Very good article and to the point.

Was as of last Friday because he attended Gregory Woolley's funeral.




Pretty poor article that basically is blaming everything on the Ndrangheta and that clearly hasn't been the case.

Not a convincing argument. I reiterate very good article.

the narrative of the 'ndrangheta backing some of the wars in mtl has been proven overtime to be FALSE. not a single murder has ever been linked back to any 'ndrine based in toronto or calabria...full stop. also the calabrian golden boy in mtl vittorio mirarchi is NOT a member of any known 'ndrangheta anything...none. even claims of him being allied to a specific toronto based group have proven elusive or non existent. the accepted narrative since 2004 has been explained and gone over to death i am curious where just where any of these wars were backed by the 'ndrangheta.

2004-2006
granby based d'amico clan vs. rizzutos

2009-2011
desjardins-devito-dimaulo vs. rizzutos

2012-2013
rizzuto vs. everyone who did them wrong...and several not related to wars but committed under the guise said feud. (i.e.=roger valiquette)

2015-2019
scoppa bros vs. rizzutos

2022-2023
ha (mtl chapter only as of now) vs. rizzutos

-i suppose in late 2023 there could be a small chance of some 'ndrine backing the mtl ha, but lets be honest why would the ha need help. unless i've missed something is there a shortage of willing hitmen? support clubs,associates, street gangs and independents ready and willing to prove there worth to the big club and or cash in like frederick silva did.

i will lastly bring up the case of carmine verduci as an example. almost all reports at the time in 2014 claimed his murder was the revenge of VITO RIZZUTO from the grave and even to this guy seemed possible. but as we now know it was an internal 'ndrangheta feud amongst toronto based groups over gambling. it had nothing to do with montreal. i have tried ad nauseum to find proof relating any of these wars back to toronto and its just not there. even the violi brothers at the apex of there power 2015-2017 to my knowledge never made a move that we know of and i even posted a thread saying as much. i take alot from the scoppa book when it comes to some inside info on montreal. scoppa was said to be the new boss after magot/mastiff busts with the blessing? of the toronto 'ndrangheta. it doesnt even come up in his book and nothing else about toronto really. and since when did toronto dictate what goes on in montreal.

VitoCahill ,

I always welcome your opinion and compelling argument but on this one we do not see eye to eye. At the moment, I have other matters to attend so I will not be able to give you an immediate response but I am looking forward to tomorrow in producing a counter argument. Take care.

All good ciment, I do not believe with all the subjects and opinions on this site everyone will always agree. How else then to learn something than keep it civil and express our thoughts. Take care yourself.

Montreal is a very complex deal and not all of us will agree on all the theories for sure, hell a lot of them in MTL have no damn idea either lol

Ndrangheta will become stronger in Montreal they are all over the world and the port is important.

Lol okay if you wanted a more in depth explanation all you had to do is ask and I'd be happy to give it.



The very first sentence calls the organizations families.



Few things to breakdown in this. First there wasn't an internal war between the Sicilians and Calabrians. That is some made up story that journalists and authors and people online continue to run with. What happened was a internal struggle within the Bonanno crew with members of the crew on both sides both sides having Sicilians and calabrians and other Italians. Where me and Vitocahill disagree is having Joe Di Maulo as one of the main players in this. Most accounts have Joe Di Maulo sitting on the sidelines in this. The main instigator was Sal Montagna along with Giuseppe De Vito and Raynald Desjardins. Sal Montagna tried approaching Joe Di Maulo about getting involved and he wanted no role in it and that's why Moreno Gallo played a larger role.

Secondly they call Paolo Renda Federico Del Peschio and Agostino Cuntrera Captains which wasn't the case and I think I've made my opinion on that very well known here. Even if you disagree with me on that most writings that fall into the Rizzuto Family trap never label Paolo Renda a Captain.

