Montreal Mafia status - Post Rizzuto Era

[antimafia]

The article shared above states that Raynald Desjardins will be released from prison at the end of April. Will be interesting to see how things play out over the coming months.

damm already? seems like the other day he was picked up

Dapper_Don:

I've assumed that the blog post at http://www.fivefamiliesnyc.com/2011/02/ ... tstur.html was posted by you, given you own the site. Below is part of the post, and I want to ask when you added Vincenzo Morena's name, given the post is dated March 9, 2012 -- I suspect you added Morena's name on or after November 16, 2017 but I'm curious because there's an Internet rumour that Morena was an informant in the early 2000s. Thanks in advance.

List of NY Mafia Rats/Snitches/Informants/Turncoats
March 09, 2012 Dapper_Don

Bonanno Crime Family - 18 Members who have Flipped

Genoroso “Jimmy the General” Barbieri - Soldier/Former Acting Capo
Joseph "Jersey Joe/Joe the Rat" Bonanno - Soldier/Acting Capo
Paul Cantarella - Soldier
Richard "Shellackhead" Cantarella - Capo/Acting Underboss
Dominick Cicale - Soldier/Acting Capo
Frank Coppa - Capo
Joseph "Joey Mook" D'Amico - Soldier
Frank "Curly" Lino - Capo
Michael “Sonny” Maggio - Soldier
Joseph "Big Joey/The Ear" Massino - Boss
Nicholas “P.J.” Pisciotti - Soldier/Acting Capo
James "Jimmy Tag/Big Lou" Tartaglione - Capo
Salvatore "The Chief/Good Looking Sal" Vitale - Underboss
William Dara - Soldier (Dead)
Peter Rosa - Soldier
Peter "Petey Bullsh*t" Lovaglio - Capo
Vincenzo “Enzo” Morena - Soldier
Thomas "Sharkey/Tommy Fish" Carrube - Soldier

[johnny_scootch]

I suspect you added Morena's name on or after November 16, 2017 but I'm curious because there's an Internet rumour that Morena was an informant in the early 2000s. Thanks in advance.

He must have added names because Tommy Carrube didn't flip until 2017, he's right there with Morena.

[Laurentian]

Une troupe itinérante de fraudeurs dirigée de Montréal

https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/just ... ntreal.php

[Dapper_Don]

I added the names as time went on

[Wiseguy]

Im not up to date here. Is Montreal still considered a Bonanno Crew after Sal was hit up there?

It doesn't appear so. We all know what Vitale said about the breakoff post-Sciascia. Even if one goes with the Cicale version of events, and the split didn't happen as immediately as thought, Massino's defection seems to have done it. Nick Rizzuto essentially tells Montagna he doesn't recognize him as his boss. And the fact the former acting boss of the Bonanno family sided with a rebel group attempting a coup against the Rizzutos should tell you all you need to know.

Beyond that, in 2013 the U.S. Justice Department referred to Allesandro Taloni as an "associate of the Montreal-based Rizzuto organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra" and part of a drug distribution organization "affiliated with the Rizzuto and Bonanno crime families." In 2014, the DEA referred to Jimmy Cournoyer a "Canadian drug kingpin with ties to the Rizzuto and Bonanno Crime Families."  

Lastly, every known Bonanno Montreal crew member I can think of is dead. I'd be surprised if anyone can name a single verified living member at this point.

There are still connections along business lines but that shouldn't be confused with a formal ties within the same organization.

[Rocco]

Im not up to date here. Is Montreal still considered a Bonanno Crew after Sal was hit up there?

It doesn't appear so. We all know what Vitale said about the breakoff post-Sciascia. Even if one goes with the Cicale version of events, and the split didn't happen as immediately as thought, Massino's defection seems to have done it. Nick Rizzuto essentially tells Montagna he doesn't recognize him as his boss. And the fact the former acting boss of the Bonanno family sided with a rebel group attempting a coup against the Rizzutos should tell you all you need to know.

