The once powerful Rizzuto crime family that controlled the Montreal mafia in recent years has been dismantled during the ongoing bloody Montreal mafia war.
The natural death of former godfather Vito Rizzuto along with various members of the hierarchy being jailed or murdered in the conflict has left the Sicilian clan seemingly on its last leg. The arrest of alleged new Montreal mafia leaders Leonardo Rizzuto and Stefano Sollecito revealed a very profitable alliance between the Montreal mafia and the infamous Hells Angels motorcycle club that helped the Rizzuto family control the provinces drug trade. For years the Hells Angels have been a driving force in the drug trade in the region handling distribution across the province while the mafia handled importation.
The Hells Angels in Quebec a power base for the club were dealt a major blow in 2009 as Operation SharQc (“Stratégie Hells Angels rayon Québec”) led to the arrest of over 150 members including many high-ranking leaders. But what was called the biggest prosecution in Quebec’s history ended up being a dud as various legal problems hampered the mega-trial, While the Hells Angels were dealing with a trial and jail sentences much shorter than expected the Montreal mob which held the power in the province went into disarray. The violent decline of the Rizzuto family brought on by the bloody mafia war has left an opening for someone else to step in and take control of the province’s drug trade.
As this power vacuum has developed the Hells Angels have made a massive come back in Quebec as many influential members make their way back to the streets. Organized crime experts believe a new alliance could develop between the resurgent Hells Angels and the Calabrian mafia in Ontario. After decades of Sicilian dominance the Rizzuto family seems to be all but pushed out of power and many believe the Ndrangheta is ready to take over. Their newly established influence in Montreal would put them in control of the province’s drug trade but they would still lack the local contacts and connections on the distribution end that the Hells Angels could provide making a new alliance mutually beneficial.
This new alliance has not been confirmed but the possibility definitely exist and it is something that law enforcement is aware of according to reports. SQ captain Guy Lapointe said in an interview with Vice “It’s one of the theories we’re looking at.”