Thirdly how exactly did the Ndrangheta starting moving their pawns after 2004? Who are we even talking about? The Ndrangheta isn't one singular group with the same ambitions and motivations. There's many different clans with their own goals in mind. The way those paragraphs are written would have you believe the Ndrangheta was behind it all. There were some meetings between the Sal Montagna Raynald Desjardins and Giuseppe De Vito camp with certain Ndrangheta members and Dom Violi but that doesn't mean they were behind it or even directly involved.

Vitocahill already touched on it and I will too. Some killings that were all reported to be from a war between the Rizzutos and Ndrangheta turned out to be something else. Carmine Verduci was a big one and it turned out to be nothing related with Montreal and then the Musitano brothers murder was said to he part of this alleged war and it turns out again it had nothing to do with Montreal.



I found this one the most egregious of the whole article. Montreal has actually been very traditional since forever. I'm not going to go through every single example since we'd be here all night but we saw it back in the 1970s when Paolo Violi had issues with Nicolo Rizzuto because he was being a cowboy doing his own thing. The hot tempered Paolo Violi didn't just murder Nicolo Rizzuto and call it a day. He went to his family's administration in NY and put in a beef. He then went to Sicily and did the same. There was then mediation which didn't end well for Paolo Violi.

When Sicilian members wanted to become members of Bonanno crew in Montreal instead of just inducting them he followed protocol which said they needed to be on record with them for a period of 5-7 years first.

In the 2000s when Montreal wanted a associate serviced by a different member they didn't just say hey you're with him now they went to their administration and requested the change.

It's only been until recently that Montreal has taken a less traditional modus operandi and I think it's no coincidence it coincides in a time of a complete breakdown of Cosa Nostra in the city.

Don't forget the Cotroni family was also ndrangheta.

Their relatives were back in Mammola but Vic and his brothers were not. They were full fledge Cosa Nostra members except for the one.

Then who had the Musitano brothers killed?

Calabrian bosses have become part of the American Cosa Nostra.

I would add a couple things. The Bonnanos lost control of local OC, which they controlled by proxy.. Essentially what we are seeing is local OC assert itself. Also, what exactly is the Caruana- Cuntreras status today? Them losing control of the drug trade lost the streets of Montreal, imo.

Also, Montreal, as top members, had a French guy, a Black guy, a none Made Calabrian, Valiquette, the unmade Scoppas, I dunno. They were pretty mixed up. But I see this as the emergence of
powerful components of local OC. I see the Rizzutos being the central reference, that local OC took direction from. 1st it was the Cotronis as the central reference, then a brief transition to the Violis, then the Rizzutos. Now the Bikers feel strong enough to be the central reference for OC.


The most interesting thing to me about this "Book" is that it seems to be a creature of local Organized Crime, not a extension of a New York based sportsbook operation.

Una buona domanada? la nuova famiglia? iavarone da Hamilton, ma perchè? anche, i violis sono da Montreal? e mirarchi è da Hamilton? tutti i mafiosi a Hamilton sono calabrese? grazie

the new family? iavarone from Hamilton, but why? also, are the violis from Montreal? and mirarchi is from Hamilton? are all the mobsters in Hamilton Calabrian? Thank you

the violi family was originally from montreal. after the 1978 of paolo violi his widow and 2 sons, domenico and giuseppe moved to hamilton. as for mirarchi he is originally from catanzaro i believe. to my knowledge he and his late father operated in montreal alone. the violis, and luppinos are, as far as iavarones not sure. and as to why or who took out the musitanos, likely the luppino-violi group with backing of toronto 'ndrines and joe todaro in buffalo.

The Caruana-Cuntrera clan isn't completely out of the picture I don't think. This is from one article I read: "On 11 February 2011, Martino Caputo attended the 50th wedding anniversary party for a senior leader of the Cuntrera-Caruana clan in Vaughan"

Say whatever you wish about the "fall" of the Rizzuto Clan, but I don't think any of the other groups in Canada will ever be this wealthy and powerful, except for maybe the Ndrangheta:

HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN ASSETS SEIZED FROM MOB-LINKED BUSINESSMAN WITH TIES TO MULTIPLE MAFIA FAMILIES
June 28th, 2009

A multi-million-dollar treasure trove of art, jewels, antiques, real estate, and luxury cars was forfeited to Italian authorities yesterday by a man named as the longtime financier of the Mafia of Montreal.

