Molotov Cocktail Thrown Into Restaurant Once Frequented by Vito Rizzuto
![]() |
La Cantina this morning. |
The burglar alarm went off and police and firefighters arrived at around 1am local time.
La Cantina restaurant, located on St. Laurent Blvd. at Legendre St., was aflame. Firefighters extinguished the fire, limiting damage. When arson was found to be the cause, police took over and are investigating.
No one has been arrested.
Vito Rizzuto, the former Mafia boss of Montreal, was a regular at La Cantina, according to several sources.
In August 2009, the first shot of the bloody Montreal Mafia war (ongoing today) was fired. Convicted drug trafficker Federico del Peschio, 59, a former cellmate and friend of Nicolo Rizzuto, Sr., Vito's father, was shot dead in a gangland hit.
Del Peschio, a co-owner of La Cantina, actually was shot dead behind the restaurant. He'd been starting his day when the shooter, who was very familiar with the restaurateur's routine, killed him.
Del Peschio was laid out in a funeral home owned by the Rizzuto and Renda families.
Supposedly he was set to serve as acting boss of the Rizzuto family after many of its leaders were sent to prison following Operation Colisee. (Vito Rizzuto himself was in an American prison.)
Some 300 attended the funeral and the mother of Vito Rizzuto and his sister were seen weeping.
Then, the bodies began to fall. In December 2009, Nicolo Rizzuto Jr., 42, son of Vito Rizzuto, was shot to death.
In May 2010, Rizzuto consigliere Paolo Renda vanished.
In June 2010, Agostino Cuntrera, 66, who ran the Rizzuto crime family's daily operations, and his bodyguard Liborio Sciascia, 40, were murdered.
On Nov. 10, 2010, Nicolo Rizzuto Sr., 86, was assassinated by a sniper while eating dinner with his family in his home.