The Sicilian-based Rizzuto crime family continues to be dismantled as the body count rises in the ongoing Montreal mafia war.
There have been plenty of theories over the last few years as to who may be responsible for these attacks on the Rizzuto clan. But according to reports some mafia experts and police sources now both believe the Calabrian mafia or Ndrangheta who have long been rumored to have orchestrated things are to blame. The Calabrians were pushed out of Montreal in the late 1970s after losing an internal mob war to the Sicilian faction led by Nicolo Rizzuto. The Ndrangheta has since been confined to the Toronto area for the last 40 years but now seems poised to make a return to Montreal.
Recently murdered mobster Vincenzo Spagnolo was one of a shortlist of Rizzuto family members still being targeted by the Ndrangheta according to journal de Montreal sources. Mafia researcher and noted author Pierre De Champlain told the journal “It’s not just a matter of revenge of the Calabrian faction that is behind this recent months, but it is also a clear intention to eradicate the heads of the Sicilian faction of the Montreal Mafia.” Other sources familiar with the Montreal underworld believe more killings of those linked to the Rizzuto clan is almost certain as accounts are settled although the list of those to be eliminated has been dramatically shortened.
Captain Guy Lapointe of the Sûreté du Québec told the journal “For the moment, it is too early to advance a hypothesis rather than another because the investigation is just beginning.” But sources familiar with the matter claim there has been an increase of individuals from both Ontario and Hamilton linked to the Calabrian clan back in forth in Montreal recently and this is not by chance. It seems the Sicilian clan that consolidated its power in the 1990s under now deceased godfather Vito Rizzuto may be on its way out as a new era is ready to begin for the mafia in Montreal. Although for now authorities still consider Stefano Sollecito and Leonardo Rizzuto to be the current heads of the Montreal mafia it seems like when the dust finally settles new Calabrian leaders will be calling the shots.
