Salvatore Calautti a reputed hitman for the Calabrian Mafia or Ndrangheta was gunned down in Toronto. Calautti was shot to death in his car in a banquet hall parking lot after leaving a bachelor party he was attending. He was a suspect in at least five unsolved mafia murders which included the murder of former Montreal mafia boss Nicolo Rizzuto father of current boss Vito Rizzuto. The hit has many organized crime insiders wondering if the ongoing Montreal mafia war may have just moved into Toronto. Mob expert and insider Antonio Nicaso said this may very well signal a new front of struggle in the bloody Montreal war. He noted that two men with connections to the Montreal mob war were killed in Italy in April and after Italy Ontario may also now be involved in the showdown.
“Salvatore Calautti”
It is believed by many insiders and mob experts that enemies of the Rizzuto crime family from Ontario conspired with a break away faction of the Montreal mafia in an effort to take control of the Montreal underworld. Attacks on the Rizzuto family led to murders of Vito Rizzuto’s father , son, brother in law, and several other close associates as he sat in a U.S. prison. Vito’s father Nicolo Rizzuto was shot to death by a sniper outside his home in 2010 and Calautti was investigated in the still unsolved mob hit. Police sources confirmed that a longtime associate of Calautti was seen in Montreal the day after Rizzuto Sr’s murder and the presence of these people at time of the murder have to be considered.
Law enforcement sources noted that there has always been a tension between the Rizzuto family which has Sicilian roots and GTA mobsters who have roots in the Ndrangheta. Even before the murder of the senior Rizzuto Calautti had tense relations with the Rizzuto family and their long standing GTA presence. Calautti was a suspect in the slaying of Vito Rizzuto’s long time friend and right hand man Gaetano “Guy” Panepinto in Toronto in 2000. Domenic Napoli a Ndrangheta mobster and close friend of Calautti was having a conflict with Panepinto over gambling territory before he disappeared and was believed to have been murdered. It was also found during the 2006 Project Colisee investigation that Calautti had run up more then 200,000 dollars of gambling debts owed to the Rizzuto family which was assumed by another GTA mobster.
Now many are wondering if this is yet another hit ordered by Vito Rizzuto as he regains power and seeks revenge for the attacks on his family. This could very well be another signal that the bloody Montreal mafia war has not yet ended.
