Cotroni family
Encyclopedia
The Cotroni crime family is a Mafia
organization based in Montreal
, Quebec
, Canada
. The territory controlled by the family once covered most of southern Quebec and Ontario, until the Rizzuto family supplanted them. The FBI considers the family a branch of the Bonanno crime family
; however, Canadian law enforcement considers it a separate criminal organization.
Leaders of the Cotroni family included Vic Cotroni and Paolo Violi
. The organization led by the Sicilian Nicolo Rizzuto
eclipsed the Controni family in the late 1970s.
and was involved in the French Connection
. The family has kept ties with Mafia families in Italy and throughout the US and Canada. A internal war broke out between Sicilian and Calabrian factions in the 1970s. This led to a violent mafia war in Montreal leading to the deaths of Paolo Violi
(who was acting capo for Vic Cotroni) and others in the late 1970s. The war ended when Vic Cotroni the Calabrian leader had to let go the Sicilian faction led by Nicolo Rizzuto.
The Calabrian faction continued to operate after the late 1970s with Vic Cotroni as the boss until he died leaving his youngest brother Frank Cotroni as the boss. The faction would lose more power in Quebec and operated in the shadow of the Sicilian faction
led by Nicolo Rizzuto. Their leader Frank Cotroni died of cancer in August 2004 leaving the Rizzuto Sicilian faction as the most powerful crime family in Canada.
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...
organization based in 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...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, 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...
. The territory controlled by the family once covered most of southern Quebec and Ontario, until the Rizzuto family supplanted them. The FBI considers the family a branch of the 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 ....
; however, Canadian law enforcement considers it a separate criminal organization.
Leaders of the Cotroni family included Vic Cotroni and 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...
. The organization led by the Sicilian Nicolo 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...
eclipsed the Controni family in the late 1970s.
History of Cotroni family
The family was created by Vic Cotroni in the 1940s and by the 1950s the family evolved into an important branch of 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 ....
and was involved in the French Connection
French Connection
The French Connection was a scheme through which heroin was smuggled from Turkey to France and then to the United States. The operation reached its peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when it provided the vast majority of the illicit heroin used in the United States...
. The family has kept ties with Mafia families in Italy and throughout the US and Canada. A internal war broke out between Sicilian and Calabrian factions in the 1970s. This led to a violent mafia war in Montreal leading to the deaths 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...
(who was acting capo for Vic Cotroni) and others in the late 1970s. The war ended when Vic Cotroni the Calabrian leader had to let go the Sicilian faction led by Nicolo Rizzuto.
The Calabrian faction continued to operate after the late 1970s with Vic Cotroni as the boss until he died leaving his youngest brother Frank Cotroni as the boss. The faction would lose more power in Quebec and operated in the shadow of the Sicilian faction
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...
led by Nicolo Rizzuto. Their leader Frank Cotroni died of cancer in August 2004 leaving the Rizzuto Sicilian faction as the most powerful crime family in Canada.