All language subtitles for Dark Side of the Ring s02e06_English

♪

Dino Bravo was an icon
in Quebec... He was an idol.

[Announcer] Bravo!

I'm proud of my heritage!

He was big, he was strong...

He could bench press
500 lbs.

He had the size and he
had the weight.

He was really like the
Hulk Hogan of Montreal.

[Announcer] Dino appears to be
in great physical condition.

I mean, he could
do no wrong.

[Dino] I feel at my best when I
enter that squared circle.

[Announcer] Can't turn your
back on Dino Bravo!

[Narrator] Dino Bravo combined
relentless ambition with a

fiery intensity that made
him a superstar in

Montreal, Quebec,
and saw him wrestle

the biggest names in the WWF.

He did work with Hogan.

He did work with
Ultimate Warrior.

[match bell]
[Announcer] Oh!

Did you see that
power move by Dino Bravo?

With Dino Bravo, either he liked
you or he doesn't like you.

He loved to
live dangerously.

He thought nothing
could touch him.

For me, mafia
always scared me.

The word 'mafia' scared me.

I said, "Listen, I don't know if
you're doing the right thing,"

but it's not for me to
judge what he did.

His world was the
wrestling world.

It wasn't the
organized crime world.

He screwed up!

[speaking French]

On this episode,
we'll examine the

tragic consequences when
a wrestling enforcer

is pushed out of the
spotlight and

into a life of crime.

Let that be a
lesson for everybody,

me included,
that everybody's touchable.

♪

♪

On March 10th 1993,

the family of Dino Bravo
came home and

discovered his dead body.

Police said he had been
struck by 11 bullets.

Within days, rumors began
to surface that

it was a mafia-style execution.

30 years later, Dino's
unsolved murder remains

one of wrestling's
darkest mysteries.

Those closest to him have
never spoken openly about

what led him down
such a dangerous path,

until now.

♪

[speaking French]

It's my favorite. I never
want to give him kiss...

and when he give me kiss,
I was always, like, swiping.

So, he said, "Okay, give me
kiss with your nose."

[speaking French]

[Announcer]
Weighing 230 lbs...

Dino Bravo!

[Speaking French]

My name is Patric Laprade.
I'm a wrestling historian.

I first started watching
wrestling when I was

6 years old and Dino was just
that superhero to me.

He was big, he was strong,
full of muscle.

He was really like an
action figure come to life.

In the early 80s, Montreal's
International Wrestling

is the leading
promotion in Quebec,

and Dino Bravo is
its premier star.

We had almost 2 million people
watching the TV

on Sunday morning.
It was very, very big.

My name is Tony Mule and,
I was a wrestling promoter...

From 1971 to 1986.

During International Wrestling,

we had Rick Martel,
King Tonga.

We had Raymond Rougeau,
Jacques Rougeau...

and, The Giant.
But listen,

Dino Bravo, he was the
biggest bar here in the...

in the 80s.

Dino Bravo was very hard
to get to be friends with,

but once you were,
he stood by you,

he had your back.

That's what I liked
about Dino.

My name is Gino Brito.
I'm not wrestling now,

but I started wrestling
in 1961.

So, I think I know a
bit about wrestling.

Well, Dino Bravo,
he was more than a friend.

He was almost family.

The other wrestlers were seeing
us getting into the arena -

me, Gino, and Dino -

"Oh, here's the
Italian connection."

With his two business
partners by his side,

Dino isn't just International
Wrestling's top draw,

he's also co-owner
and match maker.

Dino was the boss here
of the company in Quebec.

And we were like superstars
in our own home,

in our own province,
and Dino created all that.

Do you know who I am?
[laughs]

I'm The Mountie!

[Announcer] The Mountie!

My name is Jacques Rougeau.

I've been wrestling
for 41 years.

But, Dino Bravo, I've known
him since I was 18 years old.

Dino was the booker.

It's like when you
watch a, you know,

a sitcom on TV every week,
they have story lines...

Well, the booker is the one
who creates the story line.

Dino, how was it
to have that full,

packed house right behind
you during that main event?

And, he created himself.

He beat everybody when
they came in and he,

he worked around his
image and his future.

The fans here, obviously,
solidly behind Dino Bravo.

[speaking French]

Over my shoulder,
the belt emblematic of...

The International Heavy
Weight Wrestling Championship.

This belt, worn so proudly,
for four of the last

five years by, of course,
the great Dino Bravo.

Casting himself as the main
attraction doesn't always

sit well with the
other wrestlers,

especially those looking to
make a name for themselves.

He'd book himself
the main event,

and he'd put my brother
and I like a third or

fourth match before
intermission.

