Rivals, Traitors Remain on Rizzuto Hit List

Vito Rizzuto drove around the streets of Montreal in an armored car and brazenly sent his assassins across the world to kill those who defied him.
The Godfather of Montreal, Vito Rizzuto, died one year ago
of complications from lung cancer.


In this group count traitors and Calabrian mobsters from Toronto.

Vito's bloody street war to annihilate any and all rivals and defectors didn't end with his death in December 2013.



So said a law enforcement source quoted in the Toronto Sun, which further noted that Rizzuto's death last December at age 67 failed to "stem the vendetta."

The Rizzuto crime family still has some “Calabrian Mob opportunists and Sicilian traitors” that it needs to deal with, the source said.

Although Rizzuto was challenged, he retained his power. “The ground was never lost,” the source said.

On Dec. 1, after months of relative peace within Montreal’s Mafia circles, one of its Calabrian members was fatally shot in a restaurant in Rivière-des-Prairies. Tonino Callocchia, 53, had survived a first attempt on his life in February 2013, but not the second, when two masked assailants shot him to death in a bistro.

Callocchia chose to side against the Rizzuto organization while its now deceased leader, Vito Rizzuto, was imprisoned in the U.S. A week prior to the murder there was an arson attack on a restaurant closely linked to the former Montreal Mafia chieftain who died of cancer last December after reinvigorating an ongoing Mafia war after a rival faction rose up to claim the lives of his father and son, among others.

More than 40 were murdered so far.

2012 Di Maulo murder scene.


"Callocchia spent most of the 1990s behind bars serving a 21-year aggregate sentence for a series of drug-related offences and money laundering. Last month, a judge at the Montreal courthouse fixed a date in September 2015 for a hearing in a case where Callocchia was charged with extortion."

Earlier this year, in April, Carmine Verduci, 56, was hit by two gunmen outside the Regina Cafe, an Ontario social club just north of Toronto. He is a suspected Ndrangheta hit man whom police have described as a "bona fide psycho-killer."

The Ndrangheta was among the opposition factions to Rizzuto's power when the Montreal mob boss returned home after serving time in an American prison. He quickly set about to revenge the murders of his father and son, among others close to him.

Rizzuto had warned Canadian police, after losing an extradition battle, that blood would flow in the streets in his absence.

The Sicilian Mafia organization formerly run by Rizzuto remains in control of the underworld in Canada, according to press reports.

Verduci was killed outside a cafe frequented by Ndrangheta members in the city where they believed they were untouchable. "The message was loud and clear: For those who opposed Rizzuto, there is no safe haven," the law enforcement source told the Sun.

In 2013, Rizzuto assassins struck in Sicily, Mexico, and possibly America, as well as in Canada.

While Rizzuto was in prison, a group of Calabrian Ndrangheta clans in Ontario joined with a group led by former Rizzuto strongman Raynald Desjardins to try to take control of the Rizzuto Cosa Nostra operation.

Former Bonanno acting boss Salvatore Montagna joined the dissident faction. (Vito Rizzuto previously made clear that he'd never accept "The Iron Worker," as Montagna was called. The insulting monicker "Bambino Boss" also was saddled on the Canadian-born, Sicilian-raised mobster by old timers in Montagna's own Bonanno crime family. As noted in The Cicale Files, Volume One: Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire, Montagna even armed himself.)

Facing deportation after he was convicted of criminal contempt of court, Montagna voluntarily left the U.S. in 2009. At the border, he supposedly told the FBI agents traveling with him that he was going to retire.

He didn’t.

Once Montagna arrived in Canada, guns started blazing in an attempt to oust the Rizzuto clan. Among the casualties in the early stage of the war were Vito’s son Nicolo Jr., father Nicolo Sr., brother-in-law Paolo Renda and other close associates.

It appeared as if the Rizzuto clan was on the brink of extinction. Major news reports claimed that Vito Rizzuto would pack his bags and flee Canada once he returned from prison.

He didn't.

When Rizzuto returned to his well-guarded Montreal estate in 2012, "the tide turned for good."

Rizzuto's bloody vendetta ramped up seriously in 2013, with the organization's young Turks launching a series of isolated executions and leaving the bodies on the street. Among the revenge killings were hit man Salvatore “Sam” Calautti, well-respected Calabrian Joseph Di Maulo, Roger Valiquette Jr., and Moreno Gallo (who was in Mexico when the hitters got him in a restaurant).

The November 2012 Di Maulo hit is considered the first major retaliation by the Rizzuto clan. At the time, however, the press could only speculate about who was behind the hit on the old-school Calabrian gangster. The telltale signs were there all along, however: Di Maulo was shot to death merely one month following Rizzuto's return to Montreal. Also, Di Maulo was not laid out in the Rizzuto-owned funeral parlor popular among Montreal Mafiosi, nor was there a wide assortment of mobsters in attendance at the funeral. Di Maulo's brother-in-law, Desjardins, sent a large flower arrangement to the service from prison.

Di Maulo had been part of Montreal organized crime since the 1970s, as a member of the Calabrian wing of what was then an outpost of New York's Bonanno family. Another Calabrian, Paolo Violi, ran the Bonanno family's action in Montreal. The Sicilian Cosa Nostra members of the Bonanno family, led by Nicolo Rizzuto, Vito's father, split into a separate faction and assassinated Violi in 1978. Di Maulo adroitly switched his loyalty to the burgeoning Rizzuto organization.

