Low-key Montreal mafia figure Carmelo (Mini Me) Cannistraro took over slain mob capo-turned-insurgent Francesco (Chit) Del Baso’s rackets upon Del Baso being pushed out of the Rizzuto mob in the late 2010s and today is mafia don Leonardo (The Lawyer) Rizzuto’s reputed consigliere, per sources on both sides of the law and court documents related to Del Baso’s illegal activities. “Chit” Del Baso, 53, lost his life in a June 2023 assassination carried out in broad daylight in the parking lot of a West Island gym.

Cannistraro, 53, rose through the ranks of the Rizzuto mob as the right-hand man to one-time Ontario boss Francesco (Compare Frank) Arcadi. Two businesses tied to Cannistraro were targeted in a pair of fire- bombings in 2017. The seasoned, notoriously rough-around-the-edges and heavily-feared “Compare Frank” has been reclusive since getting out of the can eight years ago and is considered semi-retired, according to sources. Besides the tutelage provided to Cannistraro through the years, Arcadi, 70, also mentored Chit Del Baso, per court records. Some sources allege Arcadi is consigliere and Mini Me is acting consigliere.

Arcadi’s lineage is Calabrese opposed to the Rizzuto’s Sicilian heritage and he was the Rizzuto mob’s “pit bull” and skipper of an enforcement branch of young bucks in the crime family at the apex of its Roman Dynasty-type power in the 1990s and first half of the 2000s. In between 2004 and 2006, Arcadi acted as street boss of the Montreal mafia. He was locked up in 2006 and finally walked free from custody in February 2016. Compare Frank has kept his head down and out of the fray in the rapid-succession and seemingly-never ending violence that has torn apart the once-glorious Rizzuto mob from inside-out.

Del Baso interviewed with SQ and RCMP detectives and named “Mini Me” Cannistraro as one “Leo the Lawyer’s” top lieutenants on March 22, 2023, on the heels of getting pulled off a plane at the airport exactly one week following an unsuccessful attempt on Rizzuto’s life in an audacious highway shooting sloppily carried out in the swanky Northern suburb of Laval. Authorities believe Del Baso was behind organizing the foiled plot with his new partners in the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.

According to Del Baso’s airport debriefing, “Leo, Steve and Mini-Me” stole his network of bookmaking and juice-loan businesses when he did prison time and then ostracized him upon his return to town in 2019, prompting him to seek official backing from the Hells Angels. Leo meaning Leonardo Rizzuto, his alleged underboss Stephen (Little Sauce) Sollecito and Montreal mafia gambling boss Carmelo Cannistraro aka “Mini Me.” Sources claim Cannistraro was promoted to Rizzuto’s consigliere spot in recent years, too.

Del Baso would be gunned down in Dorval in Montreal’s West Island district leaving a meeting with Hells Angels shot callers at the Monster Gym in the fitness center’s parking lot last summer. Investigators believe the blunt, broad-shouldered Del Baso was the ringleader of a failed palace coup aimed at eliminating mob royal Rizzuto in March 2023 so he could grab the throne himself with the support of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.

Rizzuto’s mob empire, built by his dad and grandfather, has been in a freefall and state of perpetual instability for a while now. Montreal Hells Angels boss Marty Robert is allegedly in the midst of a hostile takeover attempt of the Rizzutos’ gambling, extortion, drug and prostitution affairs. Robert, 50 is a suspect in Del Baso’s slaying, per sources, and was at the meeting Del Baso attended in the minutes prior to his execution. For decades, the Rizzutos and the Hells Angels in Quebec and Ontario worked together in a myriad of massively-profitable joint ventures before the partnership went off the rails in the much-beleaguered Leo the Lawyer Era of the Montreal mafia.

Spawned from the manor born, not the streets, the polished, well-educated Leonardo Rizzuto took the reins of the crime family in the late spring of 2016. Rizzuto, 54, assumed the crown in in the days after his dad’s confidant and successor Rocco (Sauce) Sollecito, “Little Sauce’s” father, was assassinated. Rizzuto’s gramps, legendary Canadian mob patriarch, Nicolo (Uncle Nick) Rizzuto was shot dead in his mansion’s kitchen in 2010. Vito Rizzuto, the most famous, powerful and beloved crime lord in the country’s history, lost a bout with cancer in December 2013.

i try to hold back and not comment on these posts so as to not lend them any credibility...but this one is possibly one of the most absurd and error filled articles ever produced by burnstein.

i guess we could start with the basic structure of the mtl mafia. apparently scott is of the belief the mtl mafia is structured like an american mafia family...IT IS NOT. with burnstein right off the bat not having a clue about the structure the rest of article is doomed from the start. the mtl mafia, the entirety of it, is a cell based structure with NO overall boss. therefore cannistraro cannot be a capo or consigliere for the reason that in the rizzuto-sollecito clan, these positions dont exist!!! cannistraro has been named by lapresse in a very well written article from last year as being the leader on street of a cell operating 'the book.' as far as a consigliere position??? i was never convinced the rizzutos had such a thing accept for the time when nick sr. held a similar position for his son vito. arcadi at best would hold said post now if anybody for the r-s clan. i will also disregard the stefano sollecito as underboss refs. sollecito has been named as co leader of r-s clan, cell leader, street boss, but not underboss for same reasons as above the underboss post is not a thing in montreal anymore.

Thanks Rush.

Consigliere and Underboss have never been a thing in Montreal ever. And since when is Frank Arcadi Ontario based

Mini Me haha



Francesco def had ties to Bruzzese and those 'ndrangheta guys in Ontario but never really lived there.

Yeah exactly he had ties to some Ontario guys but has always lived in Montreal unless we're talking waaay back and then maybe he was in Ontario for a time.

It could be Arcadi after his release he recently moved to Ontario he has a big family many brothers.

Nah he's in Montreal still

Who wrote this shit?

They might not be structured like an American Mafia family, but there's some sort of structure in place or glue that binds them together. Camorra clans aren't structured like LCN either, but they are still structured.

"Vito Rizzuto, the most famous, powerful and beloved crime lord in the country’s history, lost a bout with cancer in December 2013."

He hit the nail on the head with that one. Sure there will be replacement but there won't be duplicates.

Take a wild guess

Scott, I take it. It is a lot more complicated then that, no Consiglieri. Leo Rizzuto is sole boss, Sollecito stepped down as co boss due to health. Cannistraro and someone else serve as Rizzuto hands, eyes and ears on the streets and both are leaders of their cells or Capos if you wish, but I don't think they have enough members for that, and by my count five of the cells are still active while unsure of the other 3, maybe at least one merged with another cell. VitoCahill would know more about that. Frank Arcadi is semi active, he had a few important meetings with Rizzuto and Sollecito before Del Baso hit, and after. Last meeting was around Christmas time last year. I would say Arcadi would server that role of Consiglieri, but he is too recluse, unless they all have reliable messengers.

Giacomo Vacari the Scott Burnstein of the forums who also someone knows all insider info for every mafia everywhere

You mind sharing where you heard of these supposed meetings with Frank Arcadi?

Your ex

I seriously doubt Sollecito has stepped down, he’ll die being a gangster even if it’s cancer that kills him.

And I seriously doubt Arcadi is meeting with Rizzuto/Sollecito at this point.

TKJ, I’m assuming our favorite delusional friend Scott?