Beyond that, in 2013 the U.S. Justice Department referred to Allesandro Taloni as an "associate of the Montreal-based Rizzuto organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra" and part of a drug distribution organization "affiliated with the Rizzuto and Bonanno crime families." In 2014, the DEA referred to Jimmy Cournoyer a "Canadian drug kingpin with ties to the Rizzuto and Bonanno Crime Families."  

Lastly, every known Bonanno Montreal crew member I can think of is dead. I'd be surprised if anyone can name a single verified living member at this point.

There are still connections along business lines but that shouldn't be confused with a formal ties within the same organization.

Thanks. yeah Montagna showing up telling Nick Jr hes in charge..and Nick telling him to go scratch kinda says it all. lol And Massino the Boss flipping weakens the family as a whole. The Boss flipping tells every other member they can do the same as well when push comes to shove...

[stubbs]

Im not up to date here. Is Montreal still considered a Bonanno Crew after Sal was hit up there?

It doesn't appear so. We all know what Vitale said about the breakoff post-Sciascia. Even if one goes with the Cicale version of events, and the split didn't happen as immediately as thought, Massino's defection seems to have done it. Nick Rizzuto essentially tells Montagna he doesn't recognize him as his boss. And the fact the former acting boss of the Bonanno family sided with a rebel group attempting a coup against the Rizzutos should tell you all you need to know.

Beyond that, in 2013 the U.S. Justice Department referred to Allesandro Taloni as an "associate of the Montreal-based Rizzuto organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra" and part of a drug distribution organization "affiliated with the Rizzuto and Bonanno crime families." In 2014, the DEA referred to Jimmy Cournoyer a "Canadian drug kingpin with ties to the Rizzuto and Bonanno Crime Families."  

Lastly, every known Bonanno Montreal crew member I can think of is dead. I'd be surprised if anyone can name a single verified living member at this point.

There are still connections along business lines but that shouldn't be confused with a formal ties within the same organization.

Thanks. yeah Montagna showing up telling Nick Jr hes in charge..and Nick telling him to go scratch kinda says it all. lol And Massino the Boss flipping weakens the family as a whole. The Boss flipping tells every other member they can do the same as well when push comes to shove...

It was Nick Sr he spoke to, if I remember correctly.

[B.]

Points to consider, re: Montreal's affiliation:

- Nick Rizzuto challenged the leadership decades ago as well and they killed the acting captain Paolo Violi who was also the heir apparent. The crew remained Bonanno members. We don't know the exact details of Montagna and Rizzuto's disagreement -- Rizzuto refused to allow Montagna to take control, that's for sure, but how that corresponds to wider Bonanno affiliation is unclear.

- FBI reports from the mid-1960s discuss how the Montreal decina operated autonomously and in 1968 emissaries visited Joe Zicarelli and wanted the Montreal decina to break off, but he convinced them otherwise. When Mickey Zaffarano visited them in the 1970s, he told Violi that Montreal was too independent and needed to be in closer communication with NYC.

- While Montagna went to war with the Rizzuto faction, there were Montreal Bonanno members on his side as well. The Montreal war can't be framed as "Bonanno" vs. "Rizzuto", but a conflict between Bonanno members that included other organized crime figures on each side. We don't know if the goal of the Rizzuto faction was to denounce Bonanno membership entirely or simply to maintain power while retaining their Bonanno membership.

- We lack significant inside information on who exactly has or had Bonanno membership in Montreal, with only a handful ever being confirmed in any era.

- Frank Cotroni Sr. appeared as a member being replaced on a Bonanno induction list following Cotroni's 2004 death. This indicates communication was still ongoing between Montreal and NYC. It also lends itself to Cicale's info via Baldo Amato about NYC demanding higher Christmas tribute, which they reluctantly gave to liaison Sal Montagna. This would have occurred ~2005.

- While Sal Vitale felt Vito Rizzuto was cold regarding the Sciascia murder and refused to accept a promotion to official capodecina, Rizzuto did not say anything about formally breaking off, and in fact suggested his father Nick take the position of official capodecina. This suggests Rizzuto was not intersted in outright denouncing Bonanno affiliation. The Montreal decina held a banquet for Vitale that included the entire Montreal membership and he was chaffeured around Montreal by Bonanno member Joe DiMaulo, who would later side with Sal Montagna.

