Buffalo/Ontario Mob Acitivity

[Moscone65]

Don Violi will uld be the most powerful man. The ndrangheta doesn’t have much set up here, the rest of the Bonnanos have their own concerns. Don Violi is the underboss of a nearby, albeit medium strength group. He can call a lot of shots and make a lot of decisions. He likely has more local man power than the bonnano captain and more connections than the ndrangheta boss.

[antimafia]

On the other hand -- I'm playing devil's advocate here -- he might have been in discussion respectively about his conflict with Montagna and perhaps even a conflict with the Violi brothers -- I can elaborate further on the latter if anyone is interested

We're not, please leave and take your extensive knowledge with you.

....

I'd guess you're basing this on the failed mob summit in Montreal in september 2011, during which mobsters from Ontario were seen leaving in a hurry? Would these have been the Violi brothers?

A bit farther below is what I wrote on Gangster BB back in January 2017 when there was heated discussion in the very long thread there --it's about the Montreal mob war -- after the publication of the article found at https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2017/ ... ne-deroute. I no longer think that the attempted murder of Desjardins came from Montagna and his camp; I choose to believe law enforcement's theory, which back in September 2011 was very short on specifics, that the attack came from the Rizzuto loyalists. You will also read that I believed the then Luppino-Violi group to be 'ndrangheta; now I wonder whether their 'ndrangheta roots still mean something or mean nothing, as we now have more evidence that older Luppinos and Paolo Violi's sons have been made in the American LCN.
__________

Some of you may have watched the video to which I've linked below when TVA Nouvelles had a report shortly after the murder attempt on Raynald Desjardins in September 2011.

http://www.tvanouvelles.ca/videos/1168533220001

I saw the news report live at the time, but this was only because I was scanning the French-language TV channels for information about the attempt. You may want to fast forward to the 1:40 mark to hear the two organized-crime experts give their take on why Desjardins was attacked.

Claude Poirier theorized that there was an attempt on Desjardins either because 1) Desjardins failed to defend the Rizzutos' interests when Vito was locked up, or 2) Desjardins did not want to pay some type of tribute to the new crime group hypothesized to have taken over in Montreal, a group that was supposedly based in Hamilton.

We are now fairly certain that the attack on Desjardins came from the Montagna camp (even though Montagna denied this), but if one day we ever find out that Poirier's second theory back in 2011 is true in whole or in part, this means that the Desjardins-Mirarchi group, which likely had backing from the GTA Siderno Group, was in conflict with Violi's sons and the others who backed the sons (given the Luppino-Violi group has likely never inducted people who weren't related to Giacomo Luppino by blood or marriage, the group has to be relatively small even today; if you don't agree, please provide some proof of this group's large size).

It took me a long time to accept that elements of the Siderno Group in the GTA were the Calabrians who got on board with Sal Montagna and Desjardins to decimate the Montreal Mafia's Sicilian leadership (Nick Rizzuto Sr., Paolo Renda, Agostino Cun trera). In my opinion, there has been relatively little information made available to the public about the possible involvement of Paolo Violi's sons in the mayhem when compared with the information about Siderno Group figures who appeared to have played a part in the turmoil.

The desire of Violi's sons to see Nick Sr., Renda, Cun trera, and Vito Rizzuto dead was probably nurtured from a young age, but the actual evidence is scant that the sons were involved in plotting murders of those first three names. Seems as though Violi's sons were passive and were probably more than glad to have other people kill the Sicilians rather than having to do so themselves. I know I'm not the only one who believes that if the sons wanted the Sicilians killed because of a "vendetta," there was no obligation on the sons' part to get permission to kill made men or pay others to do so. Therefore, the sons wouldn't even need to consult senior GTA Siderno Group figures, although it would have been a good idea. The Commisso brothers and other members of the GTA Siderno Group in the 1970s did not have a good relationship with Paolo Violi and Violi's brothers--Paolo Violi's death meant the removal of a significant rival. (Remember, that when Rosetta Commisso married Domenico Luppino in 1972, the Commissos intermarried with the Luppinos, not with the Violis.)

