April 23, 1944 (aged 56) Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Status
Missing for 80 years and 21 days
Other names
"The King of the Bootleggers" "Canada's Al Capone"
Occupation(s)
Bootlegger, mob boss
Spouse(s)
Bessie Starkman (common-law 1913; her death 1930)
Children
2
Conviction(s)
Perjury (1928)
Criminal penalty
Six months' imprisonment; served five months
Partner(s)
Sarah Olive Routledge (1918–1919; 1919–1920) Annie Newman (1933)
Rocco Perri (Italian:[ˈrɔkkoˈpɛrri]; born Rocco Perre;[1] December 30, 1887 – disappeared April 23, 1944) was an Italian-born organized crime figure in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He was one of the most prominent Prohibition-era crime figures in Canada, and was sometimes referred to as "King of the Bootleggers" and "Canada's Al Capone."[2]
Born in the Italian town of Platì in Calabria, Perri immigrated to the United States, and later to Canada, in 1908. In the early 1910s, he started work in construction and in a bakery. Perri and his common-law wife, Bessie Starkman, began a business in bootlegging when the sale and distribution of alcohol was prohibited in both Canada and the United States. Starkman dealt mainly with the finances of the business.[3]
In 1928, Perri was charged with perjury after a Royal Commission testimony, and served five months of a six-month prison sentence. In 1930, Starkman was ambushed in her garage and killed; no one was charged with her murder. In 1940, Perri was arrested and sent to internment at Camp Petawawa as part of the Italian Canadian internment; he was released three years later. Perri disappeared in Hamilton on April 23, 1944, when he went for a walk; his body was never found, and this caused speculation surrounding his purported death.
^Nicaso 2004, p. 21.
^"Cross Country, Ontario". Toronto.com. 21 April 2017. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2020. Author Trevor Cole ... new book "Whisky King" (Harper Collins)
^Schneider, Stephen (2018). Canadian Organized Crime. Canadian Scholars' Press Inc. p. 188. ISBN 9781773380247. Archived from the original on 2023-08-29. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
RoccoPerri (Italian: [ˈrɔkko ˈpɛrri]; born Rocco Perre; December 30, 1887 – disappeared April 23, 1944) was an Italian-born organized crime figure in...
the early 20th century. She and her common-law husband, Italian-born RoccoPerri, established a business in bootlegging after the sale and distribution...
German former footballer Rocco Nacino (born 1987), a Filipino actor RoccoPerri (1887-last seen 1944), Canadian bootlegger Rocco Petrone (1926-2006), Italian-American...
Barbaro. What is known as the Papalia family began as the group headed by RoccoPerri and his common-law wife Bessie Starkman in the 1920s. Antonio Papalia...
with the Sicilian Mafia. It is speculated Hamilton, Ontario bootlegger RoccoPerri was murdered by being fitted with cement shoes and thrown into Hamilton...
concrete blocks tied to his legs. It is also speculated that bootlegger RoccoPerri was murdered by being fitted with cement shoes and thrown into Hamilton...
helped him smuggle liquor into the U.S. When Capone was asked if he knew RoccoPerri, billed as Canada's "King of the Bootleggers", he replied: "Why, I don't...
In 1929, Zaneth went undercover again to infiltrate the Perri-Starkman gang led by RoccoPerri and his common-law wife Bessie Starkman. Posing as a drug...
years. A notable internee was Hamilton, Ontario's notorious bootlegger RoccoPerri. In 1990, prime minister Brian Mulroney apologized for the war internment...
Canadian mobster RoccoPerri. During his youth Frank Papalia was a boxer before joining his father and three brother's Johnny, Rocco and Dominic into...
actually RoccoPerri, often called the "Al Capone of Canada" according to the book RoccoPerri: The Story of Canada's Most Notorious Bootlegger. Perri had...
States. Her vehicle was a Marmon. "King of Bootleggers" Italian Canadian RoccoPerri of Hamilton, Ontario, was known to favour Marmons in the 1920s. Actress...
tax evasion charges against Gooderham and Worts, notorious bootlegger RoccoPerri admitted buying whisky from the distiller from 1924 to 1927. Gooderham...
Wool Cap (2003, TV Movie) as Veterinarian Il Duce Canadese (2004) as RoccoPerri Mayday (2005) as Russian Male Voices / Luis Montoya (voice over) The...
(1987). King of the Mob: RoccoPerri and the women who ran his rackets. Toronto: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-009823-2. RoccoPerri Scrapbook (Hamilton Herald...
family. The most important gangsters in Toronto area in the 1920s was RoccoPerri and his common-law wife Bessie Starkman, who were involved in smuggling...
distilleries remained open for the export market. In Hamilton, Ontario, RoccoPerri specialized in exporting liquor from old Canadian distilleries, such...
became associated with Calabrian compatriot and notorious bootlegger RoccoPerri, and later Guelph mobster Tony Sylvestro, working as a bootlegger who...
Toronto, 2005. Co-authored with Lee Lamothe, and translated into French. RoccoPerri: The Story of Canada's Most Notorious Bootlegger, John Wiley and Sons...
area in and around Hamilton was once home to organized crime figure RoccoPerri, and Johnny Papalia of the Papalia crime family. Murders of traditional...
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