Actually, I did a little more research on the Rizzuto´s than just watch some documentary. And no, I do not think Montagna was some kind of criminal mastermind who pulled all this off. He became acting boss at 35 because he was close to Basciano.
There are conflicting stories about this. Jerry Capeci states that he was elected to become boss and that nobody took orders from Basciano one's he was in jail. In any case, it seems that there wasn't much resistance to Montagna becoming boss at 35. And when he was deported to Canada, he did have this title in his pocket, whether it was because of Basciano or because he was elected. The Rizzutos were severely weakened at this stage; many of their men were in jail and they were pretty much leading in name only. You didn't need to be a criminal mastermind to pull this off; just somebody with ambitions and connections and Montagna was this somebody. André Noël, André Cedilot, Lee Lamothe and others all think Montagna played an important role in recent events. And there is enough evidence to support this theory.
"It was between the brothers Kay -- I had nothing to do with it."