When we look at the information available to us at this point about Salvatore Calautti's or Nicola Cortese's possible involvement in the murder of Nick Sr., we know that law enforcement had to release Cortese because of a lack of evidence; that law enforcement didn't even have any proof that Calautti was in Quebec at the time of the murder; that the murder of Nick Sr. was a long-range shooting rather than what was reported in newspaper articles at the time and in the epilogue to Mafia inc.; and that despite Calautti's reportedly bragging that he killed Nick Sr., Toronto police believe that the sniper who killed crime figure Clinton Yow Foo in Toronto may have also killed Nick Sr.

The reports last December that Michel Cotroni and Domenico Violi (Paolo's older son) were among the approximately 20 guests who met at the Linguini restaurant last October were the first reports of any Cotroni ever being suspected of foul play in relation to the ongoing Montreal mob war. If there is an alliance in place between the Violi sons and the Cotronis, have law enforcement, certain crime reporters, and certain organized-crime authors been suggesting that this group was behind the murders of Rocco Sollecito, Lorenzo Giordano, and Vincenzo Spagnolo? behind the bungled attempt to murder old Cotroni-Violi group member Tony Vanelli? Would any new Cotroni-Violi alliance go after any old Cotroni-Violi group members who have either stayed neutral in the war or sided with the so-called le clan sicilien?[/quote]

[Frank]

It's nice to have some of the possible answers and different trails to some of these murders. To me though it is still a very confusing situation. To me it is hard to tell how many of these killings are related. Hard to know what alliance is responsible for each murder. There has been a lot going on in the last 10 or more years

[Moscone65]

Wonder if those D’Amico guys were involved in any rizzuto murders.

[CabriniGreen]

To make it even MORE complicated.... this says RANIERI ordered the hits HIMSELF....


Police added that Daniele Ranieri, from Bolton, who fled to Mexico following a 2014 York Regional Police investigation into his activities, was recently found dead in a Mexican ditch. Ranieri is alleged to have ordered the hits.

Story continues below

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"Ranieri fancied himself a top guy and this might have been an effort to clean house," said York police Det. Sgt. Jim Kilby. "People didn't like way he operated and in return they sent a message to him."

Although police believe Tomassetti might

[CabriniGreen]

link here....
https://www.yorkregion.com/news-story/8 ... t-murders/

[antimafia]

To make it even MORE complicated.... this says RANIERI ordered the hits HIMSELF....


Police added that Daniele Ranieri, from Bolton, who fled to Mexico following a 2014 York Regional Police investigation into his activities, was recently found dead in a Mexican ditch. Ranieri is alleged to have ordered the hits.

Story continues below

RELATED CONTENT

CRIME Jan 12, 2018

Police say Musitano killer didn’t act alone, search on for vehicles used in...


CRIME Mar 15, 2017

"She was my best friend": Maple family of Mila Barberi mourns her death


CRIME Mar 15, 2017

Masked man kills Vaughan woman, 28, in daylight Woodbridge shooting
"Ranieri fancied himself a top guy and this might have been an effort to clean house," said York police Det. Sgt. Jim Kilby. "People didn't like way he operated and in return they sent a message to him."

Although police believe Tomassetti might

Jeremy Grimaldi is the only journalist who has written that Ranieri is alleged to have ordered the hits on Angelo Musitano and Saverio Serrano. However, the police never said this at the news conference last November, which I watched, when they made an announcement about charges being laid against Tomasetti, Cudmore, and Abdalla. The police have said only that Ranieri was a "person of interest" in both the Musitano and Barberi murders.

If Ranieri did order those murders, then the murder of Al Iavarone may not be revenge for Musitano's murder -- this is the main theory that has been floated -- unless Tony Iavarone had hired Ranieri and the hit team to kill Musitano.

