The co writer of that rizzuto book wrote a summary of what's going on in montreal today on Jerry capris site. Dont no how to post maybe someone can.

Bodies Dropping Like Flies In Canada Mob War

Gang Land Exclusive!

Vito RizzutoBodies keep dropping in Toronto and Montreal, and around the globe, three years after Montreal Mafia leader Vito Rizzuto's death.

They've been falling for about ten years now, since Rizzuto pleaded guilty and began serving a prison term in a Colorado prison for his role as the primary shooter in the storied Three Capos Murders in a Brooklyn social club 36 years ago.

Those slayings solidified the status of then-Bonanno family capo Joseph Massino and assured his eventual rise to the top of the crime family. They also established Rizzuto as a major player in the family's Montreal faction that had been in place since the 1950s. Bodies have stopped dropping in Brooklyn and the rest of New York City in recent years, but they're still dropping like flies in the mob war that's raging north of the U.S. border.

The current war has claimed some 20 lives in Montreal, Toronto, Mexico and Italy since 2009.

Former Rizzuto loyalists are also finding their businesses under siege. This winter, there has been a rash of arson attempts against Montreal businesses with ties to the old Rizzuto organization.

Rizzuto, once known as Canada's Teflon Don, was the country's most powerful mobster when he died suddenly of reported natural causes in December 2013 at the age of 67. That same year, Massino, now 74, received his reward for being the first New York mob boss to flip, and was released from prison. He hasn't been heard from since.

Joseph MassinoRizzuto was once seen as a unifying, stabilizing force in Canada's underworld, working with outlaw bikers, the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, American mob families, street gangs, Irish mobsters and anyone else with an idea on how to turn an illegal profit.

Things started to fall apart after he pleaded guilty in 2007 in Brooklyn Federal Court to racketeering charges in exchange for a 10-year sentence for taking part in the 1981 murders of three Bonanno family captains — Dominick (Big Trin) Trinchera, Philip (Philly Lucky) Giaccone and Alphonse (Sonny Red) Indelicato.

He ended up serving five and a half years — not much time for three dead bodies but plenty of time for his old empire to come under siege from bitter enemies in the the 'Ndrangheta, or Calabrian Mafia, in the Greater Toronto Area, and from Salvatore (Sal The Ironworker) Montagna of New York City, the former acting head of the Bonanno crime family.

Shortly after Rizzuto was released from prison in October 2012, it was his forces who were on the offensive.

Lorenzo GiordanoNow they're on the receiving end of the gunfire and there's talk of a "black list" of former Rizzuto loyalists who are targeted for murder.

The latest high-profile body to drop is that of Vincenzo Spagnolo, 65, a former Rizzuto confidante who was gunned down on Saturday October 15 at his home in the city's Vimont neighborhood.

Spagnolo's murder came months after the shooting deaths in the Laval suburb of Montreal of former Rizzuto allies Lorenzo (Skunk) Giordano, 52, and Rocco (Sauce) Sollecito, 67.

Giordano had clout in Toronto as well as Montreal and was once seen as potential leadership material.

Sollecito was one of the men who helped run the Montreal Mafia while Rizzuto was serving his U.S. prison term.

Sollecito's son Stefano, who once lived in the Toronto area, is battling drug conspiracy charges as well as cancer.

Rocco Sollecit, Nicolo Rizzuto, Paol RendaIn all of the recent killings, there was no exchange of gunfire. The killers seemed to know their victims' morning routines and lay in wait for their arrival. Giordano was shot dead in the parking lot of a health club while Sollecito was gunned down in broad daylight at a stop sign in his luxury BMW SUV, within eyeshot of the Laval police headquarters.

Another lesser light in the Rizzuto orbit, Alfredo Patriarca, 42, of Toronto, was shot dead on January 20, 2016, in the garage of his upscale house.

His killer patiently waited for him to return home, and was picked up on security video as he was shot from close range. No arrest has been made.

For a short time after Rizzuto's death, there seemed to be a new order with a coalition of his loyalists still in charge.

Police said that Rizzuto's son Leonardo assumed a leadership role as part of La Table, a coalition of a half dozen gangsters who shared power.

That attempt at restructuring crumbled when police arrested Leonardo Rizzuto and others connected to biker and street gangs in October 2015.

Now he sits in a jail cell, awaiting trial for gangsterism charges and the violence has escalated again.

Leonardo RizzutoAt the time of his arrest, Leonardo Rizzuto was a lawyer in good standing with no criminal record.

Rizzuto's other son, Nicholas, was murdered in 2009 as Rizzuto languished behind bars. His father Nicolo, was killed a year later. No arrests have been made.

Pierre de Champlain, an author and former RCMP organized crime analyst, says he doubts Montreal will see another charismatic Mafia leader like Rizzuto or Vic (The Egg) Cotroni before him. It's not clear how Cotroni got his nickname. Perhaps it was for the egg-shape of his balding head or perhaps because he hatched ideas that generated profits. Whatever the case, The Egg was able to rule the roost from the 1960s to the early 1980s, when the Rizzutos stepped up.

