Giovanni Cazzetta

Giovanni "Johnny" Cazzetta (born 1957) is a Canadian outlaw biker and gangster who, along with his brother Salvatore Cazzetta, was a co-founder of the Rock Machine Motorcycle Club in Montreal. He was the club's second in command, and also had considerable connections with Quebec's Mafia figures.

Outlaw biker Cazzetta was born in Montreal, Quebec, in 1957. He and his brother Salvatore grew up in the city's Saint-Henri neighborhood, which was known as a territory of the Dubois brothers. Giovanni acknowledged during his trial that he had spent his younger years "basically raising himself", and that he had made a conscious decision to take up a life of organized crime for monetary gain. In 1977, he and Salvatore were charged with robbery and breaking and entering. They had broken into a local bar and attempted to steal money from the cigarette machines, although they found only $300. The police arrived and while hiding in the bar's basement, Salvatore attempted to attack an officer. For this he received a two year sentence. At some point in the 1970s, he joined the SS Motorcycle Club with his brother. Salvatore and Maurice "Mom" Boucher were leaders of the SS, which had been labeled an anti-immigration group and which was under consideration for an invitation to join the Hells Angels.

Rock Machine When the SS was disbanded in 1984, Giovanni and Salvatore Cazzetta, Paul "Sasquatch" Porter and others chose not to join the Hells Angels. Following the Hells Angels' internal Lennoxville massacre of 1985, which occurred when five senior members were ambushed and killed due to elements within the club's Montreal chapter suspecting they were embezzling club profits, the Cazzetta brothers and Boucher went their separate ways. According to true crime author RJ Parker, the massacre was met with distrust within other elements of Quebec's underworld. According to Parker, the Cazzetta brothers were closely related to a senior member of the Rizzuto crime family, and thus adopted the position that underworld members should not kill other members of their own club. Boucher joined the Hells Angels.

In 1986, the Cazzetta brothers and other former members of the SS formed the Rock Machine motorcycle gang. That same year Boucher, was released from prison. The Cazzetta brothers offered Boucher membership in the Rock Machine, but he declined the offer. The Rock Machine established its first chapter in the city of Montreal and began taking over turf formerly controlled by the Montreal chapter of the Hells Angels, which had been weakened by the Lennoxville massacre. Cazzetta held the position of second-in-command, with only his brother Salvatore holding more influence. According to Parker, the Hells Angels would not instigate any issues against the Rock Machine out of concern that the powerful Rizzuto family would directly intervene on the Rock Machine's behalf. It was said that the Cazzetta brothers were related to a member of the Rizzuto family. and he would rise to lead the Hells Angels in Quebec. In May 2007, Giovanni Cazzetta was conditionally released.