Former hostage in Montreal Mafia dispute paroled in pot-smuggling case

https://montrealgazette.com/news/lo...a-dispute-paroled-in-pot-smuggling-case/

No jail time for getaway driver in home invasion at Mafia leader's residence

https://montrealgazette.com/news/lo...ome-invasion-at-mafia-leaders-residence/

Murder and attempted murder in Saint-Léonard.

For now, we don’t know if its street gang related or mafia related. It could also be arab crime related.

MONTREAL | One man died Thursday and another was in critical condition after being shot by at least one firearm project in the borough of Saint-Léonard, Montreal.
According to preliminary reports, one of the victims called the emergency services at around 8:20 pm to report that she had been shot in a commercial building near Lafrenaie and Magloire streets.
When they arrived, the police noticed a man on the street with an upper body wound. He was transported in critical condition to a hospital center where he was feared for his life in the evening.

While conducting checks in the building, the police discovered another man, also shot, on the upper body. However, his death was found on the spot.
"The identity of the two victims is not known at the moment," said Andrée-Anne Picard, spokesperson for the Police Department of the City of Montreal (SPVM).
A security perimeter has been erected. The canine squad was on the scene and investigators from the Major Crime Section were dispatched to analyze the scene and shed light on this event.


https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2018/08/23/meurtre-et-tentative-de-meurtre-a-saint-leonard

^^^^
Meurtre dans Saint-Léonard: la victime liée au crime organisé

http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/j...rd-la-victime-liee-au-crime-organise.php

https://montrealgazette.com/news/the-notorious-west-end-gang-leader-allan-the-weasel-ross-has-died

Notorious West End Gang leader Allan (The Weasel) Ross has died

A deadly weasel moving tons of cocaine – Profile of Montreal’s West End mob boss Allan Ross http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profil...ns-of-cocaine-profile-of-montreal-s-west

The man gunned down Thursday night inside a car-repair shop in St-Léonard once told a parole officer he had opted for the life of a drug dealer as a means to escape the poverty he experienced as a child. Guy Therrien, 53, was out on full parole when he was fatally shot, still serving a sentence for cocaine possession.

https://montrealgazette.com/news/homicide-victim-was-drug-dealer-who-feared-poverty-of-his-youth

Is leonardo rizzuto back ln the street and in the fold. Im guessing wgoever killed his bro and rest of family have him as numner 1 on hitlist. What a mess up there absolutely no organized crime mafia rule stuff just drug dealing cartel shit. Next theyll be posting beheadings or hanging guys from bridges with signs vitos alive

A 30 something yr old non italian white guy does a home invasion looking to kill a 1 time acting boss. He jumps out a window. Wouldnt fly in the us. Stir pot

Attentat contre Marco Pizzi: l'un des auteurs reste incarcéré

http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/j...izzi-lun-des-auteurs-reste-incarcere.php

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2018/08/28/des-incendies-lies-a-la-pegre

A usurer lender linked to the Irish underworld who escaped an attempted murder in June appears to be the target of a new vendetta while two business premises owned by his wife were burned in 24 hours.

On Monday night, a disused restaurant on Arthur-Sauvé Boulevard in Saint-Eustache, Chingon Cantina Mexicana, fell prey to the flames.

Then, at about 3:20 am, a Rosemère establishment, Train 344, was hit.

If the two braziers were quickly mastered, obvious traces of a deliberate act were discovered by the investigators.

The two buildings where the restaurants were housed belong to a registered number company in the name of Isabelle Roy.

Fire in Saint-Eustache
PASCAL GIRARD / QMI AGENCY

Friend of the underworld

According to our sources, she is the spouse of John McKenzie, a usurious lender who is close to the west end gang.

The 48-year-old is known to police circles as a "friend for life" of Richard Griffin, a notorious member of the Irish underworld murdered more than 40 bullets in 2006.


McKenzie himself narrowly escaped death at the end of June when he was leaving a Laval training center.

He was caught by a sniper in the gym parking lot along Highway 440. No suspects have been identified so far on this file.

The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) inherited fire investigations because of links with organized crime.

"Our work is just beginning and we still have to meet witnesses," said Lieutenant Hugo Fournier while maintaining that it was too early to make a definitive link between events.

