41 Facts About Eddie Melo

Eddie Melo dropped out of high school in Grade 9 and with a forged birth certificate moved to Verdun, Quebec where he worked as a boxer.

Eddie Melo made his debut as a professional boxer in Montreal on 7 March 1978 at the age of 17.

Eddie Melo won his first 12 matches in a row in 1978 and 1979, with the majority being by knock-out.

Eddie Melo rapidly became a favorite of boxing fans in Montreal.

On 31 October 1978, Eddie Melo first fought Fernand Marcotte at the Verdun auditorium in a match that lasted ten rounds and ended with him winning by split decision.

In 1981, Eddie Melo finally became old enough to box in Ontario.

One of Eddie Melo's fans was the gangster Frank Cotroni of the Cotroni family of Montreal.

Eddie Melo came to enjoy a friendship with Cotroni, whom he called "my number one fan".

Kernaghan wrote that Eddie Melo appeared to have been depressed after losing a title match for the Canadian light heavyweight championship in Montreal on 11 March 1980 to Gary Summerhayes, which caused him to draw closer to Cotroni.

In 1980, Eddie Melo was convicted of stabbing a bouncer with a pocket knife during a bar brawl, for which he served 90 days in prison.

Eddie Melo was to be convicted 8 more times over the course of the rest of his life on charges of extortion or illegal weapons possession.

Later in 1981, Eddie Melo was convicted of uttering death threats.

On 4 May 1982, Eddie Melo had a much publicized match against Jimmie Gradson at the CNE Coliseum in Toronto that had been promoted by George Chuvalo.

The last noteworthy fight by Eddie Melo was when he defeated via knock-out the former Canadian lightweight champion Gary Summerhayes in June 1983.

Eddie Melo used his boxing wealth to buy a Lincoln Continental automobile, a house in Toronto and some $20,000 worth of jewelry.

Guindon felt that Eddie Melo who had won the middleweight Canadian boxing championship at the age of 19 would have benefitted if he been able to mature more as a boxer before being booked to fight the top boxers.

Cotroni would visit Toronto about once every month to see Simard and during those visits Eddie Melo would serve as his chauffeur and bodyguard.

Eddie Melo was known for his aggressive style both in and outside of the ring, with many finding his temper to be quite ungovernable.

Johnny Papalia, the boss of the Papalia family, came to detest Eddie Melo, once telling Cotroni: "Put a leash on Eddie Melo or I'll kill him".

In 1989, at a pool hall on College Street, Eddie Melo assaulted a Mafiosi after words had been exchanged, which led to a murder plot against him, with a hitman being hired to kill him.

In 1991, the Papalia family underboss Carmen Barillaro told the police informer Marvin Elkind while he was wearing a wire that Eddie Melo was working for him as an enforcer.

Elkind and Eddie Melo were close and the former arranged for the latter to have a high-paying unionized construction worker job where he never showed up for work.

Later in 1991, Eddie Melo was convicted of assault after he used his boxing skills to beat up a man during a brawl at a stag party, for which he served 90 days in prison.

The Hells Angel whom Eddie Melo met was Lloyd "Louie" Robinson, the half-brother of the Angels Vancouver East End chapter president, John Bryce.

Eddie Melo served as the principle contact between the East End chapter of the Hells Angels with the Cotroni family of Montreal and the Commisso 'ndrina of Toronto, creating a cross-Canada alliance.

Eddie Melo was notably enraged when long-time Papalia family associate Marvin Elkind was exposed as a police informer in 1993.

Eddie Melo tried to use his boxing skills to beat up Elkind outside of the St Lawrence Market in Toronto.

In early 1994, Eddie Melo decided to resume his boxing career, hiring the Israeli-Canadian businessman Harold Arviv as his manager.

Eddie Melo described Cotroni as one of his best friends and admitted that Volpato was the godfather to one his daughters.

Eddie Melo admitted to being a godfather to one of Arviv's daughters.

Eddie Melo remained a celebrity in Toronto, attending the 1998 Toronto International Film Festival, where he posted for photographs with his second wife, Rhonda, whom it was noted resembled Pamela Lee Anderson.

However, the police remained suspicious of Eddie Melo, noting he was still working in the all-cash vending machine business, through Eddie Melo complained that police surveillance made it difficult for him to work in the vending machine business.

The police noted that Eddie Melo listed his annual income when filing taxes as being about $24,000 yet he lived in a condo on Lakeshore Boulevard West that cost $2,000 per month; paid $1,500 in child support to his ex-wife every month; owned another condo on Queen's Quay; and owned two vehicles, a Jaguar automobile and a sports utility car.

Eddie Melo served as a mentor to a fellow Portuguese-Canadian gangster Johnny Raposo.

Eddie Melo was considered to be a "legend" in the "Little Portugal" neighborhood on College Street and Raposo idolized him.

Eddie Melo came to prefer mortgage fraud and stock market fraud in his last years while his protege Raposo became one of the biggest cocaine dealers in Toronto, buying from the Sinaloa Cartel of Mexico.

On Friday 6 April 2001, Eddie Melo planned to go out with his wife Rhonda to attend a concert by Andrea Bocelli at the Air Canada Centre.

At about 5:15 pm, Eddie Melo went to Amici Sport Cafe in Mississauga to meet his friend Joao "Johnny" Pavao.

At about 6:25 pm, Eddie Melo was in the parking lot talking to Pavao when the hitman Charles Gagne shot Eddie Melo in the head and then killed Pavao as an inconvenient witness.

Eddie Melo's murder is generally believed to have been ordered by the Toronto Camera di Controllo, the governing board for the local 'Ndrangheta 'ndrine.

The Eddie Melo family had been forewarned by the detectives NOT to trust Ribeiro.