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Nope, We're just necessary for. 59 00:02:12.280 --> 00:02:12.360 You. 60 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:16.199 Are now listening to True Murder, the most shocking killers 61 00:02:16.199 --> 00:02:19.199 in true crime history and the authors that have written 62 00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:26.479 about them Gasey, Bundy, Dahmer, The Nightstalker BTK. Every week 63 00:02:26.639 --> 00:02:30.479 another fascinating author talking about the most shocking and infamous 64 00:02:30.520 --> 00:02:34.479 killers in true crime history. True Murder with your host, 65 00:02:34.919 --> 00:02:37.439 journalist and author Dan Zufanski. 66 00:02:48.199 --> 00:02:52.960 Good Evening. This episode is brought to you by square Space. 67 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:58.120 Square Space is the easiest way to create a beautiful website, blog, 68 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:03.240 or online store for you and your ideas. Squarespace features 69 00:03:03.479 --> 00:03:07.919 an elegant interface, beautiful templates, and incredible twenty four to 70 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:13.840 seven customer support. Try Squarespace at squarespace dot com and 71 00:03:14.039 --> 00:03:16.840 enter offer COO True Murder at checkout to get ten 72 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:24.400 percent off square Space. Build it Beautiful. Until Vito Risuto 73 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:26.840 went to prison in two thousand and six for his 74 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:31.199 role in a decade's old Brooklyn triple murder, he ruled 75 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:34.639 the Port of Montreal, the northern gateway to the major 76 00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:39.120 American drug markets. A master diplomat, he won the respect 77 00:03:39.159 --> 00:03:43.520 of rival mafia clans, bikers and street gangs, and criminal 78 00:03:43.560 --> 00:03:47.719 business thrived on his turf. His family prospered, and his 79 00:03:47.800 --> 00:03:51.680 empire grew until one of North America's true Teflon Dawns, 80 00:03:51.719 --> 00:03:55.800 finally lost his veneer as he watched helplessly from his 81 00:03:55.879 --> 00:03:59.120 Colorado prison. The murders of his son and father made 82 00:03:59.159 --> 00:04:02.840 international head lines, the killings of his lieutenants and friends 83 00:04:03.319 --> 00:04:08.000 bills billed the pages of Canadian news, and the influence 84 00:04:08.120 --> 00:04:14.560 of Nadrangeta, the Calabrian mafia spread across Montreal faster than 85 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:19.560 the blood of Rizzuto's crime family. In twenty twelve, Vito 86 00:04:19.639 --> 00:04:23.240 Risuto emerged from prison, a sixty six year old man 87 00:04:23.319 --> 00:04:27.360 who could carefully rebuild his criminal empire or seek bloody 88 00:04:27.399 --> 00:04:31.800 revenge and damn the consequences from the events leading to 89 00:04:31.879 --> 00:04:36.000 his imprisonment to his shocking death in December twenty thirteen. 90 00:04:36.680 --> 00:04:40.839 Business or Blood is the final chapter of Vito's story. 91 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:44.199 The book that we're featuring this evening is Business or 92 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:48.920 Blood Mafia Boss Vito Rizzuto's Last War with my special 93 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:53.040 guest journalist and author Peter Edwards. Welcome back to the 94 00:04:53.079 --> 00:04:57.480 program and thank you for agreeing to this interview Peter Edwards. 95 00:04:57.199 --> 00:04:59.639 Well, thanks for a green to have me. I really 96 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:01.560 liked it last time and I'm looking forward to this one. 97 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:07.439 Thanks very much, Peter. Now for the audience, I just 98 00:05:07.480 --> 00:05:09.240 want to make sure that people know that this is 99 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:13.240 You've co written this book, and it's not the first 100 00:05:13.240 --> 00:05:16.759 time you've had another person assisting in with his books. 101 00:05:17.279 --> 00:05:21.240 And so this person's Antonio Nicaso. So tell us about 102 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:24.279 a little bit about the background of Antonio Nicaso and 103 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:29.480 your collaboration with him for this book Business or Blood. 