galante reportedly had a cold, dead-eyed stare with eyes that betrayed an utter indifference to human life, scaring both law enforcement officers and other Mafia members. Ralph Salerno, a former NYPD detective, once said, "Of all the gangsters that I've met personally, and I've met dozens of them in all of my years, there were only two who, when I looked them straight in

864-581: The surname Cotroni . If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name (s) to the link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cotroni&oldid=933449352 " Categories : Surnames Italian-language surnames Toponymic surnames Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description with empty Wikidata description All set index articles Cotroni crime family The organization

912-461: The 15-year-old Galante pleaded guilty to assault charges. On December 22, 1926, Galante was sentenced to at least two and a half years in the state prison. In August 1930, Galante was arrested for the murder of police officer Walter DeCastilla that occurred during a payroll robbery. However, Galante was never indicted. Also in 1930, New York Police Department (NYPD) officer Joseph Meenahan caught Galante and other gang members attempting to hijack

960-538: The 1950s, the Cotroni family formed a strong connection to the New York -based Bonanno crime family , which was beginning to control the majority of Montreal's drug trade. In 1953, Carmine "Lilo" Galante , an influential member of the Bonanno family, arrived in Montreal and worked with Cotroni. Galante planned to make Montreal a pivotal location in the importation of heroin from overseas for distribution in New York and across

1008-575: The Cotroni family help police find the labour minister before the FLQ killed him. Although the offer was accepted, Laporte was not rescued and his body was found stuffed into the trunk of an automobile. In December 1970, policeman Robert Ménard successfully bugged the Reggio Bar, Violi's base of operations. The recordings of an oblivious Violi revealed much about the operations of the Mafia in not only Canada, but also

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1056-467: The Cotroni family. On 4 May 1968, two of Blass' men, Gilles Bienvenue and Albert Ouimet, were murdered, and on 7 May 1968, Blass associate Roger Larue was also killed. In October 1968, Di Maulo shot Blass twice, who survived his wounds. Both Di Iorio and his deputy, Frank D'Asti, were very close to the Quebec Liberal Party. In 1969, when Pierre Laporte unsuccessfully ran for the leadership of

1104-435: The Cotroni's Calabrian faction as the preeminent crime family in Montreal. Vincenzo died of cancer in 1984, followed by his brother Frank in 2004. In 1924, Vincenzo Cotroni immigrated to Montreal , Quebec , with his two sisters, Marguerita and Palmina, and his brother Giuseppe; his two other brothers, Frank and Michel, were later born in Montreal. In the late 1920s, Cotroni attended a wrestling school where his teacher,

1152-464: The Liberals, both Di Iorio and D'Asti donated heavily to the Laporte campaign. Laporte's two principle aides, René Gagnon and Jean-Jacques Coté, met with Di Iorio and D'Asti to pick up briefcases full of cash during his 1969 leadership bid and again in the 1970 provincial election , which was won by the Liberals. After Bourassa became premier, Di Iorio and D'Asti were recorded by police bugs in expressing

1200-588: The Sicilian faction of the family until his death in 1972. Soon after, in 1973, a violent power struggle broke out between Sicilian and Calabrian factions in the family, notably aspiring Sicilian mob boss Nicolò Rizzuto . In 1976, the recordings made by Ménard over the previous six years were played in public at Commission d'enquête sur le crime organisé , which destroyed Violi's reputation. Journalists André Cedilot and André Noel wrote: "The Mafia would never forgive him [Violi] for being so stupidly careless as to let

1248-502: The U.S. and Italy as well. In the 1960s and 1970s, Cotroni used Obront to supervise a bookmaking network in the Ottawa-Hull area that handled around $ 50,000 in bets per day, with 25 percent going to Violi. Obront also served as Cotroni's chief banker and financial adviser, responsible for laundering money. For Montreal's Expo 67 , Obront also helped the Cotroni family land the meat and vending machine supply contract — most of which

1296-473: The United States via the French Connection . Police also estimated that Galante was collecting gambling profits in Montreal worth about $ 50 million per year. In April 1956, due to Galante's strong-arm extortion tactics, the Canadian government deported him back to the U.S. As is the norm with Mafia families, the elite status of " made men " was limited to those who were Italian or of Italian descent , with

