23 Facts About Vito Rizzuto

Vito Rizzuto headed the notorious Rizzuto crime family based in Montreal, Quebec.

Vito Rizzuto had several run-ins with the law but was able to avoid conviction for any major offenses until 2004.

In 1981, Vito Rizzuto participated in the killing of three rival capos in New York City ordered by Joe Massino of the Bonanno crime family, and he was indicted by a Brooklyn federal grand jury in connection with these killings in 2004.

Vito Rizzuto was extradited to the United States in 2006, and pled guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and racketeering charges in 2007.

Vito Rizzuto was given a 10-year prison sentence, but was released in late 2012.

Vito Rizzuto died shortly after on December 23,2013, due to complications from pneumonia, which may have been induced by lung cancer.

Vito Rizzuto was born in Cattolica Eraclea, in the province of Agrigento, Sicily on 21 February 1946.

Vito Rizzuto's mother was the daughter of Antonio Manno, a local Mafia leader in their hometown.

Vito Rizzuto was named after his grandfather, who was murdered on 12 August 1933 in Patterson, New York.

Vito Rizzuto married Giovanna Cammalleri, daughter of compatriot mobster Leonardo Cammalleri, on November 26,1966, and had three children.

Vito Rizzuto was shot six times and killed near his car in the Montreal borough of Notre-Dame-de-Grace on December 28,2009.

In 1972, Vito Rizzuto was sentenced to two years for conspiring to commit arson of Renda's hair salon in Boucherville in 1968 with the intention of defrauding insurers; he served 18 months of the sentence.

Later that year, Vito Rizzuto was arrested again for conspiring to import hashish into Canada.

Vito Rizzuto was named as a co-conspirator, but there was not enough evidence to charge him.

In early 2004, Vito Rizzuto was indicted by a Brooklyn federal grand jury in relation to racketeering conspiracy charges, including loansharking and murder, in connection with the 5 May 1981 gangland killings of three rival Bonanno crime family capos, Philip Giaccone, Dominick Trinchera and Alphonse Indelicato in New York City, made famous by the film Donnie Brasco.

Vito Rizzuto was one of four men hired by former Bonanno crime family captain Joe Massino to kill the three other capos.

Massino, who received a life sentence for murder after he turned state's evidence in 2004, was expected to testify against Vito Rizzuto regarding his role in the three capos murder, but Vito Rizzuto accepted a plea bargain in May 2007 before the case went to trial.

Vito Rizzuto, who was incarcerated at FCI Florence, was released from prison on 5 October 2012, and immediately deported to Toronto, Ontario.

Reports suggested that upon his arrival in Canada, Vito Rizzuto met with representatives of the New York Mafia families, and laid low in Toronto for a while before moving back to Montreal.

Sources indicated that he had bought an armoured vehicle and was living in a well-guarded apartment, suggesting Vito Rizzuto knew his life was in danger, yet wanted to send a message that he was back and would not be easy prey.

Several family members and associates of Vito Rizzuto died or disappeared while he was incarcerated:.

Gallo, a former influential member of Vito Rizzuto's organization, was shot dead outside a restaurant in Acapulco, Mexico in November 2013.

Vito Rizzuto was buried at Saint-Francois d'Assise cemetery in Saint-Leonard, Quebec.