Francesco Arcadi - Montreal Mafia

[JerryB]

Influential Montreal Mafia leader to be released soon
Paul Cherry, Montreal Gazette
February 12, 2016


One of the most influential leaders in the Mafia in Montreal was hoping to soon live the life of a simple retired gardener when he is released from a federal penitentiary but has been ordered instead to reside at a halfway house for the next three years.

Francesco Arcadi, 62, received one of the lengthiest sentences in Project Colisée, the lengthy RCMP-led investigation that produced the arrests, in 2006, of six men who formed a committee that ran the Rizzuto organization after Vito Rizzuto was arrested, in 2003, and was eventually extradited to the U.S. on a charge he took part in the murders of three mobsters in Brooklyn in 1981.

The committee included Rizzuto’s father Nicolo and his brother-in-law Paolo Renda (Vito Rizzuto died of natural causes in 2013, Renda disappeared in 2010 and Nicolo Rizzuto was killed later the same year). The Colisée investigation revealed that Arcadi operated as a street boss, handling matters that involved drug trafficking, cocaine smuggling and shipping marijuana to the U.S. When he pleaded guilty, in 2008, to conspiracy to import and export drugs, committing a crime for the profit of a criminal organization and possession of the proceeds of crime, he was left with an 11-year prison term. Arcadi was never granted parole and therefore will automatically qualify for a release when he reaches the two-thirds mark of his sentence.

The Parole Board of Canada is limited to imposing conditions on the release if they deem them necessary. In a decision made on Friday, the parole board ordered that Arcadi reside at a halfway house until his sentence expires in 2019. It is one of the toughest conditions the parole board can impose on an inmate in this situation. He is also not allowed to meet or communicate with people involved in criminal activities.

According to a written summary of the decision made on Friday, life behind bars has changed little for Arcadi.

“You were closed off and followed the law of Omerta (the Mafia’s code of silence) without opening up about your past or current life (and) while never showing concrete action or any desire to change your criminal way of life,” the author of the summary wrote. The document also notes that Arcadi appeared to enjoy the same influence among his peers while behind bars as he did when he ran the Rizzuto organization from a café in St-Léonard.

Arcadi told the parole board he wanted to retire to a simple life where he would “manage a garden, raise animals and spend the rest of your time with your family.” But the parole determined some form of control has to be maintained on Arcadi for the rest of his sentence. The decision makes reference to how two other men described only as “accomplices” were recently released and that the police allege this has “already had important repercussions in the criminal milieu and that a notable instability has been observed.” It is an apparent reference to two other men — Francesco Del Balso and Lorenzo Giordano — who formed the committee with Arcadi. Giordano was released in December and Del Balso received a decision on his upcoming statutory release on Monday
http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-n ... eased-soon

[JerryB]

Francesco Arcadi, the man police consider Vito Rizzuto's replacement in the Canadian Mafia, was among the organized crime figures arrested in an early morning roundup Wednesday November 22, 2006 in Montreal.

[Dwalin2014]

he was left with an 11-year prison term. Arcadi was never granted parole and therefore will automatically qualify for a release when he reaches the two-thirds mark of his sentence.

I don't get it, if he gets released automatically after 2/3 of the sentence, why do they call it an 11-year sentence and not a 7-year or 8-year one (don't know how many months and days will 2/3 from 11 years make exactly)?

[dixiemafia]

He has to stay in a halfway house for 3 years. Can't associate with his guys in that time either.

Will be interesting to see what side of the fence he is on with the Rizzuto's. I'm still not sold he is out of favor with them, and if he isn't the supposed "killers" of Sollecito/Rizzuto just lost their chance to take over because Arcadi does still wield some power in Montreal.