Rizzuto was born in Sicily in the town of Cattolica Eraclea. In 1925, his father Vito left for the United States of America with his brother-in-law Calogero Renda and 4 others. Vito's wife stayed with Nicolo in Sicily. In 1933, Vito was murdered in New York by rival gangsters forcing Nicolo to grow up with a stepfather. Nicolo married a girl named Libertina Manno, during the early 1940s, the daughter of a local Mafia leader. In 1954, Nicolo took his new family and settled in Montreal, Canada. He was able to form his own crew with help from several other Sicilian relatives and associates living there.