Daniel Renaud's 2018 book on Vito Rizzuto

[Lupara]

@Cabrini


I very much appreciate your efforts of sharing all these interesting details and translating it all so it's available for us fanboys who are not able to read the book.

[Lupara]

Having to write separate posts again because if I write too much the text dissappears..

I'm puzzled that someone from New York made a phone call with someone from the Rizzuto clan about Montagna's murder as if there was no animosity between the two groups - clearly there was which started all the way back with the murder of Sciascia. So I'm trying to make sense of it as always. Either the Bonannos in New York were not directly involved with Montagna's actions (the fact that they were prepared to send people over there indicates the opposite), or Montagna may not have been directly involved with the hits on Rizzuto people (how does that makes sense?) or Renaud generalizes the term someone from the "Rizzuto clan" to describe someone from the Sicilian faction or Montreal crew who was not necessarily close or allied to Vito, or used to be close to him, or was neutral. Please share any other possibility or explanation for this.

[Lupara]

I think Renaud has overlooked the fact that wiretaps transcriptions of conversations between Desjardins and Mirarchi clearly indicate that they were behind the hit on Arcuri. So in effect I'm also questioning Renaud's believe that the Rizzuto group was behind the hit on Desjardins.

It does make sense that they were the ones who killed Lorenzo LoPresti.

[scagghiuni]

so the rizzuto's tried to kill desjardins and he thought it was montagna?

[B.]

Having to write separate posts again because if I write too much the text dissappears..

I'm puzzled that someone from New York made a phone call with someone from the Rizzuto clan about Montagna's murder as if there was no animosity between the two groups - clearly there was which started all the way back with the murder of Sciascia. So I'm trying to make sense of it as always. Either the Bonannos in New York were not directly involved with Montagna's actions (the fact that they were prepared to send people over there indicates the opposite), or Montagna may not have been directly involved with the hits on Rizzuto people (how does that makes sense?) or Renaud generalizes the term someone from the "Rizzuto clan" to describe someone from the Sicilian faction or Montreal crew who was not necessarily close or allied to Vito, or used to be close to him, or was neutral. Please share any other possibility or explanation for this.

What was clear, though? It is clear that the Rizzutos and other Sicilians were upset by the murder, but they still showed proper protocol and no open animosity. Baldo Amato seems to have been the only one who acted out of line -- crying openly about the murder to the underboss who (unknown to Amato) supervised the murder, which easily could have gotten Amato himself killed, especially considering that Massino was already concerned with the reactions of Sciascia soldier Montagna and even Vincent Basciano of all people. Baldo Amato's reaction should have been a major cause for concern, as he was not some weak-willed crybaby but a seasoned killer and well-connected "zip" with a crew of extremely violent young guys under him who could have turned his grief to anger. It doesn't seem the Rizzutos and their allies openly reacted nearly as much in front of the Bonanno leadership.

The second bolded point could have been the case, but I wouldn't rule out that someone from the Rizzuto faction went through the motions of showing concern following the hit and followed proper protocol even if they were secretly complicit or supportive of the Montagna murder. This is the mafia after all, and remember Massino and co. lied about the Sciascia hit and ordered many members to attend his funeral for the sake of face. It's what these guys often do. Think of John Gotti telling LoCascio "maybe the cops killed Paul."

The big question to me is who the NYC mafioso was who contacted Montreal after the Montagna murder.

Couple questions first.....
1. What did you guys think about the statement,
" There were about 20 "Men of Honor"..."
That would have been, ( to the best of our knowledge) the WHOLE Montreal LCN, right?

Yeah, that would be the whole group, possibly including some Ontario Bonanno members. This has been consistent since the 1960s (barring possible dips when the books were closed and members died). From piecing together different sources, it looks like the Bonanno Montreal crew was originally allotted 10 members in the 1950s. By the early 1960s they look to have doubled this under Joe Bonanno's direction but NOT the approval of the Commission. On the Magaddino tapes he mentions being fine with the group having ~10 members but stated that they inducted more than that, including members in Ontario (which was his area), which upset him. Another early 1960s source also confirms the Montreal group had around 20 members at that time. Sal Vitale said he expected there to be 10 members when he visited Montreal and was surprised they had close to 20, so the Massino regime may have been under the incorrect impression Montreal stuck to the original 10 member limit. We DO know from the Violi tapes in the 1970s that Montreal didn't induct members without NYC's approval, at least up to that period, so they don't seem to have deliberately broken any rules by maintaining a membership of 20.