Ranieri and other Italian figures in organized crime ran in the same circles. The paid police informant Carmine Guido mentioned Ranieri during the trial of Giuseppe Ursino and Cosmin Dracea in Toronto last year. From Peter Edwards's April 9, 2018 article:

Court heard from secret recordings made on December 23, 2014 of a conversation between Guido and Dracea, including conversations about Ranieri. Police say Ranieri was connected to the criminal organization of the late Vito Rizzuto of Montreal, who died in December 2013.

Ranieri has been a fugitive since 2015, wanted by York Regional Police on charges of extortion and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence

“He’s psychopath, man,” Guido told Dracea on December 23, 2014. “He’s crazy, man.”

Guido said he tried to provide work for Ranieri a decade earlier, after Ranieri was freed from prison.

“After a week I says, ‘I can’t keep this guy with me,’ ” Guido said. “He’s (expletive) crazy.”

Guido earlier testified that Ranieri was with him when they went to see a Russian immigrant who ran a cheque-cashing business on Steeles Ave.

There was some problem cashing a cheque and Ranieri seemed ready to kill over it, Guido said.

“This (Ranieri) kid shows up Vaseline all over his face, ready to murder, to kill the guy, right?” Guido said. “I says, ‘What are you doing? We’re here to talk, dude.’ ”

He was able to restrain Ranieri that night, Guido said.

I'd still like to see evidence that Ranieri was made, but even if he were, whose permission did he obtain to arrange for the killing of Musitano, whom I imagine many of us believe to be made? for trying to kill Saverio Serrano?

[antimafia]

I'm trying to help determine who the made Canadian members of the Buffalo Family are or were at one time, roughly in the last 30 years.

Please note that the murdered Carmen Barillaro, killed in 1997, was considered made by the FBI. In Peter Edwards's July 29, 1997 Toronto Star article, published the day after Barillaro's funeral, are the following two sentences: "As a teenager, Barillaro was a member of the Centre Gang on Clifton Hill. He built a fearsome reputation on Niagara Falls streets as he rose to become a 'made member' of the New York State mob's Niagara operations, according to the FBI."

Back on September 7 and 8, 1990, the Buffalo News published back-to-back articles that quoted FBI Special Agent Robert Ulmer, who referred to Barillaro as made. In both articles, Ulmer also identifies Nicodemo Bruzzese and Dominic Vaccaro (both Ontario based) as made.

Link to September 7, 1990 article (which NickleCity posted on Gangster BB Net last November):

https://buffalonews.com/1990/09/07/14-s ... local-mob/

Link to September 8, 1990 article, as well as some excerpts, appear below (I've added parenthetical information that I've surrounded with square brackets).

https://buffalonews.com/1990/09/08/figu ... ated-them/

Those arrested late Thursday and released on their own recognizance were Carmen Barillaro, 46, 6155 Corwin Crescent [Niagara Falls, Ontario]; Nicodemo Bruzzese, 40, of Tanbark Road, St. Davids [Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario]; Dominic Vaccaro, 44, 6740 Crawford St. [Niagara Falls, Ontario]; Frank J. Spadafora, 36, 6404 Jupiter Boulevard; Nicodemo Scali, 37, 6424 January Drive; John T. Cleary, 47, 6105 McLeod Road; Frederick Campisano, 42, 6353 Franklin Ave., and Joseph F. DeCaria, 28, 5729 McGrail Road.

[snip]

FBI Special Agent Robert Ulmer described Barillaro as the ringleader of the group, which he said is linked to a Hamilton-based faction of the Canadian mob. Ulmer said Barillaro, Bruzzese and Vaccaro are "made members" of the organization and answer to Buffalo organized crime leaders.
________________

If Bruzzese and Vaccaro are still alive -- I haven't checked obituaries yet -- they would respectively be 68 and 72 years old as of last September, but who knows, if alive, whether they are still active?

[snip]

I think I have found a reliable DOB for Buffalo Family member Dominic Vaccaro (first name could actually be Domenico or Domenic), who was living in Niagara Falls, Ontario at the time that FBI Special Agent Robert Ulmer was quoted in the previously mentioned articles in September 1990.

