Frank Cotroni dies of cancer

 

Brian Daly

Canadian Press

 

MONTREAL - Frank Cotroni, a reputed crime boss who rose to prominence during Montreal's Mafia heyday of the 1950s, 60s and 70s, reportedly died on Tuesday although authorities wouldn't confirm it. He was 72.

Cotroni, along with brothers Vic and Pepe, were linked to New York's powerful Bonanno crime organization and allegedly controlled several Quebec rackets.

Veteran crime reporter Claude Poirier said he spoke with several members of the Cotroni family on Tuesday who told him the crime boss died of brain cancer at his daughter's east-end home at 7:30 a.m. EDT.

"His children were with him," said Poirier. "He had been on morphine for two weeks."

The National Parole Board, which approved Cotroni's release from prison in 2002, could not confirm his death. Montreal police also couldn't say whether he had died.

Reports of his death were broadcast repeatedly on radio and television newscasts in Quebec.

In 1976, a provincial commission on organized crime described the Cotroni organization run by Vic and Frank as the Canadian branch of the Bonanno family. Vic died several years ago.

The commission said the group was involved in extortion, theft, loansharking, drug trafficking, illegal gambling and fraud.

Author Antonio Nicaso, who has written several books on organized crime, said Tuesday Cotroni's death represents the end of an era in the Canadian underworld.

He said the older Montreal crime organizations made their fortunes during the postwar boom years, turning Montreal into the North American capital of heroin smuggling and other rackets.

"Montreal was a sort of capital of organized crime in Canada," Nicaso said in an interview from the Toronto area.

"At the time, Quebec was the centre of organized crime."

Frank Cotroni's criminal record is well-documented.

In 1975, he was convicted in the United States of smuggling $3 million worth of cocaine into New York City through Mexico.

Sentenced to 15 years in prison, he was paroled after four years on the condition he not return to the United States.

Cotroni was later sentenced to eight years in prison for the 1981 killing of police informant Giuseppe Montegano in an east-end Montreal club.

In 1983, he 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, Conn., to Montreal.

Cotroni lost his court fight against extradition in June 1989 and agreed to face the charges in Connecticut on the condition that he serve his time in Canada.

He was released from prison in 2002 after serving four years of a seven-year sentence for conspiring to import 180 kilograms of cocaine into Canada.

Cotroni is the second major reputed Canadian crime figure to be taken out of action recently.

Montrealer Vito Rizzuto, the alleged godfather of the Montreal Mafia, is in jail pending extradition to New York in connection with the slayings of three U.S. Mafia captains in 1981.

Unlike traditional Mafia crime bosses, who dealt exclusively with Italian associates, Nicaso said Cotroni forged ties with outside criminal groups.

"He was more a product of Quebec society than a product of the traditional underworld," Nicaso said of the Montreal-born Cotroni, whose parents were from the Calabria region of southern Italy.

"And he was one of the first to open doors to criminals of other ethnic backgrounds."

Cotroni's culturally diverse tastes were reflected in his recently released cookbook, Cuisine des souvenirs et recettes (Kitchen of Memories and Recipes).

The book, published by a subsidiary of Quebecor Media, includes spaghetti and pizza recipes but also features traditional Quebec dishes of beans and pork.

In the foreword, Cotroni recalled childhood memories of home-cooked Italian meals and delicious dishes at local restaurants and cabarets.

He said nothing of his alleged Mafia ties but hinted at his criminal past in the preface.

"This book is not an autobiography even if some memories I have recalled touch on specific periods of my life," he said.

"Someday in the near future, I will write another (book) on my life, which has not always been a long, calm river."

August 17, 2004

 

Montreal crime boss dead at 72
MONTREAL - A man who has long been associated with Montreal's underworld is dead at 72.

Frank Santo Cotroni died of brain cancer Tuesday morning.

He died at his daughter's home in east-end Montreal, surrounded by family. He had been under heavy sedation for several weeks, according to reports.

Frank Cotroni's brother Vincent died several years ago. Vincent Cotroni was the presumed head of the mafia in Montreal.

Criminal past

A 1976 provincial commission on organized crime described the Cotroni family as the Canadian branch of New York's powerful Bonanno crime family. The Cotronis were involved in extortion, theft, loan sharking, drug trafficking, illegal gambling and fraud, the commission said.