104 00:05:30.959 --> 00:05:35.800 Antonio and I met around nineteen ninety. We did a 105 00:05:35.800 --> 00:05:40.319 book way back when called Deadly Silence, and we had 106 00:05:40.360 --> 00:05:43.160 a lot of I learned a lot working with him. 107 00:05:43.240 --> 00:05:45.000 That was when he just came over to Canada and 108 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:49.759 he knew a huge amount about the Pure Mafia in Italy. 109 00:05:49.959 --> 00:05:55.079 He knew about its international ramification sort of how it 110 00:05:55.399 --> 00:05:57.600 intersected with a lot of places in the world, and 111 00:05:57.720 --> 00:06:02.319 he was curious how it fit in Canada. I knew 112 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:06.000 things about local things, but I didn't really know, you know, 113 00:06:06.040 --> 00:06:07.959 what they meant when you got across the ocean or 114 00:06:07.959 --> 00:06:10.439 when you got to South America. And so we thought 115 00:06:10.439 --> 00:06:12.000 would be fun, you know, for both of us to 116 00:06:12.120 --> 00:06:14.800 educate each other and then work together on something. And i've, 117 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:18.839 you know, since then, he's become a good, really good 118 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:23.680 friend and someone I totally trust. And he also he's 119 00:06:23.720 --> 00:06:26.439 trained as a lawyer and as a journalist, and so 120 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:30.519 he really knows how to access court documents and he 121 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:35.000 has phenomenal sources in Italy, so that with him you 122 00:06:35.079 --> 00:06:37.120 can have an idea of what you'd like to know 123 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:40.480 in Italy and you can actually find out. His connections 124 00:06:40.519 --> 00:06:44.319 are huge, and he travels the world lecturing on organized crime. 125 00:06:46.079 --> 00:06:52.120 Right now. We spoke just before, just before we went 126 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:56.199 on to air, and you had mentioned that it was 127 00:06:56.319 --> 00:06:58.480 interesting and I would want to give anything away, but 128 00:06:58.519 --> 00:07:06.040 it was interesting. The this certain dynamic in that you 129 00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:10.959 felt that the subject of this book, Vito Risuto, should 130 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:13.920 have known or could likely have known, that you and 131 00:07:14.040 --> 00:07:17.839 Nicaso were planning to write this book. So tell us 132 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:21.319 about the plan to write this book and why specifically 133 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:23.879 you felt it was you and the Caso felt it 134 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:26.399 was the time to write this book. 135 00:07:27.319 --> 00:07:30.519 Peter Rosuto got out of prison in October twenty twelve, 136 00:07:30.600 --> 00:07:33.519 and at that time his father had been murdered right 137 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:36.360 in front of his mother and his sister in the 138 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:40.040 family home by a sniper, and so that was shocking. 139 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:41.600 He could do nothing, and this is the guy who 140 00:07:41.639 --> 00:07:44.399 was a control freak, and to not be able to 141 00:07:44.439 --> 00:07:47.040 do anything when your family has, you know, is under 142 00:07:47.079 --> 00:07:51.279 attack like that is shocking. His eldest son was murdered 143 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:53.560 on a street corner where he was obviously set up. 144 00:07:53.720 --> 00:07:58.079 His brother in law was kidnapped and never seen again, 145 00:07:58.120 --> 00:08:01.360 and so he was pretty obviously he was going to 146 00:08:01.399 --> 00:08:05.319 have to do something, either flee or go after the attackers. 147 00:08:05.399 --> 00:08:09.720 And a month after he got out of prison, someone 148 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:11.839 who should have been a mediator in Montreal, a guy 149 00:08:11.879 --> 00:08:15.439 who I actually talked to, Joe Demalo, he was murdered 150 00:08:15.480 --> 00:08:17.720 and Demalo was the guy who would have brought peace. 