Originally Posted by antimafia
Originally Posted by m2w
it seems that who ordered the musitano hit are people connected to the rizzuto's, ndrangheta doens't seem to be involved


It's not so simple. You may be right but you are just going with your first instincts.

If you look at the cases of some of the well-known murders of Canadian mafiosi over many decades--regardless of whether they were made into the American La Cosa Nostra, 'ndrangheta, or Sicilian Cosa Nostra--you would be surprised at who were people of interest but never charged. You would be surprised at who were not people of interest but who were communicating with other mafiosi before and after the murders.

Ranieri was only a person of interest in the plots to murder Musitano and Saverio Serrano. Law enforcement knows that the hit-team members used in the Musitano murder were ordered by a higher-up in a criminal organization that is part of traditional organized crime (i.e., Italian mafia). For your theory to be correct, the person who ordered Angelo Musitano's murder was a made member in the Montreal Mafia or part of a group tied to the Montreal Mafia--don't forget that Angelo was very likely made (although we don't have any concrete evidence). Peter Edwards's article about Iavarone's murder indicates that of two groups in conflict with each other--a reason given for Iavarone's murder--one group consisted of people who were not made.

Ranieri, who supposedly took over Juan Ramon Fernandez's job in Ontario at some point after Fernandez was killed in 2012, was not made. Fernandez claimed in Sicily that he was made by Vito Rizzuto, but this has never been substantiated and likely never will be. (In Joe Di Maulo's daughter's book that was published in January of this year, she writes of Fernandez's claim and confidently dismisses it--she knows you have to be Italian to be inducted into the mafia.) Fernandez's predecessor in Ontario, Gaetano Panepinto, was not made (there was just a rumour he was, but it was never substantiated).

One theory about the murder of Albert Iavarone was that the killing was revenge for the murder of Angelo Musitano. I think Iavarone belonged to a group that consisted of criminal associates who were not made--but even if this opinion is right, who knows whether this group in turn is tied to an actual mafia group whose leader ordered Musitano's murder?

There have been many theories as to why Musitano was killed, not just the few that are reported in newspaper articles. Here's the list I've been compiling since his murder (in no order of which theory I favour):

1. Revenge for plotting the murders of John Papalia and Carm Barillaro (mobwatchers neglect to mention the latter's death).

2. A newer 'ndrangheta cell from Italy that, at some point before Angelo Musitano's murder last year, seems to have established itself in Hamilton in order to possibly wrest drug territory from the Musitano crime group. (James Dubro's theory)

3. Mostly Calabrian organized-crime groups, including the Siderno Group, violently fighting over profits and territory in the medical-marijuana industry in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) or the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). The 'ndrine in the Siderno Group could be fighting with one another--Carmine Verduci's murder might be an example of this.

4. The same type of jockeying for control of cocaine trafficking--in particular as a result of the aforementioned 'ndrangheta cell from Italy that could be encroaching on the Musitanos' territory.

5. A pre-emptive strike by hitman Ken Murdock, hired by the Musitanos to kill both Papalia and Barillaro and successful in his attempts, who might have been worried after his release about retribution by the Musitano brothers.

6. A joint effort by the Wolf Pack and Rizzuto loyalists in Montreal to push their way into the Niagara Region, having already possibly made an incursion into the GTA.

7. An all-out war, over a number of rackets in southwestern Ontario, involving 'mostly ndrangheta groups and/or Calabrian-Canadian crime groups, with the 'ndrangheta internal war in the GTA somehow spilling over into the Hamilton area.

8. Rivalry between the Musitano crime group and the Luppino-Violi group, which might have intensified after Domenico and Giuseppe Violi were sentenced and imprisoned.

9. A kill-or-be-killed scenario in which the Iavarone group decided it had to kill Angelo Musitano because a member of the group owed Angelo a large gambling debt and was being squeezed by Angelo for a stake in the group's gambling activities. (A still very credible theory as to why Pat and Angelo Musitano arranged to have Papalia killed is the large gambling debt Pat owed Johnny.)



Great summary...