Vincenzo Cotroni

Vincenzo Cotroni
Vincenzo "Vic" Cotroni
Born	1911 Mammola, Calabria, Italy
Died	September 19, 1984 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Cause of death	Cancer
Other names	Vic, "The Egg"
Occupation	Mobster, bar owner
Spouse(s)	Maria Bresciano
Children	Rosina Cotroni
Allegiance	Cotroni crime family, Bonanno crime family, Liberal Party

Vincenzo "Vic" Cotroni (1911–1984), also known as "The Egg", was a Montreal-based caporegime of the Cotroni crime family, considered a branch of the Bonanno crime family.

Vincenzo Cotroni (Americanized as Vincent Cotroni) was born in 1911 in Mammola, Calabria, Italy. In 1924, at age 14 he immigrated to Montreal, Quebec, Canada with his family. Rather than attend school, he worked briefly as a carpenter and then as a professional wrestler under the name "Vic Vincent".

Cotroni found his true calling as a criminal - a path his brothers Giuseppe and Frank Cotroni would also follow - by the age of twenty, and had accumulated a lengthy record of minor offenses, bootlegging with local bootlegger Armand Courville. The charges included theft, possession of counterfeit money, illegal sale of alcohol, assault and battery.

"The Egg", as he was sometimes called, was also charged with the rape of Maria Bresciano but the charges were dropped and the alleged victim became Cotroni's wife. She would stay loyally by his side until her death.

While he was already an extremely successful and politically connected individual in Montreal's underworld, Cotroni's biggest opportunity came when Carmine "Lilo" Galante, an influential member of the New York based Bonanno crime family, arrived in Montreal in 1953. Galante planned to make Montreal a pivotal location in the importation of heroin from over seas for distribution in New York City and across the United States in the French Connection. Galante also demanded a "street tax" from gambling houses, night clubs, after-hours lounges, prostitutes, and abortionists.

Cotroni became a close associate to the feared Bonanno mobster and would eventually become godfather to one of Galante's children. When Salvatore "Little Sal" Giglio, the Bonanno gangster who was responsible for the Bonanno Family's interests in Canada, was deported after police found 240 illegal Cuban cigars and 880 American cigarettes on him that had not been declared, Cotroni was bestowed the important position.