Ex-Rizzuto Ally Latest Slain in Montreal Mob War
A younger Rizzuto |
Former Rizzuto ally Emilio Cordileone was slain this past weekend.
The EdmontonJournal.com reports that the killing is "the latest manifestation of the power struggle being waged in Montreal’s underworld, experts said. And there’s likely more bloodshed to come.
"Montreal is like a powder keg right now. And there is a sense that the violence is no longer one-sided," Mafia expert Antonio Nicaso said in an interview on Sunday." Unfortunately, I don’t think this is the end of it."
Cordileone's body was found "riddled with bullets and slumped in a white Range Rover SUV about 9:30 a.m. on Saturday... Cordileone had no criminal record. However, his name came up numerous times during Operation Colisée, the RCMP probe into organized crime," the Journal reported
"The main thing our investigators are looking at: Is this connected to Italian organized crime," Constable Dany Richer was quoted as saying in the article.
More mobsters have been spending a lot more of their cash on armour-plated cars, following Rizzuto's lead, as the violence continues to grow in the Montreal underworld.What is really proving a challenge to both investigators and the media is trying to determine which mobsters are on which side -- and who exactly is running the opposition to the Rizzuto family? Does Vito even know?
"Montreal is like a powder keg right now. And there is a sense that the violence is no longer one-sided," Mafia expert Antonio Nicaso said in an interview on Sunday." Unfortunately, I don’t think this is the end of it."
Cordileone's body was found "riddled with bullets and slumped in a white Range Rover SUV about 9:30 a.m. on Saturday... Cordileone had no criminal record. However, his name came up numerous times during Operation Colisée, the RCMP probe into organized crime," the Journal reported
"The main thing our investigators are looking at: Is this connected to Italian organized crime," Constable Dany Richer was quoted as saying in the article.
Joseph Di Maulo was slain. |
Providing the background for the ongoing feud, the Spec.com noted that Rizzuto was considered by Canadian and American authorities to be "Canada’s top Mafia figure in the 1990s and 2000s." Rizzuto lost his father and eldest son, as well as his wife's brother, to mob violence in Montreal while he was serving a prison term in Colorado for his role in helping former Bonanno boss Joe Massino whack a trio of capos moving to take over the crime family in the early 1980s from boss Philip "Rusty" Rastelli.
"Some Montreal men who had once been loyal to... mob boss [Rizzuto] reportedly turned against him while he was in prison; his term ended in October when he flew to Toronto and then reappeared in Montreal," the Spec.com reported.
"Some Montreal men who had once been loyal to... mob boss [Rizzuto] reportedly turned against him while he was in prison; his term ended in October when he flew to Toronto and then reappeared in Montreal," the Spec.com reported.
Cordileone is believed to have fallen into the category of the "once-loyal."
Rizzuto has been focusing on staying out of the limelight since his return home, but law enforcement found and served him with a subpoena last month to appear before the Charbonneau Commision, which is looking at how public-works contracts were awarded in the province.
Cordileone was last seen alive on Thursday in Montreal’s Little Italy, according to La Presse newspaper.
"Police said that the victim was known to them and associated with organized crime but his only conviction was for an income-tax violation," the Spec.com reported.
Just last month another high-level mobster who reportedly turned against Vito Rizzuto was slain. Joe DiMaulo, 70, was shot to death outside his home in the Montreal suburb of Blainville.
Cordileone was last seen alive on Thursday in Montreal’s Little Italy, according to La Presse newspaper.
"Police said that the victim was known to them and associated with organized crime but his only conviction was for an income-tax violation," the Spec.com reported.
Just last month another high-level mobster who reportedly turned against Vito Rizzuto was slain. Joe DiMaulo, 70, was shot to death outside his home in the Montreal suburb of Blainville.
Not long afterward, Mohamed Awada was murdered in front of his house in Montreal. In 2008, he is believed to have kidnapped a low-level member of the Rizzuto clan. Around the same time as Awada's killing, in the U.S. Domenico Arcuri Sr., a man with past ties to the Rizzuto organization, died in an accident on a construction site in south Florida, about which the medical examiner noted “the context is worrisome,” the MontrealGazette.com reported.
DiMaulo’s brother-in-law, Raynald Desjardins, a convicted cocaine trafficker and construction executive "had once been considered Rizzuto’s right-hand man." Desjardins reportedly had a falling out with Rizzuto and then with Salvatore "The Bambino Boss" Montagna, a former New York Bonanno boss who was deported to Canada, into Rizzuto’s Quebec territory, in 2009. Desjardins, who narrowly escaped an attempt on his own life, has been charged with Montagna’s murder in November 2011.
The Journal offered additional insight from mob experts who study activity in Montreal.
"Tension remains extraordinarily high among gangsters of all stripes, across Quebec and Ontario," said Adrian Humphreys, author of The Sixth Family, a biography of the Rizzuto family and organized crime reporter for the National Post.
"The power struggle is far from settled, and Vito Rizzuto’s place in the underworld since his release from prison is very much an unanswered question.
"More people will die before that’s decided — and likely more before the new year."
Nicaso said the latest violence seems to indicate that the Rizzuto clan is ready to strike back to reclaim power now that the head of the family has returned, the Spec.com reports.
While Rizzuto was behind bars, his father Nicolo and his son Nick Rizzuto Jr. were killed. His brother-in-law, Paolo Renda, was kidnapped in 2010 and is believed dead.
"For a long time, the violence seemed one-sided, meant to challenge the Rizzuto family’s power," Nicaso said in the Spec.com report. "But now there is a sense that the Rizzuto family is capable of striking back."
Nicaso added: "[Rizzuto] came back from jail to a new criminal landscape with new players trying to take over his turf.
"There doesn’t seem to be anyone in place who is recognized as being in charge. There are symptoms of a power vacuum. It is even difficult to describe who is on one side and who is on the other."
"For a long time, the violence seemed one-sided, meant to challenge the Rizzuto family’s power," Nicaso said in the Spec.com report. "But now there is a sense that the Rizzuto family is capable of striking back."
Nicaso added: "[Rizzuto] came back from jail to a new criminal landscape with new players trying to take over his turf.
"There doesn’t seem to be anyone in place who is recognized as being in charge. There are symptoms of a power vacuum. It is even difficult to describe who is on one side and who is on the other."
Palermo seems so calm compared to Montreal these days!
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