--

I will try to be as brief as I can be here, but wow, some great info in what Cabrini has shared even if the translation isn't perfect.

- Montagna being inducted in 1998 according to the FBI fits perfectly in with other info, if that's what the rough translation is implying.

- What I would be curious about is who Sciascia used as a messenger between NYC and Montreal after Joe LoPresti's murder in the early 90s up until 98/99. LoPresti was described as Sciascia's acting captain, which would make sense given that Sciascia couldn't travel to Canada. Pietro Ligammari was sponsored into the Bonannos by Sciascia around roughly the same period that LoPresti was killed. The info JD shared about Ligammari being inducted so that he could be a messenger to his imprisoned father doesn't completely make sense to me -- why induct someone to be an emissary to one imprisoned soldier? Maybe Pietro Ligammari was inducted to serve as an emissary to Canada in addition to his father. The Ligammaris were from a village in Agrigento not far from Cattolica Eraclea and Giovanni seems to have been close to the Montreal group. The Ligammari double suicide so close to Sciascia's murder is still extremely suspect -- not because I believe they were murdered, but maybe they had a catastrophic response to Sciascia's murder ala Baldo Amato that contributed to the suicide along with unknown factors.

- From social media sleuthing years back I saw that Sal Montagna's brother in NYC had been a fan of the Montreal Expos. This might seem like a stupid, minor detail, but to me it indicates that the NYC Montagnas were still culturally connected to Montreal. As I already said, Montagna's widow is connected to Sciascia's relatives on social media as well, in particular Gerlando Sciascia's son who Antimafia spoke about.

- Who is Montagna's friend, the New York mafioso married to Vito Rizzuto's niece? Would this be his wife's niece or a daughter of Paolo Renda? And could this NY mafioso be the one who called a Rizzuto "clan member" after Montagna's murder? It would explain why a Montagna supporter would also easily have access to a Rizzuto loyalist.

- It mentions the two Montreal police confronting Montagna and his two "henchmen"/"bodyguards", who he told to back off when the police walked up. Curious who these two men were -- from their behavior it does sound like they were acting as subordinates to Montagna. Not sure if the translation is off or what, but it refers to him as a "mafia captain" at this time. Does it mean he was the Bonanno captain in Montreal by this point?

- Desjardins' issues with Rizzuto look to have gone much further back than simply the sudden opportunity to help Montagna take over, so that info on him is important. "Joe Bravo" Fernandez's comments in Sicily about Rizzuto inducting him (Bravo) and his "compare" Desjardins are still so strange to me. In either case -- that a Cosa Nostra member with deep Sicilian mafia roots would induct two non-Italians, or that a non-Italian would be stupid enough to lie about being inducted into the mafia while in Sicily of all places -- it doesn't make sense.

- Interesting that LE apparently believes the Rizzuto faction tried to kill Desjardins, not Montagna. It's said that Desjardins' associate who met with Montagna believed Montagna wasn't responsible either. If that's true, it seems Desjardins' mistaken assumption was a great stroke of luck for the Rizzuto faction. That's assuming that the original Rizzuto group wasn't fractured with some supporting Montagna and others not.

- Going back to the "NYC mafioso" who called a "member of the Rizzuto clan" after the Montagna murder, what stands out to me aside from the contact itself is that the NYC guy said that Montagna was always armed and was surprised that he wasn't armed during his murder. This tells us that either Montagna was often armed when living in NYC or that this NYC mafioso had been kept in the loop on Montreal enough to know that Montagna was frequently armed up there. Him volunteering to send men from NYC is also interesting... it indicates that at least someone in NYC was backing Montagna and willing to assist up there. I wonder if NYC had already sent any men up there to meet or even help Montagna? Important to note too that this NYC mafioso is offering to send people AFTER Montagna's murder, which tells us that this NYC mafioso's support wasn't tied to Montagna alone.

