Calogero Renda’s immigration papers. Renda accompanied Vito Rizzuto’s namesake grandfather to the USA from the family’s Sicilian home village of Cattolica Eraclea.
Vito Rizzuto Sr. landed in New Orleans in 1925. He would die in New York state in 1933, never again seeing his young son, Nicolò.
Thirty-year-old Nicolò Rizzuto arrived with his young family in Halifax in 1954, including eight-year-old Vito and his six-year-old sister, Maria.
In Montreal, the Rizzutos would clash with the more established Paolo Violi, seen here at his Reggio Bar.
Vito (in black) and other members of the hit team (Gerlando Sciascia, left; Joey Massino, right; other, unknown), the day after the 1981 Three Captains mob killings in Brooklyn. The murder cemented Vito’s standing with the Bonanno Mafia family of New York, who considered Montreal their turf.
Nicolò and his wife, Libertina, herself the daughter of a powerful Mafia don in Sicily.
Nicolò, arrested and charged for cocaine trafficking in Venezuela in 1988. He returned to Montreal in 1993.
Like Vito, Smiling Joe Di Maulo was a mediator on the streets.
The Consenza Social Club in Saint-LÉonard, chief meeting place and hangout for senior members of the Rizzuto crime family.
’Ndrangheta members Cosimo Stalteri and Michele Racco. By the 2000s, octogenarian Stalteri would be the most senior of the Ontario group’s ruling camera di controllo.
Raynald Desjardins was Vito’s right-hand man, until a major cocaine bust put the Quebecer behind bars for a decade. He returned an embittered rival and major threat to his former boss.
An invitation to golf with Vito was often tantamount to a performance review.
A high school dropout, Vito carried himself like a CEO, though his suits tended to be a little too flashy for the corporate world.
Salvatore Montagna hoped Vito’s prison stay was the Bonanno family’s chance to re-assert its claim on Montreal, a crucial entry point for smuggling drugs into North America.
In 2004, Bonanno boss Big Joey Massino becomes the highest ranking member of La Cosa Nostra to cooperate with police, worsening the already fragile state of the Mafia family.
Spaniard Juan (Joe Bravo) Ramon Paz Fernandez was briefly reliable muscle for Vito on the streets of Toronto. The bodybuilder pounces on an unlikely target for a photo.
Nicolò and his trusted inner circle in 1999: Paolo Renda (right), Rocco Sollecito and Francesco Arcadi.
Restaurateur/hitman Salvatore (Sam) Calautti was a never ending problem for the ’Ndrangheta.
Former pro football player Constantin (Big Gus) Alevizos was muscle for Panepinto’s Toronto group.
Gaetano (Guy) Panepinto ran Vito’s Toronto crew after Fernandez was imprisoned.
Nick Rizzuto Jr. tried to maintain his father’s criminal empire after Vito went to prison. The effort cost him his life.
Hells Angels Montreal Nomad leader Maurice (Mom) Boucher, one more Vito ally lost to prison.
Salvatore Cazzetta (centre, seated), founder of the Rock Machine biker gang.
Ducarme Joseph was a Montreal street-gang leader Vito could rely on—for a time.
Vito’s war continued with the daytime assassination of ’Ndrangheta drug smuggler and street boss Carmine (The Animal) Verduci.
Vittorio (Victor) Mirarchi was left by his late father to Desjardins’ care and thrived under his mentor, just as Desjardins had once thrived under Vito.
’Ndrangheta killer Domenic Napoli had been part of a hit team in Siderno but ran afoul of Panepinto for encroaching on his video-gambling turf in York Region.
In Bagheria, Sicily, Fernandez tried to wait out Vito’s war and maintain loyalty to both the godfather and his enemy Desjardins.
Portuguese national Fernando Pimentel brought Fernandez extra muscle in Bagheria.
Fernandez underestimating the extent of police surveillance in Italy.
Fernandez with Andrea Fortunato Carbone, Michele Modica’s bodyguard who escaped the California Sandwiches shooting unscathed.
Fernandez with mobster Pietro Scaduto, also present at the North York shooting and deported.
Vito and Fernandez in happier days. In Vito’s last war, no slight went unpunished.