https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1141275/violi-mafieux-paolo-domenico-guiseppe-drogueThreats, drugs and omerta: the mafia is not history of the past. The sons of the deceased Montreal godfather Paolo Violi, who have been exiled in Ontario, have risen to the ranks of this criminal organization, whose tentacles are still very active, according to a major police investigation.
A text Gaetan Pouliot of Survey
Back from a trip to Florida in late 2017, Domenico Violi has good news for his entourage. He just had a promotion.
"You're going to learn something new ... very, very good," he says to his partner with whom he is trafficking ecstasy, PCP and methamphetamine from Hamilton, Ontario. "You're my friend, tell me," insists the partner.
"Do not repeat anything to anyone," Violi said before confiding.
D. Violi: They made me number two, "underboss" of ...
Associate: De?
D. Violi: Not from here.
Associate: Of the whole affair?
D. Violi: The whole thing.
[...]
Partner: Fuck , congratulations, Dom. I'm happy for you.
[...]
D. Violi: He said to me: "Domenic, do you know that you made history? [...] No one in Canada has ever had this position. "
[...]
Partner: It's really big. You have the right to make big decisions.
Domenico Violi had just received a promotion that took him to the top of the criminal organization. For the first time, a Canadian would lead the activities of an American mafia family, Buffalo.
As number two in the organization, some 30 Mafiosi are now under his command, mainly in the United States, but also in Hamilton, says Domenico Violi.
What the criminal does not know is that his partner records the conversation ... and that he works for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
Domenico Violi then tastes his last days of freedom. On November 9, 2017, the police arrested him with eight other people. Last week, he pleaded guilty to drug charges and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
By agreeing to lead a mafia clan, Domenico Violi was following in the footsteps of his father ... murdered 40 years earlier in Montreal.
OTremens Project
The centerpiece of this RCMP investigation was the infiltration of criminal groups by a double agent. A repentant criminal, he had everything to inspire confidence. During the investigation that lasted three years, he became a member in good standing of the Bonanno family of New York. Tour de force, the police managed to record the secret ceremony of enthronement.
Documents filed in court following Operation OTremens shed a rare light on the activities of mafia families in Canada and the United States.
Omerta and prison
Violi is a name notorious in Quebec.
In 1976, Domenico's father - Paolo Violi - made the headlines. A double police officer rented an apartment above his headquarters, the Reggio Bar, located in St. Leonard.
The premises have been wiretapped for six years.
Paolo Violi is involved in a multitude of criminal activities in the city. He even intervenes to influence a municipal election.
At that time, the Quebec public discovered the extent of mafia activities thanks to the Commission of Inquiry into Organized Crime (CECO), which broadcasts excerpts from wiretapping where we can hear Paolo Violi. In particular, we learn that the Montreal Mafia is a subsidiary of the Bonanno family in New York.
Paolo Violi in front of a microphone
Paolo Violi in front of the CECO in December 1975 Photo: The Canadian Press / Doug Ball
Respecting omerta, the sponsor prefers to spend one year in prison rather than answering questions from the CECO.
In 1978, Paolo Violi was shot in the head while playing cards. This event will mark the end of the Calabrian reign in Montreal for the benefit of the Rizzuto clan.
This murder, however, will not end the mafia activities of this family.
Paolo Violi's widow will live in Hamilton, Ontario, with her two sons then aged 8 and 12. This is where they will develop their criminal activities as adults.
Violi brothers identity photo
The brothers Domenico and Giuseppe Violi Photo: GRC
Blood ties are important for this type of criminal organization, says André Cédilot, author of Mafia inc. : greatness and misery of the Sicilian clan in Quebec . "The mafia structure is based on family ties, especially on the Calabrian side. It's not surprising that we find the same names from generation to generation, "he says.
"Paolo Violi's father was a notorious Mafioso in the United States," he adds.
Fentanyl, crack and corrupt judge
Giuseppe Violi, the youngest of the brothers, wondered about his future. Should he join the Buffalo mafia family, like his brother Domenico, or rather follow in his father's footsteps by pledging allegiance to the Bonanno Clan of New York?
On a number of occasions, he will have this discussion with the RCMP's double agent with whom he also talks about settling and drug dealing.
Giuseppe Violi will also recognize that the fentanyl he is trafficking causes deaths in the streets. By his own admission, this is not the first time his merchandise kills.