Moreno Gallo



Gallo was attempting to enjoy an early retirement/exile in Acapulco, Mexico. A former top-echelon mob figure in Rizzuto's organization, he was dining in an Italian restaurant in November 2013 when he was shot several times in the head with a 9mm handgun.

Juan Ramon Fernandez, known as Joe Bravo, and associate Fernando Pimental were murdered in Sicily. They were shot and their bodies burned "because they turned their back on Rizzuto," police said.

Desjardins is one of the few high-ranking members of the opposition still living; he was arrested for Montagna's murder and is in jail (which is probably why he's still breathing).

Verducci was among the highest ranking Ndrangheta members in Ontario when he was killed, according to reports. He carried a lot of clout within Ndrangheta circles as a close associate to Carmelo Bruzzese, who is wanted in Italy for Mafia association and is currently fighting extradition from Canada for his alleged involvement in the ‘Ndrangheta.

Italian authorities say Verducci was the Canadian representative of alleged Mafia boss Antonio Coluccio. He also hosted functions attended by Ndrangheta leaders.

Italian police captured him on a wiretap speaking with crime family chieftain Giuseppe “The Master” Commisso, who ran a global criminal syndicate from an office in the back of a laundromat. Police described Verducci as a messenger between the clans in the two countries.

Did Canada's Mob War Reach Into the U.S.?

In October 2013, Domenico Arcuri Sr., died in an accident on a construction site in south Florida. The medical examiner noted that “the context is worrisome,” the MontrealGazette.com reported.

A Montreal Mafioso and member of the Rizzuto crime family, Arcuri also was part of the small group that tried to generate a consensus in early 2011 over who would replace Vito and run Montreal organized crime.

Most of the group's members are dead.

Comments

  1. The law enforcement source said "For those who opposed rizzuto, there is no safe haven" UMM the us witsec program is considered a safe haven. So he is wrong on that one.

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  2. Vito Ruzzuto "orders from the Grave" will definitely continue, and will for the next 2-3 years for more guys getting whacked in Montreal and GTA. Vito knew he was dying and he set a game plan for Domenico and Rocco to follow up, and those enemies are getting hunted down one by one.
    Vito was ruthless, brazen, brilliant, and had a long memory. Surely not a good thing for his enemies.

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  3. See end... Arcuri? That what you meant, JDA? I've been waiting to work that in!

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  4. Ed, the brother of the deceased Arcuri, is the 84 year old from Toronto. Domenico Arcuri, sr. death was a real construction accident, caused by high winds and unsafe conditions. Fact. If Vito wanted him dead, Vito style was more direct, bullets to the head. It wouldn't be an "accident" on a construction site. That's too low profile for Vito. I would think you'd concur.

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  5. How does a canadian get into us witsec?

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  6. I don't know who you're talking about, but I like you Yank.

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  7. they also picked upped joe bravos whole crew in Gta last week project forza the leader dani raneri (bravos muscle in the gta) is still wanted they say he is in cuba..

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  8. Yea...like Schwarzenegger said, "I like you...that's why I'm going to kill you last..." LOL Only kiddin' ya...it struck me as funny.

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  9. Im speaking about joesph massino who caused all of the bullshit for vito in the first place. He would still most likely be vito's number 1 target from the grave. Adding insult to injury, being the first boss to betray omerta is disgusting in the eyes of old timers like Dom m and Rocco s.

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  10. I realize, but those guys are like cowboys, not lasting long, as "DR" is too reckless, not smart.He'll get whacked in the near future because he'll become too big of a liability, specially in GTA and Montreal, where heads roll quickly without hesitation.

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  11. I have a question for you all, maybe DC in particular. Does which family a person is in determine how it works for them on the street regarding other mafioso? I.e if a person in the Genovese family gets into an argument with someone in the Lucchese family, would the Lucchese's be like "He's from the Genovese family, don't mess with them" because they are the strongest outfit? From DiDonato's book it doesn't seem that's the way what with the Casso going after the Gambinos in the 80s......I know street guys want the street cred so probably feel they have to stand up to anyone though. If I was in a smaller family I'd be less inclined to have any problems with people in a stronger crew. (Castellano allegedly letting Chin whack a Gambino capo when the Gambinos were the biggest is a bit surprising to me)

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  12. Time was, in Andrew's day, most guys would not let anyone "back them up" on principle. But, in general, I'd say there are too many variables for a simple answer to your question. Nicky Corozzo purposely avoided a sit down with Gaspipe when he wanted a Luchese associate (or soldier?) dead because he knew he probably wouldn't be able to have the guy killed if they went to the table. A lot of guys I've talked to who flipped, and even some who haven't, have problems with the mob not living up to its reputation, which I alluded to at the beginning of this story. So many guys don't fit the bill, they don't avenge murders of loved ones (brothers and fathers, for example). No one wants to rock the boat today. The wealthy guys just wanna sit on their cash and not lose it, not go to prison. There's no killing in New York, the mob outlawed it, so some of this likely is a result of that...however, I'd say we're due to hear about something some day... I hate to quote The Godfather but in this context there's a line of dialogue that I think is at play... the Clemenza character in one scene says something like, You gotta have a war every five, ten years to get rid of all the bad blood building up. I'd say A LOT of bad blood has been building up...

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  13. Y'all know this Ronen guy was a fraud, right? He deliberately made stupid and nonsensical comments in every story for three months. First I thought he was a nice guy, maybe someone with a newfound interest in the mob, but dumb, maybe even a kid. But I watched him closely and even wrote a fake story that I took down to smoke him out. You'd be amazed at the lengths some people go to so they can honestly think they are clever.

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