52 Facts About Rocco Perri

In 1928, Rocco Perri was charged with perjury after a Royal Commission testimony, and served five months of a six-month prison sentence.

In 1940, Rocco Perri was arrested and sent to internment at Camp Petawawa as part of the Italian Canadian internment; he was released three years later.

Rocco Perri disappeared in Hamilton on April 23,1944, when he went for a walk; his body was never found, and this caused speculation surrounding his purported death.

Rocco Perri was born in Plati, Calabria, Italy, on December 30,1887.

Rocco Perri's family were poor shepherds, and he dropped out of school in grade 5.

Rocco Perri immigrated to the United States in 1903, then to Canada in 1908.

Rocco Perri left for Boston in April 1903 abroad the ocean liner SS Republic on a third-class ticket.

Rocco Perri soon moved to New York city, and then settled in Massena, New York, where he worked as a general labourer.

In November 1908, Rocco Perri moved to Ontario and settled in Cobalt where he worked in a stone quarry owned by the Canadian National Railroad company.

Rocco Perri who disliked the harsh winters in northern Ontario lived a semi-nomadic life as he lived in Cobalt in the spring and summer while spending his falls and winters in Toronto.

Rocco Perri later said of his early years in Canada: "We were treated worse than the blacks but-unlike them-we couldn't speak English".

In May 1912, Rocco Perri hired a man, Camillo Tuzoni, to burn down a house in North Bay that was owned by Donato Glionna as a part of extortion bid.

In 1912, Rocco Perri met Bessie Starkman, a Polish Jew who had immigrated to Canada circa 1900, while he lived as a boarder in her family home in The Ward, Toronto, Ontario, with her husband Harry Tobin and their two children.

Shortly after, Rocco Perri began an affair with Starkman, and when he got a job working on the Welland Canal in 1913, she left her husband and children to move in with Rocco Perri in St Catharines and begin a common-law relationship.

Alcohol was still legal in Quebec, and Rocco Perri used his network of friends in Montreal to buy alcohol to smuggle into Ontario.

Rocco Perri was charged with selling alcohol on January 3,1919, and three days later, was convicted.

Rocco Perri was fined $1,000, but his lawyer, Michael O'Reilly, had the fine reduced to $700 on an appeal.

Rocco Perri ran down the street after the assailants before retreating back to Starkman, who had been killed with two shotgun blasts.

Rocco Perri told the reporters about Papalia's possible involvement: "If it were true, I wouldn't be surprised".

Two weeks after Starkman's murder, Rocco Perri had a will written up, saying he was in fear of his life and "I don't trust anybody".

Rocco Perri added the clause to his will: "I direct that in the event of my death occurring under any unnatural circumstances that my executor investigate same and if any of my beneficiaries are in any way suspected of having anything to do with my unnatural death, their share of my estate shall be forfeited".

At the funeral, as the rabbi said kaddish, Rocco Perri broke down in tears and fainted.

Rocco Perri sold alcohol to the Chicago Outfit via the Purple Gang of Detroit, and he was described as the largest source of Canadian whiskey in Chicago.

Rocco Perri managed to remain on good ties with all three families for a time, but came to be aligned against the Scaroni family when two Serianni family members, Domenic Speranza and Domenic Paproni, killed a Scaroni family member, Joe Celona, in his presence.

At Scaroni's funeral on May 13,1922 in Guelph, Rocco Perri served as one of the pallbearers along with Antonio Deconza, Frank Longo, Frank Romeo and the D'Agostiono brothers.

Rocco Perri was linked to the murders, though no evidence was found.

Rocco Perri employed about 100 men and was in charge of the operational aspects of the gang.

Starkman, who was more literate than Rocco Perri, handled the financial aspects of the business and chose the suppliers of alcohol.

McIroy wrote a public letter stating that Rocco Perri "is not a man of good moral character and is not a fit person to be naturalized in Canada".

On March 24,1922, William Whatley, the Hamilton police chief, wrote to the Dominion government that Rocco Perri had criminal convictions for leaving the scene of an automobile accident in 1918, for lying to a police officer and a breach of the Temperance Act in January 1919 and another conviction in July 1919 for allowing "a ferocious dog to be at large".

On May 6,1922, Rocco Perri launched an appeal where he presented himself as misunderstood and maligned.

Rocco Perri typically shipped his illegal alcohol into the United States overland, but owned a boat for crossing Lake Ontario.

On December 1,1926, a boat owned by Rocco Perri was seized in Hamilton harbour with 100 cases of Canadian whiskey meant for the American market.

Rocco Perri had a limited business relationship with bootlegger Ben Kerr, who owned a home on Bay Street.

Hunt theorized that Rocco Perri was likely responsible for Kerr's death, perhaps using his own, more effectively-armoured boat, the Uncas.

In that era, Rocco Perri was a "big spender" and the couple lived an opulent lifestyle.

When Rocco Perri turned himself in to face the manslaughter charges in Hamilton on July 31,1926, it was the biggest news story in the American and Canadian newspapers that day.

On 13 January 1927, Rocco Perri was acquitted when the Crown was unable to establish that he was aware that the alcohol was tainted.

In 1927, Rocco Perri was compelled to testify at the Royal Commission on Customs and Excise inquiry, focusing on bootlegging and smuggling, and at a hearing on tax evasion charges against Gooderham and Worts.

Later that year, at the Gooderham and Worts tax evasion hearing, Rocco Perri admitted to buying whisky from the distiller from 1924 to 1927.

Rocco Perri started relations with Joe Leo's widow, Maria Vincentia Rossetti, who used the alias Jessie Leo.

In 1937, Rocco Perri returned to Toronto where he purchased a house with his new common-law wife, Annie Newman.

Between 1937 and 1939, Rocco Perri owned a brewery on Fleet Street in Toronto.

Rocco Perri was the prime suspect behind the murder of a Toronto bookie, James Windsor, who was competing with his gambling houses.

One of the Customs officers, David Armaly, had agreed to turn Crown's evidence and testified that Rocco Perri had bribed him as he received $25 for every one of Rocco Perri's cars that were allowed to cross into the United States uninspected.

Italy signed the Pact of Steel with Germany earlier that year, and several journalists asked what Rocco Perri would do if Italy were at war with Britain.

Rocco Perri was described as a well behaved and polite prisoner who suffered from depression as 1941 turned into 1942 while he became very nostalgic for Calabria.

When he returned to his tent, Rocco Perri swore like he never been seen to do before as he cursed Papalia as a friend who had betrayed him.

Rocco Perri was greatly angered by the way that Papalia had allied himself with his old enemy, Stefano Magaddino.

Rocco Perri found that Ontario underworld was now dominated by Papalia, Bordonaro, and Silvestro who were serving as the agents of Magaddino, who did not want Rocco Perri involved in the underworld again.

Rocco Perri was last seen alive in Hamilton on April 23,1944, at the home of a cousin, Joe Serge, on Murray Street West.

In 1992, evidence into Rocco Perri's disappearance was uncovered by Mafia expert Antonio Nicaso.