- It is fair to say that Vitale received mixed messages, but his impression that Montreal was formally breaking off was his own intuitive feeling, not something substantiated by hard evidence. While Vitale was used by Massino during this period as a representative of the Bonanno leadership in meetings with other NYC leaders as well as Montreal, he was admittedly kept out of Massino's inner circle by this time and his knowledge of high-level affairs was limited. His perspective is important, but it conflicts with other information and his experience in Montreal shows as much deference to the Bonanno faily as it does a "cooling off."

--

The details from Project Otremens on Montreal haven't been made clear, but what has come out so far suggests there remains a Bonanno connection of some kind to Montreal.

- The sergeant who supervised Project Otremens recently identified Montreal's affiliation as "NYC" on his list that identified Hamilton as "Buffalo" and Toronto as "'ndrangheta." He didn't elaborate much on Montreal, but said Bonanno member Vincenzo Morena had existing mob ties there in addition to Hamilton. Morena was apparently in Montreal prior to his cooperation with Otremens.

- Following Morena's induction into the Bonanno family, Domenico Violi told him the earlier issues there were over and offered to introduce him to three well-known Montreal mafia figures, at least one of which is believed (but not confirmed) to have been inducted as a Bonanno member, and another being the son of a previous Bonanno soldier and nephew of the historic capodecina. We don't know if Violi implied making a formal introduction as "amico nostra," but if nothing else it indicates that the non-Sicilian faction in Montreal is amiable to the Bonanno family given Violi's offer to introduce Morena, a member of a Bonanno NYC decina, to three prominent Montreal mafia figures.

- Joe Violi's option of joining the Bonanno family was apparently independent of Morena's induction into the Bonanno family. It is possible if not likely that Joe Violi was offered induction into the Bonanno Montreal decina, where friends of his deceased father still lived. It is unlikely Joe Violi was offered membership by the NYC Bonanno element, who inducted Morena seemingly through his history as a Bonanno associate in the 1990s.

--

- In Scoppa's book, his knowledge of formal mafia affairs appears to be vague, suggesting he was not a formally made member of any group. He does, however, refer to a comment from Stefano Sollecito in 2015 about them recently establishing their own "family."

- If the Rizzuto faction did formally break off and receive recognition as their own mafia family, it does not necessarily rule out the possibility that other mafia figures in Montreal have retained Bonanno membership.

- From what has come out of Otremens, Violi did not mention Montreal becoming its own family, but we are still missing too much from that investigation. If the three Montreal mafia figures he referred to were now recognized as part of an official Montreal family, it would indicate the Bonannos provided some degree of approval again given his willingness to introduce an NYC-sponsored Bonanno member to them.

--

Precedent shows the Montreal decina operating independently of NYC and even attempting to back away from the Bonanno family while ultimately retaining their membership in the family over decades, including after conflicts much more severe than the Sciascia murder. For example, the Cotroni leadership sided with Joe Bonanno and remained friendly/loyal to him long after he was deposed, even attempting to break off mid-way through this process.

In the same way the Hamilton group was revealed to still be formally affiliated with Buffalo (something we would have never known without Morena's cooperation), we can't rule out a similar possibility in Montreal. We can be confident that Cosa Nostra membership and recognition is still valuable to Italian and Sicilian figures in Montreal, especially those who were previously inducted into the Bonanno family, so whatever the arrangement is, it is unlikely they made a decision that would devalue their Cosa Nostra membership.

[antimafia]

The list below is of Montreal crew members, i.e., made Bonannos, who I think were present on the two occasions when Sal Vitale travelled to Montreal after Gerlando Sciascia was murdered in March 1998. I am missing two names if what Vito Rizzuto allegedly told Sal Vitale is true -- with Sciascia dead, Rizzuto stood with 19 men [i.e., 20 made men in Montreal].

The list was not hard for me to put together -- lots of people could come up with a similar list -- and my list of course relies on 1) what little confirmed information there is about when individuals in the Montreal area were made, and 2) law-enforcement intelligence that has been reported in books and articles. Please feel free to suggest corrections.

