Calabrian mafia scion Angelo Musitano was shot to death in the driveway of his suburban home in Hamilton’s Waterdown community Tuesday afternoon according to various reports.
According to authorities, several shots were fired at Musitano as he pulled into the driveway and he was found dead in his vehicle by emergency crews. Hamilton police are currently looking for a suspect that neighbors saw sitting in a dark-colored four-door sedan on the street seemingly waiting for Musitano to come home. Police are still actively looking for witnesses and looking over security camera footage from the area hoping it may contain additional information. Authorities believe this was a targeted attack and that there is no immediate threat to the public
“Pat Musitano and Angelo Musitano”
(Ron pozzer / the hamilton spectator file photo)
The 39-year-old mobster was a member of the notorious Musitano crime family a Ndrangheta clan which has long been an influential part of the Ontario underworld. The long time Calabrian mafia family took root in Canada back in the 1930’s when Angelo’s namesake uncle fled there from Italy. Angelo’s father Domenic Musitano took control of the organized crime family turning it into a major player that vied for power in the region. Domenic became one of the better-known mafia bosses in the city until his death from a heart attack in 1995. His two sons had both been inducted into the mafia and Angelo’s brother Pasquale “Pat” Musitano took over as boss.
The brothers were both charged with first-degree murder back in 1998 for the shooting of Hamilton mafia boss Johnny Papalia and one of his top lieutenants Carmen Barillaro in 1997. Even though the hitman for both murders turned rat and fingered Pat and Angelo for ordering the mafia hit they were able to negotiate a plea deal. They both plead guilty to conspiracy to murder Barillaro but not Papalia and were sentenced to 10 years in prison back in 2000. Angelo and his brother were released from prison in 2007.
He has been closely monitored by Hamilton police since his release which resulted in a potential parole violation just five months after being back on the streets for meeting with someone he was forbidden to contact. Police claimed that phone numbers in his cell phone along with informants was proof that he had reactivated his life of crime in the Ontario mafia. But the informant’s claims could not be corroborated and Musitano had innocent explanations for it all so he was once again released on parole. Since then Angelo has remained mostly under the radar at least publicly according to a report from esteemed journalist and reporter Adrian Humphreys of the National Post . Whether it is a coincidence or not this month marks the 20th anniversary of Papalia’s murder.
Wonder if this is related to the several mob murders in March in Toronto. I’m surprised nobody discussed those.
I think that is a very valid question also I think one has to wonder if there are any links between this hit and what has been happening in Montreal.
i was thinking the same thing
Google the “Cosenza club shooting in Woodbridge” and Etobicoke man shot in March 2017. The past few members seem to all be of Calabrese descent, so it could be someone in Montreal hitting back.
It’s most likely ‘ndrangheta infighting. I’m not sure where the leventis shooting fits in, but as I’ve said before he/his brother apparently had a beef with the commisso’s.
Antonio Sergi wasn’t a made guy I don’t think, but a knock around neighbourhood type. Triumbari comes from a long bloodline of ‘ndrangheta so his death was certainly mob related, as was musitanos.
I still haven’t found out who the intended target was when that 28 year old girl was accidentally killed and he survived in Woodbridge. That has to be OC related too.
i was well aquainted with Anastasios (TASSO) leventis and his brother rookie. them being from Montreal
If they were sentenced to 10 years in 2000 why weren’t they released in 2010?
Think it’s a typo for 2007
2/3 Sentencing guidelines in Ontario. Good behavior they would be eligible for parole at the 2/3 point of their sentence.
arrested 2000 – released 2007 not bad for a murder
Read in some reports these guys backed the Rizzuto’s in the 90’s which led to them taking out PaPalia so perhaps this was the current enemies of the Rizzuto’s making another statement that even from the past no friends or allies of the Rizzuto’s are safe. Could be something totally different as well but it is another interesting twist and possibility.
ya I’m looking forward to solecito and rizzuto trial there’s going to be so much info and insight!
I’m not so much sure that they ‘backed’ the rizzutos, more so pat musitano saw the obvious benefit to being a rizzuto puppet, and rizzuto used that to have papalia clipped without using his own name or people.