Double agent: In the 80s, there were people dead everywhere because of crack. It was a huge epidemic, as is fentanyl now.
[...]
G. Violi: I introduced that to Hamilton.
Double agent: What, crack? You sold crack too?
G. Violi: I am the first. I brought the liquid and I turned it into powder, crack.
Double Agent: Many people were addicted to crack?
G. Violi: Oh, after a year, you should have seen the city.
Giuseppe Violi is currently serving a 16-year prison sentence for trafficking cocaine and fentanyl following Operation OTremens. Before his arrest, he was taking control of Hamilton with the bikers, according to his own words.
But his contacts are not limited to the underworld. Giuseppe Violi says he can influence the justice system.
In June 2017, during a discussion with the double agent, the criminal alleges that he paid $ 80,000 to an Ontario judge for one of his associates to receive a more lenient sentence in a case of drug trafficking and possession. illegal firearms.
The judge asked for $ 250,000 and Giuseppe Violi would have agreed to pay him this sum in installments.
A few months earlier, the drug trafficker even mentioned the possibility of another person taking responsibility for his partner's crimes. We have a lot of very loyal people who can do that, he would have said, adding that he would pay that person between $ 100,000 and $ 150,000.
Such revelations do not surprise André Cédilot. "The strength of the mafia is its network of contacts," says the mafia specialist.
The mafia infiltrate everywhere. They have incredible contacts in all circles: political, business, judicial.
André Cédilot, mafia specialist
Mr. Cédilot claims that the police had suspicions of infiltration of the judiciary during the extradition of Vito Rizzuto in the United States in the early 2000s.
Despite serious criminal charges, the Violi brothers also received letters of support from influential members of the Hamilton community in court proceedings. A former director of the city's airport, among others, wanted to highlight the generosity of Domenico Violi who, during the holiday season, gave turkeys to the poor.
On a table, we see $ 100 bills and bank documents
Documents and money raided by Domenico Violi in November 2017 Photo: RCMP
Operation OTremens demonstrates that the Mafia is still well structured in North America.
The famous "commission", the dispute resolution body of the American mafia, is still active, we learn from the mouth of Domenico Violi.
Forty years after the murder of their father, the Violi sons speak of the same active criminal clans at the time: Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino and Genovese ... Another group of criminal interests the Violi: the Montreal mafia.
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Meanwhile in Montreal
In September 2016, Domenico Violi says that the situation is stabilizing in the Quebec metropolis. Everyone is working together nowadays, the old barriers are gone, he said, according to the double agent.
Domenico Violi invited him to meet Frank Arcadi, Frank Cotroni Jr. and Antonio "Tony" Mucci.
In Montreal, these three names are associated with organized crime.
Frank Arcadi, one of the Rizzuto clan's lieutenants, was convicted of trafficking in cocaine and gangsterism. Frank Cotroni Jr., son of the famous mafioso of the same name, was sentenced in the 90s to eight years of penitentiary for conspiracy to import cocaine.
Tony Mucci, himself, admitted to shooting journalist Jean-Pierre Charbonneau in the newsroom of the daily newspaper Le Devoir in 1973. The reporter, who was investigating the mafia, will be shot in the forearm.
Man of Paolo Violi, Mucci frequented the Reggio Bar and will be called to testify at the CECO.
Tony Mucci wears smoked glasses and a long coat
Photo of police spinning Tony Mucci in the 70s, as he prepares to enter the Reggio Bar, Saint-Leonard Photo: Gangsters and mafiosi / Editions de l'Homme
A search of Domenico Violi's home showed that he was interested in what was happening in the city.
Among the documents seized are newspaper articles on the Montreal Mafia, as well as documents from the Colisée Anti-Mafia Operation, which decapitated the Rizzuto clan in 2006.
The police also seized drugs, an autographed poster of the television series The Sopranos , as well as several phones and computers.
Several types of cell phones are gathered on a table
Cell phones found by police in Domenico Violi's residence Photo: RCMP
Since the time of Paolo Violi, mafia techniques have been refined. They communicate thanks to encrypted electronic messages.
But, ironically, it is the old police techniques that allowed the RCMP to arrest the Violi brothers in Hamilton. Like their father, they were trapped by a double agent and wiretapped.