But for me, in my head,
I was a main eventer.

There wasn't always sunshine
between me and Dino.

I wanted his spot.
[laughs] He was the boss.

And me being unhappy,

Pat Patterson and Vince
were calling me.

They said, "Jacques, would
you like to join the WWF?"

And I said,
"Well, I don't know.

It's a jungle out there,
you know.

Do I want to go
out there alone,

in that jungle?"

As part of its plan
for global dominance,

the emerging World
Wrestling Federation

set its sights on Montreal...

and is intent on poaching
the town's top stars.

It was unheard of to have
wrestlers make the kind of

money that Vince McMahon
could make these people.

By the 90s, it was a new wave.
It was something new.

it was, it was fun to see
"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan-- "Whoa!"

And the Koko B. Ware
with his birds,

and it was... "Oh, yeah,"
with Miss Elizabeth.

It was an era that,
that came and just,

it was fun to watch.

Welcome to
WrestleMania Three!

Vince is a very intelligent
individual and he knew that

he needed Dino Bravo onboard
if he really wanted

to draw good crowds in
Montreal and, in 1985,

early 1986, there was
a big match that was

teased here in Montreal.
It was a dream match.

Hulk Hogan
against Dino Bravo.

As a matter of fact, that would
have been a match

you could have put in the
Olympic Stadium and draw

at least 40,000 people,
and it never materialized.

They got scared that Dino Bravo
would actually be

more popular than
Hulk Hogan, in Montreal.

And, at the last minute, just
decided to cancel the match.

So, Dino was not happy with
WWF and decided to actually

try to bring International
Wrestling to a level of

popularity where they could
actually compete with WWF.

He was in a mood where...

"Ah, I'm not gonna let
him ruin my business."

He was fooling himself
and there's nothing that he

could have done to match
what WWF was coming with.

Despite Dino's
blind ambition,

International Wrestling
is no match for

the WWF showmanship.

He's outclassed in
almost every single way.

Now, either you
get out of the way,

or you compete
against an elephant.

When I left to go to WWF,
I did what I had to do,

and my dad and Dino,
they both begged me.

I swear to god,
begged me, "Don't go!

Don't go because if you go,
the WWF's gonna

come in here and they're
gonna kill everybody."

But it was too late:
the damage was done.

The talent,
they all went for Vince.

The Rougeau's
worked for Vince.

Martel... Tonga,
everybody went there.

Once your talent's gone,
you can't eat.

And that was it.

It was a downfall
that was, I think,

that you couldn't avoid.

[speaking French]

By the end of 1986,

Dino Bravo's once thriving
company is on life support.

Now he must decide whether
to continue to fight for

his independence or to
side with the enemy.

♪

[speaking French]

[laughs] A joke...
[speaking French]

Off record, please.
[laughs]

In order to
support his family,

Dino Bravo must decide if he
can let go of his pride and

join the opposition,
Vince McMahon's

World Wrestling Federation.

[speaking French]

So, of course,
he was looking to

take care of his family and
Vince McMahon

offered Dino money
that Dino couldn't refuse.

It was something like
$300,000 guaranteed,

and with everything else,
he could've made over a million,

something that he could
have not dreamed of doing

if he would have
stayed in Montreal.

And I think Dino came to his
senses and he came to WWF.

And that was funny 'cause when
he walked in the room...

"Hey, how you doing, Dino?
See?

You know, you did
the same move we did."

But, there was
never animosity.

It was almost like when
Dino came, he...

he put that behind him
and he says, "Okay, let's move."

[speaking French]

To make a French-Canadian
strongman fit within

the cartoon world of the
WWF, Dino was paired

with one of American wrestling's
most iconic personalities...

Ah, my god.

The best man in
the business.

Some managers took
the credibility

away from their boys.
Jimmy Hart was the guy

who knew how to give
credibility to his wrestler.

Look at him, man.
Look how strong he is.

Woo! I went into the ring,
I was a baritone.

When I came out,
I was a soprano.

He's the world's
strongest man,

I guarantee you that.
Look at me.

The wrestler was
always the Cadillac.

We were kind of the hood
ornament on a Cadillac.

He was in great shape, man.

He could go 30-minute
matches if he had to.

He could go against Hogan.

He could go against
Andre the Giant or any of them.

It was a big
man's territory,

and he had the size
and he had the weight.

By being with me, it kind of
put a rocket on his career.

And all of a sudden,

he started moving up the card
a little bit more.

And of course, when you make
a lot of money,

your lifestyle goes up...

and he had the Mercedes,
that big million-dollar house.

He had this, he had that.

