The man killed Thursday morning in a suburb north of Montreal is Salvatore Montagna, a man thought to be next in line to lead Montreal's mafia underworld, sources told QMI Agency. Montagna, who is originally from Montreal but grew up in Sicily, was interim leader of New York's Bonanno crime family. He was deported from the U.S. in 2009 and moved to Montreal. Montagna, 40, was nicknamed "the iron worker" because of the metal-working company he owned in the Bronx. He played an important role in the fall of Montreal's Rizzuto clan, which until recently, allegedly controlled a large part of the city's organized crime. His murder could be tied to the attempted murder last September of businessman and reported Vito Rizzuto associate, Raynald Desjardins. Police pulled Montagna's body from a river north of Montreal Thursday morning after witnesses reported seeing a man running towards the water, diving in and hearing gunshots. The man's body had laceration marks, police said. A witness said he heard a loud bang followed by the sound of breaking glass. "I saw a man running towards the river," said the witness, who did not want to be identified. "I asked him what he was doing, he didn't respond." Another witness reported a white car quickly fleeing the area. Police have established a large security perimeter around the area as the investigation continues.
