Hamilton and Montreal get along that's how it's possible. It's two different criminal ecosystems and when one is in chaos it doesn't mean the other is involved..

I'm not grouping the Sicilians as being only the Cuntreras for no reason. Dom Violi was specifically referring to the Cuntreras when he said it. The Cammalleri aren't relevant because they haven't been mentioned in how many years. What Cammalleri are even criminally active? Frank Campoli housed Vito Rizzuto when he returned from Canada and that's the only thing that's come out about him in the last 10 years. There's no reason bringing either up because they aren't relevant to this.

I've been pretty vocal on media reports and police understanding of formal affiliations and I have good reason to not take everything they say as proof of affiliations. Like Vitocahill said already Daniele Ranieri worked under Juan Fernandez who had connections to Vito Rizzuto and may have taken over whatever criminal activities Juan Fernandez had after his deportation and murder but the link to him being under Montreal is weak. The closest link of him and Montreal is his involvement in the gambling ring ran by Benedetto Manasseri who has business with Vittorio Mirarchi.

Another misunderstanding about the Cuntreras being relatives. Got confused because they were who we were talking about.



By that logic Montreal would still be the Bonanno Family's

If Daniele Ranieri was still or even a Rizzuto guy wouldn't that kinda ruin the whole other argument you're making the the Rizzutos and Musitanos were together? In Jabril Abdalla trial evidence presented showed the hitteam being in contact with Daniele Ranieri. It very much looks like Daniele Ranieri was one of the ones who organized the hit on Angelo Musitano. From your own argument we have allies killing allies here.

I wish I had the time to do more research, sadly I work too much. Maybe this weekend I can look at both of your points more in depth.

I'm really hoping that when enough time passes, someone out there with a good enough understanding of what's really going on can write a very detailed book. No wonder next to none of the murders have been solved, so many groups and possible motives lol.

Look what I found Mafia 101 :

This throws your your argument out the door. Nicasso the expert.


Antonio Nicaso, a Canadian author and expert on organized crime, said this latest shooting is yet another sign of the continuing power struggle that has plagued the Ontario and Quebec underworld since the death of Montreal Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto in 2013. The Musitano family were allies of the Rizzutos.
“When the Rizzutos were in power the Musitanos … were on the right side of the power,” Mr. Nicaso said. But since the death of Mr. Rizzuto, they have lost that protection. Until the void left by Mr. Rizzuto is filled, Mr. Nicaso says “there will be always violence.”


Musitano was the Niagara Region lieutenant of Vito Rizzuto, Canada’s most powerful mobster — and the hatred between the Sicilian Rizzutos and the Calabrian Violis was epic and enduring. Peter Edwards Toronto Star Peter Edwards. Wow stunning news.

It gets better:

From Gaetano “Guy” Panepinto to Juan Ramón Fernández to Constantin “Big Gus” Alevizos, Vito Rizzuto had enlisted some odd fellows indeed in his quest to muscle in on Canada’s richest province. All was not lost, but the Ontario underworld had so far proven as difficult to govern as a rudderless sailboat. Mafia Inc book.
Vito refused to throw in the towel. He replaced Panepinto with a new emissary for the Greater Toronto Area: a man who was as brilliant as he was bloodthirsty. Juan Ramón Fernández was a Spanish national who had never been made a member of the Sicilian Mafia but whose tough-guy reputation had won him the godfather’s esteem. Mafic Inc Book
Delegating management of his Ontario dealings to a man as unpredictable as Guy Panepinto may not have been among Vito’s wiser business decisions

The ‘Ndrangheta remains the biggest player in gangland and there are more cells, many with strengthened ties to Italy.
The sea change came when longtime Musitano ally and protector Montreal boss Vito Rizzuto died of lung cancer in December 2013.
According to ‘Ndrangheta expert Antonio Nicaso, an author and a professor at Queens University, the bloody war that ensued in Montreal taught gangsters a lesson.
Murder is bad for business.
“The Musitanos betrayed other local families in Hamilton and he paid the consequences of their actions,” Nicaso told The Sun, referring to Pat Musitano.

The timing of Musitano’s big move was disastrous.
By the time he emerged from prison, he had missed the heyday of Rizzuto’s hegemony. The same year he was released on parole, Rizzuto was extradited to the United States for three gangland murders. The Rizzuto’s power waned considerably.
The venom sprang from a sense of betrayal by Musitano for choosing Montreal over Toronto, Sicilians over his Calabrian kin. National Post

With Daniele Ranieri it gets complicated but who is to say they got to him and flipped. Many things could of happened but I cannot speculate short of police tapes or witnesses right.

That was my point at the very beginning with the Barberi/Serrano and the Angelo Musitano. They are saying it was the same shooters and two of them new Ranieri and One of them Cudmore joined Ranieri in Mexico and were both killed. I was saying there is something that doesn't add up. I am not saying that is what happened , but what if they flipped , profited from both shooting and fled; there could be many scenarios. It could also be something that happened from that Ursino police raid. Or one group trying to caused a splinter between two clan. That is what I was looking for, a logical explanation.and haven't found one yet.
Furthermore all his predecessors (point man list I posted the other day) got whacked except for one who turned informant. It was only a matter of time he would be next and fled to Mexico where he thought it would be safe.

A recap of restrictions you impose starts getting longer.

