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.
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.
"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.
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.
 |
| 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.