45 Facts About Vincenzo Cotroni

Vincenzo Cotroni was illiterate for his entire life and never gave a precise spelling of his surname.

Vincenzo Cotroni's tombstone gives his surname as Cotrone, but the Cotroni surname came to be the one most preferred by journalists and court officials, and this became the accepted spelling of his surname.

Vincenzo Cotroni's family left Italy for the United States and later came to Canada.

Vincenzo Cotroni grew up in a house at the junction of Ontario and St Timothee streets in Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, a poor neighbourhood that more affluent Italian immigrants avoided because of its high crime rate.

Vincenzo Cotroni's father, Nicodemo, was a carpenter whose average weekly income was $35.

Courville served as a mentor to Vincenzo Cotroni, teaching him professional wrestling.

In 1938, Vincenzo Cotroni retired from professional wrestling, but he remained fond of his Vic Vincent persona as he continued to use Vic Vincent as an alias as late as the 1960s.

Vincenzo Cotroni was uncle by marriage to professional wrestler Dino Bravo, believed by authorities to be involved in his organization for some time.

Vincenzo Cotroni was involved in the 1930s in "baseball bat elections", where he served as "muscle" for the Quebec Liberal Party and the Union Nationale, beating up supporters of rival parties and stuffing ballot boxes.

However, though Vincenzo Cotroni presented himself as an illiterate pepperoni salesman to pizzerias, he still maintained the reputation of being a terrifying figure capable of extreme violence.

In 1940, Vincenzo Cotroni escaped internment despite being born in Italy.

Vincenzo Cotroni had a gangster, Harry Ship, rent an office next to Au Faisan Dore, which was a 24-hour center for gambling.

Vincenzo Cotroni was close to Galante, with whom he was constantly seen.

Vincenzo Cotroni was said to have placed a contract on Plante's life.

Edwards has written that Vincenzo Cotroni was just a glorified "branch plant manager" who took his orders from New York and that the Vincenzo Cotroni family was only the Canadian decina of the Bonanno family of New York, instead of being a crime family in its own right.

Elkind recalled that he drove Vincenzo Cotroni to meet gangsters, politicians, lawyers, policemen, journalists, civil servants and customs agents.

The most important of Vincenzo Cotroni's contacts was Hilaire Beauegard, the director of the Surete du Quebec whom Vincenzo Cotroni met on a regular basis.

Elkind recalled that Vincenzo Cotroni jokingly called Willam Obront "the butcher" on the account of him owning a deli and because people kept dying from eating the rotten meat that Obront sold.

Once again, the case ended with "Pep" Vincenzo Cotroni being found guilty.

In 1964, Vincenzo Cotroni was faced with a dilemma when his boss, Joseph Bonanno challenged the Commission, the governing board of the American Mafia.

Magaddino saw Bonanno's presence in Montreal as signalling an intention to move into his turf of southern Ontario, and led to threats from Buffalo that Vincenzo Cotroni should disassociate himself with Bonanno if he wanted to live.

Magaddino was "mad like a beast" when he learned of the Bonanno-Vincenzo Cotroni meeting, leading Vincenzo Cotroni to send a message that the meeting had not been planned by him.

Vincenzo Cotroni declined Magaddino's offer to see him in Buffalo about the matter.

Vincenzo Cotroni was a well known supporter of the Parti liberal du Quebec.

Vincenzo Cotroni was said to have been enraged by the manifesto, which drew national attention upon himself in a very unflattering way.

In 1963, when Maclean's magazine had referred to him as the "godfather" of Montreal, Vincenzo Cotroni sued the magazine company for $1.25 million in damages.

When confronted on the stand about frequent telephone calls to Bonanno, Vincenzo Cotroni became shifty and evasive as he claimed not to remember what the calls were about, though he insisted that it was all innocuous talk despite his professed inability to remember what was said.

Campbell accused Vincenzo Cotroni of extorting money from the Montreal Ace Trucking Company, leading Vincenzo Cotroni to say that he had never heard of Ace Trucking.

The CEO of Ace Trucking, Sam Maislin, testified that Vincenzo Cotroni was a "sales representative to the Italian trade", which led Campbell to ask in response what expertise did an official "pepperoni salesman" have for the business of trucking.

Campbell brought up the time when Vincenzo Cotroni tried to bribe a Montreal police officer with an offer of $50,000 in cash in exchange for not mentioning he was with his French Canadian mistress, Ghislaien Turgeon.

Vincenzo Cotroni was at Turgeon's house having drinks with her, his brother Frank, and an American gangster, Joseph Asaro.

Everyone is going to say that Vic Vincent [Vincenzo Cotroni's wrestling ring name] is a stoolpigeon.

Campbell brought up Vincenzo Cotroni's meeting in Acapulco in 1970 with Lansky.

Vincenzo Cotroni claimed in response not to know who Lansky was, saying he had never heard of him.

The judge concluded that Vincenzo Cotroni's reputation was "tainted" and only awarded him an insulting $2: $1 for the English version of Maclean's and another for the French version.

Vincenzo Cotroni had promised to donate any money he won from Maclean's to charity, but there is no record of any charity ever receiving a $2 donation from Vincenzo Cotroni.

Vincenzo Cotroni's role became more that of an adviser to the younger Calabrian.

In 1974, Vincenzo Cotroni was subpoenaed to stand before the Quebec government's Commission d'enquete sur le crime organise inquiry into organized crime.

The first incident ended when Tino Badelli, Vincenzo Cotroni's son-in-law, stepped in to prevent the fight and the second incident ended with Papalia backing down after Latraverse failed to break down in fear.

In 1977, Vincenzo Cotroni was confronted on the street by a television crew for the CBC documentary Connections about Mafia influence on the Canadian economy.

Vincenzo Cotroni mistook the crew for rival gangsters who were about to castrate him, leading him to cover his groin with his hands as he attempted to flee.

Vincenzo Cotroni attended Violi's funeral, but declined to speak to Violi's widow or children.

Vic Vincenzo Cotroni was not one to buck New York and any hit on Violi had to be sanctioned from the United States.

The Calabrian faction continued to operate with Frank Vincenzo Cotroni, who had been imprisoned from 1975 to 1979, as acting boss for his ill brother after the early 1980s.

Vic Vincenzo Cotroni died of cancer at the age of 73, on September 16,1984.