Alleged Mob boss abducted
By Paul Cherry, The Gazette
May 21, 2010


MONTREAL – Reputed mob boss Paolo Renda, the brother-in-law of reputed Montreal Mafia don Vito Rizzuto, appears to have been abducted and police are asking for the public’s help in finding him.


Renda was reported missing by his wife, Rizzuto's sister, Thursday afternoon and his luxury vehicle was found on Gouin Blvd. W. not far from his home in the Cartierville area.


The windows were open and the key was still in the ignition.


The 70-year-old Renda was paroled in February after reaching the two-thirds mark of a two-year prison term he received in October 2008 for a conviction related to Project Colisée, a major investigation into organized crime in Montreal.


Renda pleaded guilty to possession of the proceeds of crime and to a related charge of participation in a criminal organization.


The apparent abduction is the latest blow to the Rizzutos, with Vito in prison in the United States on racketeering charges and the broad daylight assassination of his eldest son Nick Rizzuto Jr. in December.


Renda, was last seen at 3:15 p.m. yesterday, Montreal police Const. Yannick Ouimet said.


Renda's wife contacted police about 6 p.m. to report her husband missing.


Considered to be one of the highest ranking members of the Rizzuto organization, Renda saw the National Parole Board take the unusual step of modifying his release conditions just as he was preparing to leave a federal penitentiary. The parole board received information, from Correctional Service Canada, that there were concerns Renda might seek revenge for the December murder of his nephew, Nick Rizzuto Jr.


Renda's release conditions had already been set when the parole board received the information, but commissioners took the very unusual step of adding more conditions just as Renda reached this statutory release date.


While he was being investigated in Project Colisee, Renda unwittingly provided investigators with the clearest evidence of how the Rizzuto organization was operating in the absence of its charasmatic leader, Vito Rizzuto, who had been extradited to the U.S. in a racketeering case.


Renda was secretly recorded during a conversation he had with an mafioso from Italy. The mafioso did not agree with how things were being run. Renda explained that a type of four-man committee had talen over the leadership. Renda also identified himself as being part of that committee. The mafioso from Italy responded that the traditional way is to have one person in charge.


Renda is described as 5 feet 8 inches tall, and he weighs 170 pounds. He has gray hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing navy blue pants and a striped polo-style shirt.


Anyone with information about Renda's disappearance is asked to call Info-Crime at 514-393-1133.


Also this morning, Renda’s father-in-law, Nicolo Rizzuto Sr., was due in court to answer to a five-year-old impaired driving charge. His lawyer instead argued successfully for a delay, citing safety concerns.


The Gazette is following both stories.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Alleged+boss+abducted/3055855/story.html

damm its one thing after another for the Rizzuto's I wonder what exactly is going on...

Very interesting. Definitely something going on, eh? A recent article by Adrien Humphries for the National Post (with files from the Montreal Gazette?) makes the claim that, rather then the street-gangs & criminals of Montreal, the kidnapping may have been ordered from New York. I'll quote from the article before i link to it;
"...a law-enforcement source told the Post on condition of anonymity. "The threat was believed to have emanated either directly from New York or through Buffalo and Toronto", the source said.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=3058648

While i take that with grain of salt until more evidence is presented, it is an interesting notion to think after the decades on top, the Rizzuto's could be targeted during a percieved time of weakness by various NY factions, old school Buffalo factions or even the Calabrian families scattered throughout parts of Canada. This as opposed to the commonly cited view of a "rising up" of Montreal's street-gangs.

While it definitly seems likely that the street-gangs & freelance criminals have a role in the current unrest, insofar at least in some of the cafe bombings (suspected extortionate attempts of intimiadation), it is fascinating to postulate that the street gangsters are more "getting in on the action", while the Rizzuto Family is assailed by threats from with Coasa Nostra itself. But like i said, until more solid evidence is given then...

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=3058648#ixzz0oo6RmufH
Another article that lists the recent blows to the Rizzuto Family;http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Kiss+death+Montreal+Rizzuto+clan/3059063/story.html

A pretty cool video: http://www.cbc.ca/video/player.html?cate...ipid=1500804650

Montreal mob link to Lake Ontario body?

Speculation rife that body found encased in concrete could be that of alleged Mafia boss Paolo Renda, who vanished last week

The Gazette May 24, 2010 3:36 PM

MONTREAL – Montreal police have been in contact with Toronto police regarding the concrete-encased body that was pulled out of Lake Ontario Sunday, but neither police force will say whether they suspect the body could be that of alleged Montreal Mafia kingpin Paolo Renda, who vanished last week.

