Andrew Scoppa has been identified as a well respected and influential mafia clan leader in Montreal for several years now.
But according to recent testimony from a Sûreté du Québec lieutenant, Andrew Scoppa actually became the interim leader of the Montreal Mafia. According to the LaPresse report, the SQ considered Scoppa to be the leader of the mafia in Montreal before his arrest in 2016. The recent admission was part of the officer’s testimony under oath at the drug trial of Maxime Hébert. Scoppa was arrested back in 2016 during a cocaine smuggling investigation that targeted him and members of his clan.
“Andrew Scoppa”
There was a halt to the judicial process early in 2017 which led to Scoppa and a couple of his codefendants being set free. During the investigation, police were able to place a wire in vehicles used by Andrew and his driver. During a conversation recorded between the two men, Scoppa was caught saying “I do not want to be the boss. To be, you must aim to become one.” According to an unsubstantiated source, Andrew and his brother Salvatore Scoppa would have received approval from the Toronto Mafia and Italy to become the new leaders of the Montreal mafia.
In the aftermath of Operation Magot-Mastiff back in 2015 police identified Stefano Sollecito and Leonardo Rizzuto as the new heads of the mob in Montreal. They had taken control of what remained of the Sicilian based Rizzuto crime family after the death of Vito Rizzuto and the murders of many key leaders at the start of the bloody Montreal mafia war. The operation had taken down many high ranking members of organized crime in Montreal which included members of a newly formed leadership table allegedly headed by Sollecito and Rizzuto and things were still very much in a state of flux.
The Rizzuto’s had also suffered many casualties during that time period including the murders of remaining influential mobsters Rocco Sollecito and Lorenzo Giordano. This series of events could have given the Ndrangheta long thought to be behind the attacks of the Rizzuto family an opening to take over and back Scoppa as the new boss in Montreal. Since Scoppa’s arrest and release, things have continued to change and it is unclear as to whether or not he is still in this or any kind of other leadership position. The assumption of late has been that Sollecito was still the head of the depleted Rizzuto clan although they don’t seem to be in a position of power anymore.
Perhaps the violent mafia war in Montreal has indeed led to new leadership powered by the Ndrangheta in the form of Andrew Scoppa and or others. But there are still more questions than answers and the facts still remain clouded as to who or who currently has control if anyone. But never the less this is a very interesting development and yet another twist in the ongoing controversy.
Update: Andrew Scoppa Murdered!