151 00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:22.120 And so when Demalo was killed, and that was a 152 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:24.319 really clear message that this is going to be a war, 153 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:28.199 Antonio and I started thinking about what it would be 154 00:08:28.279 --> 00:08:30.439 like to have a book starting with FTO getting the 155 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:32.639 news of his son being murdered and then just writing 156 00:08:32.679 --> 00:08:36.120 from that point on, and we we got kind of 157 00:08:36.120 --> 00:08:39.679 caught up in the idea, and so by December twenty 158 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:42.399 twelve we were working on the book and we knew 159 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:44.200 who the main characters would be, but we didn't know 160 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:46.159 who would win the war, and so that was kind 161 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:49.440 of fascinating for us to be trying to anticipate who 162 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:50.200 would do what to. 163 00:08:52.360 --> 00:08:56.399 Yeah, it is a that's unusual for mob books. Certainly, 164 00:08:57.480 --> 00:08:59.399 he's a weird Joe, you know, when you're the author 165 00:08:59.399 --> 00:09:03.440 and you don't know the end. Yeah, Yeah, that's unusual 166 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:07.360 for how many books you've written too now to be 167 00:09:07.399 --> 00:09:09.720 able to really understand this story. And I know you 168 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:12.159 start off and you and it's very interesting how you 169 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:14.440 lay out this book in terms of you have Veto 170 00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:17.960 in prison in Colorado in two thousand and nine at 171 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:21.320 Christmas time when he gets the news, but just before 172 00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:22.960 we get into that, give us a little bit of 173 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:25.879 a background for those people that don't know. And I 174 00:09:25.879 --> 00:09:29.559 think most people don't know the real connection between that 175 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:32.080 do you cover in this book as well? And I 176 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:35.799 guess Antonio Nicaso would have been instrumental in this too, 177 00:09:35.879 --> 00:09:39.480 is that you have the Sicilians, and we talked about 178 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:45.720 and alluded in the introduction the Calabrasian, the Calabrian and 179 00:09:45.799 --> 00:09:49.679 the Sicilian. And you have the New York families and 180 00:09:49.840 --> 00:09:53.440 Montreal and we'll talk about South America and other places. 181 00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:56.320 But tell us about this a little bit of the 182 00:09:56.399 --> 00:10:02.279 background of Sicily and the Calabrians and Sicilians in Italy, 183 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:06.159 and then we'll talk about North America and that situation 184 00:10:06.279 --> 00:10:09.720 as well in Toronto, Montreal and Italy. So it's all 185 00:10:09.799 --> 00:10:10.840 us just a little bit about that. 186 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:14.440 Sure. Vita Rizzuto was born into a mafia family. So 187 00:10:14.600 --> 00:10:19.159 his grandfather was a huge deal in western Sicily. His father, Nicolo, 188 00:10:19.240 --> 00:10:22.600 who became a huge deal in Canada. He married up. 189 00:10:22.679 --> 00:10:25.360 It would be like marrying into into royalty if you 190 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:29.600 were in the crime world, and so they were something 191 00:10:29.879 --> 00:10:32.399 in Sicily, but they were ambitious and they wanted to 192 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:34.960 be more, and so what they did was moved to 193 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:39.120 Canada when Vito was eight years old. Later they moved 194 00:10:39.159 --> 00:10:42.159 to South America. What it meant was that by the 195 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:45.039 time he was a young adult, Vito could function really 196 00:10:45.080 --> 00:10:47.480 well in four different languages, Like he could slip from 197 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:51.360 English to Spanish to Italian to French with no problem, 198 00:10:51.399 --> 00:10:53.679 and he could get all the nuances of all the languages. 199 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:58.639 And that really kind of informed the way he looked 200 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:01.159 at the world, like everything was an opportunity to him, 201 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:04.320 and everything was kind of laid out. He was the 202 00:11:04.440 --> 00:11:06.600 only son, so there's no doubt what he's going to do. 203 00:11:10.919 --> 00:11:11.080 Now. 204 00:11:12.440 --> 00:11:17.200 You talked about his father, Nicolo, and his immigration to Canada, 205 00:11:17.320 --> 00:11:19.360 So tell us about his father and the kind of 206 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:22.320 power that he wielded in his position. Tell us a 207 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:24.360 little bit about his father, his father. 