For decades when organized crime writers and even law enforcement agents spoke of powerful, intelligent and cunning mafia Bosses they spoke of Charlie "Lucky" Luciano, Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno, Gaetano "Tommy Brown" Luchese, Carlo "Don Carlo" Gambino and along with those men many believe that Montreal mafia Boss, Vincent "Vic the Egg" Vic Cotroni deserves to be placed in the company of those legendary mafiosi and if you look at Cotroni's character, criminal career and the respect, admiration and success Cotroni obtained it's quite obvious he deserves to be considered one of the top North American mafia Bosses of all time, certainly in Canada! It may have been obvious to those mafiosi who were related or close associates of Montreal mafiosi Nick Rizzuto that the new Sicilian faction leader in Montreal would one day become an immensely powerful, influential and wealthy Canadian mafia Boss and one day hold a high level position in the international underworld, a position of respect, power and influence that could not even be matched by any of the legendary mafiosi mentioned previously! In the Italian mafia and the underworld in general, only those leaders with ambition, intelligence, cunning and perseverance become successful and maintain longevity, a level of mental and physical strength is needed and it seems that if you were to look at all the great mafia Bosses of past and present, they all carry this strength. The criminal careers of many top mafia Bosses have been documented in law enforcement records, in books, on the internet and even in movies and the careers of Montreal's top mafia Bosses are no exceptions, but at the top of the list is without a doubt a Sicilian mafiosi of old world tradition and mentality that would take the Montreal crime family, certain members and various other mafia associates closest to him and turn a family run criminal organization into a mafia dynasty known as "The Sixth Family" and in terms of shrewd thinking, what Nick Rizzuto would plan and execute in Montreal and how he went about doing it was purely Machevelian.
In the international underworld wars have been waged for decades regarding dominance over the international narcotics trade and the in the 1970's Montreal's mafia would experience a cold war and strategic assassinations that would facilitate the rise of an Italian mafia alliance that would come to dominate the narcotics importation and distribution in countries around the world and at the center of the North American narcotics network would be Nick Rizzuto, his allies in the Bonanno and Cuntrera-Caruana crime families, along with various other mafia groups from American, Canada and Sicily who would organize themselves into an international narcotics network of enormous proportions. The Montreal crime family had grown into the most powerful and influential Canadian crime group by the 1960's and the criminal legacy started by Calabrian Vic Cotroni and Sicilian Luigi Greco would continue well into the future, but it would be 1970's and events surrounding Montreal's top mafiosi that would determine the future of the Montreal crime family, it's leadership, the way the organization operates and inevitably the future of the Canadian mafia! At the center of the change within the Montreal mafia in the 1970's would be it's leaders, the international narcotics trade and the enormous wealth that would be generated by the Montreal crime family and one mafoisi in particular, a Sicilian mafiosi from Cattolica Eraclea, Agrigento would be the man who would lead his son, relatives and close mafia associates in a battle of wits and patience that would grow into a show of strength, force and determination against his rivals.
It had been understood in the North American mafia since the early 1950's that the Montreal crime family was recognized as an American Cosa Nostra affiliate and that they held the support of the powerful Bonanno crime family of New York! Montreal mafia Bosses Vic Cotroni and Luigi Greco had always understood even before they became officially affiliated with the American mafia that the center of power in the North American mafia came directly out of New York, the largest center of mafia power in North America where the top Cosa Nostra Bosses carried influence and connections across North America to Italy and beyond! One Montreal mafia Boss did not understand this and his elevation as Vic Cotroni's successor to the Montreal mafia throne was Cotroni's biggest mistake of his underworld career! Vic Cotroni's mistake was not in that he had chosen what some mafiosi and even certain law enforcement officials such as the former Montreal head of Montreal anti-gang squad, Mario Latraverse have called, "a liar and braggart" as his successor, he had chosen a mafiosi who was not in line with or possibly did not have the intelligence or mentality to understand exactly where the center of mafia power in North America came from, along with not understanding the importance of controlling a major portion of the international narcotics trade and how it effected the overall power and influence of the Montreal mafia! Paolo Violi was an old world Calabrian gangster who was qualified to be a mafia Boss in terms of having ambition, power and connections, Violi had long dreamed of creating a Canadian mafia legacy that was free of American mafia influence concerning their leadership and operations and with that Violi was under the impression that ties to the Calabrian mafia Bosses in Italy was enough to build and maintain an organized, strong and unified Canadian mafia with no need for American mafia affiliation, only association and Violi was dead wrong!