Some of you have gathered that private investigator Derrick Snowdy has occasionally tweeted photos of pages from the Hamilton Police Service's declassified intelligence reports (thousands of pages are apparently declassified). In a tweet last year that was a reply to a tweet by the National Post of Adrian Humphreys's very good article about Toronto-area 'ndrangheta boss Jimmy Demaria -- this isn't really relevant; just providing some context -- Snowdy also uploaded an accompanying photo. Below is the link to the tweet:

https://twitter.com/jdsnowdy/status/991416389675175941

I don't know the date of the intelligence report from which he uploaded the photo, seen below.

[JCB1977]

It's Evil Life by Clive small and Tom Gilling. And here is an article in today's Daily Mail about their huge presence in Australia:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... trade.html

Thank you very much UTC!

Excellent read!

[antimafia]

@ antimafia

Great Post!! I have a few observations, questions for anyone, really.....

I think we can agree, it's not the ONLY thing that's important, but mapping out the narcotics players does lead to interesting connections....

1. Was Nero the secret Niagra boss?

Was he on our list of possibilities of Buffalo members? Caputo as well?.....


And this operation Roadrunner, and this Nero- Caputo thing, did these come up in the discussion before?

I dont remember these operations being brought up as far as recent activity.... they caught me off guard.....

2. You are saying;
a. Hamilton has a long history of Narco traffickers by way of Mexico...

b. Carmine Verduci had a Hamilton based crew.

c. Verduci had ties to Mexico for heroin, perhaps cocaine too..

d. Verduci was the Trans - Atlantic messenger for the Siderno group in Canada and Calabria.
So it's possible he arranged shipments for this group as a whole....
e. You lost me a little on the Violis....
Were you saying the media overestimated thier international connections? Or the Media misidentified WHERE the connections are? Or both?

f. I thought the Violis connections were via Colombia. Typically, when a crime group goes through Colombia, it's to get around the Mexicans, to get that 4-5500 a kilo price range. That leverage is key, it's the advantage the Albanians are pressing in the UK.

Of course, this doesnt mean the Violis wernt dealing with Mexicans...

.
Are you saying you think the Violis had a rivalry with Verduci, and the Siderno group?

You think they killed Verduci?

You think they wanted to REPLACE Verduci even? As the point men for the trafficking, with Hamilton as the base? With the blessing of LCN?

And maybe, they were struggling with the question of whether or not Hamilton, or a reorganized Montreal was a better base? That's pure speculation there.....

g. Do you think there is a new arriving clan in Canada part of the power struggle, and if so, who might they be? Ursino? Or have they been there? Are they one of the Toronto 9?

I'll stop here, I got more questions....

CabriniGreen, I'll try to answer as many of your questions as I can but perhaps not all in one post. Below are answers to the questions you posed in point number 1.

1. Nick Nero would have likely been too young to be to be anyone important or significant when that August 21, 1999 article was published. His age was cited as 36 years old in April 2013 when some articles were published about the appearance in a St. Catharines, Ontario court by Martino Caputo, who two months earlier had been arrested in Cologne (Germany) and was in jail before being extradited to Canada in April 2013.

I don't recall any discussion on the boards about the possibility that Nero and Caputo were made into any mafia group. However, Caputo was usually identified in articles from the early 2000s as someone whom Vito Rizzuto saw, along with Caputo's twin brother Antonio, when Rizzuto visited Toronto -- I gather that mobwatchers think (thought?) of Caputo as an associate of Rizzuto, but then again, Caputo turned out to be a right-hand man for Nero.

As for investigations that targeted Nero and Caputo, there were discussions on the Real Deal about Project Ink I and II; I would have posted articles on Gangster BB in relation to those investigations but I don't think I ever discussed Nero and Caputo. Caputo was also charged in relation to one of the phases of the Project Clemenza investigation in Quebec.

I would have posted on both boards about Project Roadmaster, but there wasn't any discussion at all. Vito Buffone has some Mannos in his family tree, but as far as I know they are not related to the ones in Quebec. I could be wrong, though.