"He is part of a criminal organization, the Mafia, but he has good taste," said a spokesman for the Italy Direzione Investigativa Antimafia. "We took away everything he had."

Beniamino Gioiello Zappia, 71, known as "Don Tito," is currently imprisoned in Italy for gangsterism and financial crimes, after a probe by the Rome-based anti-Mafia police targeted the European operations of the Rizzuto organization, a Mafia clan based in Montreal that has already been called the "pinnacle of organized crime" in Canada by the RCMP.

Earlier this year, police found hundreds of pieces of artwork, antiques, and archaeological artifacts at Zappia's homes in Milan and in Cattolica Eraclea, the Sicilian village that is also the hometown of Vito Rizzuto, the head of the Mafia in Montreal. The material was turned over to an Italian cultural office for identification and storage. On Thursday, an Italian court judge ordered the property forfeited to the government.

Among the haul are 345 paintings, including works by famed Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali, acclaimed Sicilian erotic painter Renato Guttuso, portraitist Giovanni Boldini, surrealist painter Giorgio de Chirico, and other famous Italian artists.

(At least one of the Dali pieces is a fake, according to New York Dali specialist Frank Hunter, who was shown a photograph of the work by the National Post.)

Also confiscated from Zappia were 220 antique clocks; precious stones, gems and crafted jewellery; antique ivory; collector's coins; and many ancient and antique vases, bronzes and statues, including works by Baroque sculptor Domenico Guidi.

More practical items confiscated were several apartment buildings, a jewellery shop, several tracts of real estate, bank accounts, safety deposit boxes and "many nice cars," the D. I. A. said.

An estimated value of the goods had not been calculated but would amount to many millions of dollars, the agency spokesman said.

The seizure adds to the picture of the Rizzuto organization as a vastly wealthy, white-collar and internationally active clan. Zappia was described by officials in Rome as the senior representative of Rizzuto in Italy.

Investigators in several countries have long suspected Zappia to be a financier for the Rizzuto Clan, playing a key role in moving the family's riches to safety.

On May 24, 1988, Swiss authorities tracked him crossing the Italian-Swiss border and making withdrawals from accounts of Rizzuto members at secretive Swiss banks in Lugano. Almost exactly 17 years later he was still a Rizzuto insider, police records show.

On May 23, 2005, wiretaps secretly installed by police in Montreal recorded a Rizzuto leader explaining to Zappia how money from underlings flowed to them at the social club they used as their headquarters.

"When they do something -- and it doesn't matter when they do it -- they always bring something here so it can be divided up among us."

The RCMP shared that information and other suspicious conversations, gathered during Project Colisee, with investigators in Rome. Italian police launched two probes of their own, Operation Brooklyn and Operation Orso Bruno (Italian for Brown Bear), targeting Rizzuto and his men. One investigated attempts to win the massive public works contract to build a bridge linking Sicily to mainland Italy, the other a sprawling European financial empire.

As evidence of the organization's wealth, the bridge contract was worth an estimated $6-billion and the second operation led police to freeze $689-million worth of assets.

"This is the end of our investigations that we started two years ago. We worked with Canadian police against the Rizzuto family," said the D. I. A. spokesman.

In 2007, Italian police arrested bankers, businessmen, investment brokers, and a man linked to the royal family of Italy. In total, arrest warrants were issued against 20 members of the "Italo-Canadian Mafia," including Rizzuto, who is currently in prison in the United States for 3 gangland slayings.

Also named in warrants were Rizzuto's father, Nicolo, and brother-in-law, Paolo Renda. Italian authorities have requested their extradition.

Italian officials yesterday said Zappia is linked not only to the Rizzutos but the Bonanno Family of New York and the Caruana-Cuntrera clan, a notorious group of Sicilian Mafia drug traffickers who were arrested in Toronto in 1998, as well as the Triasi Family. Zappia's sentence is not yet finalized and has several avenues of appeal still open to him.

