Recent events in the Montreal Mafia
By Peggy Curran, Montreal Gazette
November 10, 2010

Recent events related to Montreal’s organized crime scene:

• Nov. 10 — Nicolo Rizzuto, 86, patriarch of what was once Montreal’s most powerful crime family, is shot dead in his home.

• Nov. 7 — Two men and a woman are arrested, the first break in a rash of firebombings at pizzerias and cafes in the city’s north and east ends. Speculation has swirled about who is behind the firebombings.

• Oct. 29 — Salvatore Vitale, 63, former Bonanno family crime underboss and a key witness in extradition hearings of Vito Rizzuto on racketeering charges, is sentenced for time served in 11 murders. He’s expected to enter witness protection program.

• Oct. 27 — Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois repeats her calls for an independent public inquiry into the Quebec construction industry, citing allegations at a money-laundering trial in Italy that organized crime controls construction contracts in Montreal.

• Oct. 8 — Antonio (the Florist) Mucci, considered a key contender to succeed jailed Mafia leader Vito Rizzuto, is granted bail on weapons charges. Mucci served a prison sentence in the 1970s for the attempted murder of Montreal reporter Jean-Pierre Charbonneau.

• Oct. 5 — Giuseppe De Vito, 44, who went underground after a mob crackdown in 2006, is arrested after four years in hiding. De Vito faces charges of cocaine trafficking, conspiracy and participation in a criminal organization. Shortly after his disappearance, his wife, Adele Sorella, is arrested and charged with the slaying of their two daughters, age eight and nine.

• Oct. 1 — Ten men plead guilty to charges for their role in an Internet sports gambling operation financed by the Montreal Mafia.

• Sept. 29 — Ennio Bruni, 36, an associate of the Rizzuto family, is slain outside the Cafe Bellerose in Laval, Que. Bruni had survived a previous attempt on his life in November 2009. During the Project Colisee crackdown on the Montreal Mafia, Bruni was identified as a money-runner in Laval gaming houses for the Rizzuto clan.

• June 29 — Agostino [BadWord], 66, considered a possible successor to Vito Rizzuto, is shot dead, along with Liborio Sciascia, 40, a convicted marijuana smuggler described as his bodyguard and driver. [BadWord] was alleged to have aided in the 1978 slaying of Paolo Violi, reputed to be the don of the Calabrian faction led by Vic Cotroni. [BadWord] was thought to have assumed the reins of the Montreal clan after Vito Rizzuto’s arrest a decade earlier, controlling a group of drug traffickers out of a Montreal cafe.

• May 20 — Paolo Renda, the Rizzuto family’s consigliere, and son-in-law of Nicolo Rizzuto, disappears. His luxury car Infinity is found close to his home, with the keys in the ignition.

• March 18 — Street gang leader Ducarme Joseph escapes death in a daytime hit at the Flawnego boutique in Old Montreal in which two men are killed. Joseph is among the possible suspects in the killing of Nick Rizzuto Jr., Nicolo Rizzuto’s grandson, who was slain in December 2009.

• Feb. 8 — Nicolo Rizzuto is charged with tax evasion dating back to 1994 and 1995.

• Jan. 5, 2010 — A cafe in Montreal is firebombed, the latest in a string of attacks on local cafes and pizzerias. Investigators suggest a link between the attacks and the killing of Nick Rizzuto Jr.

• Dec. 28 — Nick Rizzuto Jr., 42, eldest son of Vito Rizzuto, is killed in broad daylight outside a construction company. He had three drunk driving convictions but never faced charges related to organized crime.

• Aug. 21, 2009 — Fredrico Del Peschio, 59, who once served jail time in Venezuela with Nicolo Rizzuto, is gunned down outside the popular Italian restaurant he partly owned. Investigators say Del Peschio had just got out of his silver Mercedes when he was ambushed by at least one gunman.

• Sept. 18, 2008 — Nicolo Rizzuto Sr. pleads guilty to living off the proceeds of crime.

• May 4, 2007 — Vito Rizzuto pleads guilty to racketeering charge in New York and in essence admits to killing three men in Brooklyn. He is sentenced to 10 years, dispatched to a medium-security prison in Colorado. With time already served, his sentence will end in 2012.

• Nov. 22, 2006 — Police launch Projet Colisee, a vast crackdown on the Montreal Mafia. Among the 90 people arrested or sought on warrants are Niccolo Rizzuto, then 82.

• Aug. 17, 2006 — Montreal Mafia kingpin Vito Rizzuto, 60, once known as Canada’s Teflon don, is extradited to the United States for trial in the murder of three men in Brooklyn in 1981.

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