- Many people speculated early on about the Violis and Calabrians possibly retaliating for the early murders of the elder Violis decades earlier, but from available info so far it seems older inter-paesan "blood feuds" within the Cattolica Eraclea group may have been a major part in the early stages of the war. You have the Arcuris siding with Montagna, whose ancestor Rosario Arcuri likely killed the elder Vito Rizzuto, showing a history of bad blood between Arcuris/Rizzutos, and then you had Lorenzo LoPresti's son siding with Montagna -- you have to consider that his father's murder at the hands of Sciascia and likely the Rizzutos factored in. The translation also seems to suggest that Montagna had contacted the Arcuris in Canada before leaving the US and they helped facilitate his arrival.

-

[antimafia]

[snip]

- Who is Montagna's friend, the New York mafioso married to Vito Rizzuto's niece? Would this be his wife's niece or a daughter of Paolo Renda?

[snip]

- Desjardins' issues with Rizzuto look to have gone much further back than simply the sudden opportunity to help Montagna take over, so that info on him is important. "Joe Bravo" Fernandez's comments in Sicily about Rizzuto inducting him (Bravo) and his "compare" Desjardins are still so strange to me. In either case -- that a Cosa Nostra member with deep Sicilian mafia roots would induct two non-Italians, or that a non-Italian would be stupid enough to lie about being inducted into the mafia while in Sicily of all places -- it doesn't make sense.

- Interesting that LE apparently believes the Rizzuto faction tried to kill Desjardins, not Montagna. It's said that Desjardins' associate who met with Montagna believed Montagna wasn't responsible either. If that's true, it seems Desjardins' mistaken assumption was a great stroke of luck for the Rizzuto faction. That's assuming that the original Rizzuto group wasn't fractured with some supporting Montagna and others not.

Rizzuto had only one niece and nephew: Domenica and Calogero (Charlie), the daughter and son of Vito’s sister (Maria) and Paolo Renda. Rizzuto’s wife has no siblings.

I think there is a lack of confirmation about Domenica’s married name. The Mafia inc. book states that her husband is Antonio Cammisano (in 2006 he was working at the Loreto funeral home, along with a Tony Di Maulo), but Montreal-based reporter Paul Cherry stated in some articles that her married name is Domenica Manno.

In Cellule 8002 vs mafia, as well as in Renaud’s newest book, Renaud mentions that Montagna was very close to a nephew of Rizzuto—Renaud also mentioned this in one or two articles—but I’m convinced Renaud meant to write that Montagna was close to Joe Renda, who was Sciascia’s nephew.

I see no basis for Montagna having support for his takeover plans from either Paolo Renda’s son-in-law or son.

The book that came out earlier this year about Milena Di Maulo provides a lot of good information about her uncle Raynald Desjardins and his relationship with her father, Joe. She dismisses the idea that Desjardins could have been made, as she knows he couldn’t because of his lack of Italian ancestry. Growing up, Desjardins was her favourite uncle, but her relationship with him changed when she got older. She describes her father and Desjardins lacking any closeness, especially in their dealings. I always try to determine why an informant or an “insider” chooses what they do or do not reveal in debriefings, court testimony, books, etc. Did Milena want the book’s author to depict her father as a saint? to distance him from Desjardins’ rash actions? Well, even before the book came out, she disclosed that her father was a wife beater. Joe Di Maulo used to beat the shit out of his wife, Huguette, who is Desjardins’ sister. This book has made me reconsider whether Vito Rizzuto ordered Di Maulo’s murder, as Di Maulo appeared to show Rizzuto that the two men shared the same displeasure with Desjardins.

In Cellule 8002 vs mafia, Renaud previously wrote about the Rizzuto loyalists being behind the attempted murder of Desjardins, as well as the attempt on Antonino Arcuri. Renaud wasn’t interjecting a theory but, rather, law enforcement’s assessment. Montagna was telling the truth to Desjardins’ envoy(s). The Rizzuto loyalists came up with a brilliant plan, despite not killing Desjardins. Any crime group would have come up with the same plan in a situation where you had three rival factions.

