Rocco Perri
Rocco Perri (born 30 December 1887, date of death unknown; last seen alive 23 April 1944) was an organized crime figure in Ontario, Canada in the early 20th century. He was one of the most prominent Calabrian mafiosi bosses in Canadian history, and the spouse of Besha Starkman (also known as Bessie Perri).
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[edit] Early life and criminal career
Rocco Perri was born in Platì, Calabria, in southern Italy. Through the 1920s, Rocco Perri became the leading figure in organized crime in Southern Ontario. He was under constant surveillance by police. He specialized in exporting liquor from old Canadian distilleries, such as Seagram's and Gooderham's to the United States, and helped these companies obtain a large share of the American market — a share they kept after Prohibition ended. Perri diversified into gambling, extortion and prostitution. Starkman remained the business brains of the operation, and it is believed she specialized in laundering profits from their enterprises until her murder on 15 August 1930.
Perri and Starkman's Hamilton home was on 166 Bay Street South.[1]
[edit] Background
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When Canada cut off funding to the Welland Canal project, Perri was unemployed. After working in a bakery, he became a salesman for the Superior Macaroni Company. Life in Hamilton during the First World War was not pleasant. Although the economy was strong from wartime demand for steel and textiles, conditions for labourers were abysmal. Non-British immigrants in particular faced hostility and racism. Perri and Starkman found a better life when the Ontario Temperance Act came into effect on 16 September 1916. It restricted sale and distribution of alcohol. Perri and Starkman began bootlegging and, using Starkman's business acumen and Perri's connections, established a profitable business.
Three developments ensured Perri's bootleg operations would continue to profit. Prohibition was declared in Canada on 23 December 1917; in April 1918, it became illegal to transport alcohol in Canada; in 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment prohibited sale of alcohol in the United States. Perri expanded to the Niagara frontier and the Buffalo area. He was first of the great bootleggers in Canada and was called "Canada's King of the Bootleggers".
[edit] Disappearance
Perri was last seen alive in Hamilton, Ontario on 23 April 1944. His body has never been found. Speculation has it he was murdered, possibly by being fitted with cement shoes and thrown into Hamilton harbour. Royal Canadian Mounted Police concluded in 1954, "We won't find his body until the Bay dries up."[citation needed] Although the most significant mob figure in Canada, he has been overshadowed by his American counterparts. Al Capone said when asked if he knew Rocco Perri, "I don't even know what street Canada is on." [2]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Manson, Bill (2003). Footsteps In Time: Exploring Hamilton's heritage neighbourhoods. North Shore Publishing Inc. ISBN 1-896899-22-6.
- ^ Bailey, Thomas Melville (1992). Dictionary of Hamilton Biography (Vol III, 1925–1939). W.L. Griffin Ltd.
- "King of the Mob: Rocco Perri and the women who ran his rackets" by James Dubro and Robin Rowland (Toronto)-1987.
- Rocco Perri Scrapbook (Hamilton Herald Newspaper articles) 12 April 1927, 14, 16, 18 August 1930
- Hamilton Public Library clippings, Hamilton, Famous and Fascinating, Thomas Melville Bailey and Charles Ambrose Carter.
[edit] Further reading
- Allen, Everett S. The black ships: Rumrunners of Prohibition. Little, Brown. 1979. ISBN 0-316-03258-1.
- Carse, Robert. Rum row.
- Cohen, Daniel. Prohibition: America Makes Alcohol Illegal. Millbrook Press. 1995.
- Frew, David. Prohibition and Rum Running on Lake Erie (The Lake Erie Quadrangle Shipwreck Series, Book 4) Erie County Historical Society; 1ST edition (2006) ISBN 1883658489.
- Gervais, Marty. The Rumrunners: A Prohibition Scrapbook. Biblioasis. 1980, Revised & Expanded 2009. ISBN 978-1-897231-62-3.
- Hunt, C. W. Whisky and Ice: The Saga of Ben Kerr, Canada's Most Daring Rumrunner. Dundurn Press. 1995. ISBN 1-55002-249-0.
- Mason, Philip P. Rumrunning and the Roaring Twenties: Prohibition on the Michigan-Ontario Waterway. Wayne State University Press, 1995.
- Miller, Don. I was a rum runner. Lescarbot Printing Ltd. 1979.
- Montague, Art. Canada's Rumrunners: Incredible Adventures And Exploits During Canada's Illicit Liquor Trade. Altitude Publishing Canada. 2004. ISBN 1-55153-947-0.
- Moray, Alastair. The diary of a rum-runner. P. Allan & Co. Ltd. 1929, Reprint in 2006. ISBN 0977372561
- Steinke, Gord. Mobsters & Rumrunners Of Canada: Crossing The Line. Folklore Publishing. 2003. ISBN 978-1-894864-11-4. ISBN 1-894864-11-5.
- Willoughby, Malcolm F. Rum War at Sea. Fredonia Books. 2001. ISBN 1-58963-105-6.
- Yandle, Bruce. Bootleggers and Baptists: The Education of a Regulatory Economist. Regulation 7, no. 3. 1983: 12.
