At the beginning of the article, Capeci writes "there are only a few hundred men throughout the country who can accurately be called 'made' Mafia members." He did not provide a source.
Contrast that number with the approximate number of 400 provided in an article four months later in 1992 by now-retired Canadian journalist Timothy Appleby. The entire text of his article will be found at the link below.
https://www.evernote.com/shard/s229/sh/ ... 3359eacd89
From Appleby's article:
Increasingly cloaked in respectability, with strong links to the construction and land-development industry, they are concentrated in Toronto, Southern Ontario and the Montreal area and comprise three groups: the Sicilian Mafia, the Calabrian N'Drangheta and scattered branch-plant operations of the U.S. Cosa Nostra and its five New York families -- Gambino, Bonanno, Genovese, Lucchese and Colombo.
The best estimate of size is that there about 400 "made" (sworn) members in Canada. Of those, about 285 live in Ontario, about six in the greater Vancouver area and the rest in Quebec. The biggest myth, experts say, is the notion of a single pyramidal structure in which power flows upward.
[snip]
Numerically, the biggest group in Ontario is the N'Drangheta, with its roots in the southern Italian province of Calabria. Nine or 10 loosely structured cells have been identified in the Metro Toronto area, Ottawa and Hamilton. It exists in largely cellular form, with no controlling commission or territorial claims.
The Sicilian Mafia is smaller, but is said to wield greater power in the province. Three men have been identified by police as its leaders, including a prominent businessman in Woodbridge, north of Toronto.
Ontario Mafia groups with ties to the Cosa Nostra are based in Toronto, Windsor, Hamilton and Niagara Falls. Proximity to the U.S. border means power flows through Cosa Nostra organizations in Buffalo and Detroit, which in turn ultimately answer to the Gambino or Bonanno families in New York.
END OF EXCERPTS
_____________________
Years before Siderno Group leader Mike Racco of Toronto died in 1980, the size of this Toronto 'ndrangheta group was estimated at 50 inducted members per newspaper accounts. The same estimate was provided in one newspaper article right after Racco died. Contrast this number with the number of 43, spread out over seven 'ndrine, that was revealed in the anti-ndrangheta
Operazione Il Crimine investigation that culminated in July 2010. The number of inducted 'ndrangheta members in the Greater Toronto Area may now be smaller than at an earlier time. If the number of 'ndrine in Toronto was six or seven in 1992--in keeping with the account from James Dubro's
Mob rule... book (published 1985) and from 1986 articles about
capocrimine Rocco Zito's arrest for murder--we might deduce that because there was only one 'ndrina in Ottawa, there were anywhere between one and three 'ndrine in Hamilton. Given that the Papalia group in Hamilton was an American LCN crew, my guess is that the authorities either pegged both the Musitano group and the Luppino group as 'ndrangheta groups or just the former.
Hard to figure out who comprised the approximately 110 made members in Quebec in 1992.
At the beginning of the article, Capeci writes "there are only a few hundred men throughout the country who can accurately be called 'made' Mafia members." He did not provide a source.
Contrast that number with the approximate number of 400 provided in an article four months later in 1992 by now-retired Canadian journalist Timothy Appleby. The entire text of his article will be found at the link below.
https://www.evernote.com/shard/s229/sh/72db5ca5-ae0c-437f-ad1d-35004b306ebd/4c5cf77b6e0b3f9d32c30d3359eacd89
From Appleby's article:
Increasingly cloaked in respectability, with strong links to the construction and land-development industry, they are concentrated in Toronto, Southern Ontario and the Montreal area and comprise three groups: the Sicilian Mafia, the Calabrian N'Drangheta and scattered branch-plant operations of the U.S. Cosa Nostra and its five New York families -- Gambino, Bonanno, Genovese, Lucchese and Colombo.
The best estimate of size is that there about 400 "made" (sworn) members in Canada. Of those, about 285 live in Ontario, about six in the greater Vancouver area and the rest in Quebec. The biggest myth, experts say, is the notion of a single pyramidal structure in which power flows upward.
[snip]
Numerically, the biggest group in Ontario is the N'Drangheta, with its roots in the southern Italian province of Calabria. Nine or 10 loosely structured cells have been identified in the Metro Toronto area, Ottawa and Hamilton. It exists in largely cellular form, with no controlling commission or territorial claims.
The Sicilian Mafia is smaller, but is said to wield greater power in the province. Three men have been identified by police as its leaders, including a prominent businessman in Woodbridge, north of Toronto.
Ontario Mafia groups with ties to the Cosa Nostra are based in Toronto, Windsor, Hamilton and Niagara Falls. Proximity to the U.S. border means power flows through Cosa Nostra organizations in Buffalo and Detroit, which in turn ultimately answer to the Gambino or Bonanno families in New York.
END OF EXCERPTS
_____________________
Years before Siderno Group leader Mike Racco of Toronto died in 1980, the size of this Toronto 'ndrangheta group was estimated at 50 inducted members per newspaper accounts. The same estimate was provided in one newspaper article right after Racco died. Contrast this number with the number of 43, spread out over seven 'ndrine, that was revealed in the anti-ndrangheta [i]Operazione Il Crimine[/i] investigation that culminated in July 2010. The number of inducted 'ndrangheta members in the Greater Toronto Area may now be smaller than at an earlier time. If the number of 'ndrine in Toronto was six or seven in 1992--in keeping with the account from James Dubro's [i]Mob rule...[/i] book (published 1985) and from 1986 articles about [i]capocrimine[/i] Rocco Zito's arrest for murder--we might deduce that because there was only one 'ndrina in Ottawa, there were anywhere between one and three 'ndrine in Hamilton. Given that the Papalia group in Hamilton was an American LCN crew, my guess is that the authorities either pegged both the Musitano group and the Luppino group as 'ndrangheta groups or just the former.
Hard to figure out who comprised the approximately 110 made members in Quebec in 1992.