De Champlain also doubts any future boss will have the longevity of Rizzuto or Cotroni.

"Today leaders of Mafia families go as fast as they come in," de Champlain says. "There is a lot of turn over." Whoever gets the top spot will need Rizzuto's mediation skills, de Champlain says.

Vic Cotroni"It will be important for the next Montreal leader to maintain cohesion within various factions, and also it is important that this leader is also recognized and respected by other criminal organizations leaders in Montreal and elsewhere in Quebec," de Champlain says.

Of particular importance are relations with the Hells Angels. Outlaw bikers once did heavy lifting and "wet work" — or murders — for the mob. Now they're a force in their own right.

In the past few months, scores of Hells Angels have been released from prison in Quebec after a massive crackdown on the bikers there in 2009.

They're expanding into Canada's Maritimes, where Vito and the Angels once worked together. Also pushing in on Canada's east coast are Hells Angels from Woodbridge, north of Toronto.

"The next leader of the (Montreal) Mafia must be a strong character to negotiate alliances and business partnership with the Hells Angels," de Champlain says.

NicholasOne former Rizzuto ally who's still alive is Francesco Arcadi, who remains in custody on a string of organized crime offenses.

No one's expecting him to assume Rizzuto's old post. The only curiosity is what happens to him when he's finally released.

Arcadi's release from prison was suspended by the Parole Board last summer after officials expressed concern that he might be a target for murder on the streets.

In the happier days of the early 2000s, Arcadi was a frequent and powerful visitor to the province of Ontario and particularly York Region north of Toronto.

A major challenge for the next generation is to match Rizzuto's influence with construction companies, politicians, business people and union officials.

A recent provincial crime commission disrupted some relationships between criminals, politicians, builders and unions although no one is saying things are scrubbed clean. The crime commission did not extend its work to neighboring Ontario, traditionally seen as a place of investment for the Montreal mob.

Business Or BloodAs a final indignity to a rough year for the old Rizzuto group, Vito's old friend Rocco Sollecito was denied a public commemoration mass in southern Italy on Dec. 27 because of his reputation.

Sollecito's role in the Montreal underworld was that of a mediator, not a gunman, but that was bad enough for his killers, authorities, and the archbishop in his old hometown.

At first, a priest posted notices for the mass to be held at 6:30 pm in tiny Grumo Appula, part of the larger metropolitan area of the city of Bari.

Then the local police chief demanded that it be held at dawn instead, so it wouldn't draw a large crowd.

And finally the area's archbishop stepped in and called it a "great scandal" to hold the public mass for someone who didn't live a Christian life.

Ultimately, it was decided that no mass at all would be held for the man who died for his friendship with Vito Rizzuto.

Editor's Note: Guest columnist Peter Edwards, an acclaimed Toronto Star newsman for more than 30 years, is a recognized expert on organized crime in Canada. His most recent true-crime book, with co-author Antonio Nicaso, Business Or Blood: Mafia Boss Vito Rizzuto's Last War, was published in 2015. It will air later this year on FX Canada as a six-part series, Bad Blood.


Sal The Ironworker's Killers Start Paying The Price

Salvatore MontagnaIt's doubtful the Montreal-based killers of onetime acting Bonanno family boss Sal (The Ironworker) Montagna of New York gave much thought that it was Thanksgiving Day in the United States on the day that they shot him dead.

Their strength is ruthlessness, not irony.

But that date stuck in the craw of Montagna's widow, Francesca, when she spoke to mobster Raynald Desjardins in a Montreal courthouse via a video link from the Canadian Consulate General office in New York last June.

"I will regret you for the rest of my life, Mr. Desjardins," Montagna's widow said. "I will never forgive you. I tried, but I can't. You will never know the harsh pain and struggle you caused us."

In December, Desjardins was sentenced to 14 years for his role in the death of her husband, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit murder.

With credits for pre-sentence time served, Desjardins is due to walk free in the summer of 2022.

Raynald DesjardinsLater this month, six more men — Jack Simpson, 75: Vittorio Mirarchi, 39; Calogero Milioto, 45; Pietro (Peter) Magistrale, 64; Steven Fracas, 33; and Steven D'Addario, 40 — are due to be sentenced for their role in the murder. They've all pleaded guilty to conspiracy, but no one has confessed to actually pulling the trigger.

Montagna was shot on Nov. 24, 2011 inside Simpson's home on Vaudry, a small island, east of Montreal.

For a short time, Montagna was thought to be a viable candidate to become Montreal's top mob boss, with clout over both Sicilian, Calabrian and homegrown mobsters. The top spot remains open with the death of Vito Rizzuto to reportedly natural causes in December 2013.

The next leader of the Montreal Mafia will be a true Montrealer, not a carpetbagger from the outside, says de Champlain.