Fire in Saint-Eustache
PASCAL GIRARD / QMI AGENCY
Present on the North Shore

The SQ had already detailed McKenzie's proximity to the West end Gang in front of the Liquor, Racing and Gaming Authority (RACJ) in 2011, during auditions for O'Neil's pubs in Rosemère and Saint-Eustache.

The investigator Dominique Alain explained then that the individual used companies belonging to his relatives to acquire legal companies in payment of usurious debts.

In January 2017, Le Journal also revealed that a luxurious residence on Commissioner's Street owned by his wife had been burned.

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1120778/canada-italie-lutte-contre-mafia-rapport-justice

The mafia is still alive and well in this country because Canada lacks the tools to deal with it, according to an elite police squad of the Italian government. The Charbonneau commission and the police operations are not enough. Should we worry?

A text Gaetan Pouliot of Survey

The tentacles of the mafia extend to Montreal and Toronto. But also in Ottawa and Thunder Bay. British Columbia and Alberta are also affected by the activities of this criminal organization. This is revealed by a report of the Anti-Mafia Investigations Directorate made public last month in the Italian Parliament.

"The presence of criminal organizations of Italian origin would be mainly due to the economic and financial opportunities offered by the country," says the 386-page Italian report, which devotes a visit to Canada.

But Canada is not always well equipped to fight this scourge, says the Anti-Mafia Investigations Directorate.

"The kilos of coke can be intercepted. We are able to weaken the Mafia criminally, "said André Cédilot, journalist and specialist mafia in Quebec. There is, however, a blind spot: infiltration into the legal economy makes the mafia and its associates difficult to reach. "It's the biggest danger," he believes.

They make so many millions with drug trafficking that they have to reinject them into the legal economy. That's what's worrying.

André Cédilot, mafia specialist
Italy amended its Criminal Code in 1982 to more easily accuse those who associate with the mafia, whether they are business people or politicians. This type of criminal charge has no equivalent in Canada and the mafia benefits, says the Italian police.

"We have a law on gangsterism. But the malaise is so great in Italy that they have been forced to adopt a law that goes further than the criminal conspiracy. They include the mafia relatives. For example, they could arrest a person who was seen with Vito Rizzuto, "says the author of the book Mafia inc. : magnitude and misery of the Sicilian clan in Quebec, which believes that this type of legislation is inevitable in Canada.

"Toronto should be worried"
The heavy blows brought to the Rizzuto clan for the past ten years, by the incarceration or murder of members of its staff, have not done away with the organization based in Montreal. But the Mafia of Calabrian origin, the 'Ndrangheta, would now be the most powerful in the country, says the Italian police. And it's primarily in the Toronto area.

Cranes bustle in downtown Toronto
Toronto Real Estate Construction Photo: The Canadian Press / Frank Gunn
The Canadian mafia is involved in the trafficking of cocaine and heroin, but also in money laundering operations. It would recycle huge sums in the areas of catering, private security, real estate and waste management, the report says.

Toronto should be worried, says Cédilot. "Quebec journalists did some investigations. But [in Ontario], there is no one out there who cares about that, the government is not interested in that. "

By neglecting the mafia and not taking it seriously, one day, we will pick up as in Italy.

André Cédilot, mafia specialist
"In Quebec, we did a commission of inquiry. Sure it looks bad, but at least we try to stop the problem a bit, "he adds.

The Charbonneau commission, which ran from 2012 to 2015, showed that the Quebec construction industry had been infiltrated by the Rizzuto clan. In the 2000s, businessmen went to the Consenza Social Club in Montreal to hand over money to mafia bosses.

Police officers hold Francesco Arcadi by the arms
Francesco Arcadi arrested in 2006 in Operation Colisée led by the RCMP Photo: The Canadian Press / Paul Chiasson
According to André Cédilot, it is no longer possible to stop mafia organizations.

It's too late. They are made too rich. Their influence is everywhere.

André Cédilot, mafia specialist
The Canadian authorities must therefore seek to impede their efforts by trying to dry them financially, as much the criminals as the businessmen who work for them.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police declined to comment on the presence of the Mafia in Canada. "The RCMP does not comment on reports written in other countries," the federal police responded to Radio-Canada, adding that the "fight against organized crime is a priority."

