2011: A year in the Montreal mafia
Few attend funeral for slain reputed Montreal mobster, Salvatore Montagna.
FEBRUARY
Antonio Di Salvo, 44-year-old found dead in his home on Perras Blvd. in Riviere des Prairies had ties to some of the more powerful mobsters in the city. According to two Montreal police investigators, drug trafficking appears to be a likely motive behind the slaying. Di Salvo's body was discovered by a friend who was looking for him. The friend called police and the investigation was quickly turned over to the police major crimes unit when it became apparent Di Salvo had been shot in the head in least once. He is believed to have been killed inside the garage of the home he moved into in 2007.
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Beaconsfield Ave. lately has been "like out of The Godfather," a neighbour said after real-life, Mob-style gunfire shattered the tranquility of a residential area in Notre Dame de Grace. Police said a suspect fired at least one shot. By all indications, the gunman was aiming at Rita Biasini, wife of Antonio (Tony) Magi. A businessman, Magi is facing an array of weapons charges. He was involved in a land-development project with Nicolo Rizzuto Jr. -son of reputed Mob boss Vito Rizzuto - when the younger Rizzuto was shot to death in December 2009 in N.D.G.
SEPTEMBER
The head of a construction company who was once a close associate of the Rizzuto organization was being interviewed by Laval police investigators after what provoked a shooting in broad daylight on a busy Laval thoroughfare. Raynald Desjardins, 58, used to be a close associate of Vito Rizzuto, a leader in the mafia in Montreal. Desjardins was not arrested but a man picked up near the scene of the shooting on Lévesque Blvd. near Highway 25. Laval police Sergeant Simon Charette said police were still trying to determine whether Desjardins was a target in the shooting. The shots were fired near Desjardins' residence, on the bank of the Rivière des Prairies in Laval's St. Vincent de Paul district.
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A St. Léonard man faces four counts related to the shooting near the Laval home of Raynald Desjardins, an alleged associate of the Rizzuto crime clan. Jonathan Mignacca, 26, the only suspect arrested in the exchange of gunfire on a busy thoroughfare - an apparent attempt on Desjardins's life. Mignacca appeared in Quebec Court. His lawyer, Debora De Thomasis, told reporters: "To me, this is a case of self defence." Desjardins, 57, is known to police for his ties to Vito Rizzuto, an alleged leader of the Montreal Mafia currently serving a 10-year prison term in the U.S. Bail was denied in connection with a Laval shooting in which the target appeared to be an alleged associate of the Rizzuto organization.
OCTOBER
Lorenzo (Larry) LoPresti was fatally shot in St. Laurent. He spent his formative years living next door to reputed Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto on Antoine Berthelet Ave. - known as Mafia Row - in northern Montreal. He attended the same St. Laurent high school - Father McDonald Comprehensive - as Rizzuto's daughter, Bettina. It was widely known that the tall, curly-haired LoPresti was the son of Giuseppe (Joe) LoPresti, who had made headlines for his arrest in a high-profile heroin smuggling trial in the U.S.
NOVEMBER
Salvatore Montagna, a former head of the Bonanno crime family in New York, was found dead on a small island near Repentigny, was deported by the United States in 2009. As a dual citizen of Canada, where he was born, and Italy, where he was raised in Sicily, he chose to return to the city he was born in. Police sources have speculated for months that Montagna, who was married and the father of three daughters, chose to return to Montreal with the goal of filling a void in the Mafia created by a series of arrests that were followed by kidnappings and murders.
Antonio Di Salvo, 44-year-old found dead in his home on Perras Blvd. in Riviere des Prairies had ties to some of the more powerful mobsters in the city. According to two Montreal police investigators, drug trafficking appears to be a likely motive behind the slaying. Di Salvo's body was discovered by a friend who was looking for him. The friend called police and the investigation was quickly turned over to the police major crimes unit when it became apparent Di Salvo had been shot in the head in least once. He is believed to have been killed inside the garage of the home he moved into in 2007.
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Beaconsfield Ave. lately has been "like out of The Godfather," a neighbour said after real-life, Mob-style gunfire shattered the tranquility of a residential area in Notre Dame de Grace. Police said a suspect fired at least one shot. By all indications, the gunman was aiming at Rita Biasini, wife of Antonio (Tony) Magi. A businessman, Magi is facing an array of weapons charges. He was involved in a land-development project with Nicolo Rizzuto Jr. -son of reputed Mob boss Vito Rizzuto - when the younger Rizzuto was shot to death in December 2009 in N.D.G.
SEPTEMBER
The head of a construction company who was once a close associate of the Rizzuto organization was being interviewed by Laval police investigators after what provoked a shooting in broad daylight on a busy Laval thoroughfare. Raynald Desjardins, 58, used to be a close associate of Vito Rizzuto, a leader in the mafia in Montreal. Desjardins was not arrested but a man picked up near the scene of the shooting on Lévesque Blvd. near Highway 25. Laval police Sergeant Simon Charette said police were still trying to determine whether Desjardins was a target in the shooting. The shots were fired near Desjardins' residence, on the bank of the Rivière des Prairies in Laval's St. Vincent de Paul district.
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A St. Léonard man faces four counts related to the shooting near the Laval home of Raynald Desjardins, an alleged associate of the Rizzuto crime clan. Jonathan Mignacca, 26, the only suspect arrested in the exchange of gunfire on a busy thoroughfare - an apparent attempt on Desjardins's life. Mignacca appeared in Quebec Court. His lawyer, Debora De Thomasis, told reporters: "To me, this is a case of self defence." Desjardins, 57, is known to police for his ties to Vito Rizzuto, an alleged leader of the Montreal Mafia currently serving a 10-year prison term in the U.S. Bail was denied in connection with a Laval shooting in which the target appeared to be an alleged associate of the Rizzuto organization.
OCTOBER
Lorenzo (Larry) LoPresti was fatally shot in St. Laurent. He spent his formative years living next door to reputed Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto on Antoine Berthelet Ave. - known as Mafia Row - in northern Montreal. He attended the same St. Laurent high school - Father McDonald Comprehensive - as Rizzuto's daughter, Bettina. It was widely known that the tall, curly-haired LoPresti was the son of Giuseppe (Joe) LoPresti, who had made headlines for his arrest in a high-profile heroin smuggling trial in the U.S.
NOVEMBER
Salvatore Montagna, a former head of the Bonanno crime family in New York, was found dead on a small island near Repentigny, was deported by the United States in 2009. As a dual citizen of Canada, where he was born, and Italy, where he was raised in Sicily, he chose to return to the city he was born in. Police sources have speculated for months that Montagna, who was married and the father of three daughters, chose to return to Montreal with the goal of filling a void in the Mafia created by a series of arrests that were followed by kidnappings and murders.
DECEMBER
Montreal businessman Antonio (Tony Suzuki) Pietrantonio, 48, was the latest target in a series of shootings that began in September. Pietrantonio was left in critical condition after being shot near the entrance of Restaurant Imperio, a Portuguese grill in a strip mall on Jarry St. E. near Chambord St. The attempt on Pietrantonio's life follows the Nov. 24 slaying of Salvatore (Sal the Ironworker) Montagna on an island just east of Montreal and the Sept. 16 attempt on the life of Raynald Desjardins in Laval.
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Raynald Desjardins was one of six men charged with the first-degree murder of Salvatore (Sal the Ironworker) Montagna in what is believed to have been a settling of accounts within the Mafia in Montreal.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/2011+year+Montreal+mafia/5893659/story.html
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