“Yes, Montreal police have been in contact with Toronto police about this, but we can’t confirm anything as it is a case for the Toronto police department,” said Montreal police constable Daniel Lacoursière.

Toronto police, acting on a tip, pulled a rusted oil drum from Toronto harbour Sunday around noon, near a construction site. The barrel, found in about six meters of water by police divers, contained human remains.

Toronto police Detective Justin Vander Haden told reporters police have a “good idea” whose body it is, but that identification will be done by the coroner and will take at least 48 to 72 hours.

Vander Haden said the crime was obviously deliberate, would have required the work of several people, and looked like an “organized effort."

Renda, one of the highest-ranking members of the Montreal Mafia, was reported missing Thursday by his wife when he did not return to their Cartierville home as expected. His car was found parked a short distance from their home, with the windows open and keys still in the ignition.

Renda had been released from a federal penitentiary Feb. 12, after serving time for possession of proceeds of crime and a related gangsterism charge. His nephew and godson, Nicolo (Nick) Rizzuto Jr. was murdered while Renda was in prison, and extra conditions were imposed on Renda upon his release because of fears the Mafia would seek revenge for Rizzuto’s murder.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Cops+body+pulled+from+Lake+Ontario/3065551/story.html

Photo of the recovered barrel

False alarm on the body in the barrell. Turned out to be some Chinese guy.

Link to French-language article about this topic:

http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2013/01/10/il-faut-se-dire-quil-est-mort

Link to English-language article, along with part of the article itself, appears below; there are some new details about Renda's abduction:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/montreal/Mobster+wife+seeks+declaration+death/7804242/story.html

Mobster’s wife seeks declaration of death
By Paul Cherry
Gazette crime reporter
January 11, 2013

MONTREAL — Saying she is only seeking closure, Maria Rizzuto-Renda, the wife of reputed Mafia leader Paolo Renda, appeared before a Superior Court judge on Thursday to ask that her husband be declared dead because she has seen no sign of him for more than two years.

“This is hard for me to say. But I feel my husband is dead,” Rizzuto-Renda told Superior Court Justice Caroline Roy at the Montreal courthouse. Last year, she and her adult son and daughter filed a request seeking to have her husband officially declared dead. The Montreal police believe he was abducted on May 20, 2010. His Lexus sport utility vehicle was found abandoned on Gouin Blvd., roughly 300 metres from his home on Antoine Berthelet Ave. Roy will render her decision on the matter at another date.

Rizzuto-Renda, 65, revealed some of what is known about the last few hours her husband was seen alive. She said he went golfing in the morning and then went to the funeral home the family owns in St-Léonard. She said her husband called her from the funeral home to say he would be picking up four steaks to bring home for dinner. She said by about 3 p.m. she became worried because Renda was usually punctual. Her son-in-law decided to drive around tracing Renda’s usual route and found the Lexus with a window down and the steaks inside.

Her daughter, Domenica, who also testified Thursday, said she and her mother have been told through lawyers that construction workers saw a black Dodge Cobra with a siren on top pull over the silver Lexus and that two men, dressed as police, appeared to arrest Renda. Domenica Renda said the Montreal police were also trying to track down a black car that appeared to be following Renda when he left the location where he bought the steaks.

“It wasn’t just any man driving down the street,” Renda’s daughter said, adding she is certain the construction workers saw her father being abducted. “My father would never have left us in this situation. Never ever, ever.”

[snip]

Renda had just been released on parole the previous February when he disappeared. The death of his nephew caused the Parole Board of Canada to amend his release and impose severe conditions on him. Rizzuto-Renda said her husband had to call a parole officer often and that the Correctional Service of Canada could check in on him any time it felt it was necessary.

“If he golfed, they had to know who he golfed with,” she said, adding that one of Renda’s parole officers expressed concerns for her safety over having to travel to the Renda home....

Yeah, he's long gone...

It been quiet up there lately, Vito must be regrouping, lol...

No doubt Renda is dead. Vito knows that.

I was in Agrigento July, 2010, and went to a memorial service for Agostino Cun trera. The rumor there was that not only was Renda kidnapped, but tortured, dismembered and dissolved in acid.

Dam.so he was supposedly put in cuffs and 'arrested'.if his enemies were able to get him like that then I believe he prolly was tortured.I hope all this comes out eventually

Really I'd be interested to find out what really happened to Paolo Renda. One day we'll hear a story from some rat on the stand...

Does anyone consider he may be alive and living on millions he stashed away. All other Rizzuto members were assassinated and left on the street. Why not him??? does it make sense??

But I heard he was still in good enough spirits to do the Macarena first. Right, Carm?