[antimafia]

as well as *writing about the attempt on Antonino Arcuri.

[CabriniGreen]

@B.

I think they meant Montagna was capo of the Bonanno Bronx crew.

But I've asked before..... is the capo of the Bonnanos Bronx crew, (at least in NY) considered the gear of the Montreal group, in the same way Sciascua was looked at?

[CabriniGreen]

gear, Jesus.... should have said, head of the Montreal crew..

[B.]

Thank you for the added info, Antimafia. It does sound like there was confusion or a mistranslation over the "New York mafioso married to Rizzuto's niece." Joe Renda would make sense given that you've said he may have been established as a mafia member in New York, was a Montagna supporter, and a relative of the Cattolica Eraclea group.

What stands out to me about Joe DiMaulo is that he had already been through upheaval in the Montreal crew going back to the days of Violi/Cotroni, found stability under the new regime, and it's not clear what his incentive would have been to join the war unless he was ordered to participate or was looking to be a leader himself. A factor in his murder could come down to who he viewed as the true authority in the crew after Montagna came to town, regardless of his relationship to Desjardins. He was a longtime Bonanno member who had traveled to NYC (possibly an associate then) during Bonanno family elections and many years later drove Sal Vitale around Montreal, so he had some history of following protocol as a member of the Bonanno family. If he viewed Montagna, the highest-ranking Bonanno member in NYC at his time of deportation, as the rightful authority in Montreal and supported him even just verbally through mafia politics, that could have factored into his murder.

@B.

I think they meant Montagna was capo of the Bonanno Bronx crew.

But I've asked before..... is the capo of the Bonnanos Bronx crew, (at least in NY) considered the gear of the Montreal group, in the same way Sciascua was looked at?

The simple answer is no, but in the bigger picture there is a more complicated answer...

Sciascia was based in the Bronx but he was captain of the Montreal crew and seemingly a very small number of NYC/NJ members/associates. He appears to have taken over directly from Vic Cotroni, so regardless of where Sciascia was living, he was the official successor of the Montreal crew.

The Bronx crew that Montagna joined after Sciascia's death was the Pat DeFilippo crew, which is what you might call the "main" Bronx crew. It looks like Emanuel Guaragna (coincidentally of Cattolica Eraclea heritage) was the acting captain when DeFilippo first went to prison, then Michael Mancuso, followed by Sal Montagna when Mancuso joined the administration. It's not clear when DeFilippo was demoted or stepped down in the years to come, so no idea if Mancuso or Montagna ever became official captains.

This "main" Bronx crew had been through a few different captains and had been split up and put back together a couple of times in the 1970s/80s, but in the late 1970s it was run by DeFilippo's father Vito who had been a Bonanno emissary to Canada in the 1950s/60s after Carmine Galante, who is credited with originally going to Montreal and organizing the decina for the Bonanno family, and Galante lived in Montreal for a number of years beginning in the early 1950s before he was deported. Personally I don't think we have enough info to know whether the Bonannos were officially in Canada before Galante moved there -- early Bonanno boss Maranzano's family fled to Montreal at one point before returning to NYC, so there is reason to believe there was some connection.

Technically the Sciascia/Montreal and DeFilippo/Bronx crews were both originally part of the Carmine Galante decina along with at least two other future crews in the 1950s, then in the early 1960s Montreal was given its own captain in Vic Cotroni and some other NYC/NJ crews split off from the Galante crew as the decade went on. Vito DeFilippo was a captain for a short period in the 1960s then was demoted and fled to the west coast when Joe Bonanno was deposed. However it should be noted that the Montreal crew was loyal to Joe Bonanno until almost the end and during the Bonanno war Vito DeFilippo and his son Pat visited Montreal with Bill Bonanno and supposedly attended Vito Rizzuto's wedding before they were arrested. The Montreal crew was represented in NYC for a time by Bonanno's brother-in-law captain Frank LaBruzzo. So this group doesn't appear to have simply gone the way the wind blows and they weren't alone in that, as a number of the crews that split off from Galante remained loyal to Bonanno.

