Arrests in NY, induction ceremony taped

[John W]

I’m lost, where does it actually say the Violi’s were present at the Bonanno family induction carried out by Damiano Zummo?

[antimafia]

^^^^
On p. 4 of the PDF of the article:

For example, Project OTremens court filings detail how an undercover agent became a member of
the Bonanno family, with law enforcement recording the induction ceremony and the agent later
introducing others to the Bonanno group. The initiation occurred in Canada, in the presence of
Domenico and Giuseppe Violi, two Calabrian mafia figures from Hamilton, Ontario, whose father
Paolo Violi was killed in 1978 by the rival Rizzuto crime family, the ‘Sixth Family’ of New York that
ran business in Quebec.

[John W]

^^^^
On p. 4 of the PDF of the article:

For example, Project OTremens court filings detail how an undercover agent became a member of
the Bonanno family, with law enforcement recording the induction ceremony and the agent later
introducing others to the Bonanno group. The initiation occurred in Canada, in the presence of
Domenico and Giuseppe Violi, two Calabrian mafia figures from Hamilton, Ontario, whose father
Paolo Violi was killed in 1978 by the rival Rizzuto crime family, the ‘Sixth Family’ of New York that
ran business in Quebec.

Thanks for that I must have missed it, that’s massive news, maybe they were allowed to attend because they are official members of American LCN (Buffalo) and maybe because the initiation happened in Canada they were allowed to attend.

Where in the UK are you going?

[B.]

Transfer wouldn't be out of the question, especially since we've seen some info recently that points to the possible transfer of at least one made member from the Lucchese family to the Philly family (not that these groups are following each others' lead on something like that, but it shows that it might be happening), plus we know from Paolo Violi tapes that the Montreal crew has historically allowed transfers. If there is any truth to the Buffalo family being officially inactive or dissolved (would need a lot more info to confirm this), it's possible the Bonannos absorbed them but I'm hesitant to believe that.

I wouldn't rule out the possibility that the Violis were inducted into the Bonanno family by Montagna, either. Given how aggressive he was literally in terms of violence and attempts at re-organization, it's entirely possible he also recruited some new (old) faces into the organization, especially given that the Violis would have been sympathetic to his anti-Rizzuto cause. At the time Montagna was deported, I don't believe Mancuso had been confirmed as official boss which would have made Montagna the highest ranking Bonanno member and this could have factored into his logic toward Montreal -- i.e. he could induct whoever he wanted.

I was reading an old Adrian Humphreys article from the time of Montagna's deportation in 2009 and he mentions that Montagna had a brother living in Montreal and that his parents regularly visited Montreal. It's well-known that Montagna was born in Montreal and the family moved back to Castellammare when he was young, but Humphreys also says that the Montagnas continued to bounce back and forth between Montreal and Sicily during Montagna's youth, finally settling in NYC via Canada when Montagna was 15. When I was doing some social media sleuthing I had seen Montagna's NYC-based brother's FB page and saw that he was a fan of the Montreal Expos, so there seems to have been an attachment to Montreal. I'd be curious when the other brother settled in Montreal.

Combine this with Cicale's information about Montagna likely being a member in his 20s with Gerlando Sciascia's crew and his hearing from Baldo Amato that Montagna was serving as a go-between with Montreal in the mid-2000s, and it starts to look like Montagna was very familiar with the Montreal group before his deportation. Sciascia was banned from Canada and had previously used Giuseppe LoPresti as his acting captain and liaison with Montreal before his early 90s murder; it's worth speculating that Sciascia may have been using a certain young Canadian citizen with a clean record who grew up in Montreal/Sicily as the go-between by the late 90s -- hopefully some more info eventually surfaces on this.

[Lupara]

Excellent analysis!

Verstuurd vanaf mijn H3113 met Tapatalk

[gohnjotti]

If there is any truth to the Buffalo family being officially inactive or dissolved (would need a lot more info to confirm this), it's possible the Bonannos absorbed them but I'm hesitant to believe that.

The FBI's Buffalo office, numerous federal and state agents, federal prosecutors, Ron Fino, are among the many who have said that the Buffalo Mafia is extinct. http://buffalonews.com/2017/03/19/fbi-s ... perations/

[B.]

If there is any truth to the Buffalo family being officially inactive or dissolved (would need a lot more info to confirm this), it's possible the Bonannos absorbed them but I'm hesitant to believe that.

The FBI's Buffalo office, numerous federal and state agents, federal prosecutors, Ron Fino, are among the many who have said that the Buffalo Mafia is extinct. http://buffalonews.com/2017/03/19/fbi-s ... perations/

If true, then members and/or associates being absorbed by other groups is a possibility. I tend to favor member sources or wiretaps of members for confirmation, but can't rule anything out.

[gohnjotti]

If there is any truth to the Buffalo family being officially inactive or dissolved (would need a lot more info to confirm this), it's possible the Bonannos absorbed them but I'm hesitant to believe that.