Nick Rizzuto had always understood the importance of the long held alliance the Canadian mafia had made with it's American counterparts and at the same time Rizzuto knew that he could use his rival's ignorance and empty ambition to build a Canadian mafia that was not under the rule of the Americans as his big advantage or his "ace in the hole." Rising Montreal and Canadian mafiosi, Nick Rizzuto was certain that with the patriarch of the Montreal crime family, Vic Cotroni slowing down and handing over the control of the day to day activities of the crime family to Underboss, Paolo Violi and with major support from the ever growing mafia power, the Cuntrera-Caruana Clan, the rest of his close Sicilian mafia associates and the Bonanno crime family he could take control of Montreal's narcotics trade and eventually the Montreal mafia, Rizzuto needed only patience, cunning and support and he had all of those! With Nick Rizzuto concentrating on the affairs of his own personal criminal organization or crime family he came across as ignoring and opposing the recognized Montreal mafia leadership of Vic Cotroni and Paolo Violi as Rizzuto deliberately and continuously refused to come in for meetings when called for, by passed the chain of command and made his feelings for Violi known!
With the conflict between top Montreal mafiosi Cotroni, Violi and Rizzuto heating up and coming to a boiling point soon after Violi was promoted to Underboss in 1972 there was need for outside mediation from senior mafia authorities in the United States and Italy as the two mafia factions in Montreal were circling each other and the possibility of the Montreal mafia conflict turning into a war loomed with obvious over all those involved and one of the first places that Vic Cotroni and Paolo Violi looked to for help was New York and the Bonanno crime family leadership. The Montreal mafia leadership had always kept the lines of communication open with their New York benefactors in order to keep joint operations and mafia affairs organized and structured and now the mafia conflict expanding in Montreal needed to be addressed immediately before matters escalated and got out of control. Violi had long voiced his opposition in regards to the level of influence and in some cases, control that New York's Bonanno crime family held over the Montreal mafia and in total Violi was completely against the influence the American mafia held over the Canadian mafia, but Violi was not a stupid man and he knew when he had to swallow his pride and concede that his American supporters were sometimes needed, the growing conflict between the Montreal Calabrians and Sicilians was one time Violi could not afford to let the Calabrians longtime connections to the New York Bonanno crime family go unused!
The players, events and outcome surrounding the conflict within the Montreal mafia carried a great deal of interest and importance to the Bonanno crime family leadership and various top members of the crime family involved in the narcotics trade. The conflict centered directly around top Montreal mafiosi Vic Cotroni, Paoli Violi and Nick Rizzuto, but various mafia members and associates from North America and Sicily who were supporting the Montreal mafia faction leaders were indirectly involved in the conflict as the the outcome of this conflict could determine the future of the Montreal mafia's narcotics operations and it's leadership, along with those matters came the alliance the Montreal mafia had cemented with the Bonanno crime family in New York and various other American mafia associates in Buffalo, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago and Tampa. The Bonanno crime family of New York had been involved in it's own conflicts and a mafia war since the mid 1960's and along with those events came a change in crime family regimes and leaderships, but the alliance and working relationship with the Montreal mafia maintained strong and intact while new faction leaders and Bonanno crime family Bosses came and went.
In 1968 former DiGregorio faction loyalist Paul Sciacca came to power in New York as the new Bos of the Boanno crime family and with the deposition and retirement of Joe Bonanno to Arizona in the late 1960's, Natale "Joe Diamonds" Evola, a longtime Bonanno crime family Capo and Joe Bonanno loyalist came to power in New York as the new leaders of the former Bonanno loyalist faction and at the same time another longtime Bonanno crime family member. Philip "Rusty" Rastelli had become the leader of a young faction of mafiosi by the late 1960's. In late 1968 Sciacca, Evola and Rastelli began to re-organize the divided and broken Bonanno crime family, all 3 factions came together under one regime as Sciacca made Evola his Underboss and Rastelli his Consigliere in an effort to re-unify or re-align the Bonanno crime family. By 1970 Natale Evola was the recognized successor to Bonanno crime family Boss, Paul Sciacca and as the Boss's health seemed to deteriorate Evola was placed in the position of Acting Boss, but Sciacca's health was not ill enough that he could involve himself in the narcotics trade and on May 12, 1971, the Bonanno crime family Boss and Capo, Mike Casale were arrested on narcotics charges. In April of 1971 Natale Evola and Phil Rastelli officially took over the Bonanno crime family as Boss and Underboss, they continued to keep the crime family united by designating former DiGregorio faction member, Nick Alfano as the Consigliere, thus all 3 main Bonanno crime family factions were represented and held power in the Bonanno hierarchy and as luck or fate would have it, all the members of the new "Evola regime" were familiar with Montreal's mafia leadership.
