Montreal's bosses

[Homerthedog]

The following is my attempt to understanding who the bosses of the Montreal crew were from the mid 1950s until its Independence at the turn of the century. Apparently Carmine Galante established a Bonanno crew there to help the family create a hub to import drugs into the U.S. I believe at the time he was a capo and the Montreal crew was part of his overall crew.

From what I read in the book the Sixth Family and other sources, Galante left two bosses to supervise the Montreal group, Vic Cotroni (Calabrian) and Luigi Greco (Sicilian).
Now Galante was kicked out of Canada around 1957 so he longer could supervise directly Montreal. It's likely given Galante's imprisonment, Montreal was made a separate crew.

Every Bonanno chart that I've seen indicates there was only one capo in Montreal. Now this succession, again from the charts show that Cotroni was capo from the early 1960s to his death in 1984. He desired Paolo Violi to be his successor and he served as acting capo from 1975 to his assassination in 1978 at the hands of the Rizzuto faction. According to the great succession list of Bonanno crews by Pogo, Nicolo Rizzuto became capo after Vic the Egg died. This would formalize the Rizzuto control of Montreal following the brief war against Violi.

Of course the Rizzutos also had a major operation going in Venezuela and that was where Nicolo was arrested and imprisoned in 1988 for five years. Vito, his son took over operations as an acting capo until the family in New York designated George from Canada Sciascia as capo in Montreal. The thing is that Sciascia was not allowed in Canada so he became the Rizzuto connection to New York leaving Vito in full control of Montreal.

By the time of Sciascia's murder in 1999, the Rizzuto Family had become very powerful to the point it may have surpassed it's parent organization the Bonannos, and quit sending tribute down to New York, possibly as a consequence of George from Canada's murder. Vito was offered a captaincy by Joe Massino but refused since why would he want to be a capo when he was a boss in his own rights.

This is all well and good, but according to the chart I have seen done by Bill Feather, Luigi Greco is listed as holding the title capo. I could be wrong, but most crews have only capo. It could be that Greco was made a co-capo with Cotroni to maintain a balance between Greco's Sicilians and Cotroni's Calabrians to keep the peace in Montreal. Of course this didn't work out that way in the years after Greco's accidental death in 1972 which resulted in Nicolo Rizzuto taking over as the Sicilian leader and subsequently Montreal.
To be fair Pogo's crew list does show Greco served as acting capo at some point in the early 1960s, and Feather's incredible charts don't distinguish between official and acting capos, so it's possibly my answer as to why Montreal had two capos at the same time.

Now this may be boring to many, but being a bit of an archontologist, I understand organizations better by the study of their historical leadership. Also I find the Rizzuto Family to be interesting and always topical given the continuing mob war up in Canada.
Not to mention I'm still quite new to the study of the mafia and so my assessments could be wrong so I welcome any comments.

[SonnyBlackstein]

I think your summation is quite on point.

Agree.

[CabriniGreen]

Great post..+1

[Moscone65]

I enjoyed reading this post

[Lupara]

I still doubt Nick Rizzuto was ever official capo of the Montreal. I think Sciascia succeeded Cotroni in the early 80s if not sooner.

[CabriniGreen]

Given that Rizzuto suggested his father for the capo slot... you could be right....

[motorfab]

Yeah I agree for Rizzuto. I think he was acting before another Capo was appointed by the Bonanno. Was not it LoPresti before Sciascia?
About Galante, he came alone to Canada or he brought soldiers from his crew with him? It may be said in the book "The Sixth Family" but I do not remember

[Lupara]

Yeah I agree for Rizzuto. I think he was acting before another Capo was appointed by the Bonanno. Was not it LoPresti before Sciascia?
About Galante, he came alone to Canada or he brought soldiers from his crew with him? It may be said in the book "The Sixth Family" but I do not remember

He came alone afaik but he had a whole family behind him and then formally organized the Cotroni gang into a Bonanno crew.

LoPresti was Sciascia's laision between Montreal and New York. Valentino Morielli took over this role after his murder.

[motorfab]

Yeah I agree for Rizzuto. I think he was acting before another Capo was appointed by the Bonanno. Was not it LoPresti before Sciascia?
About Galante, he came alone to Canada or he brought soldiers from his crew with him? It may be said in the book "The Sixth Family" but I do not remember

He came alone afaik but he had a whole family behind him and then formally organized the Cotroni gang into a Bonanno crew.

LoPresti was Sciascia's laision between Montreal and New York. Valentino Morielli took over this role after his murder.

