Rocco Zito

Rocco Zito (August 19, 1928 – January 29, 2016) was an Italian criminal and a boss of the 'Ndrangheta, a Mafia-type organisation in Calabria. He was also a founding member of the Camera di Controllo in Canada.[1]

Early life

Zito was born into a ‘Ndrangheta crime family in Fiumara, Calabria, on August 19, 1928, one of six sons to Domenico and Angela. His father and uncle, Giuseppe were both ‘Ndrangheta members.[1] Zito tried to immigrate to North America illegally twice, once as a stowaway on a ship headed to New York City in 1947, and two years later trying to enter Texas at Galveston through Mexico; both times he was caught and deported.[2] A murder charge against him in Italy was dropped in 1952 before he entered Canada legally through Montreal three years later, then relocating to Toronto as its connection to the Montreal mafia-bootlegging scheme.[2]

Activities and convicted manslaughter

Police long believed he earned that money through gambling, loan sharking, drugs, fraud, counterfeiting and other criminal ventures. He also had an early bootlegging conviction.[2] Zito was first a police target in Canada in 1960 in a fraud investigation and by 1962, he was seen meeting with powerful mob figures, including Giacomo Luppino.[2]

In 1978, a police investigation of a counterfeiting operation focused on a printing company Zito owned. It led to the seizure of $1.7 million in counterfeit money in Vancouver, with the bills originating in Toronto but charges against him were never laid.[2]

Zito was sentenced to four and a half years in jail after the murder of photo studio owner Rosario Sciarrino on January 13, 1986 for not being able to pay back a $20,000 loan plus interest for the loan sharking.[2] Sciarrino's body was found frozen and wrapped in garbage bags in the trunk of his car after a meeting in a Brampton meat company. An autopsy showed Sciarrino was shot in the head and chest, and suffered a dozen facial fractures from an ashtray.[2][3]

Zito vanished after the shooting but surrendered four days later to Peel homicide detectives. He limped in from a gunshot wound to the leg, telling police that "I, Rocco Zito, was shot on Monday, Jan. 13th, by persons unknown." Police long suspected the wound was self-inflicted to instill legal doubt in the initial second-degree murder charge in Sciarrino’s slaying.[2]

Death

Zito was shot to death in his North York home on the evening of January 29, 2016 by his son-in-law Domenico Scopelliti in a domestic dispute at the age of 87; Scopelliti later surrendered to police and was charged with first-degree murder.[2][4]

Style and philosophy

"If you were to look at the guy, you’d never guess he was a Mafia chieftain... He drove a car that was as plain as you could buy — no extras, no options, no flash, no nothing... He dressed very plainly, lived quietly as he could."

—Larry Tronstad, a retired RCMP Staff Sergeant who led an anti-Mafia unit that probed Zito for years.[1]

Zito lived by the philosophy of old-school modesty to the end. He also officially listed his occupation as a ceramic tile salesman as a cover alias.[1]

He loathed the flash of the modern Mafia, with its extravagant displays of wealth to show power; he believed true respect, came from "honour." He often dismissed younger mobsters who resided north of Toronto as "Hollywood" – Woodbridge. Zito once stated, "In my day, we didn’t have the big houses, drive the big cars and the suits and all the flash... But all the guys in Woodbridge have the big houses and drive the big, black SUVs and put on airs."[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "You'd never guess he was a Mafia chieftain': Longtime mob boss killed in violent attack in Toronto home". nationalpost.com. 30 January 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "The life and death of Rocco Zito". torontosun.com. 30 January 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  3. ↑ "Rocco Zito 'had few superiors' in Mafia, retired RCMP investigator says". cbc.ca. 2 February 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  4. ↑ "Longtime mobster Rocco Zito shot dead in his home". thestar.com. 30 January 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
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