OcSleeper wrote: ↑Sat Apr 20, 2024 5:26 am
Welcome to Canadian reporting Stubbs. Every group is a family and everyone is a boss.
It's a strange form of insecurity. They seem to need to believe Canada has its own version of "New Yorks Mafia", that's home grown? I dunno....
I told another poster....90% of the Canadian misinformation comes from the media and the cops.
If they described these groups as central reference points or (more simplified)...something like criminal hubs for a given area, without necessarily achieving or rather establishing a dominant position or pressence I would get it.
If you were to say.... Joey Amatos crew was a hub for activity on Statin Island, a central reference point, that's cool. If you say... The Amato Family.... thats cringe...lol
New 5-part article on Project Otremens with 3 parts already released. The remaining two will be released in the next two days and the link above will have all 5 articles. Use Archive.is to read.
Part one starts with Morena, who is from Salerno, contacting the RCMP from Italy in 2013. Then part 2 jumps to 2015 and his induction. Part 3 is about the the recordings discussing the Musitanos.
This excerpt comes from part two and it's not the first time Metelsky said this. IIRC, back on his first appearance of the Game of Crimes podcast, Metelsky said this same thing about Morena being "soldier" and then once inducted was a "capo." I think he just has his terminology wrong.
In the months leading up to the “making” ceremony, there was a lot of talk about the agent becoming “straightened out,” one of the many ways mobsters talk about being “made.” Up until then, he had been a street soldier, but he was to become a “caporegime,” or “capo.” The position is also referred to as “un amico nostro,” which means a “friend of ours” in Italian
OcSleeper wrote: ↑Thu Feb 06, 2025 11:48 am
This excerpt comes from part two and it's not the first time Metelsky said this. IIRC, back on his first appearance of the Game of Crimes podcast, Metelsky said this same thing about Morena being "soldier" and then once inducted was a "capo." I think he just has his terminology wrong.
In the months leading up to the “making” ceremony, there was a lot of talk about the agent becoming “straightened out,” one of the many ways mobsters talk about being “made.” Up until then, he had been a street soldier, but he was to become a “caporegime,” or “capo.” The position is also referred to as “un amico nostro,” which means a “friend of ours” in Italian
Thanks for sharing this. Think your analysis is correct. Metelsky's understanding cosa nostra seems unfortunately to be confused.
Am I correct in thinking Metelsky was the one who said he believed the Musitanos were made specifically because they were introduced to Rizzuto using the phrase "our friends"? I remember thinking that wording was vague enough to not be 100% convinced that it was a formal third-party member introduction.
'You don't go crucifying people outside a church; not on Good Friday.'
I believe "our friends from Hamilton" was the exact phrase overheard by RCMP officers at that 1997 meeting and the belief was it was an official introduction. He's also stated Musitano went missing after Papalia was killed and it's the RCMP's belief he was in Buffalo getting inducted.
Honk wrote: ↑Thu Feb 06, 2025 5:06 pm
Based on what we’ve all known forever - our friend is way different than my friend.
If someone isn’t made, they aren’t OUR FRIEND.
My point is it's not as clear cut as it would be if he said "a friend of ours" or "amico nostro". I still think there's room for error in just "our friends."
'You don't go crucifying people outside a church; not on Good Friday.'
^^^^
There are solid arguments that can be put forth that Guy Panepinto, who uttered “Our friends,” was not even made into the American LCN or any other Italian secret society.
Adrian Humphreys changed his mind about Panepinto over the years: made, not made.
Below are the titles of the previous 4 articles — so far I have only a link to Part 1; I’ll try to get links to the other 3 if and when they become available.
New 5-part article on Project Otremens with 3 parts already released. The remaining two will be released in the next two days and the link above will have all 5 articles. Use Archive.is to read.
Part one starts with Morena, who is from Salerno, contacting the RCMP from Italy in 2013. [snip]
My Evernote link to the Feb. 4, 2013 article that led Vincenzo Morena, upon reading the newspaper story, to contact then Acting RCMP Superintendent Keith Finn (Ret.) 30 days later:
Something interesting stuck out to me in Part 4 about Violi's 2017 promotion to underboss. The article notes that the process of selecting and appointing someone to the position had taken a year:
The interview process for the underboss job had been going on for a year, with Violi the only Canadian on a shortlist of dozens of mobsters. 'Joe' told Violi that he answered 'everything single thing to a T', Violi recounted to the agent.