The FBI's Buffalo office, numerous federal and state agents, federal prosecutors, Ron Fino, are among the many who have said that the Buffalo Mafia is extinct. http://buffalonews.com/2017/03/19/fbi-s ... perations/

If true, then members and/or associates being absorbed by other groups is a possibility. I tend to favor member sources or wiretaps of members for confirmation, but can't rule anything out.

I think the FBI's Organized Crime Squad in Buffalo would have to be pretty damn sure there's no LCN left to cease their investigations and end their two-decade assault on the Todaro crime family.

[antimafia]

I think that someone on the old Real Deal must have posted John Marzulli's November 16, 2006 New York Daily News article about Montagna, as I saved this article for some reason. From the article (sorry if the context before and after the two sentences below is important to you, but you don't really need it):

Montagna had no trouble dishing about his job as an "estimator" at Matrix Steel in Brooklyn, where wife Francesca is listed as the company president. The prosecutor said he also rattled off details about complex labor contracts, his brother Nunzio's Italian restaurant and "an enthusiastic comment about the quality of gelato" sold by cousins in Toronto.

The entire article meant very little to me in 2006, and when I stumbled upon it five or more years later, I don't even remember having saved it. The original link to the article -- link won't work -- is http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_f ... 7059c.html. A link that will work is http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/new ... e-1.621291.

I hope we are all in agreement that Montagna was not a fish out of water in Montreal. Not only did he have relatives in Quebec but he also had relatives in Toronto--all of them could have given him useful information and intelligence, and if Montagna didn't already know Italian underworld figures in Ontario he needed to contact about his designs in Montreal, the Toronto-area relatives could have easily pointed the way.

[Frank]

My opinion was with Buffalo basically shut down,that parts of the Family and maybe that part of the Buffalo Family kept the Family viable in Canada. So the Maggadino Family was alive, but not in Buffalo. But now, I agree with B that the Viola Bros, first off are LCN, and either transferred from the Maggadino Family to the Bonnano Family or were always members of the Bonnano Family. It's also possible that they weren't originally LCN. I agree with his theory that since they were at a Bonnano making ceremony they must currently be Bonnanos

[Wiseguy]

My opinion was with Buffalo basically shut down,that parts of the Family and maybe that part of the Buffalo Family kept the Family viable in Canada. So the Maggadino Family was alive, but not in Buffalo.

Or, another way to put it is some members of the family remained active despite the family as a whole no longer having a hierarchy in place. No different than we've seen in NE Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Tampa, New Orleans, Kansas City, etc.

[Lupara]

You don't find it believable that when the Todaros went legit they handed over the reigns to the crew(s) across the border?

[johnny_scootch]

It's possible that the remnants of the Buffalo family became part of the Bonanno family.

[Wiseguy]

You don't find it believable that when the Todaros went legit they handed over the reigns to the crew(s) across the border?

I don't think it's a matter of handing the reigns over to anyone as much as just some members in the family continuing to operate while others have gone completely legit or are inactive, and there being no real working hierarchy in place.

[NickleCity]

If there is any truth to the Buffalo family being officially inactive or dissolved (would need a lot more info to confirm this), it's possible the Bonannos absorbed them but I'm hesitant to believe that.

The FBI's Buffalo office, numerous federal and state agents, federal prosecutors, Ron Fino, are among the many who have said that the Buffalo Mafia is extinct. http://buffalonews.com/2017/03/19/fbi-s ... perations/

Yes, but Herbeck, also, writes that Fino didn’t think the Union was completely clean of mob influence in an article on Sept. 30, 2012 as the Capitano brothers were back in leadership. The article says:

Today, Fino maintains that the government's cleanup of the Laborers international - and of Local 210 - didn't go far enough. While admitting he has no direct information about current wrongdoing in the local, Fino said he is skeptical of the Justice Department's claims that mob influences were totally removed from Local 210 and the Laborers international.
Fino pointed out that, in the 1990s, Sam Capitano, the current business manager of Local 210, was an outspoken critic of efforts to remove mob influences from the Buffalo local.

Fino even wrote a letter that was published in October 2013 indicating the same. In the letter he cites a Buffalo News article by Bebee that suggests why the union cleanup didn’t go far enough. Then he delves into the Capitano matter as support. Finally, he writes:

Many if not most of the leaders on Western New York Mafia family have hunkered down and try to carry on an image and air of respectability. This in no way means that they do not exist and make money from illegal operations. They know that they are being watched and now operate more clandestinely.

Anyway don’t know how Fino goes from that to remnants in 3 1/2 years. Also, he was contacted in 2015 and said the same thing, even indicating the Todaros weren’t completely legit.

Here is Fino’s October letter to the Buffalo News: http://ticklethewire.com/2012/10/01/for ... fferently/

Here is the Sept. 2012 Buffalo News article: http://buffalonews.com/2012/09/30/life- ... nside-guy/