Then there is the Nicolo Alfano crew, which had a presence in the Bronx area, included members from Agrigento (including Cattolica Eraclea),and had ties to Montreal and Toronto as well, with JD once sharing that the elder murdered Vito Rizzuto was associated with Alfano early on. Alfano was a longtime captain and already an old timer by the 1950s who would come to be related by marriage to the Arcuris, mentioned throughout this thread. So that adds another element to this that I can't even begin to crack.

So long story short... the Sciascia/Montreal crew and the DeFilippo/Bronx crew were originally part of the Carmine Galante crew, and Galante was the first known "gear" of Montreal, to use your word. And even though the Cotroni/Sciascia crew would split off, the future DeFilippo crew would also have strong historic ties to Montreal.

Montagna himself lived in Long Island, had a business in Bushwick (Brooklyn) and hung out in the cafes and clubs in the Middle Village/Ridgewood area where many of the Bonanno Sicilian element spent their time. His reporting to Sciascia makes sense given their mutual ties to Montreal and Sicily, but it's interesting he was transferred to DeFilippo in the Bronx to "keep an eye on him" and not a Brooklyn or Queens crew.

[CabriniGreen]

@B.

Lol, "gear" was supposed to be "head"..

[CabriniGreen]

What do you think about this excerpt from ICE...

Nick Rizzuto returned to Montreal shortly after Violi’s murder and, along with his son, assumed control of the decina. While the elimination of Violi removed the last obstacle to Sicilian control of the mafia in Quebec, Nick and Vito did build a working relationship with members of the Calabrian faction. However, it was their Sicilian network, in particular the Caruanas and Cuntreras, that would form the nucleus of this new chapter in the Montreal mafia’s history. Due to the shared origins and close relations between these three families, Italian authorities began referring to them collectively as the Siculiana Family,

That's kinda how I always saw em.....

Also, I found this kinda compelling....

Most of the made members of the Cotroni decina did not specialize in any one particular criminal endeavour, but were in charge of or worked in a particular geographic district in Montreal. With such names as St-Laurent Gang or the Sorrento Gang, each cell was headed by a high-ranking member and made up of several picciottis (soldiers) who, in turn, had a number of people under their command. During the 1960s and early 1970s, Vic’s most senior lieutenants were Luigi Greco, Nicola Di Iorio, Frank Cotroni, and Paolo Violi.

I have to ask because it would actually clarify a LOT of things to me. This could be totally wrong.

But guys, what are the chances that the Montreal organization ISNT ONE CREW, but a confederation of FOUR crews, who combined with Bikers, Bangers, and the Irish creating a criminal consortium, with Italians in the leadership positions? Just a question here, as I found the statement four different cells highly intriguing....

[CabriniGreen]

Also, B.

I'm a little confused, in your recap of the Bronx crew capos, where does Basciano fit in?
Cause see, I always saw HIM, as the receiving point for Sciascias heroin, as far as NY based Bonnanos.

So I kinda saw the crews as connected, business- wise.

I thought it substantial when Vito threatened to kill him, as I thought he would have been threatening his " Superior", since Basciano was the Bronx capo then....
Or is that wrong.?

[CabriniGreen]

Actually, would it be Basciano, then Cicale?

[Lupara]

Sal Vitale said he expected there to be 10 members when he visited Montreal and was surprised they had close to 20, so the Massino regime may have been under the incorrect impression Montreal stuck to the original 10 member limit.

Which really suprises me. This says a lot about Montreal's relative autonomy as a Bonanno crew that Massino and co. didn't even know all the members. It's also very bad inner-family administration because the admin should keep a record of all its members. On top of that it shows that Massino didn't care much about Montreal either.

What I would be curious about is who Sciascia used as a messenger between NYC and Montreal after Joe LoPresti's murder in the early 90s up until 98/99.

Apparantly Valentino Morielli took over that role, meaning that he was another member of the Montreal crew. Morielli cooncidentally died just a few months after his friend Vito Rizzuto, also from complications of lung cancer.