Joe Bruno on the Mob – Donnie Brasco Surfaces Again

Donnie Brasco is like Jason in the Halloween movies. Just when you think Donnie Brasco – real name Joe Pistone – FBI agents extraordinaire, is dead and buried as a professional witness,  he returns to testify in another trial.

Read the article below, and if you are a member of the Canadian mob, read the article and weep.

 

PS – Donnie Brasco spent several years in my neighborhood in the Lower East Side’s 4^th Ward in the mid-late 1970’s and early 1980’s. I ran into him a few times here and there.

I didn’t like him then, and I certainly don’t like him now.

 

Donnie Brasco’ to testify at Quebec’s corruption inquiry

 

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/09/13/donnie-brasco-to-testify-at-quebecs-corruption-inquiry

 

MONTREAL — New York Mob infiltrator Joe Pistone, a.k.a. Donnie Brasco, will be the next star witness at Quebec’s corruption inquiry, QMI Agency has learned.

The man who helped bring down the Bonanno crime syndicate and lived to tell about it will testify, face uncovered, about the Mafia’s role in public contracting.

He is scheduled to take the stand Monday at commission headquarters in downtown Montreal, sources tell QMI Agency.

The event will be televised live and the 72-year-old is expected to answer questions for at least a half day.

Judge France Charbonneau is examining the role organized crime plays in public infrastructure projects and political party financing.

Quebec’s former anti-corruption czar, Jacques Duchesneau, told the legislature last year that the Mafia launders cash at construction sites across Quebec.

He later told the inquiry about firms that conspire to inflate the value of public contracts before funnelling cash to political parties.

The former Montreal police chief also testified that dirty money accounted for a whopping 70% of political donations in the province.

The scandals were a factor in Quebecers’ decision to kick Jean Charest out of office last week.

Joe Pistone gained firsthand knowledge of Mob activities from 1976 to 1981 when he penetrated deeper into organized crime than any FBI agent in history.

Using the alias Donnie Brasco, Pistone posed as a mid-level foot soldier in the Bonanno crime family.

He gained the confidence of top mob leaders before turning his information over to his FBI bosses.

Prosecutors built an iron-clad case that resulted in stiff jail sentences for top Mob leaders in the 1980s.

New York subsequently formed a permanent anti-corruption unit that premier Charest duplicated in Quebec as he tried to dodge allegations that dirty money made its way into his Liberal party.

Pistone’s story was adapted for the big screen in the film Donnie Brasco, starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino.

Source: torontosun.com

 

What goods will “Donnie Brasco” dish out at Quebec corruption probe?

WNBC-TV – Ida Libby Dengrove

MONTREAL – So how much light can “Donnie Brasco” really shed on modern-day corruption in Quebec?

The man who decades ago infiltrated the New York Mafia in an operation immortalized in a 1997 Hollywood film will testify next week at Quebec’s corruption inquiry, according to a report.

It wouldn’t be the first time on a high-profile witness stand for Joseph Pistone, the retired cop who assumed the Brasco identity during his undercover days and who is still hiding from the Mafia all these years later as a result of his old career.

One crime expert says Pistone remains an authority on the Italian Mafia and may be able to provide a broader picture of how the organization works.

But given that his expertise was gathered in another era, in another country, he might not have relevant specifics to share at Quebec’s inquiry, the expert said.

“He’s very knowledgeable, he’s very intelligent,” said Antonio Nicaso, an author and expert on the Mafia in Canada.

“But I don’t know what he can add about the Canadian side (of the Mafia).”

The French-language arm of the CBC reports that Pistone will testify on Monday — which happens to be his 73rd birthday. Spokespeople for the inquiry have not confirmed or denied the report.

Quebec’s Charbonneau commission is looking into criminal corruption in the construction industry and its ties to organized crime and political parties. Hearings are scheduled to begin again Monday after a nearly three-month summer pause.

Pistone is no stranger to testifying.

After infiltrating the infamous Bonanno crime family, and to a lesser extent the Colombo family, between 1976 to 1981, he spent the years that followed testifying in several trials that led to more than 100 federal convictions.

The Bonannos are alleged to have links to Montreal’s Rizzuto clan. In fact, Vito Rizzuto has spent the last several years in a U.S. prison in connection with 1981 murders that were referenced in the “Donnie Brasco” movie featuring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp.

Rizzuto is slated for release from a U.S. prison early next month.

Nicaso doubts that Pistone knows much about the Mafia in Canada or is up to date on current events. Montreal’s Mafia has been torn apart by a bloody power struggle since Rizzuto was extradited in 2006.

But Pistone is aware of just how the Mob functions — whether in Quebec or elsewhere — and might provide the commission with valuable insight.