These guys almost won the contract to build a $6 billion bridge linking Sicily to mainland Italy!

Like Ghost said it was the Iavarones from what we know and it was due to them supporting the Cuntreras in Toronto.





Very few and far between. The Cotronis were not one.




Paolo Violi started in Hamilton but later mobed to Montreal and thats where he rose to prominence becoming the Acting Captain for the Bonanno crew there. Paolo Violi's sons moved to Hamilton a few years after their father was killed. Vittorio Mirarchi is a Montreal Calabrian but recently been spending more time in Toronto. Almost all of the well known mobsters in Hamilton are Calabrian but there are Sicilians and the Iavarones are neither.

Hi, Vito Cahill please don't call him the golden boy ,he is the Ghost lol.

I will begin with Sergio Piccirilli La Presse

An anecdote reveals in a rather particular way that it was not yesterday that criminals connected to the Calabrian clan in Ontario were planning to kill old Nick Rizzuto. In 2005, a man named Sergio Piccirilli joined the D'Amico brothers, from Granby, to launch an assault on Nick Rizzuto and his associates at the Consenza café, which served as their headquarters. For 20 years, Piccirilli had paid the Rizzuto clan a percentage of the profits he made from drug trafficking. The more he prospered, the more “taxes” he had to pay. He ended up balking and no longer wanting to pay. His audacity risked costing him dearly. His Calabrian godfather from Toronto, Franco Mattoso, learned that a price was on his head and informed him.
After Christmas 2005, Piccirilli joined the D'Amicos to intimidate the regulars at Consenza. His henchmen stationed themselves discreetly near the café to observe the comings and goings of Rizzuto and his acolytes.
“He’s in the cafe window!” one of his men, armed with a rifle, said to him when he saw old Nick through the window. I see it as it should be. I could do it easily!” “Don’t do anything tonight,” Piccirilli replied. I have to go to Toronto first.”

DeMaria Montreal Gazette

In 2012, police warned Demaria that they had reason to believe the Rizzuto organization wanted him dead. Melo’s death was listed along with the 2010 murder of Montreal Mafia leader Nicolo (Zio Cola) Rizzuto and the disappearance of his son-in-law Paolo Renda, also in 2010, as a series of events believed to be part of the “historical conflict.”
During the deportation hearing, the police presented evidence that after Gagné learned he was going to be charged with Melo and Pavao’s murders, he called Demaria from prison and told the alleged ‘Ndrangheta leader about the development. The call was secretly recorded by police as Demaria replied simply with “I can’t help you” before hanging up.

Cortese

A mysterious man linked to an alleged Mafia boss based in Toronto and who has been jailed because of a shoplifting case in Montreal has organized crime investigators in both cities intrigued.Nicola Cortese, 46, was sentenced yesterday at the Montreal courthouse to a seven-month prison term for relatively minor offences related to his bizarre arrest on Nov. 13, when he attempted to shoplift items from a Canadian Tire store in the St. Laurent borough. Cortese tried to steal a handgun holster, an ammunition pouch for 12-gauge shotgun shells, a black balaclava and another item. Despite having more than $3,000 in $100 bills on him, Cortese purchased only a flashlight while the other items were hidden in his clothes.
More intriguing to organized crime investigators in Montreal is that Cortese is the cousin and former business partner of Vincenzo DeMaria, a man who is alleged by Italian authorities to be a mob leader with a seat on a board that controls the Ontario clans of the 'Ndrangheta, the proper name of the Calabrian Mafia.The same group has clashed with the Rizzuto crime family, whose members are mostly of Sicilian origin, in the past. 

Business or Blood p184

Return of Vito:
Some things remained clear. There was no possibility of any common ground with relatives of Paolo Violi. Vito had never really liked members of the Commisso-Ndrangheta family. How things stood with Carmelo Bruzese wasn’t so clear. They had once been friendly , but Bruzese son in law was Antonio Coluccio, and the Coluccio’s seemed central to the Ndrangheta’s attempt to push into Montreal.