208 00:11:24.440 --> 00:11:28.200 When he came over, he very very quickly got going 209 00:11:28.279 --> 00:11:31.000 in construction, got a lot of different projects going, and 210 00:11:32.840 --> 00:11:35.519 within five years of setting foot in Canada, he really 211 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:38.639 was as somebody. He was the person who people come 212 00:11:38.679 --> 00:11:41.519 in from Sicily would want to want to meet if 213 00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:43.559 they were going to go into that sort of a world, 214 00:11:43.879 --> 00:11:45.759 a crime world. He was the guy you wanted to 215 00:11:45.799 --> 00:11:50.039 meet when you got off the boat. Montreal was controlled 216 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:52.919 mostly by Collabrians at that time, and he was Sicily, 217 00:11:53.080 --> 00:11:57.000 and he was very very arrogant. He didn't he didn't 218 00:11:57.080 --> 00:11:59.440 argue with him, he didn't even acknowledge them, really and 219 00:11:59.559 --> 00:12:03.120 so tech he was a member of the Banano crime 220 00:12:03.240 --> 00:12:06.799 family in Montreal. But he just did what he wanted, 221 00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:10.200 which which absolutely infuriated one guy above him who wanted 222 00:12:10.200 --> 00:12:13.840 to have him killed. When he there's a contract that 223 00:12:14.440 --> 00:12:16.639 this guy wanted to put out on him, Paulo Violi, 224 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:21.279 and it was rejected by the New Yorkers who ran 225 00:12:21.399 --> 00:12:24.519 the family. When when the contract was rejected, and that 226 00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:28.720 meant that Vito had an absolute enemy and also that 227 00:12:28.840 --> 00:12:33.399 his enemy had appeared powerless, and so in time Vito 228 00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:35.840 killed that guy and killed his two brothers and then 229 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:37.080 moved to the top himself. 230 00:12:40.360 --> 00:12:45.679 Now you talk about Paulo Rioli and this rise to 231 00:12:45.799 --> 00:12:50.679 power in terms of an earner, because that's really what 232 00:12:51.320 --> 00:12:55.240 the mafia and organized crime are really about, is money earning. 233 00:12:55.960 --> 00:12:58.559 What was Vito really like? What was he in terms 234 00:12:58.600 --> 00:13:02.440 of there's others involved in terms of like leadership skills, 235 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:04.120 but how was he as an earner? 236 00:13:04.840 --> 00:13:06.519 That's a great question, and that really gets to the 237 00:13:06.600 --> 00:13:09.840 heart of the difference between the two. Paula Violi was 238 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:13.879 kind of a neighborhood criminal who looked a bit to Italy, 239 00:13:13.960 --> 00:13:16.120 looked a bit to New York, but basically was a 240 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:20.080 big deal on Montreal Island. Niccolo Russuto looked looked at 241 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:24.399 things globally like he he counted in Europe. He was 242 00:13:24.440 --> 00:13:27.039 a very big deal in South America. He lived in 243 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:30.639 Venezuela for quite a while, and what he did was 244 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:34.440 have a direct access to cocaine, and he when others 245 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:37.519 in his family were cautioning about getting too heavily involved 246 00:13:37.559 --> 00:13:39.440 in drugs, he was. He was in with both feet 247 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:43.879 and so he very quickly was a just sort of 248 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:48.759 an international force financially, while Paula Violi was doing well 249 00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:51.559 financially but in a very small area. It would be 250 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:55.399 like someone with a very good union job versus someone 251 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:57.320 who's a multimillionaire. 252 00:14:00.120 --> 00:14:05.320 Now you talked about Sicilian and Calabrian, and so before 253 00:14:05.399 --> 00:14:07.559 we get too far into this, let's talk about another 254 00:14:07.639 --> 00:14:12.639 thing that was introduced to and it's the the drong Gedda. 