Andrew Scoppa killed in Montreal: thoughtful Mafia boss doomed by circumstance

Andrew Scoppa, aka Andrea Scoppa, 55, was shot dead Monday morning while making his rounds near the top of St. John's Blvd in Pierrefonds.
Scoppa leaves a widow whom he married in the late 90s, as well as three kids.
Scoppa was an underworld entrepreneur, considered the head of one of the seven tribes controlling the local crime scene and was admired for being an even-tempered, thoughtful person, well-read in history, a Habs fan and extremely cool under even the most intense pressure.
Andrew's younger brother Sal Scoppa, 49, was shot dead in Laval in May.
The two were a study in contrasts, as Sal was known to be short-tempered and enjoyed inflicting brutal punishment - it's said that he even killed or ordered killings - for what would seem trivial or misguided reasons.
Andrew, however, was not known for violence, although he could be brutal if he deemed the situation called for it.
Andrew and Sal were from a tight-knit Calabrian family that grew up in Park Extension and attended William Hingston High.
Andrew found himself hustling for gangsters from the age of 14. So busy was he that he only got around to teaching himself to read and write after the age of 20.
Andrew's brother Sal joined later, but their families - siblings, spouses and kids - were in no way associated with the underworld.
With the decline of the local Rizzuto clan, about four well-organized families are believed to control the local Mafia, with another three less-organized also completing the picture.
The soup includes factions with names like Lopez, a Granby-based faction and the remnants of the old Ponytail Devito crew.
Andrew's death comes as a shock but it was not entirely unexpected, after brother Sal was gunned down in front of his family at a hotel in Laval. Sal had also survived a 2017 shooting in Terrebonne, allegedly by prolific hired-hitman Fred Silva.
Pressure on Andrew ramped up last Tuesday after police arrested four of Sal's closest associates (Jonathan Massari, 38, Dominico Scarfo, 47, Guy Dion, 48, and Marie-Josée Viau, 44) in connection with the 2016 murders of Rocco Sollecito, Lorenzo Giordano, Vincenzo Falduo and Guiseppe Falduto.
Andrew was aware of the pressure and was said to have booked a flight out of the country in the days before his death.
Sal, with his brutal ways and monosyllabic utterances, had incurred the fear and wrath of many in his management the selling of cocaine and heroin in cafes and bars in St. Leonard and other adjacent areas.
Sal's crew of dial-a-dope distributors was a diverse gang of Turks, Lebanese and Arabs, some of whom might have been a little terrified of their boss and could possibly have tipped police off.
One of Sal's distributors, for example, was a 21-year-old Concordia student, who was found dead in a field north of Montreal, after receiving a mere fine for a drunk-driving infraction.
Although the DUI punishment was normal, some believe the dealer was killed because his perceived small punishment for the DUI was seen to suggest that he had gone informant against his boss..
Sal and his crew were an independent unit who were not closely associated with Andrew, who was above Sal in the local crime hierarchy.
However the family link might have been fatal nonetheless.
Andrew was killed - with shots to the face, a sign of disrespect - most likely for one of two reasons.
When Sal's associates were arrested on Tuesday October 15 for the four Mafia murders, it lead rival Mafioso to suspect Andrew's involvement. The four murders were committed with professional precision considered far beyond Sal's competence.
A second credible motive for Andrew's killing lies in his 2017 arrest for possession of over 100 kilos of cocaine inside of the Canadiens condo towers downtown, where he owned three units.
It's possible that there were bad feelings among investors about money lost by police seizing the supply.
The latest developments suggest that much more blood could spill in coming months.

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