The saga continues...

A man who could have links with drug trafficking and organized crime Italian was murdered in the street in Ahuntsic, late night Tuesday.

To 23h, Salvatore Silletta, 49, stood on the sidewalk of the Rue de l'Esplanade, near his home, between the street and Crémazie Beauharnois.

A gunman, masked according to witnesses, was on the sidewalk across the street. He reportedly fired more than once on the victim.

Injured, it took refuge on the balcony of a nearby building. Silletta was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead later.

The killer, he would have fled on foot.

Silletta has a number of criminal record, especially in terms of theft, receiving stolen goods, assault and carrying a weapon. But it all goes back to before 2001, his record is blank since. He was never sentenced to heavy prison sentence. According to the Montreal Police Department, it may be related to the world of drug trafficking.

It is unclear however why he was killed, and if it can be linked to numerous attacks that are part of the power struggle being waged by clans wanting to take over abandoned by the Rizzuto family in recent years.

This is the sixth murder to occur in the Montreal area in 2012. The Major Crimes Section of the Montreal police conducting the investigation.

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/que...-a-montreal.php

And in the meantime, Vito is seven months from being a free man.

He's likely to be indicted again though I think by Italian authorities.

I don't think he's going to be extradited to Italy. I do think a lot of people want him dead. But then again, he probably also wants a lot of people gone. And maybe, someday we will know the whole story.

It's interesting to think about though, If he didn't have this Italian Bridge scam hanging over his head you would almost think the ground is being paved for his chance to where the crown again. His chances are much better if he comes back to a scorched earth landscape as apposed to a vibrant, working order with little police presence. It appears each side is still fighting, it seems as though there are slim chances a top echelon will be installed by the time he gets out, if he has any major players still on his side, some money and a plan he could certainly pull it off...at least more so than i thought he could a year and a half ago. The question is does he want it?

Obviously this is all moot point with the Bride Scam but fun to ponder despite...

I think he does want revenge for his father and his son, and I agree he absolutely has the means to do so. He just needs tot stay alive long enough to make it all happen.

Same opinion here,it won't be easy to kill him,and whats ur opinion about who is taking over ?

"if history has taught us anything it's that anyone can be killed."

Needless to say things are gonna get extremely interesting once Vito gets out.

But they have already killed Montagna. Whom want they take revenge on now? Or wasn't Montagna the the only one who ordered the murders of the Rizzutos?

I don't know exactly who is taking over or what is going on, but Montagna was not the mastermind behind the killings of the Rizzuto's. He may have played his part, but something much bigger is in play here. Maybe some day we will know the whole truth, but that would take some guy to rat and give the whole story, and I'm not sure that's going to happen over there.

Why do you think Montagna wasn't the main man? Theoretically, the hypothesis of a young crazy ambitious scumbag who thought he was able to take over by killing the older ones seemed to make sense.

makes me wonder where the bonnanos are in all of this. yeah, things arent as close as they once were but i find it hard to believe that they have zero stake on what happens in montreal.

In my opinion, Montagna just didn't have the muscle or the brains to pull this off on his own. The Rizzuto's where very powerful until Vito went away and things seemed to crumble. I would look more towards a power struggle between Sicilians and Calabrians, with some Violi venom in the mix.

good points. as an outsider looking in it seems as if the calabrians have more outside help and seem to be more organized at the moment, although things can change.

Just a reminder, based on this thread, "The Sixth Family" is a great book.

would be even better if they updated it to reflect recent happenings in the area...

This isn't about Sicilians and Calabrians anymore. And it actually never was. It's about business and Montanga did have the brains and muscle to pull this off. Afterall, becoming acing boss at 35 of a New York crime family says enough, unless Jerry Capeci had it all wrong. It's obvious that Montagna wasn't acting on his own and he needed support. But he definitely had the sway to pull it off. If you have read Mafia Inc. you know would know what I mean. If you have only seen a documentary about the Rizzutos and Paolo Violi it's easy to assume the "Calabrians" are stricking back.