In the international underworld wars have been waged for decades regarding dominance over the international narcotics trade and the in the 1970's Montreal's mafia would experience a cold war and strategic assassinations that would facilitate the rise of an Italian mafia alliance that would come to dominate the narcotics importation and distribution in countries around the world and at the center of the North American narcotics network would be Nick Rizzuto, his allies in the Bonanno and Cuntrera-Caruana crime families, along with various other mafia groups from American, Canada and Sicily who would organize themselves into an international narcotics network of enormous proportions. The Montreal crime family had grown into the most powerful and influential Canadian crime group by the 1960's and the criminal legacy started by Calabrian Vic Cotroni and Sicilian Luigi Greco would continue well into the future, but it would be 1970's and events surrounding Montreal's top mafiosi that would determine the future of the Montreal crime family, it's leadership, the way the organization operates and inevitably the future of the Canadian mafia! At the center of the change within the Montreal mafia in the 1970's would be it's leaders, the international narcotics trade and the enormous wealth that would be generated by the Montreal crime family and one mafoisi in particular, a Sicilian mafiosi from Cattolica Eraclea, Agrigento would be the man who would lead his son, relatives and close mafia associates in a battle of wits and patience that would grow into a show of strength, force and determination against his rivals.
It had been understood in the North American mafia since the early 1950's that the Montreal crime family was recognized as an American Cosa Nostra affiliate and that they held the support of the powerful Bonanno crime family of New York! Montreal mafia Bosses Vic Cotroni and Luigi Greco had always understood even before they became officially affiliated with the American mafia that the center of power in the North American mafia came directly out of New York, the largest center of mafia power in North America where the top Cosa Nostra Bosses carried influence and connections across North America to Italy and beyond! One Montreal mafia Boss did not understand this and his elevation as Vic Cotroni's successor to the Montreal mafia throne was Cotroni's biggest mistake of his underworld career! Vic Cotroni's mistake was not in that he had chosen what some mafiosi and even certain law enforcement officials such as the former Montreal head of Montreal anti-gang squad, Mario Latraverse have called, "a liar and braggart" as his successor, he had chosen a mafiosi who was not in line with or possibly did not have the intelligence or mentality to understand exactly where the center of mafia power in North America came from, along with not understanding the importance of controlling a major portion of the international narcotics trade and how it effected the overall power and influence of the Montreal mafia! Paolo Violi was an old world Calabrian gangster who was qualified to be a mafia Boss in terms of having ambition, power and connections, Violi had long dreamed of creating a Canadian mafia legacy that was free of American mafia influence concerning their leadership and operations and with that Violi was under the impression that ties to the Calabrian mafia Bosses in Italy was enough to build and maintain an organized, strong and unified Canadian mafia with no need for American mafia affiliation, only association and Violi was dead wrong!
Nick Rizzuto had always understood the importance of the long held alliance the Canadian mafia had made with it's American counterparts and at the same time Rizzuto knew that he could use his rival's ignorance and empty ambition to build a Canadian mafia that was not under the rule of the Americans as his big advantage or his "ace in the hole." Rising Montreal and Canadian mafiosi, Nick Rizzuto was certain that with the patriarch of the Montreal crime family, Vic Cotroni slowing down and handing over the control of the day to day activities of the crime family to Underboss, Paolo Violi and with major support from the ever growing mafia power, the Cuntrera-Caruana Clan, the rest of his close Sicilian mafia associates and the Bonanno crime family he could take control of Montreal's narcotics trade and eventually the Montreal mafia, Rizzuto needed only patience, cunning and support and he had all of those! With Nick Rizzuto concentrating on the affairs of his own personal criminal organization or crime family he came across as ignoring and opposing the recognized Montreal mafia leadership of Vic Cotroni and Paolo Violi as Rizzuto deliberately and continuously refused to come in for meetings when called for, by passed the chain of command and made his feelings for Violi known!
