I stand corrected on the made guys but you don't give Rizzutos half as much credit as he deserves. Have you read the Sixth Family and the other book, name escapes me?

What legacy? You sound like a little teenager that has been watching too many mafia movies. There's no legacy, these guys are criminals and a shame to the Italian people. There's no legacy and honor in this life.

That's actually not his legacy at all. And throughout Montreal Law Enforcement he's said to have been at the reigns of Montreal Organized Crime, as far as Sicilians are concerned, since the late 80's, that's a lot more than a few years, and his father re-took the boss title only after Vito went to Prison for the three capo murders. I don't really think you can say anyone was a "bigger" in drugs. They may have been bigger dealers, but Montreal were at the helm of the whole Pizza Connection thing, even prior to that, Montreal was pretty much the port of where all the drugs went to and was shipped out of. There's a reason why Carmine Galante had to go through Montreal for his Heroin pipeline. And he wasn't a captain in NY sense, he was the head of his own organization in Montreal, that's pretty simple. Fact is, he wasn't the average Soldier or cronie for the Bonanno's. If that was the case, Massino wouldn't of tried to keep Sciascia's murder a secret from him, in fear of some sort of retaliation.

You keep mentioning his father and son being killed as a way to discredit his criminal run, like all that stuff didn't transpire until only after he was sent to prison for 10 years. His top guy made a move against him while he was inside, and it just so happened to work with the help of Montagna. Big deal. Yet when he got out, the evidence says he moved on all of those involved, and the majority of them ended up dead. But according to what you're saying, that only happened because Montreal doesn't have a death penalty, as if that fact negates the fact that Rizzuto had enough power to move against that specific number of rivals without immediate reprecussions. Yes, his father and son was killed, that doesn't negate the fact that people paid for it though. Surely the average soldier would've most likely been hit if he attempted such a thing, in NY or anywhere else.


And I honestly think these numbers of modern made guys in the tri-state, are seriously inflated. I'm having a hard time believing there's 800 made men in total with any family currently in NY and elsewhere, or any other family at that. Modern day charts list about 180-220 guys made men specifically for the Gambino's, at most. But even at that, those are some serious estimations. The Patriarca's are on severe life support right now. Half of Philadelphia is getting indicted.

no one is saying there is 800 made guys with a single family, just that between all of families in new york and new jersey there is about 800 made guys.

I agree dellacroce in between 750 - 800

If you're a plumber & can dole out solid prices on ziti-clogged toilet repairs, they will make you in NY/NJ

Etc

And if you have a user name of a mobbed up social club in Chicago your in the know, and a respected guya on the streets. Lol lol lol

Anybody have any new information on the viewing of vito body last night or the funeral today?

here you go;
http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/funeral-for-m...italy-1.1610736

I don't think it really had to do with Vito. Even as a boss, killing one of your most important capos over nothing without informing the other families first, or even your own capos, can destabilize your position as a boss.

Sonny Black, Massino would not have to inform the other families about him killing one of his own capo's. He would have to inform a few capo's in his family that were loyal to him so it would not destabilize his position as boss.

I did read the book sixth family and if any one wants to post the pics of vitos inner circle there all dead theres one page were they show like 10 pics of vito guys you could probably put a x over every face cause there dead. great book on the history of monteal. how violi got caught on the wire talking about going to nyc to put in there vote as to rusty taking over as boss of the family. vito was probably the last living non rat to take part in the 3 capo execution which was legendary. just saying there never been a don in north America to have his family wiped out like that. we really don't no if he got all his revenge or alittle. people on here me included thought he was dead the minute he stepd in montreal I was wrong. still crazy someone stabed jurnior gotti. were all entitled to our opinion. I don't know how to spell good.

MONTREAL — A bitterly cold wind blowing through Little Italy greeted Vito Rizzuto’s family as they exited the church where his funeral was held Monday.

After an hour-long mass, the large wooden doors that serve as the main entrance to the Notre-Dame-de-la-Défense Church opened and, after the coffin containing Rizzuto’s remains was carried into a waiting hearse, his two surviving adult children, Leonardo and Bettina, followed.

Leonardo paused for a second and placed his arm on the shoulder of a young boy standing next to him as they stood on the church steps, seeming to soak in the moment as the afternoon sun splashed on their faces. He then joined his family as they headed to one of nine waiting limousines parked along on Dante St.

No one in the family paid attention to the dozens of photographers and television cameras that captured their exit while a crowd of curious onlookers, and police gathering intelligence, looked on.

Vito Rizzuto’s death, of natural causes on Dec. 23, was the surprise twist in a real-life drama that saw the same church hold funeral masses for his son Nick (in 2009) and his father Nicolo (in 2010). Both were murdered while Vito Rizzuto was incarcerated in the U.S. for his role in the murders of three Mafia captains in New York in 1981. When he returned to Montreal late in 2012, he appeared to swiftly put an end to the serious challenge his organization faced for the first time after spending decades as leader of the Mafia in Montreal.