The Anti-Mafia Investigations Directorate of Italy, for its part, is exchanging information with the Canadian authorities.

Montreal mobster Alan Ross called for a bloody reckoning

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/can...alan-ross-called-for-a-bloody-reckoning/

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/new...ing-back-to-the-fifties/article22489952/

Storied Montreal mobster Richard Matticks, dead at 80, was a character in one of the biggest Quebec police scandals

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2018/09/01/un-chef-de-gang-est-pince-avec-de-la-drogue-en-prison

An alleged street gang leader in Montreal will face justice after being caught with jar and speed tablets in jail.

The influential Gregory Woolley was charged earlier this month with possession of methamphetamine and cannabis for the purpose of trafficking.
The alleged offenses allegedly occurred on January 2 at Montreal's century-old prison, commonly known as Bordeaux, where Woolley is being detained pending trial for other charges already against him.

According to our information, the 46-year-old man was reportedly surprised by correctional officers during a drug transaction with a visitor in the prison's visiting room.


After seizing the narcotics, the prison authorities then called on the Sûreté du Québec police officers to investigate and submit a file to the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP).

A prosecutor finally authorized the filing of two charges on 6 August.

Hells School Club


Gregory Woolley has been in custody for more than two years, in relation to another court case.

The facts alleged in this pending case are subject to a publication ban.

According to The Black Book of the Hells Angels , Woolley remains to this day "the only black to have been admitted into the big family" of this biker gang in Quebec.

In 1998, in the midst of the biker war against the Rock Machine, Maurice's former bodyguard "Mom" Boucher had received his jacket from the Rockers, the club-club of the elite chapter Nomads des Hells.

That same year, under the recommendation of the former Hells Chief, Woolley founded the Syndicates, a street gang associated with bikers in business and whose motto is Do or Die .

The Rockers, like the Nomads of the Hells chapter, were disbanded after the Spring 2001 police operation, during which Woolley was arrested and sentenced to a long term penitentiary for gangsterism and drug trafficking.

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2018/09/02/mafioso-declare-mort-par-la-cour

Mafioso declared dead by the court
The consigliere of the Rizzuto clan has never been found by the police since its kidnapping in 2010

The death of the former consigliere of the Montreal mafia, who disappeared since his kidnapping in 2010, was finally confirmed by the courts even though the police never found his body.
After a first request rejected in 2013, the Superior Court granted the second request of mafioso wife Paolo Renda, Maria Rizzuto, in a judgment passed unnoticed last winter.
Judge Brian Riordan stated that Renda - brother-in-law of the late godfather Vito Rizzuto - "died in Montreal on May 20, 2010", the day of his abduction, in this succinct decision that Le Journal was able to consult.

The construction contractor has long been considered the number 3 mafia and the "financier" of the Rizzuto clan.
Respected in the underworld, Renda exercised a "moral authority" in arbitrating conflicts and perceived "money from the commission of crimes", according to documents of Operation Colisée in which he was arrested by the Gendarmerie Royal Bank of Canada in 2006.



False police officers
On May 20, 2010, three months after leaving the penitentiary, the 70-year-old man went to play golf before heading to the Loreto Funeral Complex, owned by his family. On the spot, he called his wife around 1 pm, to inform him that he was buying steaks before going home.
A few hours later, 500 meters from the family residence, his son-in-law found the car of the disappeared on Gouin Boulevard: the doors unlocked, the windows down, the key in the contact and the meat still on the bench.
Construction workers said they saw the victim leave with two tall men in a black car with flashing lights, suggesting that the kidnappers had pretended to be plainclothes policemen.
Clan decimated
Five months before Renda's disappearance, his nephew Nick Rizzuto Junior had been murdered. Five months after the kidnapping, the "patriarch" of the clan, Nicolo Rizzuto, was shot in his house. At that time, godfather Vito Rizzuto was incarcerated in the United States for plotting three murders.
Paolo Renda never gave any sign of life or financial transaction. No ransom was claimed by his captors. He did not have life insurance either.
If his family's second judicial request seemed only a formality, it is because Canadian courts consent to make a declaratory judgment of death when at least seven years have elapsed since the disappearance of a person .

