REVISITING THE ADOLFO BRESCIANO HIT(DINO BRAVO)

While I am NOT a wrestling fan these days, long ago I was. I was never into the WWF or now renamed WWE.  I was a Mid-South, Mid-Atlantic, Smokey Mountain wrestling fan.  Just because I watched other programming doesn't mean I didn't peer into the  WWE universe at times.   I knew well who "Dino Bravo," was.

What many wrestling fans, while not wanting to categorize them dumb or slow, just don't understand what happened to Adolfo  Bresciano.   Wrestling writers like Dave Meltzer and Bill Apter really either don't understand how Cosa Nostra operates, or they just wanted to sensationalize the story for the sake of wrestling marks.   In either case, they have reported false information throughout the years.

Jim Cornette

The reason why this is important now, is because VICE has a second season of Dark Side Of The Ring coming out, and Dino Bravo is one of the subjects.  While listening to Jim Cornette interview the producers of the show, they let it out that they couldn't attain information about what happened and were relying on former pro wrestlers to give them information.

They also admitted that the provincial police refused to discuss the matter as the murder was still an open case.   Dark Side of The Ring discusses the dark side to professional wrestling, and it's a HUGE hit for VICE.  The problem with the Bravo case is that, they are relying on guys who heard 3rd and 4th and 5th party stories and rumors which may likely hinge more on the wrestling side, then the actual truth to it all.  Not that they are lying, it's not the case at all, they just don't have the right information or sources...but I do.

Before we jump into exactly what went down on March 10, 1993, we need a little bit of background.  Most wrestler prior to the last ten years didn't have long term contracts.  They had year to year contracts and most of the money they made was by putting asses in the seats and some would get a kickback from merchandise.  It wasn't an age or era where guys made hand over fist like they do today.  Today guys can get it in their contact that WWE pays for their travel expenses, whereas in the old days it was six guys in a car going from town to town.   Many of those wrestlers were gouged financially.   Now, whether many wrestlers wasted their money on drugs, women, and booze is one thing.   Most of the wrestlers from the older days are bankrupt.

All that's important because Bravo was NOT wealthy.  Wrestlers are always looking for extra income which is why we see many wrestlers like Ricky Morton(60) still throwing his man tits around the ring.  He has no choice.  While he loves the sport, financially he has no other choice.  There is not a wrestling 401K, or a retirement plan.

Bravo never got over on fans.  He was big in Montreal, but not in the United States.  He just never got to the level where financially he was secure and this is likely the reason he went right into organized crime.

Vic Cotroni

At the time in Montreal, you had two major forces.  You had the Cotroni crime family, and the Rizzuto crime family.   Bravo was related  Cotroni crime family, having direct relation to Vic Cotroni, as Vic was his uncle.  At the time, Montreal's main sources of illegitimate income was narcotics and cigarette smuggling.   When the mob had cut up turf for narcotics, the Bonanno's were handed Montreal and Joe Bonanno would sent Carmine Galante to oversee the operation.   Galante in turn brought in the Cotroni's and Rizzuto's.  A war would erupt between the Cotroni's and Rizzuto's, but that's going back to the 50's and 60's, and I don't want to venture back there, but needless to say at least you have a bearing of what was going on.

After Bravo retired from wrestling he needed money, and through Vic Cotroni, was able to begin his inroads into the mob.  While Bravo was never made, and a low level associate, he had the contacts in the United States which would enable him to import and or boost cigarettes.  Likely that's the only reason other than his relation to Cotroni that allowed him to even get on the fringe.

Bravo would begin smuggling cigarettes into Canada, and we aren't talking a few hundred boxes.  Thousands.  He dove head into the deep end.   It didn't take long for other criminal groups like the Luppino's, Sacra Carona, N'drangheta, and the Rizzuto's to notice.  The one rule was Bravo was supposed to stay away from the Indian Reservations.   Those territories were chopped up with other groups.   The Indian reservation was a spot where he could unload a truck at one time, collect his money and go. It was a middle ground, or the black market center for smuggled cigarettes.  Bravo was warned not to encroach in those areas, but he ignored the warnings.   That was his first mistake.

While he was continuing to bring in cigarettes in massive amounts, he began to see that moving narcotics was more profitable and less of a hassle.  The problem with that, the routes of narcotics had been established in the days of Luciano.  Carmine Galante, had also established new routes using the Sicilian's in Italy.  The system worked, and everyone was making money.   They didn't need an interloper getting into the fray, and that's exactly what Bravo did.  He was strictly warned not to interfere in any narcotics.   He didn't listen.  Mistake number two.    It also wasn't going to help that Vic would die and his brother Frank would take over in 1984.

There has been widely reported rumor that Bravo made a deal with cocaine dealers.  The deal allegedly was that they would trade coke for cigarettes.   None of that is true.  Bravo on his own was bringing in drugs and moving them.   What compounded Bravo's problems, was that the money wasn't adding up.   Bravo could lift a truck but apparently couldn't add.  Bravo was supposed to kick up the chain of command close to 20%, and Bravo saw it as unfair.   He was losing money, which is exactly why he began to move narcotics.  He wouldn't kick up any percentage of the drugs because if he was caught moving narcotics he would be killed.  His greed would be his undoing.

As the money poured in, many began to question how much he was making versus how much he was kicking up.  Frank Cotroni knew something wasn't right.  While he knew all guys lied about how much they were making, this was different because of the sheer volume of cigarettes Bravo was moving.  They thought he was skimming, and they would be right.   Then a warehouse got raided.

Bravo was storing smuggled cigarettes in a warehouse.  He had partnered with a narcotics distributor. A huge shipment was left, and his partner didn't pick it up in time, and the warehouse was raided as his partner arrived.  It caused a huge issue for both men.   Bravo complained that his partner waited to long to get the stuff out of the warehouse, and his partner blamed him for dropping a dime.

Frank Cotroni

The issue was taken to Frank Cotroni, who already suspected that Bravo was skimming.  He had heard the rumors that Bravo was moving drugs. He heard Bravo was encroaching on Indian Reservations,  he heard that the warehouse was raided.  It  allegedly was enough for Cotroni to sentence Bravo to death.   On March 10, 1993, while sitting in his mansion in Laval,
Bravo gets shot from behind ten times.  Bravo by all accounts knew he had problems, but from what people who knew what the deal was back then told me, he thought he had protection from Cotroni and that whatever disagreement there was, he made them a ton of money.  "He thought money bought him insulation and forgiveness.  He was wrong."


Many have speculated over the years who actually did it.  The order would have come from Cotroni. No other way around it.  Bravo was running a huge racket for them.  Money was everything, and while everyone is replaceable, I think Cotroni might have looked past it, but when they found out that he was violating the rules, and then stealing from them, it then became a disrespect issue.  They will never solve that murder, but in taken in everything that's been said over the years along with people I know who would definitely have more information about the situation then I would, have all said the same thing.  You bite the hand that feeds you, you're gonna get killed without hesitation, and in this case, is exactly what happened.