We had our houses
built at the same time.

That's how we got to
be next to each other.

[speaking French]

Dino's lavish new lifestyle
comes at a cost...

As Vince McMahon makes radical
changes to his character.

From all-round
Canadian hero,

to an anti-American
bleach blond villain.

Wow! Ha-ha!

That's a question
I didn't expect.

Vince likes to test the
boys who stick up to him.

You don't see an
Italian with blond hair...

you know, not in Quebec.

[speaking French]

Everybody thought it was
funny when he came in

with the blond hair. "Ah!"
And then Dino was pissed.

It was 'cause
Dino's a very proud guy.

He was so embarrassed.

But he had to do it because
that's what they wanted.

That's the difference in
when you're in a

small-time league like
International Wrestling,

you believe in yourself,
you build, you create yourself.

When you go to WWF,
you're a number.

You're a character,
you're a...

you're just part of a show.

Competing with the
WWF's all-star roster,

the French-Canadian flare
that worked for Dino

back home gets lost
in translation.

I think everybody looks at
merchandise and looks at sales,

and looks at what
they can do with you...

let's just say, Dino Bravo,
he had that broken English.

You've never...
[unintelligible]

Then they wonder why
I hate this country!

It was hard for people to
understand what he might be

saying and so, that held
him back a little bit.

And I'm gonna
teach you a lesson!

Dino had his routine.
He had his punches,

he had his boots,
he had his routine...

But he was never the kind of guy
to discover something new.

I think the hardest thing
for Dino was

doing jobs for guys
that weren't on top.

You want to talk
about getting beat?

The most important thing
in wrestling

is your "valeur marchande",
which means

what you are worth
on the market.

And if you were a guy that we--
the fans see on TV

week after week getting beat,
getting beat...

even if it's a show
and it's fake,

and it's organized, people don't
believe in you anymore.

He was getting older.

Gotta remember
that when he was,

like, at his peak
of his career...

Back in
International Wrestling,

he was like in the
early to the mid 30s.

Now he was late 30s,
early 40s.

He still saw himself
as a top guy.

When you go to WWF,
if there's one thing

you don't bring there,
is an ego.

All the shames and all the
things you're afraid of,

it's gonna happen.

Unfortunately, Dino had
bigger plans for himself

than Vince had for him.

Vince figured, you know,
bring in new talent,

new face, new blood...
And you're out.

By the end of 1992,
Dino's days with the WWF

are over when his contract
expires and is not renewed.

No, he just came and
told me, "Hey, I'm leaving."

He said, "Look. I'm burnt out.
I've done everything I can.

I want to spend time
with my family."

We hugged and
everything else,

and that was basically it.

And all of a sudden, it stops.
There's no more income.

And you don't have a pension in
wrestling or nothing like that.

That's where the
trouble starts.

With his career over,
Dino has lost

his life's passion and
his livelihood...

and is left
staring into an abyss.

♪

After six years on
wrestling's biggest stage,

Dino Bravo's career is over.

He must look for other ways
to support his family and

decadent lifestyle.

I think that once you get
with the WWF and you leave,

where could you go?

You know, it's like playing
professional baseball and

then dropping down to a
minor league contract.

You know, as soon
as you drop down,

it's like, "Oh,
his career's over."

If everybody who has
good times in life,

makes money, and...
everybody has

bad times in life where
they need money.

I've been there,
done that... many times.

[speaking French]

With no professional experience
outside of wrestling,

Dino has very few options.

What he does have
is connections.

Everybody knew who
Vic Cotroni was.

He was like the so-called
father of the

mob here in Montreal.

Vic Cotroni was also
a former wrestler.

He wrestled back
in the 1930s

under the name of Vic Vincent.

Dino Bravo was actually
related to the Cotroni's

because Vic was
Dino's uncle.

♪

[speaking French]

He was like Six
Million Dollars man.

He had no fear of anything
and no, no consequences.

There's nothing...
could happen to him.

Dino's past life as a
wrestling powerhouse means

he has all the brute force
a debt collector requires.

[Gino] Yeah.
[Tony] Oh, temper.

Oh, no... yeah, he was a...
had a hot temper.

Very, very hot temper.

Dino Bravo was a big
Montreal Canadiens fan.

And, if you're a
Montreal Canadiens fan,

you hated everything
about the Quebec Nordiques.

I'm not gonna
name you the player,

but one time in a
bar in Quebec City,

there's a player
that said something.

I'm 18 years old. I'm drinking,
drinking, drinking,

and I'm coming down the
stairs and then Dino says,

"Hey, that's a hockey
player from the Nordiques."