Frank Cotroni had a long criminal record. He was conditionally released from prison in 2002 when he had served four years of a seven-year sentence for his role in a crime with his son Francesco.

Francesco Cotroni was was sentenced in 1997 to eight years in prison. He was guilty of conspiracy to import cocaine to Canada from Colombia with the aid of the Cali drug cartel. Last February, the parole board refused to release Francesco.

Frank was quite different from his brother Vincent because Frank was born and raised in Quebec, says Antonio Nicaso, author of 11 books about organized crime.

Nicaso says Frank had a different mentality from his strong and charismatic brother. He was always being compared to Vincent and tried to live up to him. Frank became an important figure in Montreal's crime world but, unlike Vincent, spent time in jail.

The family belonged to an other era, one that doesn't exist anymore, says Nicaso, who wrote about the Cotroni family in his 1993 book Deadly Silence: Canadian Mafia Murders.

He says with globalization and new technologies, Frank Cotroni's death marks the end of a chapter in organized crime in Canada.

CBC Montreal Aug. 17, 2004

 

Alleged crime boss Cotroni buried in Montreal

CTV.ca News Staff

 

Some 200 people in Montreal said goodbye to the man many called the "Big Guy" -- alleged Mafia crime boss, Frank Cotroni.

But hundreds of others gathered in the streets around the church to witness what it's like to see an alleged mobster get sent off.

Cotroni died of cancer this past week at age 72, the youngest of four brothers.

His death stirred up memories of a time when violent crime families controlled the Canadian underworld -- and beyond.

In Montreal's Little Italy on Saturday, cars covered in floral wreaths filled the streets around the Notre-Dame-de-la-Defense Church.

One of the hundreds of flower tributes came from Rene Angelil, Celine Dion's husband and manager.

The procession was followed by six limousines carrying members of the Cotroni family.

Friends and family poured into the church as media and several dozen onlookers crowded the street outside.

"I don't care what people say about him," said Frank Rohac, 81, a longtime family friend as he made his way into the church.
"He was one of the good ones. I respected him when he was alive. Now I'm here to respect him in his death."

"He was like a member of the family," said Matthew Hilton of the Hilton boxing family, who attended the service. Cotroni was an avid boxing fan and supported the Hilton clan in several bouts.

"I'll never forget him. He was always there for us, he helped us like you wouldn't believe. I can't even tell you how, there was so much."

There was no visible police presence outside the church.

The FBI said earlier this week that it would not monitor the service, but might get intelligence from the RCMP.

After the funeral, a singer, accompanied a band playing accordion, mandolin and guitar, led the mourners out of the church to the tune of Calabria Mia, a homage to the region in Italy where Cotroni was born.

Family members stood outside the church, clining to each other and cried as 72 white doves were released into the air. One for each year of Cotroni's life.

"It was a beautiful, humble service," said friend Maria Vendittelli, 58. "Just like he was, a very simple man."

Frank's older brother, Vincent -- who died of cancer in 1984 -- was considered the godfather of the Cotroni family, but Frank's flair for the cameras made him a famous underworld figure. Another brother, Pepe, was also involved.

"He was a godfather wannabe," said Antonio Nicaso, author of Global Mafia, said of Frank.
 
In 1976, a provincial commission on organized crime described the Cotroni family as the Canadian branch of the Bonanno crime family in New York. It said the group was involved in extortion, theft, loansharking, drug trafficking, and fraud.

"For years, the Mafia was and still is the number one criminal organization in Canada," said author and journalist Michel Auger, who covers organized crime for Le Journal de Montreal.

"But while we were focusing on the bikers, they were really not as important as the Mafia."

Cotroni, also known as the "Big Guy", had been to prison several times.

He was released from prison in 2002 after serving four years of a seven-year sentence for conspiring to import 180 kilograms of cocaine into Canada.

He was released on the condition that he not fraternize with people with criminal records.

Cotroni was re-arrested in June 2002, after police said he breached the conditions of his release.

Cotroni's son, Francesco, was also nabbed in that drug bust. The parole board refused his release last February.

Cotroni last appeared in public a year ago to promote his own cookbook, Cuisine des souvenirs et recettes (Kitchen of Memories and Recipes)

With a report from CTV's Genevieve Beauchemin and files from The Canadian Press

Aug. 21, 2004