“The Mafia is an organization that was capable of remaining in business for so long only because of its capacity to build relationships with politicians, businessmen, bankers,” Nicaso said.

“If they were only violent criminals, they wouldn’t have survived this long.”

Nicaso says that relationship with politics, legitimate business and the financial world is the key to understanding the Mafia’s reach.

Pistone noted in 1988, during testimony before a United States senate sub-committee, that organized crime was already undergoing a culture shift in that country.

“I think it has changed in that with the younger members coming up, they are not as dedicated to the society as the older individuals,” Pistone testified then, noting that the new generation was less tied to tradition.

“On the other hand, they have changed by diversifying more in their illegal activities. They are putting more of their illegal proceeds into legal businesses, legitimate businesses.”

Charbonneau commission spokesman Richard Bourdon said Thursday that he would not confirm Pistone’s presence next week. Witnesses to the commission are made public 24 to 48 hours in advance.

Pistone, who retired from the FBI in 1986, has worked as a consultant to law-enforcement agencies and as an FBI trainer since then. He has also authored several books and worked in film and television.

But the police legend leads a very secretive life.

He reportedly has a $500,000 bounty on his head and, even after three decades and an FBI warning for mobsters to leave him alone, Pistone still treads carefully.

In a 2005 interview with National Geographic about a documentary on the Mafia, Pistone indicated he was still taking precautions and travelling under an assumed name and in disguise.

In a 2008 interview with a journalist in Las Vegas, he changed the location of the interview at the last minute and when they finally met he was accompanied by bodyguards.

Source: vancouversun.com

 

 

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Rizzuto Pal Charged With Murder of Salvatore Montagna

Unless I am missing something here, Raynald Desjardins, the man accused of first-degree the murder of Salvatore Montagna, the reputed head of the Bonnano Crime Family, is not Italian. So how could he be vying for the title of head of the Mafia in Montreal?

Desjardins, who has multiple schlerosis, was arrested for Montagna’s murder, along with Vittorio Mirarchi, 34, and Felice Racaniello, 27, and Jack Arthur Simpson, 69. Calogero Milioto, 40, and Pietro (Peter) Magistrale, 59 were also arrested in connection with this case, not on a murder charge, but rather on “weapons-related charges.”

Desjardins is a close friend of jailed Vito Rizzuto, the man reputed to have led the Mafia in Montreal until he was extradited to the U.S. in 2006. Rizzuto is currently serving a 10-year prison term there. So if Desjardins was indeed involved in the murder of Montagna, maybe he was acting in the interest of someone else. Rizzuto is a possibility, but who knows what goes on behind closed Mafia doors?

Or maybe Desjardins was just acting in retaliation, because the Canadian police have told the courts that “the plot to kill Montagna began on Sept. 16, the same day someone tried to kill Desjardins in Laval. Desjardins survived the attempt on his life, when a gunman opened fire on two vehicles he and his bodyguard were seated in.”

Either way, the problem of who is in charge of organized crime in Canada is far from being solved.

Stay tuned for further developments.

The link for the article below is at:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/12/21/rizzuto-lieutenant-charged-with-murder-of-mafiaso-salvatore-montagna/

Rizzuto lieutenant charged with murder of Mafiaso Salvatore Montagna

Postmedia News Dec 21, 2011 – 9:54 PM ET

RADIO-CANADA

RADIO-CANADA

By Paul Cherry

JOLIETTE, Que. — Raynald Desjardins appeared remarkably calm for someone facing a first-degree murder charge for the slaying of a former New York mob boss.

The 58-year-old joked with his lawyer, Jonathan Meunier, as he was about to appear before Quebec Court Judge Michel Duceppe at the Joliette courthouse Wednesday morning. Desjardins’s first court appearance lasted only a few minutes, but security at the courthouse was unusually high.

Many members of a Surete du Quebec tactical squad, dressed in plainclothes, were visible outside the courtroom as well as inside. It’s not every day someone is charged with killing a mobster like Salvatore Montagna, a man who was alleged to be the head of the Bonanno crime family in New York when he was deported to Canada, his birthplace, in 2009, after U.S. authorities realized he wasn’t an American citizen.

Duceppe set Jan. 4 as the next court date in the murder case and dealt with a request from Desjardins that he be supplied with a medical device that helps him breathe when he sleeps. Desjardins also said he requires four different types of prescribed medication.

Related

The career criminal’s health problems were also an issue while he was serving 10 years of a 15-year prison term, from 1993 to 2004, for conspiring with the Hells Angels to smuggle more than 5,000 kilograms of cocaine into Canada. He was denied parole several times while serving that sentence, but was granted special escorted leaves to treat his multiple sclerosis.

