House and SUV of Hamilton Mafia figure hit by arson attack in the night
Adrian Humphreys
Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015

HAMILTON, Ont. — An apparent arson attack at the east-end home of one of Hamilton’s infamous Mafia figures Monday night has disturbed the underworld quiet he has maintained since leaving prison in 2006 for organizing a storied mob hit.

Around 11 p.m. Monday, emergency crews arrived at the home of Pasquale “Pat” Musitano on St. Clair Boulevard, as flames from an SUV spread to houses on either side of the driveway. Police helped an elderly woman escape one of them and firefighters doused the blaze.

Late into the day, Tuesday, an investigator with the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal sifted through charred wreckage from a gutted 2013 Ford Edge and neighbouring houses as an officer in a police cruiser sat watching. The Ford was parked so high up the driveway, it was tucked under overhanging windows, meaning the result of the fire could have been far worse.

Damage is estimated at $60,000, but no one was injured.

Musitano could not be reached for comment.

Despite the notoriety of his family name, Hamilton police said they were not focusing on the checkered history of the owners so early in their probe.

“It’s very preliminary,” said Det. Sgt. Mark Petkoff, of the Hamilton Police Intelligence Branch. “Yes, there was a fire there and yes, we are looking into it. It really is too soon to know” where the investigation might go.

Arson investigators are concentrating on the flames, more than the backdrop against which they flickered.

“I still have a fire to look at first,” said Staff Sgt. Emidio Evangelista. “At this time, I’m still trying to find out what caused the fire and why. If there is more to it, if there are other aspects of it, we’ll take a look.”

The Musitano name is one of the best known in the colourful history of Hamilton’s vibrant underworld.

The crime family emerged in Canada in 1937 under the tutelage of a great-uncle who fled Delianova, Italy — having garnered the sobriquet “The Beast of Delianova” by dragging his sister, whom he accused of dishonouring the family, through the streets to her lover’s home, where he killed her on the front step with a dagger.

That uncle, Angelo Musitano, fled to Canada, settling with relatives in Hamilton, where he inculcated two nephews into the outlaw tradition, including Pat Mustitano’s father, Dominic, who built a crime family that vied for power in Ontario’s active criminal milieu.

Pat Musitano, 48, the eldest son, was seen as heir to his father’s mob boss mantle after Dominic’s sudden death from heart failure in 1995.

Police investigated many arsons and bombings linked to the Musitano family over the decades.

In 1998, police detectives banged on the door of the St. Clair Boulevard home, arresting Musitano and charging him with ordering the high-profile murder of John “Johnny Pops” Papalia, the top-ranked Mafia boss in the province.

In 2000, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison under a plea deal that saw him and his brother, Angelo, plead guilty instead to conspiring to murder Papalia’s right-hand man, Carmen Barillaro of Niagara Falls, Ont., who was shot by the same hit man. The charges in Papalia’s death were dropped under the deal.

While in prison, Musitano won a grievance against a guard who repeatedly called him “Tony Soprano,” the lead character in a TV series about a Mafia family.

He walked out of prison in 2006 and his family has maintained an uncharacteristic quiet since.

Until a cause is known, it is impossible to guess what is behind the blaze. In Mafia circles, such periphery attacks are often seen as stark messages or warnings.

http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/blog.ht...nfamous-mob-hit

This is the first I've heard anything about the Musitanos in a long while. Anytime I see any OC related news coming out of Hamilton it's almost always biker gangs.

Are the Musitanos as active as they were in the 80's and 90's?

They have been quiet, with the exception of Angelo seen talking to Vito Rizzuto at a cafe in Toronto, other than that not a peep till Pats garage fire, but the Musitanos are suspected for part of the turmoil in Montreal.

What role in Montreal turmoil is thought to be attributed to the Musitano's? I ask out of curiosity. I have followed "Montreal war" only casually.