1. Nick Rizzuto Sr. (murdered)
2. Vito Rizzuto (deceased)
3. Paolo Renda (kidnapped; presumed murdered)
4. Joe Di Maulo (murdered)
5. Domenico Arcuri Sr. (died in a bizarre accident)
6. Frank Cotroni Sr. (deceased)
7. Frank Cotroni Jr.
8. Francesco Arcadi
9. Rocco Sollecito (murdered)
10. Romeo Bucci
11. Moreno Gallo (murdered)
12. Tony Mucci
13. Alfonso Gagliano (deceased)
14. Agostino Cuntrera (murdered)
15. Tony Van(n)elli
16. Paolo Gervasi (murdered)
17. Giuseppe Renda (kidnapped; presumed murdered)
18. Antonio Pietrantonio

Notes:

1. I double checked to see whether there has ever been any concrete evidence that Tony Volpato was considered made -- in the past I have argued or asserted that he was -- but I came up short. So I didn't put him on the list.

2. The book that Maria Mourani wrote about Milena Di Maulo's life as both the daughter and wife of mafiosi never indicates if and when Milena's former husband, Frank Cotroni Jr., was made, only that he got involved in organized crime at age 17.

3. I have no idea how Romeo Bucci is related to the well-known Montreal Mafia figure who disappeared in the 1970s, but former poster JD shared information on here many years ago -- an image -- of a list of proposed members that was passed around in New York in 1997, and a Romeo Bucci was on that list. So I don't even know whether this Romeo Bucci is still alive. If he is, the number of made Bonannos in Montreal may be as high as six if my list is accurate. If my list isn't, the number could be higher or lower, but in my opinion, the number is on the lower side.

4. While Alfonso Gagliano was still alive, I was reluctant to ever post or tweet that he was even suspected of being a made member of the mafia. There are Gaglianos and Sciaras today who figure prominently in the mafia group in Siculiana. Oreste Pagano told the RCMP in a September 21, 1999 interview that he and Alfonso Caruana had talked about "a person who was going into the Canadian government and was from the same village as Alfonso. From Siculiana." So I wonder whether Gagliano was made in Siculiana and transferred to the Bonanno crew in Montreal, which may or may not be what Agostino Cuntrera did.

5. I don't know of any evidence that Domenico Manno was a made Bonanno. Regardless he was still in prison when Vitale visited Montreal.

[B.]

Frank Lino is the one who provided info on the NYC side that indicated Gagliano was made. I discovered Gagliano also had a relationship of some kind to DeCavalcante members in Elizabeth. The two men I'm referring to are from Ribera, so the Agrigento connection comes in.

[OcSleeper]

Wasn't Del Peschio assumed to be made?

[B.]

We also have to wonder about members in Ontario and NYC.

Sciascia was based in the Bronx and I wonder if the Bronx-based Giuseppe Arcuri reported to him before the murder.

Dom Cicale said Sal Montagna was called to meet with the Bonanno leadership (as was Basciano) to feel him out after Sciascia's murder and placed with the DeFilippo crew to keep an eye on him. Montagna has never been identified in the post-1999 inductions that I know of and is identified as a member by the early 2000s. Didn't Daniel Renaud suggest he was already made when Sciascia was killed, or am I misremembering? Sciascia had previously proposed the young Pietro Ligammari for membership to serve as a liaison to his father, so I've wondered if Sciascia similarly inducted Montagna as a liaison to Montreal, a duty Cicale said Montagna held in the mid-2000s. If Montagna was a made member and an earlier liaison, the question would be why he didn't accompany Vitale unless they didn't want to send a Sciascia loyalist.

[CabriniGreen]

- In Scoppa's book, his knowledge of formal mafia affairs appears to be vague, suggesting he was not a formally made member of any group. He does, however, refer to a comment from Stefano Sollecito in 2015 about them recently establishing their own "family."




Actually I would say Scoppa was vague with his knowledge of the mafia.....


- CHAPTER 16 THE SOURCE

Over the years, I've learned that Andrew is talking to a pool of at least five police officers, maybe more.

