Eduardo Manuel de Melo (31 July 1960 – 6 April 2001), nicknamed "Eddie the Hurricane", was a Portuguese-born Canadian boxer and gangster.
Melo was born in São Miguel in the Azores archipelago, but grew up in Toronto, where his father worked in construction.
[1] In 1971, his lifelong obsession with boxing started after he watched the famous Joe Frazier vs. Muhammad Ali fight of 8 March 1971 on his family's television.
[2] Melo dropped out of high school in Grade 9 and with a forged birth certificate moved to Verdun, Quebec where he worked as a boxer.
Of any Canadian boxer of the past 50 years, the guy who looked like a young Anthony Quinn had world champion written all over him.
"[4] On 31 October 1978, Melo first fought Fernand Marcotte at the Verdun auditorium in a match that lasted ten rounds and ended with him winning by split decision.
[5] Kernaghan wrote that Melo appeared to have been depressed after losing a title match for the Canadian light heavyweight championship in Montreal on 11 March 1980 to Gary Summerhayes, which caused him to draw closer to Cotroni.
[6] A bartender at the Pearson Airport bar complained to the police that Melo had pulled a loaded handgun to his head and asked him: "You don't want anything to happen to your baby or your wife, do you?
"[6] Melo denied the allegation to the police and then added that he never used a gun when threatening people as he clenched his fists and said: "I have my own weapons-these two".
[3] The last noteworthy fight by Melo was when he defeated via knock-out the former Canadian lightweight champion Gary Summerhayes in June 1983.
[9] Starting in October 1984, a Royal Commission under Justice Raymond Bernier of the Quebec Sports Safety Board examined Mafia influence within boxing.
[11] The police believed that the way that Melo lost fights in the 1980s against opponents whom he was widely expected to defeat were the result of match rigging with the popular rumor at the time being that Cotroni bribed boxers to lose by supplying them with free heroin, which could be either used and/or sold.
[5] The previous Cotroni family representative for Toronto, the hitman Réal Simard, had turned Crown's evidence, thus requiring a replacement.
"[4] In 1989, at a pool hall on College Street, Melo assaulted a Mafiosi after words had been exchanged, which led to a murder plot against him, with a hitman being hired to kill him.
[2] In 1991, a Mafiosi and the owner of Toronto's Casket Royale funeral home, Gaetano "Guy" Panepinto, had one of his business partners, Natale Roda, tried to assassinate the man behind the plot against Melo.
In 1991, the Papalia family underboss Carmen Barillaro told the police informer Marvin Elkind while he was wearing a wire that Melo was working for him as an enforcer.
[15] Later in 1991, Melo was convicted of assault after he used his boxing skills to beat up a man during a brawl at a stag party, for which he served 90 days in prison.
[2] In the early 1990s, Melo was often photographed eating in a Yorkville restaurant with a visiting Vancouver-area Hells Angel who worked as a loanshark.
[20] Melo served as the principle contact between the East End chapter of the Hells Angels with the Cotroni family of Montreal and the Commisso 'ndrina of Toronto, creating a cross-Canada alliance.
[21] Melo and Robinson were often photographed by RCMP surveillance teams talking with the three Commisso brothers, namely Rocco Remo, Cosimo and Michele.
[22] Melo was notably enraged when long-time Papalia family associate Marvin Elkind was exposed as a police informer in 1993.
[15] In early 1994, Melo decided to resume his boxing career, hiring the Israeli-Canadian businessman Harold Arviv as his manager.
[18] Arviv was a flamboyant character, well known in Toronto, who had gone to prison for four years starting in 1986 for hiring via the Commisso 'ndrina the Satan's Choice hitman and bomber Cecil Kirby to blow up his disco in 1980 in order to allow him to collect the insurance money.
[24] In August 1994, Melo was recorded by a police wiretap talking to a Cotroni family member, Tony Volpato, where he said: "I went there when they had the meeting.
[18] In an immigration hearing, Melo admitted that one of his close friends was Joe Diardo, a "leg and arm man" who had thirty convictions going back to 1958 for arson, for passing counterfeit money, robbery, and possession of illegal guns.
[18] Melo was asked why he should be allowed to stay in Canada given his association with known criminals such as Cotroni, Arviv, and Volpato, leading for him to reply: "All I know is that they've been OK with me.
[26] The police also noted that Melo listed his annual income when filing taxes as being about $24,000 yet he lived in a condo on Lakeshore Boulevard West that cost $2,000 per month; paid $1,500 in child support to his ex-wife every month; owned another condo on Queen's Quay; and owned two vehicles, a Jaguar automobile and a sports utility car.
[30] On Friday 6 April 2001, Melo planned to go out with his wife Rhonda to attend a concert by Andrea Bocelli at the Air Canada Centre.
[31] Melo's daughter, Jessica, who was studying criminology at Simon Fraser University at the time of his murder told the media: "He was the most amazing father, friend, confidante, supporter, everything.
[27] The police believe that Melo's murder was linked to a "historical conflict within the 'Ndrangheta (in Ontario) and that the organization has had with other Italian criminalized groups (in Canada).