When pats suv was lit on fire I thought exactly that, it was a warning or a sign that things hadn’t been forgotten. If pat goes next then I’m pretty sure that will speak volumes.
Papalia was way passed his prime, and flexing increasingly less and less muscle, while still forbidding the angels to operate in his turf. Didn’t take long for the angels to move in heavily after papalia left. Once Buffalo LCN was basically reduced to nothing, papalia had lost most of his power. Walter stadnick is a Hamilton boy and he basically lead the charge with the mass patchovers and angels expansion into Canada, so it was a foolish move for papalia to resist them
Great stuff Tommy, thanks!
Was the Buffalo LCN reduced to nothing or did they just die out/fade away? They never had the membership of the New York families or Chicago, just like most LCN families that used to exist.
indictments in the 90s and 2000 destroyed them some guys carried on but a lot of these guys have died or retired no one really left feds finally came out this year and said Buffalo LCN no longer exists but it was visible years ago
only familys who really have a number of young guys still joining our familys on the East coast five familys, philly, Jeresy and Boston mafia. Chicago has some young guys and that whole family is very different but its size does seem to be getting smaller every year. There is also the mob in Detroit which still seems to be active but those guys are getting old now I know even scott said recently who is the capeci of that family he does not think it will be here 15 20 25 years from now there is some young guys but not enough to replace the guys who keep dying
The difference with Detroit is a lot of their upper echelon guys are college educated guys and so are their sons, so that may contribute to them fading, similar to the way it has in other cities, when you have options LCN doesn’t seem so appealing.
Little Italy in Niagara Falls Ny and Buffalo.. well, they’d be more appropriately named little Jamaica now.
General attrition and changes in cultures and values, and the Americanizing of Italians has contribute alongside the obvious economic slumps a lot of former mob glory towns are in and probably won’t get out of. Harder for a large family to prosper off rackets in a bankrupt city.
Going along similar lines as Tommy, I think much of the thinning of ranks is due to a change of culture. I can see it myself. Nowadays in places like Toronto, (where there is almost 500, 000 Italian canadians in the greater Toronto area, just a little less than the amount in Chicago) there are plenty of Italian Canadian kids. But it seems they are more interested in acting like black hip hop, mulignan “gangsters”. I bet you if there was a shift in culture, and if some sort of mob movie or something almost up to par with the Godfather, or Goodfellas were to come out and become a hit, you would see a lot of more wannabees everywhere. This may sound silly at first, but think about it, the media has plenty of influence on dumb and gullible teenagers. I know these kids wouldn’t be top choices for made members, but they would probably mature as they get older and do time in prison, and when they would stick with that kind of life. It would definitely bolsten the ranks of many families. You gotta remember when things were different back in the 70’s and 80’s, alot of associates and even some soldiers of lcn families weren’t the best and brightest in the family.
Yeah everyone acting black is pretty f*****g annoying. It seems like nowadays you have more people who aren’t black that act more that way than black people.
Yes, it’s incredibly annoying and f*****g disgusting to act like hood rat titsoons/tizzuni. I feel bad for the few black people who are hard working and respectable.
Also I’m not sure where your from, but in Toronto it’s particularly disgusting. White/brown/Asian kids (boys and girls) try and talk with a mix of Jamaican/Somalian/and Iraqi slang. It makes you cringe. Now I don’t care if those people enjoy their culture but it’s the gang culture part. when you see rich suburban kids try and imitate the scum of the earth, it’s awful. It makes me wonder why Italian Canadian kids act like black thugs while the Italians in their 40+ are basically at the top of the underworld in Canada.
That’s where LCN and ‘Ndrangheta differ greatly.
To be initiated into LCN, even 50 years ago, you merely had to be Italian and known from the neighbourhood, and over time that degraded into eventually basically if you look and sound Italian and make money, you’re membership material.
‘Ndrangheta is extremely family oriented, and not in the sense of mafia ‘family’ but blood, and marriage, and sometimes intermarriage. That’s why it’s more appropriate to refer to ‘ndrine as ‘clans’ rather than families, because they literally are clans. The families become so intertwined that the children are raised being steeped in the culture, not as much nowadays, of course, because like every other criminal organization the idea is to legitimize, or at the very least legitimize your illicit income.
