Montreal war biggest example of how the lcn has fallen?

[toto]

I don't think we still know the full story of the Toronto and Gambino involvement. My guess is once he came back Toronto and Gambino decided to back him whereas before they had given a kind of green light to anybody who wanted to grab whatever they wanted.

[Dwalin2014]

Still, Di Maulo not taking precautions, not buying an armored car, not surrounding himself with bodyguards, not going on the lam etc. What he thought Vito would have done once he was back? Did Di Maulo hope to negotiate? How stupid of him if that was the case, after the massacre he did his only hope was to kill Vito, backed up by Toronto and New York or not in my opinion.

[Lupara]

I don't think we still know the full story of the Toronto and Gambino involvement. My guess is once he came back Toronto and Gambino decided to back him whereas before they had given a kind of green light to anybody who wanted to grab whatever they wanted.

Pretty much what I think what happened. The coup ended when Montagna was killed and the people involved were not able to bring all the factions together under one banner. Only Vito Rizzuto had shown to be able to do that and so the New York families and perhaps some factions of the 'ndrangheta had no choice other than to support him. I think Vito got carte blanche to do whatever he had to do (including revenge) to restore order.

[Lupara]

Still, Di Maulo not taking precautions, not buying an armored car, not surrounding himself with bodyguards, not going on the lam etc. What he thought Vito would have done once he was back? Did Di Maulo hope to negotiate? How stupid of him if that was the case, after the massacre he did his only hope was to kill Vito, backed up by Toronto and New York or not in my opinion.

I think Di Maulo had seen the wind changing and simply accepted his fate. I can admire that and I think a lot of people probably did.

[Dwalin2014]

Still, Di Maulo not taking precautions, not buying an armored car, not surrounding himself with bodyguards, not going on the lam etc. What he thought Vito would have done once he was back? Did Di Maulo hope to negotiate? How stupid of him if that was the case, after the massacre he did his only hope was to kill Vito, backed up by Toronto and New York or not in my opinion.

I think Di Maulo had seen the wind changing and simply accepted his fate. I can admire that and I think a lot of people probably did.

Still, that's a strange sudden change of behavior. First, he starts a real massacre, people are dropping like flies, and then he simply "accepts his fate" and doesn't want to at least take a major number of enemies with him before going down himself? The mind of a mafioso is really a mystery...

[Lupara]

Still, Di Maulo not taking precautions, not buying an armored car, not surrounding himself with bodyguards, not going on the lam etc. What he thought Vito would have done once he was back? Did Di Maulo hope to negotiate? How stupid of him if that was the case, after the massacre he did his only hope was to kill Vito, backed up by Toronto and New York or not in my opinion.

I think Di Maulo had seen the wind changing and simply accepted his fate. I can admire that and I think a lot of people probably did.

Still, that's a strange sudden change of behavior. First, he starts a real massacre, people are dropping like flies, and then he simply "accepts his fate" and doesn't want to at least take a major number of enemies with him before going down himself? The mind of a mafioso is really a mystery...

I don't know why you think that it was Di Maulo who was behind that. Even after years there's little evidence of that. Based on all the information so far Montagna and his Calabrian allies are considered the prime suspects behind those killings, with some support from people such as Di Maulo, Desjardins and De Vito.

[Dwalin2014]

I don't know why you think that it was Di Maulo who was behind that.

I am not sure of that at all, that was my impression of what seemed to be people were thinking when discussing the war. Everybody was saying that the ringleader couldn't be Desjardins because he isn't a made man and Montagna wasn't really considered a "mastemind" able to pull that on his own. I mean, most posters (if I remember well) said Di Maulo was the one with most charisma and connections.
But the Calabrians, who exactly? The relatives of Paolo Violi?

[Lupara]

I suggest you read Business or Blood by Edwards and Nicaso. It's the most recent book about the conflict and it answers a lot of your questions. The sons of Paolo Violi seemed to have played some part in it, but there were other, more important players as well.

[johnny_scootch]

The sons of Paolo Violi.....are they members of American Cosa Nostra like their father or are they part of the Canadian Ndrangheta?

[B.]

Montagna definitely wasn't some random New Yorker who got dropped off in Montreal. Aside from being born there, the Montagnas have family ties there and I learned that the Montagna brothers were fans of Montreal sports teams. I don't know if Sal Montagna was familiar with the Bonanno members in Canada before he was deported, but it's possible he visited Montreal and met them many years earlier. He was supposed to have been close with Baldo Amato who was a close friend of the Montreal Sicilians and in particular George Sciascia. Montagna, being both a "zip" and part of the Bronx crew, could have known Sciascia himself. I don't believe we know the full story of Montagna's connections to Montreal. Whether those connections related at all to what ended up happening is another question.

[Giacomo_Vacari]

Montagna met Sciascia and through him he was introduced to Dominic and Gallo both top guys in Montreal at the time, this was in the 90s. This meeting supposedly took place somewhere in upstate New York.

[B.]

Montagna met Sciascia and through him he was introduced to Dominic and Gallo both top guys in Montreal at the time, this was in the 90s. This meeting supposedly took place somewhere in upstate New York.

Where did you learn that? My assumption is that something similar happened, but I'm curious where you got the info.

[B.]

Also something that doesn't get mentioned is that Salvatore Montagna is related to the DiMarias, which is a family that has longstanding ties to Castellammare and the Bonanno family. I don't know if there is any relation to current Bonanno member Mike DiMaria or earlier DiMarias who were members in the US.

Some years ago I tried to ask Felice for more info about the DiMarias who emigrated from Castellammare and are currently living in NYC but he didn't want to say anything that hasn't been released publicly. If the Montagnas are related to the same DiMarias, it would be significant info.

[Giacomo_Vacari]

B. That information is in Domenico Manno Florida trial. George from Canada had brought Salvatore along with him to see what Montreal thought about him. It was stricken from the record as hear say, as the witness was not present during this meeting, and charges against both George and Gallo were dropped, but they could still get Sciascia on other counts later on, in an on going investigation.

[B.]

B. That information is in Domenico Manno Florida trial. George from Canada had brought Salvatore along with him to see what Montreal thought about him. It was stricken from the record as hear say, as the witness was not present during this meeting, and charges against both George and Gallo were dropped, but they could still get Sciascia on other counts later on, in an on going investigation.

Thanks for the specifics, that's some pretty telling information. It would have been unlikely that he had zero contact with the Montreal crew before he was deported.

If I'm remembering right, Montagna's name, or at least references to "Sal the Zip", had been overheard in wiretaps at the upper levels of the Bonanno family in the years before the big bust. I'm not sure if that's true but I did read something like that around the time he was first confirmed to be the acting boss in NY. He was associated with the Bronx DeFilippo crew (which coincidentally has its own ties to Montreal) but lived on Long Island and had his business in Bushwick, which along with Ridgewood and Middle Village has long been a key spot for Sicilian Bonannos and their descendents.

You couldn't come up with a more fitting young Bonanno leader in the 21st century... a Castellammarese from Montreal who grew up in Sicily, then moved to NYC where he ran a business in Bushwick and got promoted at a young age. It's like someone made it all up.