At the time of his conviction, Desjardins was a close associate of Vito Rizzuto, the man reputed to have led the Mafia in Montreal until he was extradited to the U.S. in 2006. Rizzuto is currently serving a 10-year prison term there.

Appearing with Desjardins in court Wednesday were Vittorio Mirarchi, 34, and Felice Racaniello, 27. A fourth man, Jack Arthur Simpson, 69, will appear at a later date, prosecutor Eric Cote told Duceppe.

Simpson owns the house on Ile Vaudry, an island just east of Montreal, where Montagna, 40, was killed on Nov. 24. Simpson was arrested for an alleged parole violation days after Montagna was killed. He is serving a 28-year sentence for trafficking more than 300 kilograms of cocaine in California.

All four men are charged with the first-degree murder of Montagna and with conspiring to kill the man police believe was aggressively seeking to take control of the Mafia in Montreal.

Cote informed Duceppe that the conspiracy charge in the indictment will be modified to allege that the plot to kill Montagna began on Sept. 16, the same day someone tried to kill Desjardins in Laval. Desjardins survived the attempt on his life, when a gunman opened fire on two vehicles he and his bodyguard were seated in.

Modifying the conspiracy charge is a clear indication investigators believe Desjardins and Montagna were at war in September even though the two men are believed to have tried to achieve a consensus over the summer about who should assume control over the Mafia in Montreal. The crime organization was left without a leader after a major RCMP investigation and the November 2010 murder of Vito Rizzuto’s father, Nicolo.

Cote had no comment about the case after the accused appeared before Duceppe. Meunier, a former prosecutor, and the other defence lawyers also had nothing to say.

Two other men who were arrested Tuesday in the Surete du Quebec investigation into Montagna’s murder were also brought to the Joliette courthouse Wednesday morning. The two men — Calogero Milioto, 40, and Pietro (Peter) Magistrale, 59 — were not charged with murder, but they face a long list of weapons-related charges. The firearms were seized while the provincial police force carried out 16 search warrants on Tuesday. Magistrale is charged with storing at least three loaded 9-mm pistols at an undisclosed location in Laval, Que.

http://www.josephbrunowriter.com/index.html

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Four Arrests in the Murder of Sal Montagna

It seems like the police have been very busy in Montreal arresting Mafia members in the murder of Salvatore “Sal the Iron Worker” Montagna. But in a bit of a twist, the police are alleging that Canadian Hell’s Angels members were also involved in Montagna’s murder.

Four men were arrested in Montreal for the murder of Montagna. They are: Raynald Desjardins, 59, Vittorio Mirarchi, 34, and Felice Racaniello, 27, all from the Montreal metropolitan area. Two other people were arrested, but their names have not been released by the police, pending their formal arraignment. Desjardins, Mirarchi, and Racaniello have all been charged by a Canadian magistrate with first degree murder, as was Jack Simpson, 69, who owned the house where Montagna was shot last month.

Inspector Michel Forget, assistant director of criminal investigations and intelligence for the Sûreté du Québec, the provincial police agency, told the New York Post, “Mr. Montagna was an important figure in coming back to Canadian soil, and namely, got into bad terms with other factions of organized crime. The organization that we dismantled today was linked to traditional organized crime groups, but also to motorcycle gangs.”

Apparently Montagna was lured to the house with the ruse of discussing the future leadership of Montreal’s mob, which has been weakened in recent years by arrests and assassinations. After Montagna was shot several times, he managed to escape and jump into a frigid river. Despite his mortal wounds, Montagna was able to swim to the other side, where he perished in a pile of snow.

The Canadian police, along with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Montreal city police, and two suburban police agencies in metro Montreal, have executed 16 search warrants in the Montreal area, and more arrest are expected.

No matter how many mob men are arrested, in Canada, or anywhere else, someone always emerges from the shadows to take control of an organized crime gang. It’s been this way for centuries and it’s not about to change any time soon.

1. You can read the article below at:
3. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/canadian_cops_cuff_men_charged_with_vh42kXWapBFEbOwadepR9L

Canadian cops cuff & charge four with murdering Bonanno boss

By MITCHEL MADDUX

Last Updated: 4:53 PM, December 20, 2011

Posted: 3:46 PM, December 20, 2011

More Print

In a massive action targeting organized crime groups, Canadian police today arrested four men and charged them with murdering the former street boss of New York’s Bonanno crime family.

Salvatore “Sal the Iron Worker” Montagna collapsed in a pool of blood outside Montreal late last month after making a bid to lead Quebec’s La Cosa Nostra crime family, officials said.

Those arrested today included senior figures in the Montreal Mafia – as well as those with links to the Hells Angels, the outlaw biker gang that is heavily involved in organized crime and drug trafficking in Quebec, sources told The Post.