It’s harder to flip when you know it’s just not leaving your neighbourhood and your pals.. but when every single person and family member you know turns their back on you.. diff story.
Just like LCN, I’m sure there are guys who want their sons to be involved and guys who want their sons to go to university.
Just like the Chin/ Gotti dichotomy.. Gotti boasted when he made Junior and Chin replied ‘I’m sorry to hear that’.
Yes. On a similar note, even though the various ‘ndrine are incredibly secretive and tight knit due to blood and marriage ties, the Rizzuto’s have had a similar level of loyalty. It might not be to the same extent as the ‘ndrangheta, but for a Sicilian Cosa Nostra family, they are/were very few rats in the family and disloyalty while Nick and Vito were in power. Also, while the ‘ndrangheta is powerful, while talking about the group in general, they are more separate and organized into small clans. These clans usually only consist of one to two dozen people each in Canada. The Montreal lcn was one huge organization and Vito had tremendous power, much more than any individual clan leader here in Canada.
Absolutely, because they maintained the same premise as the ‘ndrangheta, maintained very close familial ties and married.. how many rizzutos/caruanas/cuntrerass cammilleris/rendas/mannos are connected through marriage.. tons. That’s a major component to their success is they are impenetrable because they are, literally, one big family. The only LCN family I can think of that is even close to the original Sicilian model of family/blood are the gambinos with the inzerillo/gambino/Cali connection.
And yes, the ‘ndrangheta are much more fragmented, hence their nickname as the ‘horizontal mafia’. And while rizzuto had consolidated many clans under his banner, there was a certain level of autonomy, unlike the rigid structure of an American LCN family where it’s soldier kicks up to capo and capo to administration.
This day and age, the LCN model is outdated. Doesn’t take the worlds leading forensic accountant to follow the money.. whereas following the money in the rizzuto/siderno groups, much more difficult.
Yes the Gambino’s seem to have taken a good step in rekindling old school Sicilian roots, which will help them survive and thrive. The Genovese’s, who don’t seem to be made up of any particular family or from any specific part of southern Italy, but they have had only a handful of rats , and they’ve been around forever. I guess they maintain their old school way of being in the shadows and that’s what gives them their title as the Ivy league of lcn.
The Detroit family is similar to the rizzutos in a way. Many families all together, all intermarried, and old school Sicilian tradition.
Actually I think the Rizzuto crime family was more like a Cosa Nostra family from Sicily than an LCN family. In other words, real Mafiosi lol.
How so? Rizzuto’s basically grew from an extension of Bonanno’s.
This is because most members of the Rizzuto family consisted of 1st generation Italians that immigrated in the last 60 or so years, and still have plenty of contact/visits to Italy. This is still the case with the rizzutos and the Ontario clans, although there are many 2nd generation members starting to come around, they are still pretty informed with the old school tradition. American lcn does still have 1st or 2nd generation Italians and zips, but many guys are 3rd 4th or even 5th generation Italian Americans, so the way they operate is different.
Exactly! I’m talking about the way they operate. You don’t see the same level of Americanization in the Mafia in Canada that you see with the American Mafia. By Americanization I mean attention seeking, trying to be celebrity gangsters, shit like that. They stay more in line with the old Mafia values. Shit if they didn’t they’d be hobbling around on their last legs like many LCN families. I read a lot about the current Mafia in Sicily/Italy and to me the Montreal Mafia is more similar to Mafia families over there than LCN families over here. Now before anyone says I’m passing this off as fact I said that this is my opinion.
honestly a big differncebetween rizzutos lcn and the states is the in the states lcn ha’s been aggressively attact by the government since the 80 this has lead to loss of leadership attrition and rats. in canand a it has only been in the last 10 years your hearing g of huge bust. I would compare the state of the montreal mafia to late 80 new York. or conterpart to rico gangsterism had only been around since the late 90’S
this is the first time in 60 years that the montreal mafia has been this dedtabilized
I don’t give as much credit to the downfall of LCN to the government as a lot of people. I believe that there are so many other factors. The Mafia in Italy are hit hard by the government as well yet they’re as strong as ever. If a crime family has enough criminal talent in their membership then the government can aggressively attack all they want and it will just shake it off and keep moving, or regenerate and come back stronger. RICO was a major game changer, but if it was as big and bad as everyone makes it out to be then there really shouldn’t be anything left of LCN. Yet here we are hearing about major recent indictments in 2017.