And me, with my
loud mouth, I'm drunk,

half drunk, I go, "Agh!
The Nordiques!

That's all bullshit!"
[laughs]

So, he backs up against the
wall and he puts himself

in position, like that.
And I start running

with my fist, but I'm
running towards the wall

and he ducks
and I hit the wall.

And he grabs me by
the shirt, and I swear,

I would have probably had
the beating of my life.

And, Dino took him and he
side stepped and he said,

"Hey, let him go," and then
he made something to Dino.

He said something
about phony,

and the guy had
a nice Corvette.

Dino picked him up like
you'd pick up a rag doll,

and ran his head
right into the Corvette.

Just out of nowhere.
You know, the guy just

went down like a
sack of potatoes.

He said, "You think I'm a phony,
come and try me out."

Believe me, you didn't want to
be around him when he got mad.

You would have put
a gun to his head,

he says, "Don't point
a gun at me.

Shoot me right away
because I'm coming for you."

As Dino heads down
his new career path,

his wife, Diane,
sense trouble.

[speaking French]

[accented English]

One night, Dino calls me.

"Hey, Jacques, can
you come and see me?"

I'm like, Dino's calling me
to go see him?

We're not that close of friends.
We respect each other,

but we're not that
close of friends. And,

I said, "Okay," I said, "I can't
go today, but I'll go tomorrow."

He says, "Come and see me
as soon as you can."

That was his
last words to me.

That night, there was
a hockey game.

I called him, I said,
"Dino, what are you doing?"

He says, "I'm gonna
watch the hockey game."

And, the next morning
I'm at the gas station.

Now I'm going to see him.

The gas thing at the pump,
the guy says, "Yeah...

your friend, your buddy there,
he got it, huh?"

I looked at the-- it was front
page of the Montreal paper.

He got 11 bullets in the body
and 7 bullets in the head.

That's a rough way to go.

♪

[speaking French]

Close to midnight on
March 10th 1993,

Dino Bravo's wife, Diane,
pulls into the driveway with

6-year-old Claudia
sleeping in the back seat.

[speaking French]

[French news coverage]

I was the first one to know
because his wife got back home

and we had the house,
one beside the other one.

She rings at the bell,
and I see her crying

with Claudia in her hand.
They come in the house.

I said, "Why are you crying?"
"Dino is dead."

I said, "What did you say?"

It's like the biggest
shock I ever had in my life.

If you would have taken a
2x4 and you hit me in the

back of my head, you wouldn't
have hurt me more than that.

I said, "Are you crazy?"
"Yeah, he was shot."

[speaking French]

It wasn't no scuffle.
His wife and family were

sent away and he
was just sitting there,

like he was waiting for it
to happen, you know.

And you hear all kind
of different stories,

you know,
about what happened.

Well, was it a robbery?
Was it a break in?

Nobody-- We-- It was so
sketchy on everything.

Dino had been shot 11 times:

7 bullets to the head
and 4 to his body.

A pistol and a machine
gun are found at the scene,

but strangely, there is
no sign of forced entry,

and the door is unlocked.

[French news coverage]

The mysterious and brutal
circumstances of his death

leaves Dino's family and
friends in a state of shock.

I waited and...

the funeral,
went to the funeral.

I don't know
what to tell you.

It was the worst
time of my life.

[speaking French]

To see his daughter there,
and so young,

that she didn't
understand exactly.

You know how sad it is.

[speaking French]

The details of Dino's murder

dominate the headlines
in Montreal.

Yet, despite all the
coverage pointing to a

mafia-style execution,
questions surrounding

who did it and why, remain.

[speaking French]

[French news coverage]

[Claudia]

[Jacques] I honestly think
that when Dino was at

the end of his days that he
may have done something

that he wasn't supposed to.
A lot of rumors run,

and he must have
realized at one point...

you're screwed.

But the true depth of
Dino's involvement in

organized crime will stun
the wrestling world,

and beyond.

♪

The door must have been
unlocked because

there's no forced entry.
Or, he let somebody in.

I wouldn't want
to go that way.

[speaking French]

Police examining
the crime scene of

Dino Bravo's murder
discover 17 bullet casings

from two different firearms
on the living room floor.

This leads authorities
to believe that

two assassins are involved,

and supports the
theory that his death

is linked to
organized crime.

The neighborhood he was
living in, in Laval,

was in Vemont, which is like a
very upscale neighborhood.

9 months earlier,
mafia accountant,

Robert Caverzan,
was shot in his home

just down the street
from Bravo's house.

Four months later,
and two streets away,

a cigarette smuggler,
Ghislain Renzo,

was also killed.