Vito Rizzuto"I don't think that guys in the Bonanno family will be happy and comfortable with a leader coming from Chicago," de Champlain says. "Same reasoning for Montreal."

Intercepted cell phone conversations show that Desjardins felt Montagna's men were horning in on his bookmaking, loan-sharking and protection rackets.

Desjardins also wasn't happy that someone opened fire at him with an assault rifle as he sat with his bodyguard in a vehicle near the Olivier-Charbonneau bridge in Laval, two months before Montagna's murder.

As Desjardins listened somberly, Mrs. Montagna told the court about her personal and family grief.

"I don't know how I've made it since (my husband was killed)," she said. "When I stop and think where my life is now, I want to scream and let the whole world hear me."

Pierre de ChamplainShe said it always stuck in her memory how she lost her spouse on Thanksgiving Day. She explained that she wore black clothing for four years after the murder and stopped when "I realized that no matter what color I wore, it made no difference."

She let Desjardins know that on her husband's birthday, she and her three daughters would have a cake and candles for him, which they'd blow out.

"My in-laws both recently died, I believe, from broken hearts caused by the death of their wonderful son. I often prayed that God would take me, too. But I realized I need to (move) forward to help and teach my daughters to live productive, happy lives."

The Crown prosecutor also informed the court that authorities had confiscated a number of items from Desjardins when he was arrested, including a prayer card and a lottery ticket.

He was given back the prayer card, which is for St. Joseph, the patron saint for families.

The lottery ticket, like Desjardins, is assumed to be a loser.


Fugitive Mob Leader Avoids Bloodletting In Mexico

Daniele RanieriIt was only natural for Toronto area police to check with their counterparts in Mexico to see if Daniel Ranieri had made the body count last month at the shooting at the Blue Parrot club on Mexico's Riviera during a well-attended techno music festival.

Mexico is believed to be the not-so-secret hiding place for Ranieri, 32, one of the last vestiges of the Rizzuto crime family in Toronto. Ranieri has been on the run from charges of extortion and conspiracy to commit an indictable offense for the past two years.

Four people were shot dead and a woman was trampled to death at the Blue Parrot in the wee hours of the morning on January 16. Fifteen others were injured. None of them turned out to be Ranieri, but there was still a distinctly Canadian flavor to the shooting. The music festival and Blue Parrot are owned by Toronto residents with no criminal records and a decade of experience in the entertainment industry.

Sunny Mexico has long been an Elba for Canadian mobsters, seeking to escape the winter's cold and police heat.

Meyer LanskyThe country has long been a magnet for Montreal's underworld, including mobsters, bikers and French-Canadian gangsters, notes de Champlain.

Back in 1970, Canadian mobsters from Hamilton, Toronto and Montreal, including Vic and Frank Cotroni and Paolo Violi, went down to Acapulco to meet with mob money-launderer Meyer Lansky. The topic for the Southern Summit was how to cash in on casinos, which were soon to be legalized in Quebec. The Canadians were accompanied by one of their lawyers as they also met with a millionaire businessman who made his fortune in Canada before settling in the south.

Nowadays, it's generally the promise of a drug supply that draws Canadian underworld figures south.

Giuseppe ColuccioFormer Toronto resident Giuseppe Coluccio was arrested in September 2008 in what was announced at the time as one of the largest international drug busts in history.

Coluccio lived for three years in the Toronto area under the alias of "Joe Scarfo," and was dubbed the "King of International Drug Trafficking" when American and Italian authorities announced the arrests of 507 of his alleged associates.

Coluccio was a frequent visitor to York Region, north of Toronto, where he drove a yellow Ferrari and a silver Maserati — using a fake Ontario driver's license.

He lived in a luxury apartment on Palace Pier, overlooking Lake Ontario, and when police raided it, they found $1.5 stuffed behind his walls.

Coluccio's organization wound through a pizzeria in New York, and authorities said he helped direct the shipment of massive quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana into CanadaNorth America from Colombia, Guatemala, Panama and Mexico. He's currently behind bars in a high-security Italian prison, with no prospect of slipping back into Toronto in the foreseeable future.

Kirk WilsonAuthorities said at the time that the bust underlined how the Gulf Cartel has used its links to paramilitary Zetas to push ahead of established Colombian rivals through the murders of hundreds of witnesses, informants, magistrates and police.

The Zetas were mentioned as a possible attacker in Mexican media after the Blue Parrot attack.

Authorities say they're investigating whether the attack was triggered by competition for drug turf, extortion or a murder plot against one of the victims.

The drug theory is supported by the presence of four banners that appeared briefly in the areas, proclaiming the shooting to be the work of "Old School Zetas."

Media reports say the area's drug trade has recently been split between two drug dealing gangs, the Gulf Cartel and Los Pelones, and that the Zetas are pushing in.

In the end, no mobsters were killed in the attack on the Blue Parrot. The sole Canadian killed was longtime security guard Kirk Wilson, who was hailed as a hero for trying to stop a man from entering the club with a gun.