Another killing in Montreal

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Tonino Callocchia, member of Italian Mafia, gunned down in Rivière-des-Prairies

PAUL CHERRY, MONTREAL GAZETTE
More from Paul Cherry, Montreal Gazette
Published on: December 1, 2014Last Updated: December 1, 2014 5:05 PM EST
Montreal mafia shooting
Montreal police secure the area around the Bistro XO Plus in Montreal on Monday December 1, 2014.

Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette
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After months of relative peace within Montreal’s Mafia circles, one of its members was fatally shot in a restaurant in Rivière-des-Prairies Monday afternoon.

Police sources have confirmed that the city’s latest homicide was Tonino Callocchia, 53, a man who survived an attempt on his life in February 2013 and has been described in past parole decisions as “an active member of the Italian Mafia.”

Callocchia was pronounced dead at the scene of the Monday afternoon shooting at Bistro XO Plus on Henri-Bourassa Blvd. E. near the corner of LJ-Forget Ave.

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.

Callocchia's murder is significant, especially because he was identified as a godfather candidate to succeed Vito Rizzuto.

I have a feeling the mob war in Montreal may rage on--not to the extent witnessed in previous years but an unfinished mob war nonetheless.

They attempted on him last year but he escaped not so lucky this time and I agree this is not quite over just yet.

For those like me who can muddle their way through French, here is an interesting (audio) analysis by Daniel Renaud of the murder victim:

http://www.985fm.ca/lecteur/audio/daniel-renaud-journaliste-a-la-presse-250334.mp3

Anti can you translate any of that?

I agree the bodies are not going to stop dropping. There are too many still alive that crossed Vito that are going to die.

^^^^
The mp3 is more than five minutes long. :-)

But here are some takeaways:

*Callocchia's murder is probably the most significant Montreal Mafia murder in the last year, rivalled only perhaps by that of Roger Valiquette (in December 2013). (Callocchia and Valiquette were very close; Valiquette, considered one of the most significant loansharks in the Montreal area, was close to Desjardins).

*Renaud saw Callocchia this past September when the latter was in court in relation to charges stemming from threats made. (Callocchia was charged in May 2013 for threatening a businesswoman, who is considered close to Desjardins, over a significant amount of money owed.)

*Although a construction-company businessman in name, Callocchia was considered to be in the very heart of the Montreal Mafia, who saw his star rise after Vito Rizzuto's death in December 2013, was tapped as a godfather candidate (possibly by Vito himself), and was apparently part of the mafia roundtable (that supposedly was used to resolve conflicts between those who sat on it and used to determine the direction of the Montreal Mafia).

*Callocchia was considered to have several enemies.

*Callocchia was known for importing coke. (Recall that Callocchia is the brother-in-law of Vincenzo Armeni, the Calabrian-Canadian drug trafficker who is very influential in Quebec. Personally, I consider Vincenzo Armeni and his relatives to have remained loyal to the Rizzutos before and during the war. Those familiar with some of Lee Lamothe's posts on other organized-crime forums know that after his and Adrian Humphreys's book The Sixth Family... came out, Lamothe described the Rizzuto organization as a multifaceted one that included Calabrian crime groups or cells.)

*According to Renaud, Callocchia was not respected.

Thanks!

A very good article by Daniel Renaud this morning about Callocchia and his murder.

Link to French-language article:

http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justic...cile-en-vue.php

A small photo of Callocchia, taken when he attended Vito Rizzuto's funeral Mass, accompanies the article.

Good stuff anti. I tell you though he looked like shit for a guy in his early 50's. My Father looks better and he is 78.

This is confusing, if he was with the rival faction why was he speared and was given a seat at the table with the rizzuto's

Is it possible that this is some internal housekeeping within the Rizzuto organization, maybe a power struggle amongst the players that served as the management team after Rizzuto's death?

Mob families very rarely recover from wars like this. Everything the Rizzuto's built will be significantly diminished soon enough.


I hope someone flips and a book comes out on this whole thing though because it seems pretty fascinating.

was he a bonanno button or was he made into another family? I know this question been asked 1000 times. goes back to sal vitale testifying at a trial, that when he went to montreal in 2000 there was 19 guys part of his family.

