Nicola "Nick" Rizzuto | |
---|---|
Born |
Nicola Rizzuto February 18, 1924 Cattolica Eraclea, Sicily, Italy |
Died | November 10, 2010 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
(aged 86)
Cause of death | Gunshot |
Nationality | Canadian Canada |
Occupation | Member of the Sicilian Mafia |
Criminal charge | tax evasion |
Criminal penalty | had to make payment of taxes owed ($628,000), was fined ($209,000) and received administrative penalties |
Spouse(s) | Libertina Manno |
Children | Vito Rizzuto, allegedly the godfather of the Sicilian Mafia. |
Parent(s) | Vito Rizzuto Sr. |
Allegiance | Rizzuto crime family |
Motive | Economic profit |
Conviction(s) | tax evasion |
Nicola Rizzuto (February 18, 1924 – November 10, 2010), also known as Nick Rizzuto, was the leader of the Sicilian faction of the Rizzuto crime family in Montreal, Quebec and linked to the Bonanno crime family who later pushed out the Calabrian faction. Rizzuto was born in Cattolica Eraclea, Sicily, in 1924, and immigrated to Canada in 1954 when the family settled in Montreal. Nick's son Vito Rizzuto, before his death on December 23, 2013, was allegedly the godfather of the Sicilian Mafia in Canada.
Rizzuto was born in Sicily in the town of Cattolica Eraclea. In 1925, his father Vito immigrated to the United States with his brother-in-law Calogero Renda and 4 others. Vito's wife stayed with her son Nicola in Sicily. In 1933, Vito was murdered in New York City by rival gangsters forcing Nicola to grow up with a stepfather. Nicola married into the mob by tying the knot to a girl named Libertina Manno, during the early 1940s, the daughter of a local Mafia leader. In 1954, Nicola took his new family and settled in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was able to form his own crew with help from several other Sicilian relatives and associates living there.
Rizzuto had ties to organized crime in Canada, the United States, Venezuela and Italy. He began his Mafia career in Canada as an associate of the Cotroni crime family that controlled much of Montreal's drug trade in the 1970s while answering to the Bonanno crime family of New York. He was, however, more closely linked to the Sicilian Mafia, in particular the Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan, who came from the same region in the province of Agrigento.