Business or Blood (2 page)

JUNE 2, 2004:
Raynald Desjardins freed from prison on statutory release.

JULY 30, 2004:
Joseph Massino of the Bonanno crime family quietly becomes first New York mob boss ever to work as a police agent. His switch immediately follows his conviction for murdering George Sciascia of Montreal. Massino secretly begins wearing a listening device while in custody.

FEBRUARY 11, 2005:
Italian police allege Vito Rizzuto planned to launder money in a multi-billion-dollar project to build a bridge across the Strait of Messina, connecting Sicily to mainland Italy. Italian authorities accuse Vito of engineering the plot while in custody, fighting extradition to the United States.

MARCH 10, 2005:
Rizzuto family enforcer Mike Lapolla shot dead in upscale Moomba nightclub in bar fight with Thierry Beaubrun of the 67's street gang. Beaubrun shot dead trying to flee.

2005:
Brothers Salvatore, Giuseppe and Antonio Coluccio quietly arrive in Woodbridge, north of Toronto. They're immediately treated with great respect by the region's 'Ndrangheta, or Calabrian Mafia.

MAY 25, 2005:
Frank Martorana, a luxury car dealer connected to Vito and Nicolò Rizzuto, abducted from barbershop by four men. He is released after several days but refuses to co-operate with police.

AUGUST 11, 2005:
Giovanni (Johnny) Bertolo, a construction union representative close to Raynald Desjardins, shot dead while leaving a Montreal gym.

AUGUST 17, 2006:
Vito Rizzuto finally extradited to USA to answer charges for Three Captains Murders.

AUGUST 30, 2006:
Rizzuto soldier Domenico Macri killed in Montreal. Within weeks, Rizzuto crime family members begin to buy armoured cars and underboss Francesco (
Compare
Frank) Arcadi takes an extended European vacation.

NOVEMBER 22, 2006:
Police hit Rizzuto crime family with eighty-two arrests at culmination of Project Colisée. Top-level members taken into custody include Paolo Renda, Rocco (Sauce) Sollecito, Lorenzo (Skunk) Giordano, Francesco Arcadi and Nicolò Rizzuto

AUGUST 15, 2007:
Six men murdered in German town of Duisburg in latest stage of 'Ndrangheta feud that began in Calabria two decades earlier over an egg-throwing incident. The murders put an international spotlight on the 'Ndrangheta, which is particularly strong in Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and dominates the European cocaine market. Despite its low profile, the 'Ndrangheta is now considered Italy's most dangerous Mafia group.

AUGUST 2008:
Giuseppe Coluccio arrested in GTA. Italian authorities say he heads powerful 'Ndrangheta family.

AUGUST 11, 2008:
Antonio (Tony) Magi, a former associate of Vito Rizzuto's son Nicolò (The Ritz) Rizzuto Jr., survives murder attempt.

JANUARY 16, 2009:
Gunman murders Sam Fasulo, a close associate of imprisoned Rizzuto leader Francesco Arcadi.

APRIL 2009:
Salvatore (Sal the Ironworker, The Bambino Boss) Montagna, head of the Bonanno crime family, quietly moves from New York to Quebec.

MAY 3, 2009:
Former GTA resident Salvatore Coluccio arrested in a bunker in Calabrian town of Roccella Ionica, on the Ionian Sea. Italian authorities say he's one of country's thirty most dangerous fugitives.

AUGUST 21, 2009:
Rizzuto close family friend Federico (Freddy) Del Peschio shot dead.

SEPTEMBER 17, 2009:
Member of powerful Commisso crime family from GTA flies to Montreal and meets with Vittorio (Victor) Mirarchi, the son of a deceased underworld figure.

OCTOBER 7, 2009:
Meeting held in Woodbridge, Ontario, home for members of
camera di controllo
, ruling body of the GTA 'Ndrangheta.

DECEMBER 15, 2009:
Antonio Coluccio of Richmond Hill, Ontario, told he is inadmissible to live in Canada because close family members are considered members of the 'Ndrangheta.

DECEMBER 28, 2009:
Nicolò Rizzuto Jr., forty-two, shot to death in broad daylight. His murder is considered Montreal's most audacious gangland slaying since the killing of Paolo Violi thirty-one years earlier.