This process isn't like applying for a real job; it's highly secretive and even those in the running for a Mob promotion aren't officially told what is going on until it happens. It's more about their standing in the organisation, how they face pressure and their reputation among underworld colleagues.
'He goes, "I told them, they all said you deserve it, and that's that." I was shocked.'
Leonard Falzone died on 12 November 2016, almost exactly a year before the above recorded conversation. I'd be surprised if that was a coincidence, especially considering law enforcement were still carrying Falzone as the boss up until his death:
The police evidence gathered during the three-year probe claim the organisation was being resuscitated as the last reputed boss, Leonard (The Calzone) Falzone, was ailing. He died in 2016.
So it would appear that Todaro Jr took over as boss upon Falzone's death and then took almost a year to decide to make Violi his underboss (and conferred with others before doing so).
'You don't go crucifying people outside a church; not on Good Friday.'
chin_gigante wrote: ↑Sat Feb 08, 2025 10:57 am
Something interesting stuck out to me in Part 4 about Violi's 2017 promotion to underboss. The article notes that the process of selecting and appointing someone to the position had taken a year:
The interview process for the underboss job had been going on for a year, with Violi the only Canadian on a shortlist of dozens of mobsters. 'Joe' told Violi that he answered 'everything single thing to a T', Violi recounted to the agent.
This process isn't like applying for a real job; it's highly secretive and even those in the running for a Mob promotion aren't officially told what is going on until it happens. It's more about their standing in the organisation, how they face pressure and their reputation among underworld colleagues.
'He goes, "I told them, they all said you deserve it, and that's that." I was shocked.'
Leonard Falzone died on 12 November 2016, almost exactly a year before the above recorded conversation. I'd be surprised if that was a coincidence, especially considering law enforcement were still carrying Falzone as the boss up until his death:
The police evidence gathered during the three-year probe claim the organisation was being resuscitated as the last reputed boss, Leonard (The Calzone) Falzone, was ailing. He died in 2016.
So it would appear that Todaro Jr took over as boss upon Falzone's death and then took almost a year to decide to make Violi his underboss (and conferred with others before doing so).
The only information I’m aware of about Falzone becoming boss is rooted in Mike Hudson’s Niagara Falls Reporter article from 2012 that references a FBI chart from 2006. A few years ago I asked for and received that 2006 chart and specifically mentioned this article in my FOIA request. It however showed Todaro Sr. as boss and Falzone as a soldier.
It would be interesting to know what information Humphrey’s used as a source for that statement.
Does anyone have another source for Falzone being made boss? I’ve requested more charts for subsequent years but haven’t received them yet.
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As recently as 2006, the federal government decided to revise the chart purporting to show the alleged hierarchy of the Buffalo mob, known variously as the Magaddino family, the Todaro family or, more simply, the Arm.
The reasoning behind the revision was that street scuttlebutt, shown time and again to often be wildly off the mark, was reporting a major change in the top ranks of the Buffalo crew.
Joe Todaro, Jr., reputed head of the family had reportedly stepped down in order to better concentrate on La Nova Pizza, the actual Todaro family business.
In trattorias and ristorantes from Batavia to St. Catherines, the old-timers and the wannabes and the never-were’s speculated that Leonard Falzone, who the FBI claimed had been serving as consigliere to the Arm, was now acting boss and that Sonny Nicoletti, formerly one of four family capos and in charge of Niagara Falls, had been promoted to underboss.
If the resulting 2006 FBI chart was correct, the Buffalo crew appeared to be a little top heavy. A boss and underboss, a consigliere, and four capos are shown to be presiding over a crew of just 16 “soldiers,” made guys who presumably do most of the heavy lifting.
Very good detail on it taking a year to appoint a new underboss and the timeline lining up with Falzone's death. Would suggest Falzone may have been underboss or, as you said, that Falzone had been boss and either Todaro shifted from underboss to boss (leaving the underboss spot open) or a similar reorganization of the admin took place.
I agree Metelsky's interpretations are questionable, an issue in general with Canadian LE, though given our general lack of insight I'm very open to his interpretations too. I do personally believe the Musitanos were Buffalo affiliates for many reasons, one being that Joe Violi told Morena the Musitanos would have needed Todaro's approval for a murder in Ontario. It doesn't seem there is any hard evidence Pat Musitano was made in 1997 around the time of Papalia's murder but it would be a logical time for an induction to take place and I'm curious if there was any circumstantial evidence suggesting Musitano rose in stature after that point.
The Rizzuto/Panepinto interaction is very speculative and I'd be interested in knowing the exact wording as we know that is crucial.