1344-518: The age of 10, Galante was sent to reform school due to his criminal activities. He soon formed a juvenile street gang on New York's Lower East Side . By the age of 15, Galante had dropped out of seventh grade. As a teenager, Galante became a Mafia associate during the Prohibition era , becoming a leading enforcer by the end of the decade. During this period, Galante also worked as a fish sorter and at an artificial flower shop. On December 12, 1925,

1392-666: The boxer Eddie Melo . Like Simard, Melo was in charge of bringing strippers and video game machines from Montreal to the Toronto area. In the early 1990s, Melo took the lead in forging a cross-Canada alliance with the Commisso 'ndrina of Toronto and the East End Vancouver chapter of the Hells Angels. The police surveillance teams observed Melo frequently having meetings in Toronto with the three Commisso brothers and Lloyd "Louie" Robinson,

1440-611: The doors to the private mausoleum of his enemy Frank Costello in St. Michael's Cemetery, who had died in 1973. On February 23, 1974, at a meeting at the Americana Hotel in Manhattan , the Commission named Philip "Rusty" Rastelli as boss. When Rastelli was sent to prison in 1976, Galante seized control of the Bonannos as unofficial acting boss and in turn becoming de facto boss. During

1488-439: The eye, I decided I wouldn't want them to be really personally mad at me. Aniello Dellacroce was one and Carmine Galante was the other. They had bad eyes, I mean, they had the eyes of killers. You could see how frightening they were, the frigid glare of a killer." In 1943, Galante allegedly murdered Carlo Tresca , the publisher of an anti-fascist newspaper in New York. Genovese, living in exile in Italy, offered to kill Tresca as

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1536-553: The hope that Laporte would become the Quebec Attorney-General and were disappointed when he failed to secure that portfolio. However, the fact that Robert Bourassa appointed Laporte Minister of Labour was considered to be a consolation prize by the two men, and Coté promised them that the new Attorney-General, Jérôme Choquette , would be friendly towards the Cotroni family. During the October Crisis of 1970, Cotroni

1584-609: The last 20 years of his life, Carmine Galante lived with Ann Acquavella; the couple had two children together. He was the uncle of Bonanno crime family capo James Carmine Galante. While in prison in 1931, doctors diagnosed Galante as having a psychopathic personality. Galante owned the Rosina Costume Company in Brooklyn, New York and was associated with the Abco Vending Company of West New York, New Jersey . At

1632-528: The late 1970s, Galante allegedly organized the murders of at least eight members of the Gambino family , with whom he had an intense rivalry, to take over a massive drug-trafficking operation. On March 3, 1978, Galante's parole was revoked by the United States Parole Commission for allegedly associating with other Bonanno mobsters, and he was sent back to prison. However, on February 27, 1979,

1680-458: The murdered Galante showed a cigar still in his mouth. Amato and Bonventre, who had done nothing to protect Galante, were left unharmed. The gunmen then ran out of the restaurant. The Archdiocese of New York refused to allow a funeral mass for Galante due to his notoriety. Galante was buried at Saint John's Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens . In 1984, Bonventre was found murdered in

1728-412: The night and was unable to continue the trial due to injury. Galante was sentenced to 20 days in jail for contempt of court . On July 10, 1962, after being convicted in his second narcotics trial, Galante was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison and fined $ 20,000. In January 1974, Galante was released from prison on parole. Following his release from prison, Galante allegedly ordered the bombing of

1776-678: The sergeant-at-arms of the Hells Angels East End chapter. Melo also often visited Vancouver, where he was greeted with much respect during his visits to the clubhouse of the East End chapter. On 23 August 1998, Paolo "Paul" Cotroni, the son of Frank Cotroni, was shot and killed in the driveway of his home in Repentigny by two hitmen, Gérald Gallant and Gérard Hubert, under contract from the Rock Machine biker gang, due to his association with