The Journal has already reported that the boss Giuseppe Ponytail De Vito was suspected by the police to have been involved in this case which has never been elucidated. In 2013, De Vito died in cyanide poisoning at Donnacona Penitentiary.

Who was Paolo Renda?
Born in Italy on September 10, 1939
Married to Nicolo Rizzuto's daughter, Maria, September 5, 1964, in Montreal
Sentenced to four years in prison on January 28, 1972, for setting fire to his Boucherville hair salon with the intention of defrauding his insurers
In the late 1970s, he helped his father-in-law Nicolo Rizzuto and his brother-in-law Vito Rizzuto to take the lead in the Montreal mafia, taking part in important clan decisions.
He lived in an affluent residence on Rue Antoine-Berthelet, in the Cartierville sector, located between those of his father-in-law and his brother-in-law
Between 2002 and 2006, during Operation Colisée RCMP, he was filmed 51 times at the Rizzuto Clix headquarters, Consenza, engaged in questionable financial transactions and accepting bundles of money.
In April 2004, the RCMP recorded him handing mafioso Lorenzo Giordano to order after he fired a firearm shot into the testicles of a heroin trafficker at The Globe restaurant.
In November 2006, he was one of the six mafia leaders arrested in Operation Coliseum, with Nicolo Rizzuto, Francesco Arcadi, Rocco Sollecito, Lorenzo Giordano and Francesco Del Balso - of the group, only Arcadi and Del Balso were not murdered since
In September 2008, Renda pleaded guilty to charges of gangsterism and receiving money from crime; he was released on parole in February 2010 after being jailed for nearly three and a half years
In 2012, during the Charbonneau commission, he was identified as one of the mafiosos who shared a 2.5% "commission" that many construction contractors handed over to the Rizzuto clan on the public contracts they received from the City. of Montreal by participating in a ploy of collusion.

I'm sure some big names in organized crime in Montreal will attend the funeral.

He died in Jan,2015. It was an updated flashback article.

Un mafieux conteste la loi sur les libérations conditionnelles

http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/j...-sur-les-liberations-conditionnelles.php

https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-p...f-cora-breakfast-chain-president-in-2017

Arrest in kidnapping of president of Cora breakfast chain president in 2017

https://montrealgazette.com/news/su...a-chief-was-in-serious-financial-trouble

Suspect in kidnapping of Chez Cora chief was in serious financial trouble

https://montrealgazette.com/news/drug-dealer-tied-to-murdered-mob-tied-loan-shark-granted-day-parole

Drug dealer tied to murdered Mob-tied loan shark granted day parole

https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-p...len-from-homes-of-two-prosecutors-report

Documents on anti-biker probe stolen from homes of two prosecutors: report

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2018/09/13/un-mafieux-montrealais-vise-des-pizzerias-de-quebec

Montreal mobster targets Quebec pizzérias
This is the first time a member of the Rizzuto clan has moved to the Old Capital.

The Montreal Mafia settles in Quebec City. An influential lieutenant of the Sicilian Rizzuto clan recently settled in the Old Capital, where he and his gang engaged in extortion attempts at pizzerias.
According to the information gathered by our Investigation Office, Francesco Del Balso, a soldier of the former godfather Vito Rizzuto, has been living since last spring on Grande-Allée.
The police believe that he tries by all means to make "business" in the Quebec City area. At least half a dozen restaurants would have been targeted.

Members of his entourage have, among other things, asked pizzi some restaurateurs. The pizzo is the periodic payment of money to the mafia by traders in exchange for its protection. This type of typical Italian mafia practice has existed in some Montreal neighborhoods for decades.
Del Balso also allegedly attempted extortion to take control of other institutions.

