Paolo Renda (; September 10, 1939 – disappeared May 20, 2010, later declared dead September 2, 2018) was an

Italian-Canadian Italian Canadians ( it, italo-canadesi, french: italo-canadiens) comprise Canadians who have full or partial Italian heritage and Italians who migrated from Italy or reside in Canada. According to the 2021 Census of Canada, 1,546,390 Canadians ...

consigliere Consigliere ( , ; plural ) is a position within the leadership structure of the Sicilian, Calabrian, and Italian-American Mafia. The word was popularized in English by the novel ''The Godfather'' (1969) and its film adaptation. In the novel, a c ...

of the

Rizzuto crime family The Rizzuto crime family () is an organized crime family based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, whose criminal activity covers most of southern Quebec and Ontario. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) considers the family a facti ...

based in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen ...

, Canada, who has not been seen since May 2010.

Biography

Renda was born on September 10, 1939, in

Cattolica Eraclea Cattolica Eraclea (; scn, Catòlica) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Agrigento in the Italian region Sicily, located about south of Palermo and about northwest of Agrigento nearby the Platani river valley. The town was foun ...

Sicily Sicily ( it, Sicilia , ) is the list of islands in the Mediterranean, largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. The Strait of Messina divides it from the region of Calabria in Southern Italy. I ...

. He immigrated to Canada in 1954 and married

Vito Rizzuto Vito Rizzuto (; February 21, 1946 – December 23, 2013), also known as "Montreal's Teflon Don", was an Italian-Canadian crime boss alleged to be the leader of the Sicilian Mafia in Canada. He headed the notorious Rizzuto crime family based in ...

's sister Maria on September 5, 1964. In 1972, Renda was sentenced to four years for conspiring to commit

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

of his hair salon in

Boucherville Boucherville is a city in the Montérégie region in Quebec, Canada. It is a suburb of Montreal on the South shore of the Saint Lawrence River. Boucherville is part of both the urban agglomeration of Longueuil and Montreal Metropolitan Commun ...

in 1968 with the intention of defrauding insurers; he served two years and nine months of the sentence. Shortly after the murder of Paolo Violi in 1978, an arrest warrant was issued for Renda, who subsequently fled to

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in t ...

but returned to Montreal when the warrant was dismissed. He then became a

for the Rizzuto family. Renda was arrested on November 22, 2006, along with dozens of others including

Nicolo Rizzuto Nicolo Rizzuto (; February 18, 1924 – November 10, 2010) was an Italian-Canadian crime boss and founder of the Rizzuto crime family, the Sicilian Mafia organization based in Montreal, Quebec. Rizzuto was born in Cattolica Eraclea, Sicily, Ita ...

Rocco Sollecito Rocco Sollecito (; June 9, 1948 – May 27, 2016) was an Italian-Canadian underboss of the Rizzuto crime family based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Biography Sollecito was born in Bari, Italy. Sollecito was believed to be one of the "top five figure ...

, Francesco Arcadi, Lorenzo Giordano and Francesco Del Balso, as part of Project Colisée. In September 2008, Renda pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing profits from organized crime. He was released on

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

in February 2010.

Disappearance

On May 20, 2010, Renda went

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping w ...

ing in the morning and then went to a funeral home owned by his family in Saint-Leonard. He then phoned his wife to say he would be picking up

steak A steak is a thick cut of meat generally sliced across the muscle fibers, sometimes including a bone. It is normally grilled or fried. Steak can be diced, cooked in sauce, such as in steak and kidney pie, or minced and formed into patties, ...

s for dinner. After not arriving home by 15:00 ET, Renda's son-in-law decided to search for him by tracing his usual route and found Renda's vehicle parked with its windows down and keys in the ignition, with Renda nowhere to be seen. Renda is believed to have been kidnapped. Renda's disappearance is believed to be part of a vendetta for the murders of brothers Paolo and Franceso Violi of the

Bonanno crime family The Bonanno crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, and in the United States, as part of the criminal phenomenon known as the ...

, who were both murdered in the 1970s. Renda's disappearance occurred almost a year after Nicolo Rizzuto's grandson Nicolo was murdered, and six months after his disappearance, Nicolo would be murdered at his home. Renda's family tried to have Paolo legally pronounced dead in 2013, though a judge turned down the request due to insufficient proof. On September 2, 2018, it was reported that the courts had declared Renda dead.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Renda, Paolo 1939 births 2010s missing person cases 2018 deaths Canadian gangsters of Sicilian descent Consiglieri Italian emigrants to Canada Missing gangsters Missing person cases in Canada Gangsters from the Province of Agrigento Organized crime in Montreal People convicted of arson People convicted of fraud People declared dead in absentia People from Cattolica Eraclea Rizzuto crime family Sicilian Mafiosi

Biography

Disappearance

See also

References