Also, can you give background on Musitano's historical OC activties? I thought they were Ndran, rather than Sicilian / LCN. My understanding is Toronto is more Ndran than Sicilian / LCN.

Did they get this guy out of central casting?

He couldn't look any more Italian/mobster if he tried.

There are several N'drangheta clans in Ontario but they aren't all under a united banner. There's the Siderno Group (7 different clans, all with a different boss comprise this 'family') which operates largely out of the Greater Toronto Area and then there's families like the Musitanos in Hamilton who are more or less independent.

The Siderno Group is international, having ties back to Italy and some Australian cities. They are somewhat similar to Rizzutos in that their organization relies heavily on blood relations/marriage and maintains ties to foreign nations.

The Musitanos are more like a small American family who are far removed from their Italian roots. They're (were at one time) the Canadian extension of the Buffalo mob, but, I'd doubt that remains true nowadays. I don't know that it'd really be fair to label the musitanos as being N'drang/Camorra/Sicilian, either. Their ethnic roots are in N'Drang regions of Italy... But like I said, they seem far removed from said roots.

All of these groups depend on heroin coming in from Montreal. That's the primary money maker up here (it seems to me, anyway) so when groups from Ontario get involved in Montreal, it's because everyone has a stake in the ports and the drug pipeline (the trans-Canada highway).

Slumpy, Dominic Musitano never took orders from Buffalo, but he took orders from Toronto and was on good terms with the Cotroni brothers, even his son Pat was seen with Frank Cotroni during the 80s and 90s. The Musitanos are suspected in the disappearance of Paolo Renda, and killing a Rizzuto crime family member after Vito Rizzuto passed away.

That's a pretty heavy claim. The Musitanos were believed to be friendly with the Rizzutos and they had multiple dealings with Francesco Arcadi. Vito Rizzuto allegedly backed the Musitanos for killing Papalia so they could take over his rackets and gain power in Hamilton. Ofcourse mafiosi are threacherous and opportunistic and alliances shift all the time. When I read that Montagna made trips to Hamilton I assumed that he visited the Luppino-Violi family, who were enemies of the Rizzutos. Is it possible that he approached the Musitanos as well? They aren't mentioned as conspirators in Business or Blood, that goes in-depth on the 'Ndrangheta's involvement and Montagna's dealings.

Yes that is a heavy claim, but I gave the wrong info. They are suspected in both Renda brothers disappearances. Supposedly the Musitanos and Rendas were having trouble, mainly with Giuseppe Renda's gambling rackets and not sharing them with the Musitanos. Once Nick Jr was killed they took advantage of the turmoil. Frank is incarcerated and the Rendas were the only conduits for them to reach. Vito meet with Angelo who denied any involvement with the brothers disappearances. This is the rumor, and Rizzuto did backup the Musitanos hit on Johnny Pops, but to be fair, the Buffalo family was having their own troubles from the fallout of the Blitzstein hit in Las Vegas, due to the pressure from both law enforcement, Chicago, Detroit, and New York (Colombo, Lucchese and Genovese families), to where Buffalo really did not have a pot to piss in. Montagna was visiting the Violis, and it was most likely one of them that sent the shooter on the Nick Rizzuto Sr hit, but also it seems that Salvatore also had Giuseppe Renda on his side in the coup.

It is believed that Joe Renda was in Montagna's camp along with the Arcuris, Pietrantonio, LoPresti and Gallo. Before his disappearance, Renda was reportedly going to a meeting with a Cun trera family member. I didn't know that Renda had a brother.

1. The suspicion that the Musitanos were behind the turmoil in Montreal, either directly or indirectly, is just one of numerous suspicions about how Hamilton mobsters collectively (!) were involved in the Montreal war. The theory that the three crime groups in Hamilton--the Papalia group, the Luppino group, and the Musitano group--would decide to stop hating one another's guts just long enough to participate in very risky moves for all involved is provocative but very unlikely to ever be corroborated.