1824-518: The status of associate open to those of non-Italian background. The vast majority of the "made men" originated from the Mezzogiorno (the south of Italy), but most unusually there was no rules against members from different regions, with Calabrians and Sicilians both serving in the Cotroni family. In 1975, Dr. Alberto Sabatino of the Italian Polizia di Stato testified as an expert witness at

1872-404: Was William Bentvena , a Gambino made man who was murdered by Henry Hill 's associates James Burke and Thomas DeSimone . From the beginning, the first trial was characterized by jurors and alternates dropping out and coercive courtroom displays by the defendants. On May 15, 1961, the judge declared a mistrial . The jury foreman fell down some stairs at an abandoned building in the middle of

1920-469: Was an American Mafioso who was de facto boss of the Bonanno crime family of New York City . Galante was rarely seen without a cigar hanging from his mouth, leading to the nickname " The Cigar " and " Lilo " (a Sicilian term for 'cigar'). He was assassinated on Commission orders in 1979 while dining in a restaurant. Camillo Carmine Galante was born on February 21, 1910, in a tenement building in

1968-545: Was collecting gambling profits in Montreal worth about $ 50 million per year. In April 1956, due to Galante's strong-arm extortion tactics, the Canadian Government deported him back to the United States. In October 1957, Bonanno and Galante, now a consigliere , held a hotel meeting in Palermo, Sicily , on plans to import heroin into the United States. Attendees included Lucky Luciano and other American mobsters, with

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2016-493: Was dining with Leonard Coppola, a Bonanno capo and staunch Galante loyalist, and restaurant owner/cousin Giuseppe Turano, a Bonanno soldier. Also sitting at the table were Galante's Sicilian bodyguards, Baldassare Amato and Cesare Bonventre . At 2:45 pm, three ski-masked men entered the restaurant, walked into the patio, and opened fire with shotguns and handguns. Galante, Turano, and Coppola were killed instantly. A picture of

2064-595: Was established in the 1940s by Vincenzo Cotroni , a Calabrian immigrant from Mammola . Its territory once covered most of southern Quebec and Ontario . An internal war broke out between the Calabrian and Sicilian factions of the family in the late 1970s, which resulted in the death of acting captain Paolo Violi and his brothers. This allowed the Sicilian Rizzuto faction , a Sicilian Mafia crime family, to overtake

2112-400: Was left as boss. Frank Cotroni developed connections with French-Canadian Réal Simard , who became his driver and hitman . In 1986, Simard turned informant after his arrest, confessing to five murders and involvement with Cotroni. Cotroni was sentenced to eight years in prison for manslaughter in 1987. After Simard turned Crown's evidence following his arrest in Toronto, his replacement was

2160-481: Was not one to buck New York and any hit on Violi had to be sanctioned from the United States". By the mid 1980s, the Rizzuto crime family emerged as Montreal's pre-eminent crime family after the turf war. The Calabrian faction continued to operate with Frank Cotroni, who had been imprisoned from 1975 to 1979, as acting boss for his ill brother after the early 1980s. On 16 September 1984, Vic died of cancer, and Frank

2208-566: Was often mentioned in the manifestos of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), which accused the gangster of rigging elections on behalf of the Liberals and being one of the exploiters of the French-Canadian working class. Cotroni did not welcome the attention that the FLQ manifestos, which were read on both the television and radio, brought to him. After Laporte was kidnapped by the FLQ, D'Asti approached his aide, René Gagnon, offering to have

2256-411: Was tainted meat. In 1973, Obront was charged with tax fraud , sentenced to 20 months in jail and ordered to pay $ 683,046 in back taxes. In September 1974, Cotroni was subpoenaed to testify at the Commission d'Enquête sur le Crime Organisé and was imprisoned for contempt after the commissioners declared his testimony to be "voluntarily incomprehensible, disconnected, vague, hazy and equivalent to

2304-555: Was violent, with 110 gangland murders between 1963 and 1969; 70 murders occurred in 1968 and 1969. A provincial commission in 1969 blamed the murders on a struggle for control between the Bonanno family in New York City and the Magaddino family in Buffalo , but in reality much of the violence was caused by an upstart French-Canadian gang led by Blass that sought to challenge the dominance of

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