Let’s keep in mind the recruitment pool for the Italian mafias may be bigger.. in Italy…
That’s a good point, and a point that I constantly try to stress in these posts. Like I said there are a lot more factors that play into the downfall of the American Mafia than just “the government shut them down.” In other words it’s not that simple. Lacking a steady stream of valuable recruits is one of them.
The government has got in bed with them, in every single country they have ever been active in.
The government wants headlines, so they prosecute on occasion. The government sells oxy, the mafia distributes drugs. They’re basically a shadow government and always have been.
Exactly, to compare La Cosa Nostra to Italian Mafia is apples and oranges. In my opinion to get an equal comparison one would have to compare Italian Mafia to La Cosa Nostra, biker gangs, street gangs, etc. as they re all American Organized Crime.
Even gangsterism is soft in comparison to Rico. HA can take a gangsterism just for wearing their cuts in public, at least in Ontario, but they still do. Shows how little it means.
Rico is fuckin draconian.
RICO is the Mafia’s worst nightmare, other than rats. But then, without RICO there wouldn’t be near as many rats.
It’s crazy how excessively punitively the US is. No wonder the prison system is bursting at the seams.
So much for calling it ‘corrections’ or ‘rehabilitation’ when you’re locked up for 35 years for one crime.
I understand having enterprise laws but the sentencing guidelines are nuts. I’d be in jail If I lived in the US.
We have a very relaxed attitude in Canada towards everything, OC being no exception.
If it’s not directly hurting you, don’t bother with it. The mafia was just part of life for my family.
I grew up in Toronto, spent my summers in dyker heights, and my entire family is from Montreal. Surprised I’m not a member lol .
Our neighbourhoods have also stayed somewhat culturally divided, which helps maintain the culture.
St Leonard in Montreal is basically Italy. Certain neighbourhoods in Toronto are the same. It’s different in New York.
20 years ago you could walk down any street in Bensonhurst/bath beach/dyker heights and see only European/mostly Italian faces… now it’s a melting pot. Sad really. Little Italy has been reduced to 3/4 a block on mulberry in Manhattan. Swallowed up by Chinatown. Italians have just assimilated in the US.
Assimilation, yes, another one of those factors I was talking about.
Not true. That’s an FBI peddled American fallacy.
The rizzutos placated the bonnanos, the cotronis, their predecessor, were much more willing to be viewed as the ‘Canadian crew’. The cotronis almost viewed their American affiliation as a privilege, the rizzutos viewed it as a nuisance to deal with rather than have conflict. Have to keep in mind just how smart and cunning Vito was.
Also, to be fair it was very different eras. The bonnanos were a joke for much of the rizzuto reign, but they were a mammoth during the cotronis reign.
The rizzutos are very much so a Sicilian mafia family.
http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justice-et-affaires-criminelles/affaires-criminelles/201705/07/01-5095501-le-mafieux-francesco-del-balso-arrete-apres-un-braquage-de-domicile-chez-lui.php?utm_categorieinterne=trafficdrivers&utm_contenuinterne=cyberpresse_B13b_justice-et-faits-divers_561_section_POS2
some guys with guns showed up at Franco Del Baso home tried to do a home invasion. he wasnt home his family called the cops the people fled. when cops showed up del baso was out past curfew without his GPS tracking device. he was arrested. might be sent back to the pen
So he’s probably going back inside… judging from the article, the guys being caught with a pitbull, sounds like the work of street gangs to me.
