Celebrated crime author
follows own advice

By Frances Ciccia

Vaughan Citizens

A news story is never written with "but" or "if". One writes with solid documents, evidence and, as rule of thumb, always double-checks sources. This is the advice of Antonio Nicaso, best-selling author and internationally recognized expert on organized crime.
This mantra led the Vaughan resident to dispel the legend of the mysterious disappearance of Rocco Perri, in his new book, Rocco Perri: The Story of Canada's Most Notorious Bootlegger (Wiley, $24.99).
Mr. Nicaso, who has written 11 books on organized crime, never believed the myth Mr. Perri disappeared in 1944 and his body dumped in Hamilton harbour weighted down with concrete shoes.
Just because a body is never found doesn't mean he was killed, Mr. Nicaso said.
"So, there was this half-century mystery about the fate of Rocco Perri and I said it's worth an investigation."
Through never-before-seen documents and exclusive interviews with Mr. Perri's surviving family, Mr. Nicaso was able to find evidence locating Mr. Perri in 1945 in Mexico when his name came up in an Federal Bureau of Investigation report and in 1949 through a letter to his family.
Although Mr. Nicaso was not able to locate Mr. Perri's body or provide the exact date and cause of his death, he said, "At least I eliminated this legend about Rocco Perri's disappearance and the fact he was killed."
Mr. Nicaso said his fascination with Mr. Perri drove him to seek the truth. But Mr. Nicaso's enthrallment with organized crime started much earlier.
Born an only child in Caulonia, in southern Italy, Mr. Nicaso was exposed to the Mafia very early in life.
"The signs of organized crime were everywhere," he said. "When you grow up in an area where you see murders and signs of violence, you start asking yourself why that happened."
On his first day at school, the teacher asked him about his parents. His father had died and he lived with his mother. He learned a classmate was also fatherless. When he asked the child why, he never answered. Mr. Nicaso's mother also avoided the question. It was his grandfather who told him the father of his schoolmate was killed in a Mafia murder.
"At six years old I learned the word 'Mafia,'" he said. "I don't know if it's some kind of destiny, but that word always gave me a reason to reflect. I was surrounded by it and I was very curious."
Mr. Nicaso combined curiosity about what was happening in his hometown and a passion for journalism and became a crime reporter. At the age of 16, one of his first assignments was reporting on a Mafia murder. He has been covering organized crime for 24 years.
After publishing his first book, the Mafia's Code, in 1989, he also received his first death threat. One night at home in Italy, he fell asleep watching TV. When he woke up to turn it off, he heard noises outside and saw two men trying to connect a bomb to his car.
Mr. Nicaso was re-located to New York, where he did consulting work for the United States senate, then moved to Canada and became a reporter and eventually co-editor of the Italian newspaper Corriere Canadese until 2003.
He sits on the advisory board of the Nathanson Centre for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption at York University and lectures in Italy, the U.S., France and Australia. And although he has won numerous awards for his work, it is the digging and research that drives Mr. Nicaso to tackle controversial topics.
He tries to put a human face to the people he writes about, he said.
"They are criminals without question. But, at the same time, they are human," he said. "If you focus only on the bad aspect, you won't give the right and balanced portrait of a person."
So how does he get people to talk? Mr. Nicaso noted the Mafia doesn't send out media releases announcing activities and won't talk to reporters. He has on occasion met a mobster or two who he has accused of being a "triggerman", but has always earned their respect. Mr. Nicaso recently received an e-mail from a gangster from the U.S. praising his writing.
"Always try to be fair with your information and never rely on police reports only," he said. "Try to get the version of the mobster or friends of the mobster in the story."
Mr. Nicaso credits the Internet for allowing him to establish contacts and track information. However, just as he uses technology to expand his horizons, so does the Mafia.
"We face an unprecedented challenge. Members of criminal organizations now work together across language barriers and they are borderless, especially with the Internet. That's what makes the fight against organized crime more complicated," he said.
And while criminal organizations are setting up bank accounts in various countries and swapping information via the Internet, Mr. Nicaso is concerned about the fight between immigrants and mainstream society. He hopes his book teaches people not to repeat mistakes of the past.
"For years we associated immigration with crime and that was not the case," he said. "When you bring people in, allow them to find work and have respect for themselves. If you keep them under-employed and under-utilized, the risk is they will find a criminal activity in order to jump two or three generations ahead."
And while his book describes a Toronto and southern Ontario in the 1920s, rampant with violence, corruption and cultural divide, Mr. Nicaso doesn't think much has changed.
Back then, it was the fear of diversity that led to the prohibition movement, which turned mobsters into public servants and created cultural tensions. Today, Mr. Nicaso said it's a lack of a Canadian identity and a financial gap between newcomers and mainstream society that is responsible for cultural clashes.

December 16, 2004