| Vincenzo "Jimmy" Soccio |
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| Vincenzo Soccio, called "Jimmy," was born in the early 1900s and hooked up with the Cotroni brothers in the 1930s. Over the years. He would become especially close to Giuseppe "Pep" Cotroni, often serving as his bodyguard and driver. Soccio was arrested for running a successful betting operation out of a building on Osborne street in Verdun in 1944. Two years later, on September 22, 1946, Soccio was busted again, this time for operating a gambling den with Modesto Massino. Besides gambling, Soccio also ran a very lucrative heroin ring with Diadato "Dulude" Mastracchio. From the Corso Pizzeria restaurant that they owned on St. Catherine street, the two were rumored to be among the top heroin traffickers in the city. |
In January 1950, undercover officer Hugh Walker posed as a heroin dealer and infilitrated Montreal's drug trade. After compiling a stack of evidence against Emile "Jack" Nadeau, a pimp-turned-drug dealer, the latter agreed to cooperate and introduced Walker to Soccio and Mastracchio, his heroin suppliers. Soccio and Walker met at the Corso Pizzeria on January 26th and arranged a heroin transaction. The undercover officer was given half of a torn cigarette pack and told to bring it with him to the deal. The two men met again and Walker handed Soccio an envelope containing $1,900. The officer met with an individual later that day and they checked to make sure their cigarette pack halves matched. They did. Walker was told that his package of heroin was hidden under the stairs of 3655 St. Urbain street. The deal went down perfectly and Soccio agreed to sell Walker five ounces more for $3,250. Soccio performed the transaction himself this time, which turned out to be a huge mistake. He was arrested and charged with heroin trafficking. His partner, Diadato Mastracchio, was picked up that night, as well as John Sullivan, an employee at their pizzeria. Soccio and Mastracchio were found guilty in April 1952. Both were sentenced to 23 months in prison and a $500 fine. The Béret Bleu nightclub on St. Catherine, owned by Soccio, Romeo Bucci, and Moe Yacknin, was shut down by the Régie des alcools in August 1970. Among the infractions found was the lack of a kitchen, minors drinking in the establishment, and the closing times not being obeyed. The decision was contested by the owners but to no avail. In August 1972, Jimmy Soccio, Frank Cotroni, Michel Galardo, Pasquale Di Nunno, and Michael Bateman were arrested and charged with trying to extort restaurant owner Dionysos Chionsis for $250 a week "protection" payments. But on the stand, Chionsis suddenly came down with amnesia and suddenly remember anything he had told investigators. The charges against Soccio, Cotroni and the others were withdrawn. Two months later, on November 22, police raided Les Immeubles Tempo Lteé on Papineau street and charged Soccio with running a gambling house. Among those present at the time were Giuseppe "Pep" Cotroni, Conrad Bouchard, Tony Masserelli, and Johnny Lia. Soccio was brought before the CECO probe into organized crime on March 1, 1973 and asked about his activities. He told the council that he was a club owner and ex-political organizer. He was called to testify before the committee again on March 26. He was asked about a booklet that contained a list of those who had made financial contributions in the 1957 elections. He was also asked about a list of nightclub owners also in the booklet. Among those names were Vic Cotroni, Luigi Greco, Nicola Di Iorio, and Angelo Lanzo. Vic Cotroni was very upset with Soccio's testimony and called him to a meeting at Reggio Food, a business owned by Paolo Violi. Once there, Soccio was chewed out by Cotroni and Armand Courville, the godfather's trusted associate. Cotroni was very upset that Soccio had not consulted him prior to his testimony. Jimmy Soccio was sentenced to one year in prison for not cooperating with the CECO. The loyal Cotroni underling kept a very low profile after that and, although I haven't been able to find any documents to support this, probably passed away in the late 1970s or early 1980s. |