With del balsos temper, I wouldn’t wanna be these guys right now especially since they got caught. Pointed a gun at one of his female relatives, they may end up at the bottom of the st Lawrence if they make bail.
not the work of street gangs they are probably the ones that showed up at his for sure. but theres a clan behind probaby sicilian/rizzutos or maybe not, after all the SQ advised him that theres a contract on his life after the murder of giordarno
Ya way too sloppy to have been OC guys, show up point a gun get scared and run away AND get pinched immediately after.
Not the hallmark of any organized guys. Gotta say though if it’s in his parole conditions that he has to reside at that residence, which it likely is, CSC isn’t doing him or his family any favours, guys a sitting duck.
it was hatians confirmed
Figured. So either hired hit and a horrible attempt, or just two young kids with delusions of what he may have in that house.
but if he were home we would be reading about another mob hit.
Funny they even bother speculating in the article that it may not have been a targeted home invasion, as if there’s even the slightest chance it was random.
May not have been a hit though, seems to me if you’re running in someone’s house of that stature you’d probably be organized enough to know if he was or wasn’t home.
The guy could have 500k under his mattress for all we know and word spread
my thoughts exactly, they were young street gang members there not none for being the most discreet or organised, just look at the Marco Prizzi failed hit .i don“t think it was a home invasion he would be crazy to leave that type of money lying around his house can be searched by his PO at any time. the guys showed up at 11am on the wknd, they probably assumed he would be home. And its less suspicious then somebody to knocking on your door at midnight
That’s true, but how many guys make stupid mistakes and get breached over it? Who knows
You figure it was the sollecito/rizzuto camp?
Someone’s gonna get clipped for this I would imagine. Chit is known for being a little too talkative on phones, he may wanna handle it a little discreetly, but he has to retaliate. Show up at his home and point a gun at a woman, not too much respect left in these circles.
oh ya there is gonna be retaliation if there isone thing you dont do is point a gun at a mans wife or kids… the thing is Chit has a contract on his life he has been meeting with other mobsters so all these guys no people are after them and they no who it iz . im positive he has contracts out on his enemies.
i stand corrected least one of them is a French white quebecois….
bro the more im reading about the guys who commited the home invasion Marc Laflamme-Berthelot, 33 ans, et David C the more im starting to think this may be 2 idiots that tried to do a home invasion/robbery jessus
Ya paul cherry just posted an article, it’s sounding like it was more than just pointing the gun they’re now saying the wife and older son were assaulted and robbed and the 12 year old boy had a gun pointed at him too.
These guys deserve whatever they get, not from the courts but from del balso.
what the fuck are these guys thinking I don’t think they could have picked a worst person to mess with
Witness Protection seems worse than prison to me. You spend the rest of your life living a pathetic existence and forever known as a rat. Just look at every rat who ever resurfaced years later from the Witness Protection Program, how pathetic they look. Look at the level of contempt people had for Henry Hill and Sammy the Bull. Disgusting. Meanwhile guys like Carmine Persico are still referred to as Mafia legends by experts. I would never take that path but if I did I’d rather go to jail than be a rat.
You think they hate themselves for saving their own asses? These men are Sociopathic violent predators who prey on anyone they can and rip people off for personal gain. Many are also murders, but you think they hate themselves when they put their personal interests and freedom ahead of others? The same self motivation and greed that makes them successful is very much inline with what they have to gain by becoming an informant.
exactly alot of these guys go in to write books and movie and reality tv. and tell everybody they realised the error of there ways blah blah blah and now there doing the right thing. these guys don’t give a shit except saving there own ass and profiting from it
and not all these guys are hiding in witness protection some of them were living openly like Sam g in arizona
Also i think the Buffalo family created a pizza chain thats pretty succesful and apparently some of the remants have gone legit
Ya haha La Nova, I’ve been. Pretty good actually.
Most of the old school Italian joints are gone. Pine ave in Niagara Falls was a very different place even 20 years ago. Comos, legendary restaurant on pine that was a mafia hangout is now basically like eating a microwave dinner, the family sold out and commercialized. It’s sad.
One place still hanging on and putting out great homestyle Italian is michaels restaurant! (if you’re ever in the falls)
Bernstein is very knowledgeable when it comes to history of Det Mob. When it comes to current day, he relied on information primarily through someone shelved and looking to cash in. Even then that person was only going into further detail on information that had already been spilled publicly.