I know more about the Cotroni period than what happens after. Thank you for clarifying

[Lupara]

Yeah I agree for Rizzuto. I think he was acting before another Capo was appointed by the Bonanno. Was not it LoPresti before Sciascia?
About Galante, he came alone to Canada or he brought soldiers from his crew with him? It may be said in the book "The Sixth Family" but I do not remember

He came alone afaik but he had a whole family behind him and then formally organized the Cotroni gang into a Bonanno crew.

LoPresti was Sciascia's laision between Montreal and New York. Valentino Morielli took over this role after his murder.

I know more about the Cotroni period than what happens after. Thank you for clarifying

Your welcome.

[Homerthedog]

Not disputing anybody's word on any of this, but according to a chart showing the Bonanno Family in 1988 one Nicholas Rizzuto as one their 11 capos. Now I'm fully aware that these charts are speculation given the bonannos don't release press statements. This is where I get it anyway. But that's what makes this all fun.

[Lupara]

Who knows. When it comes to Montreal the Bonannos are more secretive than the Genoveses.

[Homerthedog]

That's no lie. Also I noticed that Vito Rizzuto wasn't listed as a Bonanno soldier in 1988 chart. I know the books were closed for them until 1984 but I thought he was made as a result of his participation in the capos murder.

[B.]

- Nick Rizzuto shows up on a government chart as a captain in the 1980s but there were other inaccuracies and there is no other source I've seen indicating that Rizzuto was a captain until the Renaud book (via Sal Vitale) claimed Rizzuto was made captain sometime after the Sciascia murder. This goes against other info where Vitale claimed there was no official successor to Sciascia and he identified Vito Rizzuto as a defacto "acting captain" who refused to accept formal promotion and instead wanted his father to take the position, so the idea of promoting Nick Rizzuto was at least suggested in both of Vitale's alleged accounts. Government charts from the period immediately following the defection of Massino/Vitale list Vito as an acting captain with no official listed.

- Giuseppe LoPresti has been identified as an acting captain sometime in the years before his murder, after Gerlando Sciascia was initially barred from entering Canada. His promotion was likely so that he could serve as a liaison between Sciascia in NYC and the Montreal members of his crew. Around or shortly after LoPresti's murder, Pietro Ligammari was sponsored by Sciascia into the Bonanno family and it's possible Ligammari served as a messenger of some kind, whether it was a similar role to what LoPresti had been doing is anyone's guess. The same could be said fo Sal Montagna, who is believed to have been made very young in the late 90s and whose Canadian citizenship allowed him to serve as a liaison for Sciascia, which has been suggested in a couple of places.

- Sciascia himself was a leader within the Bonanno family by the early 1980s, maybe earlier, and presumably took over as official captain of Montreal after Cotroni. Also according to the Renaud book, Sciascia was a Sicilian man of honor who transferred into the Bonanno family, in which case we don't know the exact year he became recognized as a Bonanno member or whether he was a soldier in the Cotroni decina while living in NYC.

- Paolo Violi's role as acting captain could explain Luigi Greco's position. Our limited sources on Canada have at times identified Greco as a captain or a faction leader in his own right, but he may have been an acting captain with a great deal of influence like Violi later on. Looking at the timeline, Greco died at the end of 1972 and sometime within the next few years Violi emerges as acting captain, which could suggest they had a similar role and Violi was something of a successor to Greco.

- With Galante, a couple of questions I have: did he have an NYC/NJ decina before he went to Montreal, or was he captain solely of Montreal when he lived there? Joe Zicarelli's comments on the DeCav tapes suggest Galante was Zicarelli's superior earlier on in Zicarelli's career, possibly before Montreal, but this could also mean Zicarelli was an associate of then-soldier Galante.

- I'm starting to believe Montreal regularly had an acting captain in addition to the official position. Consider that there was a large crew (20 members + countless associates) spread over a fairly large geographic territory, with tendencies toward factionalism, leaders with legal/travel restrictions, plus other usual reasons we see acting captains used and it's not difficult to believe there may have been regularly need for an acting captain position. This would also add to the appearance of Montreal as its own "family".

Carmine Galante - Early 1950s to 1961
- Galante was barred from Montreal in the mid-late 1950s, but he (or his successor Notaro) continued to be official capodecina over Montreal membership until the beginning of the 1960s. Around 1961, the incarcerated Galante is believed to have been officially replaced as captain in NYC by Joe Notaro, while Vic Cotroni was made official capodecina of the Canada membership.