MARCH 19, 2010:
Street-gang leader Ducarme Joseph escapes murder attempt in Old Montreal. He had been suspected in murder of Nicolò Rizzuto Jr. Joseph's bodyguard, Peter Christopoulos, killed. Move comes as street gangs push for old Rizzuto turf in wake of Vito's incarceration.

MAY 19, 2010:
Rizzuto family
consigliere
Paolo Renda abducted near his home on Vito Rizzuto's street and never seen again.

JUNE 29, 2010:
Long-time Rizzuto family loyalist Agostino (The Seigneur of Saint-Léonard) Cuntrera and his bodyguard, Liborio Sciascia, murdered at midday walking from Cuntrera's Montreal business. At the time, Cuntrera is in charge of Rizzuto family's day-to-day operations.

JULY 13, 2010:
Italian authorities charge 304 people—including some GTA residents—at culmination of two-year probe code-named Operazione Crimine, which targeted 'Ndrangheta. Organization begins shuffling GTA leadership in response.

NOVEMBER 2010:
Antonio Coluccio returns to North America from United Kingdom. He travels first to New York City, then Niagara Falls, NY. Canadians travel to United States to see him, including a former moneyman for Vito Rizzuto.

NOVEMBER 10, 2010:
Nicolò Rizzuto murdered in his home by sniper in front of his wife and daughter. The killing bears startling similarities to murder of Rizzuto enemy Rocco Violi three decades earlier.

FEBRUARY 1, 2011:
Stockpile of weapons seized in Montreal warehouse tied to Vito Rizzuto, who remains in Colorado prison.

APRIL 13, 2011:
Bonanno crime family boss Joseph Massino appears in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, becomes first boss of a New York crime family to take witness stand against a former confederate.

SEPTEMBER 16, 2011:
Former Vito Rizzuto ally Raynald Desjardins survives murder attempt outside his home. Would-be assassin escapes on a Sea-Doo.

OCTOBER 4, 2011:
Police in Reggio Calabria, Italy, seize 'Ndrangheta property and business assets. The seizure comes amidst an ongoing offensive against the Aquino clan. The clan retains deep roots in the GTA.

OCTOBER 24, 2011:
Vito Rizzuto's neighbour turned enemy Salvatore (Larry) Lo Presti, forty, shot dead when he steps out to smoke a cigarette on balcony of his Saint-Laurent condo.

NOVEMBER 24, 2011:
Salvatore Montagna, head of the Bonanno crime family of New York, murdered near Montreal.

DECEMBER 13, 2011:
Vito Rizzuto's ally turned rival Antonio (Tony Suzuki) Pietrantonio shot but not killed.

DECEMBER 20, 2011:
Raynald Desjardins and wealthy café owner Vittorio (Victor) Mirarchi among six men arrested for Montagna murder.

MARCH 1, 2012:
Former Vito Rizzuto ally Giuseppe (Closure) Colapelle murdered. He had spied on Montagna and followers for Raynald Desjardins and was considered close to Giuseppe (Ponytail) De Vito.

MAY 4, 2012:
Giuseppe (Joe) Renda from the Montagna camp disappears after going to a business meeting. He had once been close to Vito Rizzuto.

SEPTEMBER 2012:
Charbonneau Commission begins hearings on corruption in Quebec construction industry.

OCTOBER 5, 2012:
Vito Rizzuto released from Colorado prison. Flies to Toronto and immediately drops out of public view.

NOVEMBER 5, 2012:
Giuseppe (Joe) Di Maulo, a key figure in consortium that challenged Rizzuto's dominance in Montreal during Vito's imprisonment, murdered outside his home. Di Maulo was Desjardins's brother-in-law.

NOVEMBER 17, 2012:
Mohamed Awada killed. He had earlier been implicated in kidnapping of Rizzuto soldier.

DECEMBER 8, 2012:
Former Rizzuto ally Emilio Cordeleone killed in Montreal.

JANUARY 22, 2013:
Gaétan Gosselin murdered outside his Montreal home. Gosselin was involved in construction industry and close to Raynald Desjardins.

JANUARY 31, 2013:
Anti-Vito mobster Vincenzo Scuderi murdered outside his home in Montreal.

FEBRUARY 1, 2013:
Anti-Vito residential building contractor Tonino (Tony) Callocchia survives gun attack in Montreal.

MAY 8, 2013:
Burned, bullet-riddled bodies of former Toronto residents Juan Ramon (Joe Bravo) Fernandez and Fernando Pimentel found in Casteldaccia, just outside Sicilian capital of Palermo. Fernandez had tried to sit on the fence and not take sides in Rizzuto–Desjardins war.

