In Quebec 31 Mafiosi Arrested as Part of Operation Clemenza

By Ed Scarpo 0 Comments
Montreal - CBC News reports that 31 alleged Mafia members belonging to two groups based in Montreal, Laval, Gatineau and Quebec City were arrested this morning following a series of police raids. Three other people are currently being sought.

The raids were part of Operation Clemenza, as it has been called since its 2010 creation, and were led by the RCMP and around 200 police forces.

BlackBerry messages once again played a key role in the investigation, which included interceptions of PIN-to-PIN BlackBerry messages between members of the Giuseppe De Vito and Bastone brothers Mafia cells.

The De Vito clan was said to be a faction of the Ndrangheta, the Calabrian-based Mafia. No confirmation on whether the clan headed by the Bastones was Calabrian or Cosa Nostra.  These two groups working together may have been battling Vito Rizzuto and his family for control of organized crime in Montreal.



RCMP's organized crime division said an investigation between 2010 and 2012 intercepted around one million PIN-to-PIN messages, and involved what he described as a "complex analysis process."

Both Mafia cells, described as "violent and active," emerged after a 2006 police operation codenamed Colisée left the Montreal Mafia's leadership in disarray. Colisée resulted in the arrests of nearly 100 suspected mobsters, including many top leaders of the Montreal Mafia.

Missing Clemenza
Hussein Abdallah (Montreal), Patrizio Silvano (Laval) and
Giovanni Gerbasi (Gatineau) are wanted by police.
Clemenza's goal was to "eliminate" the organizations that took over in the wake of Colisée.

The dismantling of these cells disrupts the whole organization of the Italian Mafia in Montreal, according to the RCMP.
Those arrested today face 87 charges including arson, kidnapping, forcible confinement, assault, gangsterism, possession of firearms, possession of explosives and conspiracy to smuggle drugs, money and cellphones into prison.

Giuseppe (Ponytail) De Vito was one of the leaders targeted by Operation Colisée, but he managed to avoid arrest until 2010. An associate of the Rizzuto clan, De Vito was found dead in his jail cell last year.

A coroner's report found traces of cyanide in his blood.

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