255 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:17.679 So explain what the non Gretta is and it's allegiance 256 00:14:17.720 --> 00:14:21.080 to the Colabrian or Sicilian, and tell us about its 257 00:14:21.159 --> 00:14:22.159 position in Toronto. 258 00:14:23.399 --> 00:14:26.480 It's the Calabrian mafia. And for a long time it 259 00:14:26.679 --> 00:14:29.480 was underestimated that people called it the lunch bucket mob 260 00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:33.159 and and kind of ridiculed it or didn't take it seriously. 261 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:37.080 It really rose up in the nineteen seventies with kidnappings. 262 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:40.279 One of them was one of the Getty family, you know, 263 00:14:40.360 --> 00:14:43.559 the fabulously wealthy folks from the States, and so they 264 00:14:44.799 --> 00:14:49.799 got into a lot of drug trafficking. They moved north 265 00:14:49.879 --> 00:14:52.080 of Toronto, like first to Toronto and then a little 266 00:14:52.120 --> 00:14:58.120 bit north to Woodbridge, York region. They have a commission 267 00:14:58.279 --> 00:15:02.600 called a Camera Decontrolo, which is a governing body. And 268 00:15:02.720 --> 00:15:06.600 so they're a kind of an alliance of a little 269 00:15:06.600 --> 00:15:11.720 more than half a dozen families in Toronto and others 270 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:12.720 across the province. 271 00:15:12.919 --> 00:15:13.480 And they. 272 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:17.360 A lot of inner marriage and so they're very very 273 00:15:17.399 --> 00:15:19.919 hard to break because people are married into into the 274 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:22.399 family and if you wanted to leave, you would be 275 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:26.440 infuriating your blood family, also your in laws, like it 276 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:28.879 would be a huge deal to to actually turn on 277 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:35.320 the family. And also they're very Ontario based and Montreal 278 00:15:35.559 --> 00:15:42.679 was more Sicilian. Risuto's you know, very leaning towards the 279 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:45.559 old ways with Sicily, and so there there was a 280 00:15:45.720 --> 00:15:49.799 natural gap between the two families. Vito Zzuto was was 281 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:56.360 fairly good at developing allegiances with them, but they always 282 00:15:56.399 --> 00:15:57.720 remained something different from them. 283 00:16:01.159 --> 00:16:04.279 Now, what was the position with you say, the Banano family, 284 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:07.120 not to go too far into the hierarchy of the 285 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:13.360 American families, but where did they really where was their center? 286 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:15.559 Was it Montreal or Toronto? And how did they deal 287 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:19.960 with both factions. How did they deal with that dynamic? 288 00:16:21.240 --> 00:16:23.759 Their center was really Montreal, and Montreal it's just three 289 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:26.039 hundred and eighty five miles up from New York City, 290 00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:29.200 and so Montreal was a logical place for a long 291 00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:33.720 time to bring in smuggle in people, smuggle in drugs, 292 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:35.799 and a place to run off to when there's too 293 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:38.639 much heat in New York, a fun place to go to. 294 00:16:38.840 --> 00:16:42.960 And so their natural poll was to Montreal. And then 295 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:47.000 they just by extension, thought they deserved the rest of Canada, 296 00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:49.639 but they didn't really have the feet on the ground 297 00:16:49.720 --> 00:16:50.480 to really control it. 298 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:56.399 Now, not in the beginning, but you could talk about 299 00:16:56.480 --> 00:17:01.960 the early metamorphosis of of organized crime at Montreal and Toronto. 