- If the Montreal group always had an acting captain to help manage activities, it's possible Vic Cotroni or Luigi Greco may have been an acting captain under Galante before 1961. In particular, the 4 or 5 year period between Galante leaving Canada and the Montreal crew formally becoming its own decina in 1961 would have necessitated someone being an acting captain in Montreal until Cotroni was made official captain. Cotroni is the leading candidate, I'd say.

Vic Cotroni - 1961 to 1980s
- Luigi Greco likely an acting captain or otherwise in a defacto leadership role under Cotroni in the 1960s. Possibly continued in some capacity until his late 1972 death.
- Paolo Violi becomes acting captain and defacto leader by the mid-1970s until his late 1970s death.
- I haven't seen exact confirmation of the year Cotroni stepped down, though I've seen both the early- and mid-1980s suggested.

Gerlando Sciascia - 1980s to 1999
- My guess is Sciascia was the Montreal captain by 1981, when he shows up in a leading role in the Bonanno family and his compaesani in Montreal gaining influence in Canada.
- Depending on when Giuseppe LoPresti was made, he could have become the acting captain and liaison to Montreal at any point in the 1980s. It seems unlikely he continued in this role in the period preceding his death given various issues surrounding him but who knows.
- As mentioned Ligammari and Montagna could have served as young, relatively unknown liaisons to Montreal and it could have been a contributing factor for their inductions, Montagna in particular.
- It goes without saying that Vito Rizzuto was a major influence on all of the group's Montreal and Canadian activities and held a defacto leadership role by the 1990s, but to the best of my knowledge he has only been formally identified as a soldier during this period and wasn't mentioned as an acting captain until Sciascia's death.

Nick Rizzuto - 1999/2001? - 200?
- Vito is identified as a defacto acting captain and believed to be true leader of Montreal. Though Vito Rizzuto may not have been formally designated as an acting captain prior to his incarceration, the understanding from Vitale was that Vito would be the one managing the decina regardless of politics.
- The idea is still very new that Nick Rizzuto may have become an official captain after Sciascia's death. Would be interesting to know if anyone was named acting captain during the period when both Rizzutos and other influential Montreal members were incarcerated in the 2000s, or if the structure in Montreal didn't require that any longer.
- I specifically didn't list Nick Rizzuto's death as the year he may have been "removed" as captain because of Sal Montagna's alleged meeting with him. As the highest-ranking Bonanno member at the time of his deportation, Montagna may have had authority to depose Rizzuto. Also, if the info from the Renaud book is correct, the Montagna/Rizzuto meeting was likely not just Montagna removing Rizzuto from "power" in the general sense, but stripping him of the official position he had within the Bonanno family, which according to the new Vitale info, was official capodecina of Montreal.

Sal Montagna? - 2009? to 2011
- If Montagna stripped Rizzuto of his title, as I'm theorizing, I assume Montagna would have taken it for himself unless he propped up an established Montreal figure like DiMaulo.
- We don't know enough about Montagna's activities in NYC 2006-2009 let alone his relationship to Montreal during that time, and all of that could impact the politics surrounding his initial arrival and moves in Montreal.

Vito Rizzuto? - 2011/2012?-2013
- Believed to have re-established some level of power and control, as evidenced by retaliation murders believed ordered by Rizzuto.
- Unknown if Rizzuto effectively gained stable control of the decina and its operations or if he and the Rizzuto faction were even operating in the orbit of the former "crew".
- His son and nephew, plus the son of Vito's close friend have been named as upcoming leaders in Montreal, which suggests that, despite issues, this group has maintained some degree of leadership or influence since Rizzuto's death.

If we want to go by "defacto" structure based solely on criminal relationships and intangibles like "power" and "influence", we can just use one of those online charts that list the Montreal group with a boss, underboss, consigliere, where every soldier is listed as a captain, but I'm just theorizing myself based on the most objective info I've come across related to Montreal. I may have easily missed something or otherwise made a mistake. My opinion is that, at this time, we don't have enough information to know what the true layout is in Toronto or Montreal.

[Homerthedog]

B. I think your last sentence sums it up correctly. I doubt even the Bonanno leadership had a real clue as to what was what in Montreal. Even law enforcement on both sides of the border didn't understand as the Canadians viewed the Rizzutos as a separate family while FBI still considered it a decina. You also touched on the fact that titles meant nothing up there and power was fluid or based on factions. The only thing clear is after Violi's murder the Rizzutos were in charge regardless who held the captaincy. Their power was based on family connections on both sides of the Atlantic and wasn't based on the Bonanno association.