Sun Media / Splash News

A man reported to be Salvatore Montagna, a former reputed New York mafia boss, lies on the ground after being shot Thursday Nov 24, 2011 near the Assomption River in Charlemagne near Montreal.

Montagna’s return to Canada – following his deportation several years ago from New York – sent tremors throughout Quebec’s organized crime world, as the mobster began to lobby to head Montreal’s La Cosa Nostra family, officials said.

“Mr. Montagna was an important figure in coming back to Canadian soil, and namely, got into to bad terms with other factions of organized crime,” Inspector Michel Forget, assistant director of criminal investigations and intelligence for the Sûreté du Québec, the provincial police agency, told The Post.

More than 200 officers fanned out across Quebec early today, and with the help of tactical units, arrested six people.

“”The organization that we dismantled today was linked to traditional organized crime groups, but also to motorcycle gangs,” Forget told The Post.

Among those charged with Montagna’s murder were Raynald Desjardins, 59, Vittorio Mirarchi, 34, and Felice Racaniello, 27, all from the Montreal metropolitan area, officials said.

“Mr. Desjardins is a very important organized crime figure” in Quebec, Forget told The Post.

The three men have been charged by a Canadian magistrate with first degree murder – as was Jack Simpson, 69, who owned the house where Montagna was attacked last month.

Simpson has been in custody for the past three weeks, following his arrest in Ontario on parole violation charges, officials said.

He was convicted in a California state court on drug trafficking charges stemming from plan to transport large quantities of narcotics from southern California to New York City, according to official records.

Several years ago, Simpson was allowed by California prison authorities to serve out his sentence in a Canadian penal institution and was later paroled there, records show.

The four men charged today with Montagna’s murder face a sentence of 25 years to life if convicted, officials said.

Two others also were arrested today for allegedly playing a support role in Montagna’s death, but police said they will not release their names until they are formally charged by a magistrate.

Prior to his death, Montagna reportedly had been engaged in discussions over the future leadership of Montreal’s mob, which has been weakened in recent years by arrests and assassinations.

On the morning of on Nov. 24, witnesses heard gunshots as Montagna left the house owned by Simpson in a working class suburb outside Montreal, officials said.

Police believed he then jumped into a frigid river and swam to the opposite bank, before dying in a bed of snow.

Investigators believed a confrontation took place at the house, but have not released details about the killing.

“We think something happened – a struggle, a fight – something happened there,” Sgt. Benoit Richard of the Sûreté du Québec, the told The Post last month.

Days later, Simpson was arrested in Ottawa by a tactical team from the Ontario Provincial Police, but the arrest stemmed from a parole violation..

Montagna, who was born in Canada but spent much of his life in Sicily and in the US, ascended to the top of the Bonannos at a time when the New York crime family’s ranks were being gutted by Brooklyn federal prosecutors.

He was just 35-years-old when he succeeded boss Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano, but was deported by US authorities in 2009 after a criminal conviction.

Today’s sweep – uncharacteristcally large by Canadian standards – involved officers from the Quebec provincial police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Montreal city police, and two suburban police agencies in metro Montreal, officials said.

Officers – some heavily armed – served more than 16 search warrants in the early morning raid.

mmaddux@nypost.com

http://www.josephbrunowriter.com/index.html

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Mobster Shot in Montreal

It seems like there’s a full-scale Mafia war going on in Canada.

Antonio “Tony Suzuki” Pietrantonio was gunned down last week in what police describe as an attempted “underworld hit.” Pietrantonio was seriously wounded in the upper body but is expected to survive. Pietrantonio is alleged by the police to have ties to the Canadian Rizzuto Crime Family.

This shooting comes on the heels of the murder of Salvatore Montagna, who was gunned down two weeks prior to the Pietrantonio shooting. Montagna was alleged by the police to be conducting a campaign to take over as head of the Rizzuto Crime Family.

Police have also said that Lorenzo LoPresti, who was shot and killed Oct. 24 on his condo balcony in St. Laurent, was Pietrantonio’s “right-hand man.”

Pietrantonio has a long criminal record. As far back as 1993, he was arrested for participating in a plot between the Hell’s Angel and the Mafia to smuggle cocaine into Canada. Pietrantonio was convicted and served a three-year sentence.

Keep tuned for further Canadian Mafia developments. Things just might be warming up in Canada.

The article below can be viewed at:

 http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Antonio+Pietrantonio+also+known+Tony+Suzuki+target+style/5858991/story.html

Antonio “Tony Suzuki” Pietrantonio was target of Mob-style hit: cop

By Jan Ravensbergen, The Gazette December 14, 2011 2:47 PM

Story

Photos ( 1 )

Montreal police refused Wednesday morning to confirm a report that the 48-year-old man shot and critically wounded outside the Imperio restaurant on Jarry St. E. Tuesday night is Antonio Pietrantonio, a reputed mobster with links to the embattled Rizzuto clan.