JULY 8, 2013:
Giuseppe (Ponytail) De Vito found dead of cyanide poisoning in his cell in Donnacona, Quebec, penitentiary. Less than a month before his death, his wife was convicted of murdering their two daughters while he was on the run from police.

JULY 10, 2013:
Big Joey Massino, Vito Rizzuto's former boss in the Bonanno crime family, enters witness protection program after lengthy crime career that included taking part in at least eight murders.

JULY 12, 2013:
Toronto hit man Salvatore (Sam) Calautti shot dead with his long-time associate James Tusek while leaving stag for bookie in Woodbridge, Ontario. Calautti had been suspect in murders of at least five men, including Nicolò Rizzuto and Vito Rizzuto's Toronto lieutenant Gaetano (Guy) Panepinto.

SEPTEMBER 2013:
Vito Rizzuto golfs in Dominican Republic, where his associates include London, Ontario, Hells Angel with extensive Internet gambling interests.

NOVEMBER 10, 2013:
Former Vito ally Moreno Gallo murdered in Acapulco pizzeria, on three-year anniversary of Nicolò Rizzuto's murder.

DECEMBER 18, 2013:
Roger Valiquette shot dead in broad daylight in Laval. He had once been close to Joe Di Maulo and Moreno Gallo. At time of his death, he was working as mortgage broker and was close to Tonino (Tony) Callocchia.

DECEMBER 23, 2013:
Vito Rizzuto dies of apparent natural causes in Montreal hospital. A quick decision is made not to hold an autopsy.

JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH 2014:
Middle-aged man with no criminal record taken to Vito Rizzuto's old Mafia haunts by long-time member. Newcomer rumoured to be assuming top spot in Rizzuto crime family.

APRIL 24, 2014:
Carmine Verduci of the GTA 'Ndrangheta shot dead in mid-afternoon outside a café in Vaughan, Ontario.

AUGUST 1, 2014:
Bullet-riddled body of gang leader Ducarme Joseph found dead in middle of street in the Saint-Michel neighbourhood of Montreal.

ONTARIO-QUEBEC-NEW YORK: VITO'S TURF

“I entered along the deep and savage road.”

The Divine Comedy
,
Inferno
, Canto II
DANTE ALIGHIERI

T
his is the story of Vito Rizzuto, the most powerful leader in the history of the Canadian Mafia, during the period of his life that would define his legacy. His father and his eldest son were slain while he sat helplessly in an American prison, and their deaths cried out for revenge. His myriad businesses—both criminal and outwardly legitimate—were under siege. A stampede of gangsters, politicians, crooked cops and business people were deserting or exposing him. A lifetime of schooling in the Mafia hardly seemed enough training for the challenges awaiting Vito when he finally walked free in October 2012.

By telling the story of this crucial time at the end of one man's life, we aim to give an account of the Mafia that goes beyond just one corner of one country. During the writing of this book, central characters kept falling dead. There were gangland hits in Acapulco, Mexico, and Casteldaccia, Sicily, as well as several assassinations in and around Montreal and Toronto, some with serious repercussions for the old Mafia families of New York City.

The violence isn't surprising. It was thanks to their refinement of violence and intimidation that Mafia groups first became wealthy in southern Italy and then moved on to the rich economies of North America; we will tell a few stories from this era in the chapters to
come. And regardless of where people are, when they stand in the way of the Mafia's profit-taking, there's a good chance murder will follow—much is shadowy in the Mafia's world, but that can be stated as an absolute truth. Another bankable truth is that the ultimate goal of the Mafia is not money but power. Money is simply a tried-and-true way of attaining the power and influence that makes a family respected for generations.

Not only do members of our cast die in several corners of the world, they come from many corners of it as well. In fact, the diversity of characters in the pages that follow offers proof that the Mafia is not a backward-minded, genetic or racial problem strictly related to Italians. Characters in this book who are equally powerful within the global and Canadian underworld of organized crime—in a few cases, even within the traditional Italian Mafia itself—speak half a dozen languages and come from even more cultures. Defining this criminal world as simply an Italian problem isn't just bigoted, it's also inadequate. That kind of narrow thinking is largely responsible for the delay with which Canada and other countries have come to understand the essence of the Mafia and its relationship with power.