Police sources have said for years that of Vito Rizzuto’s two sons, Nick appeared to be the one who was being groomed to take over from his father while Leonardo practised law.

Vito Rizzuto’s health problems became a matter of public record on May 4, 2007, when he told the American judge who sentenced him (to the equivalent of a 10-year prison term) that, two months earlier, a doctor had noticed a spot on his lung and recommended he get a CT scan. Rizzuto appeared to be in relatively good health after he returned to Montreal. But according to a police source, the Mob boss appeared very frail when he was spotted in a Montreal supper club just days before his death, reportedly of complications from lung cancer.

Sources interviewed following his death note how quickly Rizzuto re-established control over the Mafia in Montreal and suggested no one left in his organization displayed similar abilities in his absence when the organization came under attack.

Vito Rizzuto’s sudden and unexpected departure from the helm of the Mafia has left a huge void, one police source said, adding investigators are waiting to see who will make the first move to fill it. Another longtime police investigator said the coming months will likely show whether Vito Rizzuto dealt a serious enough blow to rival Mafia clans in the past year to allow a successor to step in peacefully.

“The successor will very likely come from within the family,” said one source who spoke to The Gazette on the condition that he not be named. “Someone acting as a consigliere (a counsellor), likely Rocco Sollecito, will look at everything and advise the family on who should take over. But for the Rizzutos (based on the past) it will be a relative, someone from the family.”

The same source, as well as another, noted that Sollecito’s son, Stefano, 46, took on a much more prominent role within the Rizzuto organization in the months following Vito Rizzuto’s return from the U.S. In 2003, the younger Sollecito was described in a Sûreté du Québec intelligence report as being part of Vito Rizzuto’s plans to expand into Toronto. The report was mentioned during a parole hearing while Stefano Sollecito was serving a four-year prison term for drug trafficking in Ontario.

Rocco (Sauce) Sollecito, 65, has been a longtime associate of the Rizzuto organization and has been a witness to how the Mob operates in Montreal for decades. In 1974, he was sentenced to a 15-month prison term for forging a signature on a cheque for $26,800, endorsing it to himself. A man who was charged with Sollecito in the same case, Sebastiano Messina, 34, was considered a key financial adviser to the Rizzutos and was killed in a pool hall in Montreal in 1976.

Sollecito managed to keep a low profile for years until Project Colisée, a lengthy investigation into the Mafia in Montreal, revealed the extent of his influence in the organization. On May 23, 2005, Sollecito was secretly recorded by police having a conversation with a man from Italy inside the Consenza Social Club, which once served as a Mafia hangout in St-Léonard.

“(W)henever they do something, they always bring something and we split it among us, all five — me, Vito, Nicola and Paolo,” Sollecito said while explaining that, at that point, the Mafia in Montreal operated as a committee while Vito Rizzuto was fighting the case against him in the U.S. All money brought to the Consenza was split between the members of the committee, with a share going to Vito Rizzuto, (detained at the time) his father Nicola (or Nicolo as he was commonly referred to in Montreal) and Paolo Renda (Vito’s brother-in-law). The person Sollecito apparently forgot to mention in the conversation was Francesco Arcadi who, at the time, was in charge of drug trafficking for the organization.

Today, Sollecito, 65, would be the only person from that committee able to play a leadership role in the organization. Rizzuto and his father are dead. Renda was kidnapped in 2010 and has never been seen since. Arcadi, 60, who was also arrested in Colisée, is serving the equivalent of a 15-year prison term for drug trafficking.

Rocco Sollecito received an eight-year prison term as a result of Project Colisée, a sentence that expired in October 2012. The probe revealed he oversaw the Mafia’s bookmaking operations. According to a parole decision, made in June 2011, Sollecito refused to take part in anything resembling rehabilitation and, at the time of his statutory release, was still considered “one of the principal heads of Italian organized crime.”

pcherry@montrealgazette.com
© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

great info there stu, thanx

http://cosa-nostra-news.blogspot.com/20 ... -spot.html



Rizzuto Told American Judge About Spot on Lung in 2007

Vito Rizzuto was buried in a coffin made of gold.
Canadian Mafia drug kingpin Vito Rizzuto, 67, died in a very unnatural way for someone in his line of work: of natural causes, on Dec. 23.

His funeral mass this past Monday was held at Notre-Dame-de-la-Défense, a Catholic Church in Montreal's Little Italy. It is the same church where masses were held for Vito's father and one son, both named Nicolo, though the son preferred Nick. (Vito's other son, Leonardo, reportedly practices law).