I think I'm getting close to determining who the unknown Niagara mob boss mysteriously referred to in the 1999 article is. From an article published the very same date:

[James] Dubro agreed, however, that a Niagara Falls hotel owner might be a strong candidate to replace Papalia. The hotel owner was identified in 1990 by an FBI mob expert as a "made" member of a Hamilton Mafia family -- that is, one who commands considerable status and respect within the organization.

He has connections with the Hells Angels and used to meet regularly with Papalia at his office on Railway Street where the late mobster conducted his illegal business.

Source: ORGANIZED CRIME NO. 1 RISK DEATH OF OLD-GUARD BOSS JOHN PAPALIA OPENS DOOR FOR HELLS ANGELS
Author: CAROL PHILLIPS AND PAUL LEGALL, THE SPECTATOR
Publication info: The Spectator ; Hamilton, Ont. [Hamilton, Ont]21 Aug 1999: A1.

I'm thinking that Domenic Vaccaro is the secret Niagara mob boss. I've just asked Dubro whether he is willing to confirm. What's interesting is that John Papalia didn't like outlaw bikers; he was firmly against the opening of a Hells Angels chapter in Hamilton.

[NickleCity]

^^^^^ Anti I don’t think it can be him. The 1999 article about a new boss said he couldn’t be named because he hadn’t been arrested. LE said:

"We can't say who he is because he has never been arrested," said Detective Sergeant Peter Polcetti, organized crime expert with CISC.

I believe Dominc Vaccaro had. See the 1990 article called: 14 SUSPECTS IN DRUG RING ARE SOUGHT CANADIAN ARRESTS TIED TO LOCAL MOB by Dan Herbeck

[snip]
Two of the suspects are considered high-ranking members of a Hamilton organized-crime family under the indirect control of the Buffalo mob, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Any drug activity or any organized-
crime activity in St. Catharines, Hamilton and Niagara Falls must be approved by the Buffalo family," one lawman said. "The mob families in those cities, and in Toronto, answer to Buffalo."

A restaurant and a motel in Niagara Falls, Ont., are among $14 million worth of property that could be seized by police as alleged profits of the ring, law enforcement officials said.

[snip]
As of late this morning, eight suspects were in custody, and authorities were looking for six others.

Police identified the suspects as: Carmen Barillaro, 46, of 6155 Corwin Crescent; Nicodemo Bruzzese, 40, of Tanbark Road; Dominic Vaccaro, 44, of 6740 Crawford St.;...

[snip]

Barillaro, Bruzzese and Vaccaro are all "made members" of a Hamilton-based Mafia family that reports to Buffalo organized-crime leaders, Ulmer said.

Ulmer said that Vaccaro has extensive contacts with Buffalo mob members and also supplies drugs to Western New York.

Here is the link to the article: https://buffalonews.com/1990/09/07/14-s ... local-mob/

[NickleCity]

Also do you think Dominic Vaccaro is related to the Rocco Vaccaro listed on the 2006 Buffalo crime family chart? Rocco was born 4-15-1916. Here is the catch: Feather doesn't list Rocco as Canadian on his chart, and the FBI has a SSN for him. So it sounds like he was on the American side. Thoughts?

[antimafia]

^^^^^ Anti I don’t think it can be him. The 1999 article about a new boss said he couldn’t be named because he hadn’t been arrested. LE said:

"We can't say who he is because he has never been arrested," said Detective Sergeant Peter Polcetti, organized crime expert with CISC.

I believe Dominc Vaccaro had. See the 1990 article called: 14 SUSPECTS IN DRUG RING ARE SOUGHT CANADIAN ARRESTS TIED TO LOCAL MOB by Dan Herbeck

[snip]
Two of the suspects are considered high-ranking members of a Hamilton organized-crime family under the indirect control of the Buffalo mob, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Any drug activity or any organized-
crime activity in St. Catharines, Hamilton and Niagara Falls must be approved by the Buffalo family," one lawman said. "The mob families in those cities, and in Toronto, answer to Buffalo."