No. I don't know anyone deader than that guy.

Carmella, I was with you on this for the longest time, as I have heard the same. Even most posters here would agree (and I'm not disgreeing with you here), especially at the time of the disappearance. But why is he the only one, out of everyone who's gone down, not to be made a public example of? Everyone else, all public gunshot murders. What was it about Renda that made him different?

Also, whereas we learned that Emilio Cordileone was found in his car murdered, I heard from guys connected to him, that he was badly beaten, every limb in his body broken and that he was stripped naked and shot in the head twice. Then placed in his car. That part never made the papers.

http://www.complexeloreto.com/obituaries.php?action=view&id=1283

It has been speculated the reason Renda was tortured was that he was the money guy and they were trying to get info out of him for that reason. As for why they didn't send a message by leaving him somewhere he could be found, I'm not convinced that the same groups were behind the murders of Nick Jr, Nick Sr' and Renda.

Carmela

Did the people speculating about Renda"s torture and dismemberment speculate about who they thought was behind it?

De Vito and the boys no?

I hadn't realized others had said this as well, about the way he died, etc. I remember posting on RD right from Sicily in 2010 and putting that info up. I hadn't seen anyone else saying it besides me. It's possible my story has just now come full circle and others are putting more stock in what I originally said now. At the time they dismissed me. But i digress...

To answer your question, I think they wanted something from Renda, more than just retaliation. And they either couldn't get it from him, or they did and killed him anyway as they usually will.

Giordano: No I wouldn't know who was behind it and its not something I should know. I was straining my ear as it was and caught bits and pieces of things. As far as who was at the memorial... it was in Siculiana and these were friends and family, people that came by to pay their respect to the family, etc.

Link to French-language article:

http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/quebec...paolo-renda.php

Google translation:

Court refuses to formalize the death of Paolo Renda
CHRISTIANE DESJARDINS
La Presse
Posted January 23, 2013 at 7:03 am | Updated at 7:04 am

The mafia Paolo Renda, brother of Vito Rizzuto, has not been seen since May 20, 2010. But there is not enough evidence to declare it officially dead, as requested by his family, ruled Superior Court yesterday.

According to Justice Claudine Roy, the testimony at the hearing by Mr. Renda's wife, Maria Rizzuto, was "strewn with hearsay and vague in many places." No documents or testimony has confirmed his statements.

"At best, the evidence establishes that Mr. Renda has not seen his wife and daughter since May 2010, but it does not sound so certain death, or the circumstances to conclude that it" has the judge noted in his decision.

A declaratory judgment of death may be made seven years after the death of a person. It is possible to get it before when death is certain. "Circumstantial evidence must relate to the death itself. The absence of a person is only one element of the evidence," said the judge.

The woman disappeared, Maria Rizzuto, and their two children, asking for a declaration of death because they are certain that Mr. Renda is dead, they have to deal with things and move on.

Mr. Renda was among the leaders of the Italian Mafia in Montreal. He was on parole at the time of his death, which occurred in broad daylight while he was preparing to return to his home. His car was found in the afternoon near his home, boulevard Gouin, and four steaks he had purchased for the meal was on the bench. He has not been heard from since and has never used her credit cards. Ms. Rizzuto also told that their nephew, Nick Rizzuto Jr., was assassinated a few months ago, and his father, Nick Rizzuto, suffered the same fate in November 2010. At that time, the brother of Maria Rizzuto, Vito, was imprisoned in the U.S. for murders committed there over 35 years. He recently returned to the country.

Link:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Paol...0450/story.html

Excerpts:

Paolo Renda’s case: Judge turns down wife’s request to have him declared dead
He was apparently abducted near his home in northern Montreal on May 20, 2010
BY PAUL CHERRY, GAZETTE CRIME REPORTER
JANUARY 23, 2013 12:03 PM

[snip]

During the hearing at the Montreal courthouse it was revealed that Renda’s family was informed, “by lawyers,” that he appeared to have been abducted by two men posing as police officers. Construction workers told police that a black car with a removable siren on top apparently caused Renda, who was out on a conditional release while serving a 2-year sentence, to pull over as he drove along Gouin Blvd. W. in his Lexus sport utility vehicle.

[snip]

In her decision, Roy described some of Rizzuto-Renda’s testimony as unsupported hearsay. The judge noted the construction workers were not called to testify and no one from Correctional Service of Canada was called as a witness to say, as Rizzuto-Renda testified, that Renda was warned his life was in danger when he reached his statutory release date weeks before he disappeared. Roy also noted Renda’s wife claimed that he had a credit card and that it has not been used since he went missing but brought no evidence to support this....