Business or Blood p209

Police responded to the wave of violence with a handful of arrests and a whole lot of theories. Among them , authorities speculated that the Ndrangheta members from Toronto and Violi’s hometown of Hamilton were involved in some of the trigger pulling.


Mirarchi meeting with Ndrangheta Business or Blood p78

It was around the time of Del Peshio’s killing in 2009 that Mirarchi and Desjardins quietly made a trip to Woodbridge. They met at a York region restaurant owned by a relative of Antonio Commisso the Lawyer who was not there because he was extradited to Italy.

Sal Montagna Business or Blood p-99

Soon after his move in Canada, Sal Montagna quietly appeared in the GTA and nearby Hamilton , meeting up with members of the camera di control of the local Ndrangheta. Curiously, he didn’t seem at all interested in meeting with the local Sicilian mobsters, even though this was accepted protocol since he was Sicilian himself.

Business or Blood P37.

Desjardin & Mirarchi now seem in sync with the Ndrangheta in Toronto and some heavy duty Quebec Hells Angels.

Business or Blood p73

Devito met with Ndrangheta

Business or Blood Mirarchi p35-36

trips to Ontario meeting with well established Ndrangheta members

Facts:

All of Rizzuto's rivals had meetings with Toronto Ndrangheta and Hamilton mobsters or had someone represent them. So did Gallo , Desjardins who also represents his brother-in-law. Scoppa at first was allied with Mirarchi and then went their separate ways.

Sal Montagna had meetings with the Ndrangheta and completely ignored the Caruana/Cuntrera clan in Toronto.

What Maria Mourani the criminologists is implying is that Toronto pulled the strings.

Nicasso had stated in the past that the Ndrangheta wants access to several ports. Montreal being one of them.

Reminder Piccirilli 's girlfriend is Martin Robert's mother in law. Medias have now confirmed that HA are feuding with the Rizzuto furthermore more Martin has surrounded himself with Rizzuto rivals such as Piccirilli, Del Balso now dead, Pietrantonio and other like Ontario HA that do business with the Ndrangheta.

Hamilton Violi's are the grandsons of Giacomo Luppino who sat on the Ndrangheta Camera di Controlo, Two of Giacomo Luppino's daughters married into the Commisso family. All three groups have special interest in Montreal affairs.

sal montagna meetings with the Ndrangheta is a fact or speculations?

These guys are under constant surveillance, so if law enforcement says that he met with Ndrangheta figures, I tend to believe them. To tell you the truth, if we only had access to law enforcement's database of photos, wiretaps, and video recordings it would put our mob collections to shame. They even went so far as to say that he steered clear of fellow Sicilian mobsters while meeting with Calabrians. Apparently, someone knows a lot more than us mere internet mob buffs.

all good points ciment. the more i read business or blood however the more it reads like a rush job and its utter lack of specifics as to names and who met who was a very frustrating part of the book. its main thesis stated or not is sicilian vs. calabrian. but to a few of yer points.

of all these meetings that took place noone has ever said whom desjardins, mirarchi, montagna, gallo etc actually met with amongst the powers that be in toronto and hamilton. how many members of the control board of 'ndrangheta were there during that time? 5,7,10?? i have no idea but theres a few options for sure. and which 'ndrines? just from the siderno group which as we have found out is distinct from other toronto calabrian groups. as far as i know it is not illegal in canada for law enforcement or media/authors to name someone in a picture. now with the passage of time still none of these pics come out proving conclusively who was meeting who, perhaps there is a book being written as we speak that may indeed reveal this.

del peschio if we are to believe the claims in scoppa book was murdered over a large debt owed by tony magi that magi did not want to pay and for that he was taken out. i am not aware of any connection whatsoever that magi had to high level or low level members in toronto. it is possible the meeting desjardins/mirarchi had in woodbridge around this time is pure coincidence and was related to other business, likely cocaine importation.

not one boss, leader of any 'ndrangheta group has ever been actually shot at by anyone let alone a proven hit team from montreal that could even loosely be traced back to the rizzutos or there allies. commisso bros, demaria (to be fair he has been imprisoned alot, but no attempts in jail either), ursino, figliomeni, bruzzese, violi bros. the only real case was the home invasion of natale luppino in 2018. all involved were from montreal but even as of now there is no good proof as to who they were working for. also not a pro job if indeed it was a hit. they broke the door down with the back of a toilet and only brought a knife so likely there was another motive.