A restaurant and a motel in Niagara Falls, Ont., are among $14 million worth of property that could be seized by police as alleged profits of the ring, law enforcement officials said.

[snip]
As of late this morning, eight suspects were in custody, and authorities were looking for six others.

Police identified the suspects as: Carmen Barillaro, 46, of 6155 Corwin Crescent; Nicodemo Bruzzese, 40, of Tanbark Road; Dominic Vaccaro, 44, of 6740 Crawford St.;...

[snip]

Barillaro, Bruzzese and Vaccaro are all "made members" of a Hamilton-based Mafia family that reports to Buffalo organized-crime leaders, Ulmer said.

Ulmer said that Vaccaro has extensive contacts with Buffalo mob members and also supplies drugs to Western New York.

Here is the link to the article: https://buffalonews.com/1990/09/07/14-s ... local-mob/

I'm also asking James Dubro to clarify whether the new Niagara mob boss who allegedly took over after Papalia was killed in 1997 could have possibly had a clean rap sheet. A June 5, 1997 newspaper article published after Papalia's death had various titles and some slightly modified versions, but the article versions all mentioned Carm Barillaro, Domenic Vaccaro, and Nicodemo Bruzzese as being individuals who regularly travelled from Niagara to Johnny Pops's Railway Street office when Pops was still alive. Example:

From his vantage point as an RCMP watcher, [Retired RCMP intelligence officer George] Bowen said, he observed some of the most notorious gangsters in southern Ontario pass through Papalia's street office in the last 10 years.

He said the most surprising visitor was Jimmy Luppino, a member of another Hamilton family that police have linked to organized crime. Police believed Papalia and the Luppinos were bitter enemies, but Bowen said the "talk-and-walk" session seemed cordial and businesslike.

Bowen also saw Carmen Barillaro, Nicodema [sic] Bruzzese and Dominic Vaccaro make the trip to Railway Street.

Conspiracy charges

The three Niagara Falls men were members of a Hamilton mob family, a Buffalo FBI agent said at the time they were arrested in 1990 on charges of conspiracy to import more than $2 million in cocaine and marijuana.

Robert Ulmer, a specialist in organized crime, said the three men were "made members of a Hamilton mob family." He did not identify the family.

[antimafia]

Also do you think Dominic Vaccaro is related to the Rocco Vaccaro listed on the 2006 Buffalo crime family chart? Rocco was born 4-15-1916. Here is the catch: Feather doesn't list Rocco as Canadian on his chart, and the FBI has a SSN for him. So it sounds like he was on the American side. Thoughts?

[snip]

Italy has twenty regions, and people with the very common and popular surname Vaccaro reside in every region. The particular regions from which most Vaccaros descend are Sicily, Campania, and Calabria. Now that you know Domenic Vaccaro's DOB (June 9, 1946, or 6-9-1946), you'd have to do some genealogical research to see whether he's related to the deceased Rocco.

[B.]

[snip]The Bordonaros were from Montedoro, which is where John Montana and some other early Buffalo/NF figures were from, so Calogero Bordonaro is a good candidate for one of the earliest Canadian members.

[snip]

B.,

Are you sure about the Bordonaros' ancestry? A while back I am fairly certain I found records for Calogero and his son Ignazio ("Harold") through FamilySearch.org that would establish ancestry from Racalmuto in Agrigento. I think you and I also had an exchange about this in another thread when you were discussing Nick Alfano speaking over the phone with Calogero.

Here are some links to what I've found (you will have to be signed in to FamilySearch):

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cc=1876434

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q23H-8CFT

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XGR9-KNY

Nothing to add on Bordonaro's ancestry but I did come across a Magaddino transcript recently where he makes reference to Calogero Bordonaro being active with the Buffalo family in the 1920s -- possibly as early as the mid 20s. It doesn't specifically ID him as a member back then but it seems to suggest he was either in Buffalo or visiting Buffalo and that Magaddino tried to recruit him in a murder plot. Magaddino refers to him as "Calidu" or "Caliddu", a nickname for Calogero, and the phonetic surname is clearly Bordonaro.