Great article by Adrian Humphreys on this topic.

Link:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/12/02/...zuto-documents/

have reporters ruled out the possibility that the calabrians were behind it?

I mean yes, he's related by marriage to the Armeni's...but who knows?

Perhaps they didn't want him to jeopardize their relationship with the winning Rizzuto-supporting faction.

Define Calabrians.

This seems like a house cleaning event, not an external hit. This might mean that who ever is in power, (it would be good to know) might be more powerful than we think.

I don't think he was given a spot at the table. I don't believe for one minute Vito would have made him boss over others that were very close to him.

if these guy wore red and some blue this shit would be L.A. in the 80tys. no respsect for a fellow wiseguy up there. just fighting over turf/drugs. making there fellow American guys look civil.

All these killings where a long waited revenge from violis kids nephews ect. They waited 30 plus years. When they sniped nick rizzuto just like Rocco violi. What comes around goes around . there gonna be nothing left for any of this guys just a lot of widows. And kids with no grandpa. Maybe some of Jonny pops family for rizzuto killing him.

Except this shit is about more than slinging rocks on a corner. Its about a multibillion $ drug business and institutionalised monopoly of the cities construction industry.

The only thing in common Montreal has with the 'red n blues' is they have and are willing to use force in their respective trades.

Is there any evidence that suggests he was in fact considered as a successor by Vito himself, other than speculation?

No one on this board has any evidence of who Rizzuto named as a successor—insofar as he did—especially you and me.

I'm fairly certain you've seen this news item written by Daniel Renaud four days after Rizzuto died:

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s229/sh/8...ba63331d35dbff8

The ones I mentioned in my post

If you mean that the Armeni crime group killed or arranged to kill Callocchia, I have no idea. Callocchia's wife and the imprisoned Vincenzo Armeni's former wife are sisters, as far as I have been able to tell. Callocchia does not have a Calabrian surname; however, I don't know from which region in Italy he or his parents descend.

I have maintained on other organized-crime forums that Vincenzo Armeni and his group--assuming he leads it--remained loyal to Vito Rizzuto and the Rizzutos before and during the war. The Armeni group may be one of those Calabrian crime groups or cells that were known, according to Sixth Family... co-author Lee Lamothe, to make up part of the Rizzuto organization. And I would argue that all such Calabrian crime groups or cells, whether in Quebec or Ontario (e.g., the Commissos in Toronto), were subordinate to the Rizzuto organization.

La Presse journalists Daniel Renaud and Vincent Larouche co-wrote an article in today's online edition of their paper about Callocchia's dealings last year. In particular, the reporters cite evidence that was to be presented in his extortion case.

Among other tidibts of information was that during Callocchia's threats against Marlène Girard, an engineer and businesswoman who was supposedly close to Raynald Desjardins, Callocchia confirmed that Sal Montagna was expecting an additional tax to be paid by all businesspersons (who were already paying, I presume). There is also some information about the Arcuri brothers (Domenico and Antonino), who may have been persona non grata in the Montreal area for a reason other than fear of Vito Rizzuto's revenge: a falling out with Desjardins and Desjardins's allies over money owed because of a failed business venture. Seems that Marlène Girard was also close to Domenico Arcuri.

Link:

http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justic...utre-tombe-.php

The name appears to be from Abruzzi

Link to French-language article:

http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justic...ns-un-piege.php

Link:

http://tvanouvelles.ca/lcn/infos/faitsdivers/archives/2014/12/20141204-224022.html

Link:

http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2014/12/04/le-mafieux-abattu-a-ignore-les-avertissements

Good articles Anti, thanks for sharing pal.

Tonino Callocchia's funeral was today.

According to the article to which I've linked below and that I ran through Google Translate--see copy-and-paste results a bit farther below--representatives of the Sollecito family went to the funeral-home visitation on the weekend; Leonardo Rizzuto was at the funeral Mass today.