According to our police sources, this is the first time a mafia member has settled permanently in Quebec.
Investigation for extortion
Francesco Del Balso is the subject of an investigation for trying to extract several thousand dollars from the owners of the restaurant La Fornarina, in the Saint-Jean-Baptiste district.
Rather than yield to the mafia pressures, the courageous owners decided to contact the Quebec Police Service (SPVQ) to file a complaint for extortion.
The SPVQ quickly sought the help of the National Organized Crime Squad (ENRCO). Sources involved in the case say the case is treated very seriously.
"This is really a bum, this guy [Del Balso]. He was told to get away from Montreal if he wanted to live and the next thing that comes to our ears is that he is threatening Quebec restaurants. Frankly ! Said one of them.
"What are you talking about? Del Balso said when we reached him on the phone, before asking our Investigation Bureau never to call him again.
Victim of an attempted murder in May in Laval, Del Balso, nicknamed "Chit" (cucumber, in Italian jargon), has landed in Quebec since the beginning of summer.
Stay away
"We asked him to stay away [from the Montreal area]," says a source related to the Rizzuto clan.
"I think he did not understand that" far "it was much further than Quebec," adds a police officer well aware of the case, who also requested anonymity.
Del Balso is currently employed as a representative in a fruit and vegetable distribution company. He had the same type of job when he was arrested in 2006, during the anti-Colafia operation.

Threatened with a sack of flour

Two young Italian entrepreneurs who immigrated to Quebec in 2017 are among the restaurateurs who would have tasted the "recipe" of Francesco Del Balso.
Last February, the owners of the pizzeria La Fornarina, rue Saint-Jean, were visited by strange but affable customers, perhaps even a little too much. Among the group, someone seemed to want to invest in the company to expand the premises, which had just been inaugurated.
On February 20, we find a Facebook publication of the restaurant that says renovations are coming.
"We are going to take advantage of the break week to enlarge the main hall. Do not be bored of us, we will come back in force ", can we read there.
They refuse to give in
It was after that date that Del Balso gradually came into play by introducing himself to the business of Annie Ghattas and Federico Marcellini. He finally suggested to small traders to sell their business for a pittance, otherwise there would be consequences.
They refused, but then they received a sack of flour on which was written an unequivocal message: either they sold their trade for a pittance, or they would have to "leave".
Young entrepreneurs left Senigallia, Italy, in 2017, for a better life in Quebec. Far from being intimidated, the owners of the restaurant instead called the police. They did not want to grant an interview to our Investigation Office.

https://aboutthemafia.com/montreal-mobster-francesco-del-balso-operating-in-quebec

Montreal mobster Francesco Del Balso operating in Quebec

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2018/09/12/les-hells-a-la-chasse-aux-delateurs

A police mole hunt by the Hells Angels could explain the theft of court documents at two Crown Attorneys a week ago.

This is an assumption made by law enforcement as a possible motive for two burglaries perpetrated on September 5, in Montreal and Longueuil, at the homes of as many lawyers of the Office of Serious Crime.

The criminals stole only investigation reports and court documents without touching the valuables, according to La Presse reported Wednesday and whose Journal was able to obtain confirmation.

The victims represent the prosecution of the Objection drug trial, which resulted in the arrest of 70 alleged traffickers, including four members of the Hells Angels in April.

According to our sources, the thieves were hoping to get their hands on information about a criminal who collaborated with the police to infiltrate the network and trap suspects in this investigation.

In addition, it is likely that the perpetrators of these crimes also wanted to obtain information about other police informants in these documents.

On the other hand, there would be nothing that would compromise investigations or put people at risk in stolen reports, according to our sources. The Sûreté du Québec, responsible for elucidating these flights, made no comment Wednesday.

Assassination

In February 2000, civilian agent Claude DeSerres was murdered a few months after the Hells obtained information about him by stealing an investigator's laptop from a hotel room in Sherbrooke.

The Hells have been trying for a long time to guard against the use of informers. In particular, they put a half-million-dollar contract on the head of Operation SharQc informant Sylvain Boulanger.

In 1997, after having ordered the murders of two correctional officers, the former Hells chief Maurice "Mom" Boucher told Stéphane "Godasse" Gagné that "we would kill the family of [the] next informant's family". . Gagné became an informer the same year.