Montreal police refused Wednesday morning to confirm a report that the 48-year-old man shot and critically wounded outside the Imperio restaurant on Jarry St. E. Tuesday night is Antonio Pietrantonio, a reputed mobster with links to the embattled Rizzuto clan.

Photograph by: Google street view, Google

MONTREAL – Antonio Pietrantonio – also known across the Montreal Mafia as Tony Suzuki – is the man shot and severely wounded outside a Jarry St. E. restaurant Tuesday night, an inside police source confirmed Wednesday.

Pietrantonio has a colourful criminal record which includes time in the slammer springing from a plot by the Mob and biker gangs to smuggle cocaine into Canada.

He’s expected to survive the attack, the latest in a series on various underworld figures that have marked a violent power struggle within the city’s organized-crime circles.

The multi-fatality saga has coincided with the decline of the Rizzuto family.

Police were called to Tuesday’s scene, near the corner of Chambord St., at 8:50 p.m.

The attempted hit took place near the entrance to the Imperio restaurant, a dining spot just south of the Metropolitan Expressway between Christophe Colomb and Papineau Aves.

The victim remains in critical but stable condition in hospital, Montreal police Constable Yannick Ouimet said.

Ouimet refused to confirm the victim’s name, before a law-enforcement insider did.

The nickname Tony Suzuki derives from a period when Pietrantonio was involved in a car dealership in eastern Montreal.

Pietrantonio was arrested in 1993 after an RCMP investigation into a plot hatched by the Hells Angels and the Mafia to smuggle cocaine into Canada.

In that instance, he was sentenced to a three-year prison term.

Police spokesperson Ouimet wouldn’t confirm a report that Lorenzo LoPresti, shot and killed Oct. 24 on his condo balcony in St. Laurent, had been the right-hand man of the Jarry E. victim.

Pietrantonio and LoPresti have been reported to have been involved in the downtown-Montreal parking-lot business.

Ouimet did confirm that the Tuesday-night shooting bore all the hallmarks of an underworld hit.

According to bystanders, one or more suspects made a getaway in a car that was found torched several blocks away.

Arson-squad investigators have been assigned to the burned-out vehicle.

Its hulk was found about 9:20 p.m., near the corner of Jacques Casault and Joseph Quintal Sts.

Ouimet said he might be able to confirm sometime later Wednesday a report that the car had been stolen before the shooting.

The man was shot in the upper body, Ouimet said.

Ouimet said he couldn’t say if the victim had been hit by more than one bullet.

Given the man’s medical condition, he hasn’t been questioned by investigators, Ouimet said.

Ouimet said he was not in a position to say how many gunmen were involved in the attack, or provide descriptions.

janr@montrealgazette.com

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Antonio+Tony+Suzuki+Pietrantonio+target+style/5858991/story.html#ixzz1gXpBmOuW

http://www.josephbrunowriter.com/index.html

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Not Many People Show at Funeral For Reputed Mobster Salvatore Montagna

I think it’s pretty clear from the composition of his funeral that Salvatore Montagna was not a very popular man in Montreal, Canada.

Whereas in 2010, hundreds of people attended the funeral masses for Nicolo (Zio Cola) Rizzuto, 86, at Notre Dame de la Defence church in Little Italy, and hundreds more for Rizzuto’s grandson, Nick Jr. at that same church, reportedly only 70 people, if that many, attended the funeral mass for Montagna, 40, at the Notre Dame de Pompeii church on Sauve St. E.

Another hint that maybe Montagna was not too popular in Montreal was that his wake was not held at the Loreto funeral home in St. Léonard, where all big mob wakes in Montreal usually take place. The Loreto funeral home is owned by close relatives of Nicolo Rizzuto and his 65-year-old son, Vito.

It is alleged in the press that Montagna was killed because he was trying to take over the crime family of the Rizzuto’s. The only problem was, Vito Rizzuto – once referred to as “the godfather of the Mafia” in Montreal by the federal government, is still alive and kicking. Vito Rizzuto is presently serving a 10-year sentence in the United States and is scheduled to be released from prison on October 6, 2012.

According to the book Mafia Inc., by André Cedilot and André Noël, Montagna approached Nicolo Rizzuto Sr. in 2010, just before the he was was killed, “and tried to reason with him, telling the patriarch that his reign was over.”

This book also claims that the reason that Montagna was not successful in his takeover of the Rizzuto family was because he was once the reputed head of Bonanno family in America, and it was a Bonnano family member who became the government informant who “gave evidence that led to Vito Rizzuto’s arrest and incarceration in the U.S.”