300 00:17:02.039 --> 00:17:05.440 But by the time you start this story with Vito 301 00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:12.799 Rizzuto in prison in Colorado, organized crime the mafia has 302 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:15.839 changed completely changed into Canada and you have this hierarchy 303 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:22.160 of organized crime syndicates mafioso and then street gangs and 304 00:17:22.920 --> 00:17:26.920 Hell's Angels and Rock Machine and so tell us a 305 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:30.880 little bit about the situation that evolved where there was 306 00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:37.200 an organized hierarchy of power with mafioso and then street 307 00:17:37.240 --> 00:17:39.279 gangs and vikers. 308 00:17:41.160 --> 00:17:44.559 A lot of that's because of the Rizzuto's Nicolo and Vito, 309 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:47.440 where they were smart enough to be able to find 310 00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:50.759 common ground with other groups, and so instead of fighting 311 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:54.559 for one thing, they'd try to develop three things. One 312 00:17:56.400 --> 00:18:00.720 guy from the Old Rock Machine By gang told me 313 00:18:00.839 --> 00:18:03.920 that he thought there was enough sun for everybody, you know, 314 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:07.000 that why fight over one little thing when you can 315 00:18:07.079 --> 00:18:08.640 go for a big thing, And that was really a 316 00:18:08.759 --> 00:18:13.279 Vita Rizzuto idea. He would, rather than fight over drug turf, 317 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:15.279 he'd try and get all the drug dealers to agree 318 00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:17.680 to keep the prices high, and so that way they'd 319 00:18:17.720 --> 00:18:22.200 all profit, you know, rather than losing resources and people 320 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:26.079 losing their lives fighting for tiny little bits of turf. 321 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:29.160 It was better to for the big players to force 322 00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:31.920 up prices and make a profit and then to punish 323 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:36.200 everybody who undercut them. And so there was a always 324 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:39.799 Vita Rizzuto finding a way to connect groups. The Hell's Angels. 325 00:18:40.519 --> 00:18:45.680 While they didn't have black members, they did have affiliated 326 00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:50.680 clubs that took in all sorts of different races, and 327 00:18:50.799 --> 00:18:54.079 so what that meant was that Vita Risuto could connect 328 00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:57.000 with them and then have a connection to Haitian street games, 329 00:18:57.279 --> 00:19:00.200 and so Even though you wouldn't think that Vito's group 330 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:02.359 and the Haitian groups had much in common, there actually 331 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:05.799 was a couple of people who were kind of lynchpins 332 00:19:05.799 --> 00:19:07.880 who pulled it all together and connected everybody. 333 00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:15.920 Now, at what point with Vito Rizzuto residing over this 334 00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:20.119 crime organization, of course he has to come to power. 335 00:19:20.279 --> 00:19:23.079 So tell us some of the characters that have to 336 00:19:24.200 --> 00:19:26.720 go by the wayside for Veto to rise to power, 337 00:19:27.480 --> 00:19:29.839 and that will set us up for some of the 338 00:19:30.200 --> 00:19:32.839 alliances that come to haunt Vito later on. 339 00:19:33.720 --> 00:19:36.079 I was pretty seamless with Vito and his father because 340 00:19:36.200 --> 00:19:40.920 Veto never embarrassed his father and never publicly tried to 341 00:19:41.480 --> 00:19:45.400 take the limelight from his father. But Veto would have 342 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:50.000 assumed power, say easily by the mid nineteen eighties, and 343 00:19:50.279 --> 00:19:52.599 that's when he had killed three people or helped kill 344 00:19:52.680 --> 00:19:56.279 three people for the Banano family, giving him credibility down there. 