Une présence «atypique» de la mafia à Québec

https://www.journaldequebec.com/2018/09/15/une-presence-atypique-de-la-mafia-a-quebec

https://montrealgazette.com/news/mo...lleyfield-destined-for-toronto-vancouver

Mounties seize cocaine in Valleyfield destined for Toronto, Vancouver

http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/j...ait-ete-chef-interimaire-de-la-mafia.php

Andrew Scoppa would have been acting chief of the mafia

One of the most influential actors in the Montreal mafia for several years, Andrew Scoppa, was considered by the Sûreté du Québec to be the "interim leader of the Montreal mafia" before being arrested.

That's what an SQ officer said on Thursday during his testimony at the trial for possession of several kilograms of cocaine currently involving a former co-accused of Scoppa, at the courthouse in Montreal.

"Andrew Scoppa had the status of interim leader of the Mafia of Montreal at that time," repeated twice a lieutenant of the organized crime division of the SQ, in response to questions from Mr. Claude Olivier, counsel for the the accused Maxime Hébert.

It would be the first time a police officer has testified under oath that Scoppa was considered the acting head of the mafia, and not just an influential leader.

Andrew Scoppa, 54, was arrested without charge on October 26, 2016, in the Tower of Canada parking lot, as part of a cocaine smuggling investigation by the North Shore Regional Joint Squad (MRE). called Estacade, a survey aimed at Scoppa and accomplices. It was following one of them, Fazio Malatesta, that the bloodhounds were directed to Maxime Hébert's home on 13th Avenue in Montreal, where they found dozens of pounds of cocaine.

During the investigation, the police installed a microphone in the vehicles rented by Scoppa and his driver, Nicola Valiente, and intercepted many conversations between the two men.

Scoppa, Malatesta and Valiente were charged in February 2017, but on May 11, they benefited from a halt in the judicial process while the proceedings continue for the other co-defendants, including Hébert.

TORONTO AND ITALY AGREEMENT

According to police documents filed in the trial of Maxime Hébert, citing information compiled sources from 2012, Andrew Scoppa would have been a rising star of the mafia, respected by the late godfather Vito Rizzuto, and would have controlled the traffic of narcotics in Laval and several neighborhoods north of Montreal. His right arm would have been Steve Ovadia, aka The Jew or Ghost, murdered last June.

In May 2016, another source told the police that Andrew and his brother Salvatore would have received the approval of the Toronto Mafia and Italy, that they would be the leaders of the Montreal Mafia and "the decision-makers". Remember, however, that this is source information and that it has not been proven or tested in court.

In one of the conversations with his driver intercepted during the Estacade investigation, Scoppa claims however that he does not want to be the boss.

"I do not want to be the boss. To be, you must aim to become one, "he told Valiente.

"Andrew Scoppa is probably the closest to Vito Rizzuto in his organized crime strategies, and he and his brother, even though there is tension between them, make up one of the strongest clans in the mafia. For years. But they have always stayed behind and know everything about all organized crime actors. They are probably stronger in this position than the direction of the mafia, "said a police source for La Presse.

IN THE WAY OF POLICE HITCHES

In November 2015, the day of Operation Magot-Mastiff, which decapitated Montreal's organized crime, the police named Stefano Sollecito and Leonardo Rizzuto, from the Sicilian clan, as leaders of the Montreal Mafia. According to the Sûreté du Québec, which conducted the Magot-Mastiff and Estacade investigations, the direction of the Montreal Mafia would have changed a year later.

As was the case for all target groups during each major police operation against organized crime since Colisée in 2006, the Sollecito-Rizzuto clan was weakened and others would have taken over. Let's not forget that between March 1 and October 15, 2016, three important members of the Sicilian clan were murdered, Lorenzo Giordano, Rocco Sollecito and Vincenzo Spagnolo.

But if Andrew Scoppa was the interim leader in the fall of 2016, the situation could be different today, as things evolve and alliances are still fragile within the Montreal mafia.

The trial of Maxime Hébert continues on December 6 with the pleadings on three motions, including one in stoppage of the judicial process, presented by Mr. Olivier. The seasoned criminal lawyer, however, faces fierce opposition from the prosecution, provided by Karine Cordeau and Julien Gaudet-Lachapelle.

During the trial, presided over by Judge Linda Despots, a witness also told an anecdote: the investigators gave up the use of the sniffer dog during the search of Maxime Hébert's house, because he was infested with ... bedbugs bed.

Interesting so another Calabrian leader after Acardi.