It will be interesting to see what happens when Vito Rizzuto is released from prison late next year. But one thing’s for sure — Salvatore Montagna won’t be outside the prison in a waiting limo when Rizzuto finally exits its locked doors.

As of this writing, the police have made no arrests in the slaying of Montagna, nor do they have any suspects. In gangland murders like this, there’s maybe a 100-1 shot the killer, or killers will ever be discovered, or arrested.

In fact, they could already be dead themselves.

The article below can be seen at:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/show+Montagna+funeral/5777841/story.html

Few show up for funeral of reputed mobster Salvatore Montagna

By Paul Cherry, Gazette Crime Reporter November 30, 2011

MONTREAL – About 70 people gathered in a church in the city’s north end to mourn the death of a man who, by all appearances, had little support in his bid to assume control over the Mafia in Montreal.

Police sources said few faces were recognized among the people who attended the funeral of Salvatore (Sal the Ironworker) Montagna, 40, at Notre Dame de Pompeii church on Sauve St. E. on Monday morning.

The dozens of people, including Montagna’s widow and their three daughters, filed into the church under a grey sky. The funeral mass was said mostly in Italian while most of the pews remained empty.

It was a stark contrast to many of the funerals held in the recent past for men who held influential positions within the Mafia in Montreal.

The funeral for Nicolo (Zio Cola) Rizzuto, 86, was attended by hundreds who packed into Notre Dame de la Defence church in Little Italy. Rizzuto was killed inside his home on Nov. 10, 2010.

It was a similar scene at the funeral that same year for Rizzuto’s grandson, Nick Jr.

And on July 5, 2010, hundreds of mourners filled Notre Dame du Mont Carmel church in St. Léonard for the funeral of Agostino Cuntrera, 66, an influential figure within the Rizzuto clan.

Montagna’s funeral appeared to be attended mostly by close relatives and loved ones.

Before it began, two limousines carrying large floral arrangements, pulled up in front of the church. One included the names of Montagna’s three young daughters and the message “We will never forget you.” The other said simply “Caro Fratello” (Dear Brother).

Montagna was reputed to be the acting head of the Bonanno family in New York before American authorities realized he wasn’t a U.S. citizen and deported him to Canada, his birthplace, in 2009.

When his funeral ended, dozens of people exited the church quietly except for a young woman who yelled “Go home!” to the many camera operators and photographers across the street.

A young man who was with her saluted the journalists with his middle finger.

In a sign that Montagna was considered an outsider to the Rizzutos, visitation over the weekend was not held at the Loreto funeral home in St. Léonard owned by close relatives of Nicolo Rizzuto and his 65-year-old son, Vito.

Police sources have said in recent months that Montagna appeared to be seeking a consensus among the city’s underworld over who should assume control of the Mafia in Montreal in the aftermath of Nicolo Rizzuto’s murder.

Raynald Desjardins, 58, a man with past ties to the Rizzutos, was believed by police to be part of a small group that supported Montagna. Desjardins escaped injury when someone tried to shoot him in Laval in September.

Several potential leaders within the Rizzuto organization are behind bars.

Vito Rizzuto – once referred to as “the godfather” of the Mafia in Montreal by the federal government – is serving a 10-year sentence in the U.S. It expires on Oct. 6, 2012.

Nicolo Rizzuto’s son-in-law Paolo Renda, another past leader in the organization, disappeared on May 20, 2010 and is presumed to have been kidnapped. According to the English version of the book Mafia Inc., by Montreal journalists André Cedilot and André Noël, Montagna approached Nicolo Rizzuto Sr. in 2010, just before the octogenarian was killed, “and tried to reason with him, telling the patriarch that his reign was over.”

The book says Montagna got a cold shoulder, presumably because of his ties to the Bonanno family that produced the informant who gave evidence that led to Vito Rizzuto’s arrest and incarceration in the U.S.

The Sûreté du Québec have said little about their investigation into Montagna’s killing, and no arrests have been made. He was shot Thursday morning as he exited a home on Île Vaudry, a tiny island east of Montreal that is part of the town of Charlemagne.

The home is owned by a man in his 60s who has a criminal record that dates to 1976 when he pleaded guilty to being in possession of stolen property. In 1993, the man pleaded guilty to obstructing justice and was sentenced to a 60-day prison term.

After he was shot, Montagna jumped into the Assomption River in an apparent attempt to elude the shooter. Police found him on the shore in Charlemagne, and an attempt was made to resuscitate him. He was declared dead after being taken to a nearby hospital.

http://www.josephbrunowriter.com/index.html

Joe Bruno on the Mob — Alleged Mob Boss Found Dead in Canadian River

 

It seems like Canada is not such a safe place for reputed Mafiosos anymore.

