Mob figure Frank Cotroni; Montreal Gazette obit
Hyfler/Rosner
Bonannos, he controlled rackets in Quebec with brothers Vic
and Pep
BYLINE: PAUL CHERRY, The Gazette
Frank Cotroni recently wrote that his life was not always
like a tranquil river.
That life ended yesterday as the longtime reputed Mafia
leader died of brain cancer at his daughter's Montreal home.
He would have been 73 next month.
"It is the closing chapter on a type of underworld," said
Antonio Nicaso, the author of several books on the Canadian
Mafia.
"(Cotroni) belonged to a generation of mobsters that do not
exist anymore, the type that always talked of partnership
instead of confrontation."
Cotroni, along with brothers Vincenzo (Vic) and Giuseppe
(Pep), was linked to New York's powerful Bonanno crime
organization and allegedly controlled several Quebec
rackets.
All the mob-linked Cotroni brothers are now dead.
Frank Cotroni only recently completed a seven-year sentence
he received in 1996 for conspiring to import cocaine.
It was during that sentence that news of his failing health
became public. Parole board reports noted that he required
several medical leaves from a penitentiary in 1998. By 2001,
he was being granted leaves to visit physiotherapists, but
the privileges were revoked after the police noticed that he
abused them by visiting known mob hangouts.
"He didn't seem totally uncomfortable in prison. It seemed
to be his home away from home," said journalist Peter
Edwards, author of the 1990 book Blood Brothers, a detailed
portrait of the Cotroni family.
Frank was born Francesco Santo Cotroni in Montreal in 1931,
the youngest child in a family of four brothers and three
sisters. His father, Nicodemo, and his mother, Maria Rosa,
moved from the southern Italian region of Calabria and
settled in Montreal in 1924.
Cotroni grew up in tough sections of Montreal on streets
like Moreau and St. Timothee. His first conviction was in
1950, for a minor theft.
The family name became synonymous with organized crime in
Montreal during the 1960s and 1970s, while his brother Vic
ruled over what police would eventually discover was the
Canadian branch office of New York's Bonanno crime family.
Public inquiries on organized crime held in Quebec during
the 1970s revealed the Cotroni family was involved in
protection rackets, extortion, theft, drug trafficking and
illegal gambling.
Vic, who, unlike Frank, was born in Calabria, died of cancer
at the age of 73 in 1984, leaving a void that his much
younger brother was never able to fill.
Vic Cotroni's funeral was lavish. A 17-piece brass band
played, and floral arrangements that filled 23 cars followed
his hearse as it rode to Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery.
Frank Cotroni was unable to attend because he was behind
bars.
In a 1976 report by the Quebec police commission on
organized crime, Frank Cotroni was listed on a
organizational chart as an underboss, directly beneath his
brother Vic. Three other men were also ranked as
underbosses, including a fellow Calabrian named Paulo Violi.
Violi succeeded Vic when the latter was weakened by a
variety of ailments. Early in 1978, Violi was shot dead in a
homicide that many now believe was the turning point in
Montreal's Mafia history, with the Rizzuto family, with
roots in Sicily, taking over.
Despite the power shift, Frank Cotroni appeared to maintain
considerable influence in Montreal's underworld. He dined
with celebrities like singer Michele Richard, and his
favourite hangout was a posh Montreal steak house. As
recently as July 2002, he was still described in police
intelligence reports as "an important person in the Montreal
Italian Mafia and in Canada."
"Vincenzo dominated the scene in the 1950s and the '60s,"
author Nicaso said. "For many years, (Frank) lived under his
shadow. For him, it was a challenge. He always dreamed of
being a boss, but he was totally different from his brothers
(Vic and Pep, who died in 1979). His brothers were more
traditional; he was more flamboyant and open to other
(criminal) groups."
That inability to operate quietly, away from the prying eyes
of the police, often landed Frank Cotroni in prison, which
he referred to as "college" in his cookbook, Cuisine de
souvenirs et recettes, published last year.
Said author Edwards: "His brother Vic was able to do things
in anonymity, and then those (Quebec) crime commissions of
the '70s kind of nuked Frank Cotroni's chances of ever being
able to work in the shadows. Vic was born in the old country
and Frank wasn't, so they were different types of people.
Frank was a real product of Canada."
In 1987, Frank Cotroni pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the
death of a police informant. His son Francesco, now 44,
would serve time with his father in both the manslaughter
case and the 1996 cocaine-importation case.
In 1975, Frank Cotroni was sentenced to 15 years in the
United States for conspiracy to import cocaine. He served
four years before being released on parole in 1979. Cotroni
was also behind bars in 1998 when his 38-year-old son Paul
was gunned down in Repentigny in a killing that is still
unsolved.
A police investigator who has probed the Cotroni family said
that while Frank was never able to fill his brother's shoes,
he still was considered influential among the city's
Mafiosi.
"He was important in the sense that he made a lot of peace.
He kept the Italians away from the French. He was considered
more of a Quebecois than an Italian," the investigator said.
(In his cookbook, Cotroni wrote that he never visited
Calabria.)
"There was never a war between the Italians and the Dubois
gang or the bikers because Frank was a good ambassador,
always calling the right people. I think he didn't even know
how to speak Italian."
Journal de Montreal crime reporter Michel Auger, who has
covered Montreal's Mafia for decades, said Cotroni was more
French-Canadian than Italian.
"He got much from his family name, from his brother (Vic),"
Auger said. "He grew up with a bunch of bandits from east
Montreal when he lived on St. Timothee St. I think that he
learned Italian in prison."
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.
- - -
A tale of four brothers
Vincenzo Cotroni: The oldest of the brothers and always
considered to have been the leader of the organized crime
family at its peak in the 1960s and 1970s. He died of cancer
in 1984 at age 73. He was sentenced to more than a year in
jail after refusing to testify at a provincial inquiry into
organized crime during the 1970s.
Giuseppe (Pep) Cotroni: Pleaded guilty to trafficking in
heroin in Montreal in 1959 in what was then described as the
most important drug network in Canada. Was sentenced to 10
years, then had seven years tacked on for a minor theft. He
left prison in bad health and died of natural causes in 1979
at age 59.
Michel Cotroni: Mentioned in Frank Cotroni's recently
published cookbook Cuisine de souvenirs et recettes. He
appears to have chosen a different path than those of his
brothers. A police investigator said the brother likely left
Montreal several years ago to pursue a life away from crime.
Frank Cotroni: Died yesterday of cancer at age 72. Convicted
of drug trafficking and manslaughter. Ranked as
an underboss underneath
Vincenzo in 1976.
GRAPHIC: Photo: FROM GAZETTE FILES; Frank Cotroni in 1960.;
Photo: FROM GAZETTE FILES; In 1967, Frank Cotroni, then 35,
with police at 5146 Trans Island Ave. Police had discovered
a 16-metre tunnel - which came within centimetres of the
vaults of the City and District Savings Bank at 5169 Decarie
Blvd. - under the private home. Cotroni and seven others
were arraigned on charges of conspiracy to commit burglary.
He was acquitted because of absence of proof.