Does Violi have a connection to the Luppino crime family? I know he definitely has a connection to the Buffalo crime family, since his grandfather was a Buffalo capo.

The report continues that a top member of the force “along with other subordinates were also closely tied with TOC (traditional organized crime) and have been since the early 80’s.”

The report states that one Hamilton police officer “is a close, paid associate of Domenic VIOLI of Hamilton .. heir apparent to the LUPPINO Crime group of Burlington.”

Violi was among alleged GTA organized crime members who were arrested Thursday in a sweeping investigation into the fentanyl trade after early morning raids across southwestern Ontario and New York, the RCMP said.

The Violis are the grandsons of the late Giacomo Luppino of Hamilton, who was considered by police to be a founding member of the Crimine, a governing body for criminals in the ’Ndrangheta crime group and a longstanding associate of the Buffalo mob.

Their father Paolo was a top figure in the Montreal underworld before his murder in 1978.

Giuseppe (Joe) Violi was the subject of a Canada-wide warrant for a day after his brother Domenico Violi, 51, was arrested in a pre-dawn raid in Hamilton on Thursday. At a news conference announcing the charges, RCMP Supt. Chris Leather alleged the brothers are “well-established” in organized crime, with a reach into Italy and other parts of Europe.

The brothers are the sons of Paolo Violi and grandsons of Giacomo Luppino, both once considered major leaders of the ’Ndrangheta, or Calabrian Mafia, in Canada.

Paolo Violi was murdered in 1978 in Montreal in the midst of an underworld war with the Rizzuto crime family. Luppino died of natural causes in Hamilton in March 1988 at the age of 88.

Back in the late 1960s, the RCMP hid recording devices amongst Luppino’s tomato plants in the backyard of his cozy, detached brick home on Ottawa St. S. in east Hamilton.

Those recordings captured Luppino talking about a variety of things — ranging from the freewheeling playing style of colourful Maple Leafs’ forward Eddie Shack to what Luppino considered the abundance of crime opportunities in his new homeland.

The RCMP also overheard Luppino talk with his wife Domenica about work stress and his feelings of contempt for a man who didn’t respect the traditional family unit.

Luppino was secretly recorded talking dismissively of a man who he considered a coward...

...The secret recordings from Luppino’s tomato plants were later used by the RCMP to help prove the existence of the ’Ndrangheta in Canada.

In one of the recorded talks, Luppino told his wife that he and their son Jimmy had recently met with Stefano Magaddino, an undertaker who was then head of the Buffalo mob family, about Toronto mobster Paul Volpe.

“Magaddino told Jimmy that if he went with or had dealings with Paul Volpe to be very careful, because he will cheat you or see that you are sent to jail. Magaddino also mentions that Volpe cheated him once,” Luppino said.

Summaries of the conversations were filed as exhibits in a trial in Hamilton in August 1982.

Giuseppe and Domenico were eight and 11 respectively when their father was murdered in 1978 in the Montreal ice cream shop which had been his headquarters.

Two uncles of Giuseppe and Domenico Violi were also slain in a protracted war with the Rizzuto crime family. The Violi family moved the brothers back to Hamilton, where they lived under the protection of their grandfather Luppino.