(The church has a certain notoriety of its own regarding its sizable cupola, brick facade and frescoes -- specifically one fresco painted prior to World War II that depicts Benito Mussolini signing the Lateran Accords in 1929, which recognized The State of the Vatican City, ensuring its "absolute and visible independence" and "to guarantee to it an indisputable sovereignty in international affairs." The treaty's principles are upheld today. Built by Italian immigrants, the church was inaugurated in 1919.)

Nick, long considered Vito's heir apparent, was murdered in 2009, while Vito's father was assassinated a year later, by sniper fire. It was Nicolo who had gained control of what was initially a small subsidiary of New York's Bonanno family, which over time, under Vito's leadership, absorbed other organized crime groups in Montreal.


In late 2012, when Vito returned home after serving his sentence (his former Bonanno brethren-turned-informants Sal Vitale and Joe Massino could be said to have bought their freedom with Rizzuto blood), he swiftly defeated all would-be usurpers and continued avenging the murders of his family members up until this past November, less than one month before his own death.


Nine limousines carried mourners to and from the church in Montreal's Little Italy.
It is still not known if his stay in a U.S. prison contributed to his death. The Montreal Gazette has revealed: "Vito Rizzuto’s health problems became a matter of public record on May 4, 2007, when he told the American judge who sentenced him (to the equivalent of a 10-year prison term) that, two months earlier, a doctor had noticed a spot on his lung and recommended he get a CT scan. Rizzuto appeared to be in relatively good health after he returned to Montreal. But according to a police source, the Mob boss appeared very frail when he was spotted in a Montreal supper club just days before his death, reportedly of complications from lung cancer."


Mourners walking out of the church at the end of the ceremony.
The funeral Monday attracted hundreds of mourners and widespread media coverage.

The Don who ruled Montreal for decades was laid to rest in a gold casket.

Nine limousines nuzzled along the curb in front of the church to transport the family as dozens of photographers, TV crews and onlookers gathered alongside police officers seeking to decipher the actions of any Mafiosi in attendance, no doubt trying to identify Vito's successor based on any overt signs of deference shown to him.

The Mob boss "oversaw a heroin and cocaine network that spanned the length and breadth of the country," according to the UK's MailOnline.

The priest who oversaw the ceremony told the Toronto Star: "It was a very simple funeral.

"People displayed a very, very surprising level of calm and seriousness."


Rizzuto's mother is on the left in this picture.
A brave contingent of the curious braved the bone-deep cold of a Montreal winter to see the events. One woman was quoted saying she was attracted by the air of mystery surrounding the family, having watched from the street at the funerals of Rizzuto's father and son as well.

"We don’t know their secrets, that’s for sure, but their names are mentioned all the time in the newspapers and on the news."

As for the successor, he "will very likely come from within the family," one source told The Gazette.

"Someone acting as a consigliere, likely Rocco Sollecito, will look at everything and advise the family on who should take over. But for the Rizzutos, it will be a relative, someone from the family."

Rock's trente came from the committee but now he's the only one left that makes him weaker, it's possible another faction from within the family will take charge

pretty quiet on the Montreal front since rizzutos funeral. its comforting to know that even gangsters deserve a xmas holiday, from killing eachother. lol

happy belated new year to everyone!

Sorry for the thread necro, I just heard about this today somehow. I'd be willing to bet a reinvigorated mafia war is on the horizon for Montreal. it could have started already, I don't know, this time of year is so busy I can't keep up with the news.

Rizzuto leaves a "legacy" in so far as the Mafia is concerned. Whether that legacy is good (well, as "good" as a mafia legacy can be, anyway..), bad, or somewhere in between remains to be seen.

"The Sixth Family" does employ a little hyperbole in terms of their estimation of Vito's power, at least as far as I can tell. It was still a great book, though. Read it cover to cover then lent it to my brother.

One thing is certain, Vito seemed like the last old school boss still around. It will be interesting to see what the future brings for the Montreal mob and whether or not whomever takes over the reigns can maintain the business connections in Sicily and elsewhere.




Hey, ease up dude. A "legacy" simply means that they left a lasting impression upon the world/community/whatever. There is no connotation as to it being good or bad, as its dependent on the contextual circumstances of its use. In this case, Vito Rizzuto leaves a legacy as a powerful drug trafficker and major force in the Italian mob. he's not saying that it's a good legacy to leave behind, simply that he was a major icon in that world and won't be forgotten for a very long time... That doesn't make the guy an idealist child infatuated with the mafia mythos, just sayin' man. Don't be so quick to jump down peoples' throats.

Disagree. Gangsters can most def have legacies. Who cares if they are criminals and who cares about "the Italian people" that sounds so self loathing/self centered.