[BadWord] faction in ontario. he met with the leaders in toronto, allegedly and if we are to believe he had there backing how is it he was murdered by desjardins and mirarchi also alleged to be working for the very same people. montagna was murdered because he thought with his past rep and title from new york that would mean something to people in montreal, he found out the hard way it did not. montagna wanted all of montreal to himself/bonannos and desjardins et al were never going to let that happen. a quick aside on this as well, the sept 2011 attempt on desjardins by jetski was also blamed on montagna at the time. again from the scoppa book we find out that it was roger valiquette who was behind this not montagna and his group. then just 2 years later we were being told valiquettes murder (2013) was the revenge of the rizzutos against an allie of desjardins??? valiquette was murdered by stefano sollecito and his group (rizzutos) to get control of...THE BOOK.

the trafficking of drugs into canada through port of mtl is obviously still happening, but lets be honest the majority of drugs, largely cocaine enters ontario at shared border crossings with america. possible the 'ndrangheta is using port to ship stolen vehicles out of canada as that has become a huge racket lately.

there is as you have posted above ample evidence of meetings in toronto but what we still dont have is the smoking gun so to speak proving exactly which group may have indeed been plotting against the rizzutos. the sicilian vs. calabrian narrative as i said previous was one i accepted for awhile but the actual facts, the little we know have thus far proven otherwise.

good debate, keep em coming.

https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/...e-qui-ebranle-les-colonnes-du-temple.php

another silva article.

Exactly Vitocahill. Yes meetings took place which no one is denying but as you put it no smoking gun has been found.

It's been awhile since I've read Business or Blood so I'm hazy on some things said in it but what I remember is it not being heavy on where a lot of what they claim comes from except for vague references. I know people got upset last time I said this but the author Antonio Nicaso isn't a great source for this stuff even though he has all these degrees and books under his belt. Peter Edwards is no better when it comes to Montreal and he'll still to this day try to sell you his stupid theory that Vito Rizzuto was murdered by poison.

Seems like some people here believe that the Hells Angels or other gangs are behind all the murders, meaning that none of them were mob hits making the very title of this thread invalid. If it was bikers instead of mobsters, then technically it's not a "mob war" at all but an extermination campaign carried out by bikers and other gangs against the mob.

So who was responsible for the murders of Nicolo Rizzuto and Paolo Renda? The Hells Angels? Wolfpack? Anyone know, since Business or Blood can't be trusted?

Liggio no one has said anything you just said. Reread it again and you'll see me and VitoCahill have only said it isn't some longstanding Cosa Nostra vs Ndrangheta war. Both of have have explained those murders several times over too.

I figured out a good explanation for why Cortese was stealing ammunition and masks even though he was carrying more than $3,000 on him. Think about it, if you're a gangster you don't want to leave a paper trail or for the store clerk to remember your face when going to the store for stuff like that. Makes perfect sense for why he would only pay for the flashlight.

The fact remains that the vast majority of the murders up there are unsolved. Even the lists that have been put together are full of question marks, theories, and maybe so's. It gets kinda frustrating tbh lol because I really want to know what the hell is going on.

So all these meetings, Rizzuto rivals had with the Ndrangheta in Toronto or Hamilton, was to discuss the weather over a cup of tea LOL.
But yet facts from credible journalists ,criminologists and authors ; are all null and void because of a smoking gun which in the world of secret societies is mostly non existent.

Nevertheless I enjoyed having expressed my opinion in this matter.