Frank Cotroni

Francesco "Frank" Cotroni (1931 – August 17, 2004), also known as "The Big Guy", was an Italian-Canadian Mafia boss of the Cotroni crime family in Montreal.

Frank Cotroni was born in Montreal in 1931. His brother, Vincenzo Cotroni, was 20 years older born in 1911 in Mammola, Calabria, Italy, immigrated to Montreal in 1924 with family.

In the late 1960s, the Cotronis had violent feuds with French-Canadian mobster Richard Blass, with Cotroni associate Joe Di Maulo doing much of the enforcing.

In 1975, with connections with the Bonanno crime family of New York, Frank Cotroni was convicted in the United States of smuggling $3 million worth of cocaine into New York City through Mexico and sentenced to 15 years in prison; he was paroled after four years on the condition he not return to the United States. While in prison, Frank met fellow inmate French-Canadian Réal Simard, nephew of Armand Courville, a long-time associate of Vic Cotroni, Simard would become Frank's driver and eventual hitman upon their release in 1979. Frank considered Simard a nephew.

During the violent Mafia war with the Sicilian Rizzuto crime family in Montreal, Paolo Violi (who was acting capo for Vic Cotroni) and his brothers were murdered along with others through the mid 1970s to the early 1980s until the war ceased. The Calabrian faction continued to operate with Frank as acting boss for his ill brother after the early 1980s. In June 1981, Simard murdered Giuseppe Montegano, a low-level cocaine dealer in Montreal, at Frank's son Francesco's private club, as he was suspected of being police informant and had hostilities with Francesco. In 1983, Cotroni was indicted by a Connecticut grand jury on one count of conspiring to traffic in heroin with five other men in New York City, and three counts of illegally transporting more than $5,000 from Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Montreal. In July 1983, Frank sent Simard to Ontario where he met with Johnny Papalia in Hamilton on behalf of Frank. Frank seized the Ontario market with Simard bringing Quebec strippers to Toronto clubs, where he allowed Papalia to put his pinball machines in his clubs. In November 1983, Simard and associate Richard Clément killed Mario Héroux, but unknowingly only severely wounded Robert Hétu, in their Toronto hotel room after they conspired to kill Clément. Hétu testified against Simard and Simard was arrested and convicted, until he became informant against Frank Cotroni and the family; this resulted in an eight-year sentence for manslaughter against Frank, Francesco and two associates in 1987 for the Montegano murder.

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