Link:

http://fr.canoe.ca/infos/societe/archives/2014/12/20141208-165739.html

So if Callocchia seemed to be on good terms with Leonardo Rizzuto and the Sollecito family, why wasn't Callocchia's visitation at the Loreto instead of at the Alfred Dallaire? (Incidentally, the journalist who stated last week that Callocchia's visitation would be at the Laval location of Magnus Poirier got the information wrong.)

___________

Translation (using Google Translate):

QMI Agency
08-12-2014 | 16h57 updated: 08-12-2014 | 4:57 p.m.

LAVAL - The funeral of mafia Tonino Callocchia were held in the utmost discretion in the Church of Our Lady of Divine Love-Laval on Monday afternoon.

The whole ceremony was held in Italian in front of a hundred people, including several related to the Montreal Mafia.

The 53-year-old charge of illegal loans in the greater Montreal area was shot in Rivière-des-Prairies restaurant last Monday after being lured into a trap.

During the entire time of the funeral, several close to the one we nicknamed Tony Coloc paid tribute to him.

As usual, the police intelligence services have posted several agents to take photos of those who came to show their respect to career criminal as the head of a construction company.

RIZZUTO AND SOLLECITO

One of his three daughters came to thank him publicly for having encouraged to continue studying law and become a lawyer. The celebrant, in their early thirties, even read a letter in which he referred to the Rizzuto family.
The mere mention of the name of the Montreal ex-sponsor discrete sparked reactions from the crowd.

Although our sources say Callocchia began to back the new leaders of the Montreal Mafia, we learned that emissaries of the Sollecito family went to the funeral home this weekend.

However, Stefano Sollecito, heir tipped to become the next godfather, was not seen at the funeral.

By cons, Leonardo Rizzuto, the only surviving son of Vito Rizzuto, entered breezed into the church dressed simply in jeans and a short coat.

Two men present at the Alfred Dallaire Funeral threatened to attack our photographer. Another spat on him shortly before the cortege moves off.

What's the chart about were they all the guys opposing rizzuto. Was this guy made man. The dimualo brothers were they both killed. Google translate confuses me.

The image Strax posted shows Callocchia's associates, including the imprisoned Vincenzo Armeni whose ex-wife is, I am fairly certain, the sister of Callocchia's wife. The caption for the image indicates that Callocchia counted among his associates people who were members of the highest echelons of the mafia, including four people who have been eliminated.

We have to bear in mind that, as with any mob war, individuals change sides. Those of you who have read the epilogue in the updated edition of The Sixth Family... that was pubished this past July--I read this epilogue only last week--know to what I'm referring: after being released from prison, Vito Rizzuto met one on one with people and had these individuals swear their loyalty to him. The epilogue does not state with which people Vito met.

I think that Rizzuto and Giuseppe De Vito were able to reconcile their differences after Rizzuto got out of prison and while De Vito was sitting in one--more about this in the near future.

Same french article but with a picture of Charlie Renda and Leonardo Rizzuto leaving the church:
http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2014/12/08/adieux-discrets-pour-un-important-mafieux

And if Callocchia was not killed because of his supposed disloyalty to the Rizzutos/Sollecitos, then who killed him, and what was the reason?

Fascinating & mysterious stuff

This war is far from over it seems, once it stops, there will be nothing left of the Rizzutos old empire.

Not sure who else would have killed Callocchia, I have no one else in mind either then the Rizzuto faction pulling this type of hit of, out of all the hits thus far in Montreal this one was the biggest IMO, not sure who else either then the Rizzuto faction would have the balls to pull a move on this guy, he was a major player in Montreal for quite sometime.

I agree Scalish, don't see anyone but the Rizzuto faction popping him. Maybe this was like George from Canada, in that the ones that clipped him showed up to throw everyone off? You never know with this bunch, that is for sure!

so the only guy in the chart alive is vicenzo di maulo? all the other pics have words on it. cant read frech.

another whacking today in Montreal:

http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-ne...ed-in-his-truck

Thanks for the post Stu....it sounds like author of the article on the Petraroia murder is speculating that it has something to do with LCN: selling cocaine near Little Italy, the grey areas, it was a professional hit...