First time poster but I have been a long time lurker.

Just wanted to join in on this conversation considering that the Montreal mob scene (Canada's mob scene in general) has been the most fascinating we've seen in a very long time.

The death of Vito was certainly sudden and shocking to many considering his power, but we need to remember that this is a 67 year old that was ill. So when you take a step back and realize life in general, it's not very shocking, still, it's interesting to speculate giving what is presented to us.

Some say that it seems unusual how an autopsy was shrugged off like that, I too was confused and was thinking that perhaps they wanted to cover up Vito's real death? But then again what would the motive be to cover up the reason of his death? Is it a pride thing? If his enemies wanted to take pride in his death (Assuming they killed him), they would make it known to everyone that he's killed. I doubt Vito was poisoned, I think the autopsy was avoided because the cause of death was probably obvious in the hospital, you have a 67 year old man who has been fighting lung cancer and he was just brought in for pneumonia (Which on its own I'm sure can be deadly to the elderly). So they felt there was no reason for it considering the obvious reason. But for the sake of the other opinion, if he was poisoned, I think the ones who did it were very close to him.

As far as who takes over, that's very difficult to answer, one thing for sure, Vito left his organization is a very favorable position in Montreal by taking out some of the biggest figures from the opposing faction. If his family plays their card right, they will remain on top. For me, it will come down to whether the new leadership is respected by everyone within the organization or not. If so, then the transition will be smoother. Some people have mentioned obvious names such as Arcadi or Sollecito which are high ranking members in the organization, but how well are these guys respected internationally? Remember that when one speaks of Vito, we're talking about arguably the most powerful Italian don outside of Italy, you don't replace a guy like that very easily.