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.

Thomas Bilotti was no genius, yet he was underboss of the Gambinos when he died.

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.

Guess we have to agree to disagree Sonny.

I think Montagna really wasn´t the big player in Montreal after his deportation from NY that a lot off people seem to think he was. He was a pawn, not the big genius. And I do think Calabrians have a lot to do with this whole mess.

But you forget to provide solid arguments as to why you think he was a pawn and there being some criminal mastermind who pulls the strings and is behind this. I have no trouble with agreeing to disagree with someone who provide good arguments instead of assumptions without having anything substantial to add.

either way montagnas dead so whatever he was trying to do didnt work for him in the end.

That pretty much sums it up. He became too arrogant and power hungry and probably decided that he didn't want to share power with established criminals like Desjardins and co. During the latest CBC special I believe André Noël says that he was extorting ten million protection money from Montreal businessmen. In September last year a big mob meeting went not according to plan and shortly after Desjardins was seen making trips to Buffalo and New York City. One week later he survived an attempt on his life and he went into hiding. It's thought that about this time he and his companions began planning to get rid of Montagna.

Im not a montreal mob expert and im not that familiar with its history but my theory is that the rizutto clan just got weak and wasnt able to provide the same protection they used to to the footsoldiers and associates. So a bunch of influential guys get together and decide that they need a new rejuvinated leadership, not one thats slowly dieing. They get montagna involved because he has links to ny which cant hurt and also because he got a good racket, they probably also reached out to some calabrians as well. Only thing is after its done montagna decides like sonny said that he wants to be the boss or the authority of the group and ends up dead.

However i think that the whole haitians, street gangs, and firebombing of the cafe was a sort of separate drug trafficking dispute all together. Im sort of tempted to throw in the assassinatin of rizutto jr in that category aswell. This might have given the dissident faction within the clan a clear signal that now was the right time to move in and start taking people out themselves.

I like this theory as well, I can't remember where i read it, it might have been Mafia Inc where they stated that very scenario. Rizzuto Jr. being killed because of a separate dispute, having nothing to do with current war.

In Mafia Inc. it is stated that law enforcement is linking the murder of Nick Jr. to the murder of Frederico Del Peschio and that it hasn't anything to do with the other murders. Other mafiosi were probably eager to see how the Rizzutos would respond. That response came a few months later when Joseph Ducarme was nearly killed. I think this could have been the last act of the Rizzuto family.

Sorry Sonny, but there's tons of evidence proving that the Calabrian elements in Quebec and Ontario were involved at some level in this mafia war. Montagna's numerous trips to Ontario, Piccirilli and his Toronto godfather, the Violi connection, the Calabrian faction in Montreal and other situations. Montagna was a huge factor, but got eliminated for a reason as he was gunning for top spot, with resistance from the Desjardins-Di Maul-Mirarchi group.

I never said that this was not the case. I'm actually one who believes Calabrian elements from Ontario were involved. This is a discussion about Montagna's involvement and not about whether or not Calabrians from Ontario were involved, which I believed from the start. But I don't believe a grudge between the Sicilians and Calabrians have anything to do with it. In Canada, Sicilians and Calabrians have worked with and along each other since at least the 1950s. The first one that was killed by the Rizzutos during their conflict with Paolo Violi was his right-hand man Pietro Sciara, a Sicilian from Cattolica Eraclea, the hometown of the Rizzutos.

I was only asking Chopper to explain why he thinks Montagna was just a pawn. I'm sure that if you have come to such a conclusion you can bring some good arguments. That's all.

The Violi element and revenge is way overlooked during this whole thing. As I've explained on the real deal, the turmoil and war is really divided in multiple parts but the elimination of the biggest fish was a coalition of sorts between Montagna, NYC, Ontario, Montreal mafiosi and Sicilians.