The body of Salvatore Montagna, the alleged former boss of New York’s Bonanno Crime Family, was found dead in a river north of Montreal, Canada. Police in Canada are speculating that Montagna, who was called the “Bambino Boss” due to his rise to power in his mid-30s, was killed because he was forcing his way the leadership of the Mafia in Montreal, which had been decimated due to the recent killings of several of Montagna’s close Montreal associates, including the father and son of Vito Rizzuto, the reputed head of the Montreal Mafia who is currently imprisoned in the United States.

Montagna was born in Montreal, but was raised in Sicily, the home of the Mafia. When he was 15, Montagna moved to the United States, but he never received his American citizenship. In 2009, Montagna was deported to Canada because he was convicted for refusing to testify before a grand jury on illegal gambling. Since Montagna had no criminal record in Canada, he was re-admitted there without any problems. Just months after Montagna arrived back in Canada, the killings of members of the Rizzuto clan commenced.

According to the FBI, Montagna was known as “Sal the Ironworker” when he was with the Bonannos in New York. He owned a steel company in New York, which the FBI claims Montagna used to engage in illegal construction practices, like inflating invoices. The FBI claims that because of the defection of former Bonanno boss Joe Massino to Team America, and the lifetime prison sentence meted out to Massino’s successor Vincent “Vinnie Gorgeous” Basciano, Montagna had been inserted as the boss of the Bonannos, before he was deported to Canada. Mantagna’s lawyer denies these allegations.

The real question is who will rush to fill the void in the Montreal crime family left by the death of Montagna. I’m sure, with informers infiltrating Mafia crime families at an alarming rate, the Montreal police will soon find out.

The links for the two articles below can be seen at:

http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/527941/Ex-NY-Mafia-boss-found-dead-in-r—.html

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Slain+mobster+exported+construction+fraud/5772422/story.html

Ex-NY Mafia boss found dead in river near Montreal

November 25, 2011

MONTREAL (AP) – The body of an alleged Mafia boss, who U.S. authorities said once led New York’s notorious Bonanno crime family, was fished out from a river north of Montreal on Thursday.

Reports identified the body as Salvatore Montagna, although police wouldn’t immediately confirm or deny the identity.

The FBI once called him the acting boss of the Bonanno crime family – prompting one of New York’s tabloids to call him the “Bambino Boss” because of his rise to power in his mid-30s. Nicknamed “Sal The Iron Worker,” he owned and operated a successful steel business in the U.S.

Montagna’s death is the latest in a series of Mafia-related killings and disappearances over the last two years. He was considered a contender to take over the decimated Rizzuto family.

A provincial police spokesman said Thursday that a private citizen called after seeing a body along the shores of the L’Assomption River. The same person also reported that he heard gunshots, but Sgt. Benoit Richard said he couldn’t confirm how the victim died.

“When (police) arrived, they saw a man lying near the river, they took him out of the water and started doing CPR with the help of the emergency personnel,” Richard said.

Richard said police will await the results of an autopsy, scheduled for Friday, to determine the cause of death.

Montagna was born in Montreal but raised in Sicily and, although he moved to the United States at 15, he never obtained U.S. citizenship.

The married father of three was deported to Canada from the United States in 2009 because of a conviction for refusing to testify before a grand jury on illegal gambling.

He pleaded guilty to the minor charge, but it made him ineligible to stay in the U.S. Montagna had no criminal record in Canada and re-entered without trouble.

His arrival in Montreal occurred just months before members of the Rizzuto family began being killed.

The FBI had called Montagna the acting boss of the Bonanno crime family, an allegation his lawyer denied.

The Bonanno crime family is one of the five largest Mafia families in New York – one of the notorious criminal gangs that formed the original Commission, along with Al Capone and Lucky Luciano.

There had been speculation that Montagna had been part of the new Mafia leadership in Montreal and was trying to reorganize the leaderless group.

His death comes just two months after another man with Mafia ties, Raynald Desjardins, narrowly escaped death in a shooting in a suburb north of Montreal. Desjardins had close ties to Vito Rizzuto, the reputed head of the Montreal Mafia who is currently imprisoned in the United States.

A rash of killings and disappearances in late 2009 and early 2010 decimated the operation and have robbed him of many of his closest family members. Rizzuto’s father and son were gunned down, as were other friends, while his brother-in-law simply vanished.

Montagna became the latest name on the list.

Slain mobster ‘exported construction fraud’

Salvatore Montagna led Bonanno family in New York, returned to Montreal in 2009

By Paul Cherry, The Gazette November 26, 2011

Police at the scene where Salvatore Montagna was killed in Ile Vaudry, a small island south of the municipality of Charlemagne, near Repentigny on Thursday, November 24, 2011. Police say Montagna was attempting to take over the mafia in Montreal.