He’s from West Bloomfield which is a very affluent Oakland County suburb. Detroit Mob almost solely based in Macomb County and a little bit of Wayne County(Eastern Market downtown). The divide between the two areas is night and day. The teenagers young adults from these areas don’t grow up together or have really any contact.
As far as current state of Det Mob, other than a couple of the staples it’s primarily made up of pretty successful small business owners. Many also associated iwith residential building industry. It’s very hard to tell whose truly involved as the last names you read about are fairly common around here and all intertwined in same social circle(s). A cafe frequented by many has a pretty decent younger presence. Its my gut feeling that the tradition of having guys get made has been abandoned. The target out weighs the benefits.
Similar to Buffalo in that regard.. media plays a major role, because it’s always interesting to think your city has this secret shadowy Italian organization.
I think a lot of those guys just have legendary last names and are therefore guilty by association.
Think another issue for Det Mob is lack of opportunity in drug trade. In the city itself gangs are small little sets representing neighborhoods not larger more structured gangs that can be influenced easily. Plus in the city itself very little appreciation for human life is shown. It’s quite literally like a war zone. The little profit there just not worth the risk.
The Black Mafia Family (BMF) still active?
Actually just had a BMF guy get robbed and shot outside his house in Warren a mile north of Detroit. Less than a week after he beat charges on 2 murders.
Another BMF guy recently released was found executed alongside former NFL player. As a whole though just sounds like they re starting to finish their sentences returning to life and stepping on toes when they show up in old neighborhoods.
Have seen stuff on them in Atl where they seem to be active still at least to some extent and I am sure they still have influence in Det etc.
From sounds of it those getting out going back to old habits. I’m not sure about influence, but they might. I know a few have been murdered recently and another killed someone over something petty outside of a Southfield bar. My guess is their influence was always primarily at the distribution level and that’s why Meech and his brother both left the city.
There is so little lack of regard for life within Detroit’s city limits hard to parlay influence into control and stability. When people around here go downtown to a game you hit gas station before you hit the city always. If you get a flat tire you drive on it til you cross out of city limits. They have shot tracker maps it’s basically like a war zone in the neighborhoods. Don’t get me wrong suburbs of Metro Detroit are beautiful and a great area and Downtown is really starting to thrive. The neighborhoods though are brutal, abandoned houses everywhere, rampant violence, and roughly 1 of 3 murders gets solved.
Ya it’s common knowledge in Canada that if you have to go through Detroit, do just that- go through it.
fuck no they all snitched on each other
Doesn’t surprise me much
There are 2/3 Sentencing guidelines in Ontario. Good behavior they would be eligible for parole at the 2/3 point of their sentence.
Pat also won a suit against CO’s calling him Tony Soprano
The Musitano’s are ‘Ndrangheta? I always took them for LCN considering their past.
Their origins are delianuova, Reggio Calabria, heart of ‘ndrangheta. I dont think they’ve ever had enough membership to even fulfill half the titles of a traditional ‘ndrangheta clan but I guess they are by default.
Papalia was calabrese too but Canada was under the thumb of the American LCN families, who obviously don’t distinguish who gets made.
Pat seems to be the heavy hitter of the family more so than Angelo have to think that he has to be a bit worried as well unless this attack was some sort of personal vendetta. But if this was either Ndrangheta internal fighting or a shot fired back from Montreal then he could be on that list.
But didn’t the Musitanos partner with the Rizzutos against other Ndrangheta clans?
that question has already been answered by Tommy
Yes it seems so although not sure where they have fit into things since the war has started or if they played a roll at all. This could be a hit for their past rizzuto associations or something all together different. So many still unanswered questions as to what is happening up there, its like the wild west.
They released CCTV footage of the suspect vehicle in the musitano hit. Windows are tinted, and it’s obviously most likely boosted. They have a description (white male) and he dumped the car so let’s see what if anything they pull from the car.
Also multiple people shot in Hamilton about an hour ago. Hamilton is a tough town don’t get ten me wrong but a 10am shooting days after a musitano gets clipped seems like possibly related.