2. The theory that Vito Rizzuto was behind the killings in Ontario of Johnny Papalia, Carmen Barillaro, and Enio Mora is attractive because of the contiguity of events, including the surveillance of Pat Musitano and Vito meeting in Ontario almost five months after Papalia was hit, but there are other competing theories that seem to hold more water about each individual murder case--especially the one about Pat's massive debt to Papalia, which was information Barillaro gave in one of several sworn statements to police. I, for one, do not buy that the Papalia group ever forgave Pat and brother Angelo for plotting the murder of Papalia in particular. There seems to be conflicting reporting of whether Vito met with Pat Musitano in a restaurant in Hamilton in October 1997 or whether they met in Toronto; there even seems to be conflicting information about whether Giuseppe "Pino" Avignone was also present. In the interest of balance, I should add that the Crown withdrew both murder charges against Pat and Angelo in relation to Papalia's death.

3. Paolo Renda and Giuseppe "Joe" Renda, who both disappeared from the Montreal area and have never been seen again, were not brothers. Humphreys and Lamothe wrote in The Sixth Family that Joe Renda was a nephew of Gerlando Sciascia, but initial reporting at the time of this Renda's disappearance has led to confusion about whether he was related to Paolo, even distantly. Articles published later in the French-language press in Quebec seem to declare that Joe and Paolo are not related, further mentioning that Joe was born in the US.

4. In the early 2000s, when Joe Renda was involved in an extensive Montreal Mafia-backed gambling ring that took took bets in Hamilton, Toronto, and Ottawa, he was not based in Hamilton but, rather, in Toronto. Renda got caught up in two trials in 2002 regarding gambling, not just one, and he ended up returning to Montreal that year. I don't know that he ever set foot in Toronto again or was involved in Hamilton's gambling rackets ever again.

5. There may be some specific evidence of the collaboration between the Siderno Group ('ndrangheta) in Toronto and the Rizzuto organization in Montreal regarding the extensive gambling ring uncovered in 2001 if we look at testimony given at Pino Avignone's 2004/2005 trial regarding a charge of keeping a common gaming house. From Barbara Brown and Paul Morse's December 15, 2004 article in The Spectator:

The undercover officer [Amicone] said Avignone told him the satellite signals came from three places that acted as casinos -- Toronto, New York and Israel -- where a live dealer would spin a roulette wheel.

Amicone said Avignone told him the house received 30 per cent of the profits while Avignone got 20 per cent for himself. The rest went to the "casino" sending the satellite signal.

Avignone bragged about operating five monitor roulette locations in Hamilton, and that he runs the town with monitors, the officer said.

"I told him I was from Ottawa, and he became interested in me setting up shop in Ottawa," Amicone said.

"Avignone said the Toronto area was already looked after by Cosimo Commisso," the undercover officer testified.

"Avignone was mocking gaming commission officers who would come in, look at monitors thinking they were Internet games, and not knowing any better."

Months later, Amicone ran into Avignone at the Gli-Azzurri club, where the topic of setting up roulette game monitors came up again. This time, though, Avignone told him the opportunity had slipped away.

"He said Cosimo Commisso had set up in Ottawa, and it was too late," the officer testified.

"If I wanted, I'd have to go to a place where there weren't any (monitors), and I'd have talk to Cosimo Commisso."
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The criminal figures in the underworlds of Toronto, Montreal, and Hamilton have always interacted for at least six decades despite what you read in the media about this vast organized-crime chasm between Ontario and Quebec. I think that any gripe the Musitanos might have had about being cut out of gambling rackets in Hamilton before or after getting out of prison would be taken up with the Commissos in Toronto, not with Vito Rizzuto, Paolo Renda, Francesco Del Balso, or anyone else in Montreal.

I don't think Pat and Angelo were stupid enough to participate in any move against the Montreal Mafia, especially against an ally like Rizzuto. Rizzuto chose blood over business when he was released from prison--look how that turned out for those who sided against him.