The police, aware of Bravo's
ties to the Cotroni family,

look for connections.

Three days after his death,

a crucial piece of
evidence is uncovered.

[French news coverage]

By the early 1990s,

organized crime is
flourishing in Montreal.

Alongside the mafia are
warring biker gangs and

smugglers operating out
of First Nation reserves.

What connects them all is
the lucrative business

of contraband cigarettes.

[speaking French]

Yeah, a lot of people
smoked them because

you paid half price for,
for a pack.

Thousands and thousands
of cases of cigarettes,

I hear, were sold.
Thousands.

Yeah, well, of course I knew.
Yeah, he told me.

I said-- Well, everybody,
at that time...

a lot of people were
into that business because

everybody smoked and everybody
wanted to pay less money.

So, is it from that,
I don't know?

Is it for something else,
I don't know.

Because if I knew,
believe me,

I was so close to him,
I would like to have

that revenge for him.

The only wrestler that I
know of that Dino talked to

about his organized crime life

prior to leaving wrestling,
was Rick Martel.

Martel declined to be
involved in this documentary.

But in 2007, he gave a
rare interview revealing

conversations he
had with Dino

about his life in
organized crime.

Dino went to see
the Indians...

and the Indians were
big wrestling fans, you know.

So, when they saw Dino,
"Oh, man," you know.

So, they, they started
dealing strictly with Dino.

So, Dino had the monopoly
with the Indians because

the Indians, you know,
they have the river there.

You know, they can...

pass cigarettes like crazy,
or whatever.

[speaking French]

Control over the
narcotics trade is in

a constant state of flux.

Each criminal group is
looking for an edge,

even if that means crossing
into somebody else's turf.

The cigarettes business
was doing so great

that the cocaine people,
you know, are saying,

"Hey, maybe there's some
money for us in there too,"

you know. So, the,
the big cocaine guy

apparently went to
see Dino and said,

"Look, you let me in on your
cigarette deals and

I'll let you in on
some cocaine deal."

So, what apparently happened,
they did some,

did some kind of agreement
and Dino had a

$400,000 shipment in some
warehouse somewhere and

it stayed there for
like three days.

And, on the third day,
when the cocaine guy

went to pick it up, the RCMP
or the police were there.

So, they were
blaming each other.

Dino said, "Ah, you should
have picked it up

the first day, never happened.

And you shouldn't
let it sit there."

So, there was a lot of heat.

Dino screwed up and
would have made

the organization
lose tons of money.

[speaking French]

[Andre]

I did hear that the
thinking was that the killer

wanted police to believe
there were two shooters.

The person who
killed him was a friend.

That's what I think.

Sitting on the couch
with your remote control,

when there's
someone in front of you.

It can't be a stranger.

It has to be someone
you like and you trust.

That, for me, is the
definition of mafia for me.

[speaking French]

[accented English]

♪

This is a beautiful picture.
Dino Bravo in blond.

And Claudia,
his little girl.

Of course, the little girl was
always around him.

And here is me and Dino,
walking here at the arena.

We were getting
ready to work.

So, these are the best
memories of my life.

I miss him every day.

What could have been?
Questions with no answers.

Decades after Dino Bravo's
brutal murder,

friends and family still
don't know if they'll ever

find out the truth of
what happened, and why.

[speaking French]

[Claudia]

[Patric]
He started wrestling in 1970,

ended up in 1992.
That's a 22-year career.

So, that's the
only thing he knew.

That's the only
thing he could do.

And, there's not a lot of
jobs you can do

which will give you
several hundreds of

thousands of dollars,
aside from organized crime.

[Jacques] Dino Bravo
always made sure that

there was harmony
between the boys.

Dino knew how to
create a team.

If I had to
start my life again,

that would be one part I'd
never change - the time that

I had business in Quebec,
working for Dino Bravo.

[speaking French]

Then, there's some
people who will talk about,

"Hey, I remember
his wrestling."

But then, that generation's
gonna go away.

But, believe me,
the way things are,

people will always keep
reminding 'cause

there'll always be stories
that'll come out about Dino,

how he died, and did
he die from the bikers?

Did he die-- That,
that will stay with him,

and that's too bad.
But that's the way it is.

You know,
you gotta take the punch.

[speaking French]

♪

[Diane]

[Claudia]

The Quebec Police
were contacted

for this documentary,
but they declined to participate

as this case
still remains open.

♪

You know the old saying...

Shakespeare,
or somebody said,

"The evil that men
do lives after them,

but the good gets
interred with their bones."

It should be the
other way around.

Think about the
good and, you know,

the rest,
try to forget it...

and try not to repeat it.
That's it.

♪