Rocco Perri | |
|---|---|
 Mug shot of Perri in the 1920s | |
| Born | Rocco Perre December 30, 1887 |
| Disappeared | April 23, 1944 (aged 56) Hamilton, Ontario, Canada |
| Status | Missing for 80 years and 8 months |
| 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 |
| Accomplice(s) | Sarah Olive Routledge (1918–1919; 1919–1920) Annie Newman (1933) |
Rocco Perri (Italian: [ˈrɔkko ˈpɛrri]; 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.