More Images »

Police at the scene where Salvatore Montagna was killed in Ile Vaudry, a small island south of the municipality of Charlemagne, near Repentigny on Thursday, November 24, 2011. Police say Montagna was attempting to take over the mafia in Montreal.

Photograph by: Dario Ayala, THE GAZETTE

Paul Cherry

THE GAZETTE

Salvatore Montagna, the reputed mafioso killed on Thursday, was very active in construction fraud in the U.S. and continued the practice when he was deported to Canada, an expert on money laundering says.

Jeffrey Robinson, the New York-based bestselling author of books like The Merger: How Organized Crime is Taking Over Canada and the World and The Laundrymen was not surprised to learn that Montagna, who was briefly the head of the Bonanno crime family in the U.S., was fatally shot in an apparently well planned hit as he was leaving a house on Île Vaudry, a small island just east of Montreal.

Robinson said Montagna, 40, was “a great earner” for the Bonanno family in New York when it came to construction fraud, which perhaps explained his quick ascent to the top of the organization despite being in his mid-30s at the time.

Montagna was deported to Canada in 2009 after authorities realized he wasn’t an American citizen and had a criminal record for contempt of court. Montagna, a dual citizen, was born in Montreal and raised in Italy. For his deportation he chose to return to Montreal and, after apparently laying low for months, suddenly emerged in 2011 as someone police sources believe was eagerly seeking to take control of the Mafia in Montreal.

Robinson said he had learned that Montagna tried to apply what he was doing in New York to the construction industry in Montreal.

“I know he simply exported the construction fraud to Montreal. It was what he knew. He took what he knew and brought it to Montreal,” said Robinson, who is often invited to speak to police investigators at conferences on money laundering in the U.S. and Canada. Last month, he was an invited speaker at the International Money Laundering Conference which was held in downtown Montreal and attended by more than 600 delegates from 48 countries.

Montagna, known as Sal the Ironworker when he was in the Bonanno organization, owned a steel company in New York.

The author said it is estimated that the five major Mafia families in New York take a five-per-cent share of all construction projects in the city.

“The Bonanno family was a big part of it,” Robinson said while alleging the organizations were experts in over-estimating the amount of workers or materials needed for large-scale construction projects. “From early on, the Bonannos saw a niche in construction. They were experts in inflating invoices.”

During deportation proceedings in 2009, the U.S. government alleged that Montagna was the acting boss of the Bonanno family, a position he likely attained following three disastrous years for the organization. Most of its leadership was rounded up in 2004 as part of an FBI investigation, and its leader at the time, Joseph Massino, became an informant. This in turn led to the arrest of the next Bonanno leader, Vincent Basciano. Montagna assumed leadership over what was left.

U.S. court records indicate American authorities continued gathering information about Montagna long after he was deported.

On Dec. 2, Salvatore (Sal the Plumber) Volpe, 48, a man described in court documents as “an associate within the Bonanno crime family,” is scheduled to be sentenced in a U.S. District court in Brooklyn in a racketeering case involving two acts of extortion, including one he carried out for Montagna.

On April 8, Volpe entered his plea under sealed proceedings that were only recently made public. According to his allocution, Volpe and Paul Spina, a soldier in the Bonanno family, were dispatched in 2006 to threaten a man who owed money to a legitimate company owned by Montagna.

“Paul Spina told the individual that if he didn’t pay, I would be back to see him,” Volpe said in court.

The other criminal act in the racketeering case involved orders Volpe said he took from Anthony (Fat Tony) Rabito, Montagna’s consigliere, or adviser. Volpe said Rabito was concerned that an associate was withholding money the organization had collected for the many wives of Bonanno family members who were incarcerated in 2006.

“I told him that if he didn’t get in touch with Anthony Rabito, I would be back to smack him,” Volpe said in U.S. court back in April.

Volpe, who is a government witness, made headlines in New York tabloids this year when he testified in a murder trial involving Basciano. He revealed that a New York restaurateur paid mobsters $50,000 to avoid being killed for impregnating Volpe’s wife.

On Friday, Sûreté du Québec Sgt. Benoit Richard said there were no new developments to report in the investigation into Montagna’s death. He said autopsy results would likely be available on Monday. No one has been arrested in connection with the homicide.

Montagna is believed to have been shot as he exited a house on Île Vaudry and then, in an attempt to elude the shooter, jumped into a narrow section of the Assomption River which he swam across to nearby Charlemagne, a municipality near Repentigny. When police arrived they found him lying on the shore of the river and tried to resuscitate Montagna. He was declared dead after being taken to a nearby hospital.

Montagna did not reside in Île Vaudry and the house he was visiting was reportedly owned by a known criminal.

http://www.josephbrunowriter.com/index.html