With the conflict between top Montreal mafiosi Cotroni, Violi and Rizzuto heating up and coming to a boiling point soon after Violi was promoted to Underboss in 1972 there was need for outside mediation from senior mafia authorities in the United States and Italy as the two mafia factions in Montreal were circling each other and the possibility of the Montreal mafia conflict turning into a war loomed with obvious over all those involved and one of the first places that Vic Cotroni and Paolo Violi looked to for help was New York and the Bonanno crime family leadership. The Montreal mafia leadership had always kept the lines of communication open with their New York benefactors in order to keep joint operations and mafia affairs organized and structured and now the mafia conflict expanding in Montreal needed to be addressed immediately before matters escalated and got out of control. Violi had long voiced his opposition in regards to the level of influence and in some cases, control that New York's Bonanno crime family held over the Montreal mafia and in total Violi was completely against the influence the American mafia held over the Canadian mafia, but Violi was not a stupid man and he knew when he had to swallow his pride and concede that his American supporters were sometimes needed, the growing conflict between the Montreal Calabrians and Sicilians was one time Violi could not afford to let the Calabrians longtime connections to the New York Bonanno crime family go unused!
The players, events and outcome surrounding the conflict within the Montreal mafia carried a great deal of interest and importance to the Bonanno crime family leadership and various top members of the crime family involved in the narcotics trade. The conflict centered directly around top Montreal mafiosi Vic Cotroni, Paoli Violi and Nick Rizzuto, but various mafia members and associates from North America and Sicily who were supporting the Montreal mafia faction leaders were indirectly involved in the conflict as the the outcome of this conflict could determine the future of the Montreal mafia's narcotics operations and it's leadership, along with those matters came the alliance the Montreal mafia had cemented with the Bonanno crime family in New York and various other American mafia associates in Buffalo, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago and Tampa. The Bonanno crime family of New York had been involved in it's own conflicts and a mafia war since the mid 1960's and along with those events came a change in crime family regimes and leaderships, but the alliance and working relationship with the Montreal mafia maintained strong and intact while new faction leaders and Bonanno crime family Bosses came and went.
In 1968 former DiGregorio faction loyalist Paul Sciacca came to power in New York as the new Bos of the Boanno crime family and with the deposition and retirement of Joe Bonanno to Arizona in the late 1960's, Natale "Joe Diamonds" Evola, a longtime Bonanno crime family Capo and Joe Bonanno loyalist came to power in New York as the new leaders of the former Bonanno loyalist faction and at the same time another longtime Bonanno crime family member. Philip "Rusty" Rastelli had become the leader of a young faction of mafiosi by the late 1960's. In late 1968 Sciacca, Evola and Rastelli began to re-organize the divided and broken Bonanno crime family, all 3 factions came together under one regime as Sciacca made Evola his Underboss and Rastelli his Consigliere in an effort to re-unify or re-align the Bonanno crime family. By 1970 Natale Evola was the recognized successor to Bonanno crime family Boss, Paul Sciacca and as the Boss's health seemed to deteriorate Evola was placed in the position of Acting Boss, but Sciacca's health was not ill enough that he could involve himself in the narcotics trade and on May 12, 1971, the Bonanno crime family Boss and Capo, Mike Casale were arrested on narcotics charges. In April of 1971 Natale Evola and Phil Rastelli officially took over the Bonanno crime family as Boss and Underboss, they continued to keep the crime family united by designating former DiGregorio faction member, Nick Alfano as the Consigliere, thus all 3 main Bonanno crime family factions were represented and held power in the Bonanno hierarchy and as luck or fate would have it, all the members of the new "Evola regime" were familiar with Montreal's mafia leadership.
MONTREAL CRIME FAMILY
Part 10: THE EGG'S BIG MISTAKE AND THE RISE OF DON NICOLO
Author: Little Joe Shots
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