Some mutt on Facebook had this to say about French-Canadian gangster Reynald Desjardins:

Are you kidding..
He has The Hells Angels and some
Hardcore French gangs behind him..
He is the Most Powerful gangster
In Canada...He was Rizzutto top
Lieutenant until they had a falling out..
Desjardins wiped out the Rizzuto Family

Is he fucking kidding? If I'm not mistaken it was a clash between the Ndrangheta and Cosa Nostra, as the Sicilian Rizzutos were killed the exact same way as the Calabrian Violis decades before.

The Rizzuto was weakened by the Vito deportation. Vito had the ties and respect of all the gangs in Montreal area. Without Vito,Desjardins with Sal Montagna tried the coup and the ndrangheta remained on the sidelines to invade Montreal.
Now Desjardins is alone,the Rizzutos recovered and soon or later Desjardinswill be whacked. The Sicilians doesnt forget.

Okay, but my whole point was that Desjardins isn't this one-man army that wiped out the Rizzuto Family. There's that one article that drew parallels between how the Violis were killed decades ago and how many of the Rizzutos were killed in recent times, they are STRIKINGLY the same. This reeks of Mafia hits, not something by some lone Frenchman.

Desjardins proved to be a serious guy...but I agree with you, Liggio - it's laughable to suggest that he "wiped out" the Rizzuto family. Far from it. Desjardins is the one who is no more, and while the Rizzuto family is well off its' peak, it's still around and still profitable and absolutely deadly.

Desjardins was not the sole rebel attempting to wipe out the rizzutos but the most prominent member of first an alliance with Joe dimaulo...his brother in law and those allied with dimaulo. Along with Giuseppe DeVito and members of his large drug network. Sal Montagna arrived in Apr 2009 and slowly became involved with that group.
Desjardins at an earlier point did have allies within the Quebec HA.
But remember that most of the full patch HA were imprisoned awaiting trial in the massive operation sharq arrests by 2009.
Vittorio mirarchi of course was Desjardins closest Italian Allie next to dimaulo.
Mirarchi being so close to Desjardins has been the source of rumors trying to connect the coup against the rizzutos to Toronto based 'ndrangheta.
Time however has shown that the ndrines of toronto were not as involved if at all in the 2009-2011 war in MTL.

There isn't really any indication of 'Ndrangheta involvement in that first wave of hits against the Rizzutos. Federico Del Peschio and Nick Rizzuto Jr were killed by gang leader Ducarme Joseph on behalf of developer Tony Magi.

Desjardins' coalition against the Rizzutos included Joe Di Maulo, Salvatore Montagna, Domenico Arcuri, Giuseppe De Vito, and Vittorio Mirarchi. Out of all of those individuals the only one identified in connection to the 'Ndrangheta is Mirarchi, though this has not been confirmed. They also had motives for moving on them that weren't related to the Violi murders. Desjardins and Mirarchi were very upset by the murder of Johnny Bertolo. Di Maulo was Desjardins' brother-in-law. De Vito blamed the Rizzutos for being caught up in Colisée. Montagna wanted to assert his own influence in Montreal.

The second major wave of the conflict consisted of Mirarchi and the Scoppa brothers against the Rizzutos, and again the only 'Ndrangheta connections that have come up so far have been unsubstantiated and sound more like baseless boasts. The Scoppas also didn't care about what happened to the Violis 40 years ago. Salvatore Scoppa believed the Rizzutos were going to kill him because they thought he might be an informant.

Thanks for all your responses. Does anyone know if the Rizzuto book Business or Blood get to the bottom of it all?

No that book does not.
It isn't bad but not great and seems like it was written in a rush.
Leaves out many details.
Look forward to English release of the source about Andrea scoops coming in June or July.
Any info from business or blood can be found on line.

That should have been scoppa.
Auto correct can suck it.

It was Calabrian vs Sicilian, but the 'ndrangheta as an organization was not directly involved.

Desjardins get 14 years in 2015 for Montagna murder but including the time serve that is 7 and half years he could be free in 2022?

He was already free once but violated his parole.

I still wonder why Mirachi skates free if he was so involved with both Desjardins, then the Scoppas.

Is Desgardins crew less at this point?

i would say there is no desjardins crew.
the alleged bodyguard driving/working for him briefly has been imprisoned on a parole violation.
jean charles denomme is his name w/ loose connections to HA...no intell on chapter and he is not a full patch.
there has been no reprisals against his former crew members most of which have been released from prison.
making me think they have given up the life or made deals with the other side to stay out of the way or possibly joined other cells.
there was a hilarious notion awhile back about some crime family from the east coast the moffats i think lending muscle on the streets of MTL because of some protection pact they gave desjardins while he was imprisoned.the leader of said family brian is currently on trial or serving time for 2 murders. so where anyone got the idea that a small group of related people from the "hotbed" of crime that is not the east coast/maritimes of canada is an absolute joke.
"IF" said group ever made an attempt to take territory in MTL from any of the already well established OC groups they would all have ended up dead in the streets or thrown into the st. lawrence in sleeping bags inside a few hours.

if i have been to vague i apologize.

Ok so the Rizzutos are still firmly in control?

The group of cells currently allied that include Leonardo Rizzuto and Stefano sollecitos cells would be the most powerful. These cells maintain an alliance with the most powerful members of the MTL chapter of the HA.

Most information currently has the Mafia in MTL broken up into up to a dozen separate cells operating across the MTL area.
These cells are alleged to operate independent of any top to bottom traditional mafia admin.
Ref other threads on forum site for more detailed info.

In the French Milieu Desjardins is still a big name like Mom Boucher.

What I don’t understand is supposedly Rizzutto is worth
10’s of millions of dollars

Why would the last son
Who was an attorney and not in the life

Carry on in an environment where no one is above getting whacked?

It’s not like American LCN
Where the bosses made the rule you don’t kill a boss

It has happened but it def is the exception

Bensonhurst, because in the Mafia you don't just quit because you have a ton of money. His son, RIP, made that leap long before his killing. You don’t just walk away because you're rich. It's a lifetime commitment. It's something you actually take pride in, if you're a true Mafioso, regardless of how twisted and contorted the rest of the world views your way of life. It's difficult to understand, I know, but it's the truth.

I understand it fully as I have a handful of friends and have had family in the life.

The son was legit from what I read an attorney.
He got involved after his father and brother, and the whole admin of the family were all killed.

Their power base has dwindled from un-touchable to just equal to other clans.

Again throw in the wealth they have.

From what I have read

Compare that to a guy that has been in the life his whole life.
All he knows is the life.
The only way he can earn is through the life.
He has no way out.
No wealth.

All his connections and close friends are in the life.

That’s a guy that’s a senior citizen that just did 10 years.
Did A lot of time in the past.

Some would say why does this guy keep going back.
Why not walk away.

Big difference.

Despite all of the lip service and fake oath swearing that goes on with the Mafia (and everywhere else for that matter), I do strongly believe that some of these people have a genuine love and dedication to "their thing," and wouldn't quit for all the wealth and luxury in the world. Andrew Russo for instance, before his recent passing, was wealthy, but he was recorded saying, "I can't quit, I can't walk away," sometimes it's hard to just walk away from something when it's very future and survival depends on you being there.

I never heard that Andrew Russo was wealthy.
I read that transcript I think that was back in 2007 or somewhere then.

Bensonhurst, read Andrew Russo's story on colombomafia.com, dude was no brokester. I also don't believe Benji Castellazzo's bullshit story that he was so broke he had to move to a trailer and go on foodstamps. Yeah sure, and the sky is red and the grass is purple.

Easy answer, no fucking way