Great background and post anti. The article at the top of the thread indicates the Musitano's have been very quiet the last several years. Is there any belief that they are still involved in OC activities or did they get shelved, go inactive or retire?

Having your car fire bombed at your house is a sign / message. I am not a Canadian expert, but it seems to me they may still be involved, or it is a settling of the scores from the past. What are your thoughts?

Have you come across any evidence that shows that the old Papalia crew is still active, even 20 years after Papalia was killed and the Buffalo family all but defunct? I'm inclined to believe that the group no longer exists for the reasons given and the fact that there were no repurcussions undertaken for killing Papalia.

I am not from Hamilton or the surrounding area. You and everyone else should put more stock into what posters from Hamilton write rather than what I write.

Most of the articles about the Musitanos that have been published since their release in 2006 have been about the hitman they hired in 1997. A few of the articles have been about Angelo's arrest for 1) an alleged parole violation some five months after he and Pat were finally released from jail, and 2) Angelo's subsequent relatively quick statutory release after the National Parole Board determined there wasn't enough evidence of Angelo's supposed breach(es). Bear in mind that one of Angelo's parole conditions was that he could not have any contact with Pat unless special permission was granted; however, Angelo's alleged violation was having contact with other criminals in Hamilton and the surrounding area.

At the time Angelo was picked up in or around March 2007, law enforcement cited his arrest was made, in part, because of a spate of violence related to illegal gambling machines--Angelo was said to have an "indirect" connection to this.

My opinion?

I think that despite their being wealthy (a guest at Pat's wedding told me there were between 1,000 and 1,100 guests in attendance) and despite the brothers' imprisonment for a stretch, the Musitano group is very likely still involved in illegal gambling, loansharking, and, quite possibly and importantly, corruption in the construction industry--the latter is an issue that law enforcement and some organized-crime writers such as Antonio Nicaso and Rob Lamberti have tried to get across to anyone who will listen because they all think that the problem in Ontario rivals that in Quebec.

While Pat and Angelo were in jail, Francesco Arcadi was, without being named in an article that came out in July 2006, identified as someone who had friendly ties to a longstanding Hamilton mob group, which was also not named. It was not difficult to figure out that Arcadi had ties to the Musitanos, as friendly ties with the other crime groups in Hamilton did not make sense [although we would later learn in Business or Blood that Arcadi met with Paolo Violi's sons in 2005 (2006?]. Incidentally, an Italian document I have read states that Francesco Arcadi has a brother-in-law in Italy whose surname is Musitano--this brother-in-law probably has no connection at all to the Hamilton-based Musitanos, but I thought this worth mentioning, as Arcadi seemed to have a role as a liaison between the Musitanos and Vito Rizzuto.

Remember, as well, that in the aforementioned book, mention is made that some of those in attendance at Vito's funeral were "members of the old Cotroni family and the Ontario 'ndrangheta." Given one of the main arguments in the book is that some key figures in the Toronto-area Siderno Group were behind part of the mayhem in Montreal, I would bet money that representatives from the Musitano group attended that funeral, as attendance by members of the Luppino-Violi group is automatically ruled out.

I would like to better understand your question. Are you asking whether I think that "the old Papalia crew is still active" because I mentioned the Papalia group as one of three Italian crime groups in Hamilton?

Since you name them as one of the three Italian crime groups in Hamilton I was wondering whether that statement was based on presumption (due to their historic presence) or evidence that shows that this group is still active.

Historically, the Papalia group was part of the Magaddino family of Buffalo. In case you have seen evidence that remnants of this group are still involved in criminal activities, do you believe that they are now functioning as an independent group?

These are some great posts, Anti. That was a pretty informative explanation to the Musitano's and their involvement in illegal activity. Maybe that car bomb did mean something after all, or maybe not.