Louis Gino Acocella^[1] (born May 18, 1941), better known by his ring name Gino Brito, is a Canadian professional wrestler. He was a popular wrestler in Montreal, and was one of the promoters in the city in the 1980s. As Louis Cerdan, he was a WWWF Tag Team Champion, teaming with fellow Italian-Canadian wrestler Tony Parisi. Brito also trained Italian-Canadian wrestler Dino Bravo.

Professional wrestling career[edit]

Active wrestler[edit]

Brito was the son of wrestler Jack Britton. Born Gabriel Acocella, he and his brother Luigi were re-named Jack Britton and Lou Kelly, respectively, by promoter Paul Bowser, who wanted to attract Boston's Irish population to his events by featuring "Irish" wrestlers.^[2]

Britton organized a central booking office for midget wrestlers in the 1950s.^[1] Brito had a job for the promotion shuttling the wrestlers from city to city.^[1] Before becoming a professional wrestler at the age of seventeen, Brito was an amateur wrestler.^[1] At age seventeen, he was trained by George Cannon.^[1] He began working with Detroit promoters Bert Ruby and Harry Light over a year later.,^[1] who was organized a central booking office for midget wrestlers in the 1950s.^[1] Brito had a job for the promotion shuttling the wrestlers from city to city.^[1] Before becoming a professional wrestler at the age of seventeen, Brito was an amateur wrestler.^[1] At age seventeen, he was trained by George Cannon.^[1] He began working with Detroit promoters Bert Ruby and Harry Light over a year later.^[1]

He first teamed with Tony Parisi in Tennessee, where the duo won the tag titles in Nick Gulas's promotion within two weeks.^[1] The two also won the WWWF Tag Team Championship in 1975 from Blackjack Mulligan and Blackjack Lanza.^[1] They later lost the title to The Executioners.^[1] Brito continued to wrestle through the mid-80s.

Promoting[edit]

He also promoted shows under the International Wrestling banner in Montreal beginning in the 1980s, when he earned a television deal for his promotion.^[1] The promotion lost several key players in the mid-1980s, such as The Rougeaus, Rick Martel, and Dino Bravo.^[1] It held events that sometimes had up to 10,000 fans in attendance.^[3] The company, however, went bankrupt in 1987, nine months after the aforementioned wrestlers left.^[1] The promotion was the last Quebec-based promotion to have a weekly television show.^[4]

After International Wrestling closed, Pat Patterson convinces Brito to be the WWWF promoter in Montreal, a job Brito held for four years.^[1] Brito also appeared in the WWF old-timers battle royal in November 1987 (the first eliminated in a match won by Lou Thesz that featured several former world champions).

In 2003, Brito began promoting again with a promotion called Canadian Professional Wrestling (CPW) in Hull, Quebec.^[5][6] He joined with promoter Paul Leduc and his Montreal-based promotion.^[5] The promotion draws crowds of approximately 600 people every couple of months.^[5] More than 1,000 people attended the first anniversary event, in which Abdullah the Butcher and Pierre Carl Ouellet also participated.^[6] In October 2004, at the age of 63, Brito wrestled a match for the promotion, a loss in a six-man tag team match.^[7] In January 2005, the first of six events began airing on Canadian pay-per-view, which featured wrestlers from Brito's CPW, as well as footage from his International Wrestling promotion.^[3]

Personal life[edit]

Brito's father, Jack Britton, and uncle were both professional wrestlers.^[1] Brito's son, Gino Brito, Jr., also worked in the business for a short time.^[1]

He is of Italian descent, which is reflected in his ringname Gino Brito.^[1] To form the name, Brito shortened his father's name Britton.^[1] He was good friends with other Italian wrestlers, such as Tony Parisi, Bruno Sammartino, and Dominic DeNucci.^[1]

Brito was arrested in October 1992 on extortion and loan sharking charges in relation to his work as an "enforcer" for Loan Sharks in the Montreal area.^[8]

After finishing his career in the wrestling business, Brito began working at Subaru car business—buying and auctioning—with his brother-in-law.^[1]

Championships and accomplishments[edit]

• 
  Eastern Sports Association
  
  • 
    IW North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[9]
    
  
  


• 
  Grand Prix Wrestling (Montreal)
  
  • Grand Prix Tag Team Championship (1 time)^[10] - with Dino Bravo
    
  
  


• 
  Lutte Internationale
  
  • 
    Canadian International Tag Team Championship (4 times) - with Rick McGraw (1) and Tony Parisi (3)^[11]
    
  
  


• 
  World Wide Wrestling Federation (World Wrestling Federation)
  
  
  
  • 
    WWWF World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Tony Parisi^[12]
    
  
  
  • 
    WWF International Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[13]
    
  
  
  
  

References[edit]