345 00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:04.079 He he also basically wiped out the eclabriant wing of 346 00:20:04.200 --> 00:20:07.279 the Montreal mob. He killed the Violi brothers, three of them. 347 00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:11.200 That was quite methodical, and what that did was it 348 00:20:12.519 --> 00:20:14.720 gave him power, But it also meant that there were 349 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:19.079 some enemies that just never would never possibly go to 350 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:22.359 his side no matter what he did. There were people 351 00:20:22.440 --> 00:20:27.039 who loved the Violis and who fled to Ontario, but 352 00:20:27.559 --> 00:20:30.920 could never ever possibly think of being on Vito side. 353 00:20:35.319 --> 00:20:39.160 Now, let's talk about how Veto ends up in prison 354 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:43.480 in Colorado in two thousand and we'll tell us when 355 00:20:43.559 --> 00:20:46.200 exactly he is sentenced, and how does he get sentenced 356 00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:47.319 and how does this come down? 357 00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:52.039 Wait, the Lucky Landslide. You can get lucky just about anywhere. 358 00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:55.799 It's your captain speaking. We've got clear runway and the 359 00:20:55.839 --> 00:20:57.680 weather's five. But we're just going to circle up here 360 00:20:57.720 --> 00:21:01.079 a while and get lucky. Oh, nothing like that. It's 361 00:21:01.160 --> 00:21:03.720 just these cash prizes add up quick. So I suggest 362 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:05.759 you sit back, keep your trade table up right, and 363 00:21:06.039 --> 00:21:06.880 start getting lucky. 364 00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:10.519 Pay for free at Lucky Landslides dot Com. Are you 365 00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:11.440 feeling lucky? 366 00:21:11.799 --> 00:21:11.839 No? 367 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:15.160 For just necessary void. We're prohibited by Law eighteen plus. 368 00:21:15.319 --> 00:21:17.960 Terms and conditions apply. See website for details. 369 00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:22.240 We can talk about the Charbonnel Commission, but let's talk 370 00:21:22.279 --> 00:21:25.279 about first about how Veto ends up in prison, the 371 00:21:25.400 --> 00:21:27.720 things that lead up to the circumstances of lead up 372 00:21:27.720 --> 00:21:28.680 to him being in prison. 373 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:32.680 Finally, he took part in three murders in nineteen eighty one. 374 00:21:32.759 --> 00:21:36.640 They're actually there's a fictional version of them shown in 375 00:21:36.680 --> 00:21:40.000 the movie Donny Brasco. He was in a closet with 376 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:43.240 a couple other men. The targets, who were in the 377 00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:47.000 same crime family, were led into a main room. When 378 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:48.640 they were all there and there was time for the 379 00:21:48.680 --> 00:21:51.559 shooting to start, someone who's with the targets ran his 380 00:21:51.640 --> 00:21:54.119 hands through his hair and that was the signal to 381 00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:57.519 come out shooting. They killed those three guys. The reason 382 00:21:57.559 --> 00:22:00.960 they used montrealers was that they didn't want recognizable people 383 00:22:01.240 --> 00:22:04.160 like they won fresh faces to do it, and so 384 00:22:06.519 --> 00:22:09.680 Vito got away with it. He had a really charmed life. 385 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:12.279 He stayed out of prison, he was driving around in 386 00:22:12.359 --> 00:22:15.279 extremely expensive cars, lots of girlfriends, that sort of thing. 387 00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:18.880 But he always had that hanging over his head that 388 00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:22.359 there's the possibility of a death penalty in the States 389 00:22:22.440 --> 00:22:25.240 if people figured out what was going on. And then 390 00:22:25.319 --> 00:22:29.279 with the Banano family started to collapse in the two thousands, 391 00:22:29.319 --> 00:22:31.319 where they were full of informers and it was just 392 00:22:31.400 --> 00:22:33.799 a matter of time until someone squealed on Veto and 393 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:38.519 everything collapsed. And so he fought a huge battle to 394 00:22:38.599 --> 00:22:40.680 keep from being shipped to the States, but ended up 395 00:22:40.759 --> 00:22:44.599 down there in two thousand and six. The really bizarre 396 00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:48.559 thing about it is that he got what amounted to 397 00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:51.440 five and a half years in prison for three contract killings, 398 00:22:51.480 --> 00:22:55.759 which is amazingly light, especially in a country where there's 399 00:22:55.799 --> 00:22:57.799 a death penalty in some states. 400 00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:03.720 Absolutely was there. You talk about that five and a 401 00:23:03.759 --> 00:23:08.519