He would give them useful information for them to go see their boss by saying, "You don't know what I knew?" You can also think of him as "giving" a couple of kilos of drugs every now and then saying, "Go grab a kilo there, another there", to be patient and to be an informant who gives results.

Perhaps also to try to extract information from them in the process. With the idea of ​​becoming so indispensable for these police officers that if they have to investigate his competitors or him, they will choose his competitors.

Because he talks.


It's not that his info is bad. Remember, he knew the details of Nick Sr's hit. But he was deliberately vague about it. The authors say he does this a lot, especially with the Spagnolo murder. It's like a strategy with the guy, hes like a Scarpa type. Hes very selective and duplicitous about WHAT he tells them....


Theres also this curious statement........




On May 27, 2016, another informant claimed that “Andrea Scoppa and her brother Salvatore Scoppa have been approved by the Mafia in Toronto and the Mafia in Italy [and] are to this day in charge of the Montreal Mafia. They are the decision makers ”


One, who is the mafia of Toronto? Two, WHAT mafia in Italy recognized them, or " approved"? Three, what exactly does approval mean? Four, could they be recognized as mafiosi without being made? Five, does Montreal control the Toronto people, or is it the other way around?

[motorfab]

The list below is of Montreal crew members, i.e., made Bonannos, who I think were present on the two occasions when Sal Vitale travelled to Montreal after Gerlando Sciascia was murdered in March 1998. I am missing two names if what Vito Rizzuto allegedly told Sal Vitale is true -- with Sciascia dead, Rizzuto stood with 19 men [i.e., 20 made men in Montreal].

The list was not hard for me to put together -- lots of people could come up with a similar list -- and my list of course relies on 1) what little confirmed information there is about when individuals in the Montreal area were made, and 2) law-enforcement intelligence that has been reported in books and articles. Please feel free to suggest corrections.

1. Nick Rizzuto Sr. (murdered)
2. Vito Rizzuto (deceased)
3. Paolo Renda (kidnapped; presumed murdered)
4. Joe Di Maulo (murdered)
5. Domenico Arcuri Sr. (died in a bizarre accident)
6. Frank Cotroni Sr. (deceased)
7. Frank Cotroni Jr.
8. Francesco Arcadi
9. Rocco Sollecito (murdered)
10. Romeo Bucci
11. Moreno Gallo (murdered)
12. Tony Mucci
13. Alfonso Gagliano (deceased)
14. Agostino Cuntrera (murdered)
15. Tony Van(n)elli
16. Paolo Gervasi (murdered)
17. Giuseppe Renda (kidnapped; presumed murdered)
18. Antonio Pietrantonio

I come more or less to the same list as you, with a few differences:

-I think you can add Valentino Morielli (deceased in 2014) who served as liaison between NY & Montreal since the murder of Lo Presti in 1992

-I don't think Agostino Cuntrera was made with the Bonannos, I think he was made with Siculiana. Unless he was made on both sides. The same goes for Manno, who I consider to be a Cattolica Eraclea made man. I don't pretend to be right, but that's what I think

-I think like you that Volpato was made considering that he was close to Frank Cotroni & Vito Rizzuto and taking into account his seniority.

-I think Vincenzo Di Maulo & Domenico Tozzi (died in 2019, but for him I will not swear on his membership), were also strong candidates ...

-My question may seem silly to you, but I want to be sure I understood correctly (my English being what he is ...): There would have been two Romeo Buccis?

[motorfab]

One, who is the mafia of Toronto? Two, WHAT mafia in Italy recognized them, or " approved"? Three, what exactly does approval mean? Four, could they be recognized as mafiosi without being made? Five, does Montreal control the Toronto people, or is it the other way around?

1- I suppose the Siderno group
2- I suppose the Provincial Commission (or Cupola)
3- I guess that means they consider Montreal to be a full-fledged cosca
4- Montreal has its own way of doing things with high ranking non-members (examples back in the days : Stepanoff, Desjardins, Deschêsnes or Fernandez), of which I would say yes
5- The Rizzutos have (or had) a few men in Toronto