-15 years restriction or statue of limitations of Musitano/Rizzuto alliance which Nicasso blew out the door
- can't believe police reports
-can't believe reporters
-many reporters write books, so we can't believe what is said in the books
-we can't use intuition, analyze information to formulate an opinion, because what we read is not a tape recording.
- so people (known criminal families) getting relatives killed, houses shot at or bakery bombed by molotov, can be classified not involved according to you.
-10 yr statue of limitations if a family is not caught in an illegal act , then they don't need to be mentioned. Funny you didn't impose that 10 yr on other Sicilian families in Toronto

I am surprised you didn't impose the Star trek "Borg Rule " yet, resistance is futile. Lol

https://nationalpost.com/news/canad...-owned-firm-that-won-municipal-contracts

https://mobsters66.rssing.com/chan-34257467/article68.html

Interesting articles. There is a familiar Toronto name.

Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto’s revenge plot against rivals ran deep

To hear some of these people here talk, none of the gangland murders had anything to do with Vito Rizzuto getting revenge, they just sat there and took it like a bitch.

Ciment chill with that tone you're getting more worked up with each reply. You're the one having trouble keeping this amicable. This doesn't throw my argument out at all. Antonio Nicaso's opinion doesn't mean much when using terms like lieutenant. That isn't a position in the Mafia. This doesn't prove any formal affiliations. Antonio Nicaso and Peter Edwards are two worst for perpetuating this misconceptions we're talking about. To this day Peter Edwards believes Vito Rizzuto was poisoned.

You're making connections that may or may not exist still and stating them as fact when you or anyone else can't link them together for over 10-15 years. That's called jumping to conclusions. It's okay to say we don't know and leave it at that until more info comes out. It's okay to put theories out but you speak of these things as fact when they're not.

And yes I can take what reporters police and so called experts have said with a big grain of salt when they consistently say things like Cotroni Family Rizzuto Family Luppino Family Musitano Family and everyone else who they've said have their own Families or hold positions that has never been proven. Canadian information on the Mafia is very informal and generalized and goes against what we know about the Mafia.

What other Sicilian Families in Toronto did I not impose this supposed 10 year limitation on? Are you referring to the Cuntreras? The only group that can actually be linked to this? If you seriously can't figure that out when the reason has been written many times already then there's no point in continuing the talk because you're obviously not listening.

lieutenant is a common term often used like right arm or henchmen.

Nicaso is a legend ! University professor, researcher, speaker and consultant to governments and law enforcement agencies around the world. Nicaso has published more than 30 books on organised crime.

My tone is calm and if you look back I mentioned several times for us to move on. I listen very well, I read articles, books, listen to people of what they have to say on this site that are good contributors of information, ideas & constructive criticism but its hard to carry a serious conversation when one denies most of the literature out there.

I also recognize that there is some miss-information out there. Once I get the information I evaluate, next I try to find if there is other information that backs it up, then analyze. I also keep a list of all who are victims of shooting or have had any other forms of attack and list them by name, date. Then I try to find out which clan they belong to and who the perpetrators are. This has helped me a lot.
Because when you visualize it on a screen you sometimes see a pattern starts to emerge. I also make up my own charts. Which also helps to visualize and understand things. My life experience and friends I had over the years, also helps. I am quite sure others on this site do some of the things I just mentioned.

I am telling you this to show you I don't just accept any information for granted and that there is a thought process before I share some opinions or conclusions to individuals. When I throw a theory or an opinion out there I do so because I want to share my findings and if someone has constructive criticism out there I am willing to listen. But if someone criticizes and I question why , I deserve a truthful and logical answer back. If I don't get one, usually I thank them and move on.
If some wants to play with my mind then I occasionally do the same back but prefer not to. It's mutual respect I am looking for.

Well said. Bravo

an attempt at clarifying juan ramon fernandez and daniele ranieri affiliation.

i went through the past discussion here this morning and re read some info from 4 main montreal mafia books...6th family, mafia inc, business or blood, la source (scoppa book), plus dredged up ye olde hilroy books for old thoughts and info.

there can be no doubt that juan ramon fernandez (j.r.f. from now on) was allied with and worked for the rizzuto crime family, specifically for a time under/with VITO RIZZUTO. j.r.f. acted as a debt collector in toronto, he helped setup and coordinate drug imports direct from colombia and a variety of other crimes too long to list.

however j.f.r's career as a criminal was beyond sporadic and inconsistent. from those 4 books and internet sources we can construct a brief timeline.

1979=acted as driver for frank cotroni.
1979-1990=imprisoned after assault on his then girlfriend.
1991-1999-imprisoned for montreal based arsons...during this sentence both desjardins brothers attended j.f.r's wedding april 1992 in jail. VITO RIZZUTO was also invited but was denied attendance by prison authorities.
1999=deported to spain after sentence complete.
2001=returned to toronto illegally.
apr 2001=deported again to spain.
2001-2002=returned to toronto illegally again in this time period.
may 2002=arrested for gun possession and other charges.
2004=sentenced to 12 years for above charges.
apr 2012=deported again to spain.
sept 2012=arrives in bagheria sicily.
apr.9 2013=murdered in sicily.

i find the narrative of j.r.f being V.R'S "right hand man" absolute non sense and always have. fernandez was a spaniard and could never achieve made status in any family let alone one headed at this time by hard core sicilians. the rizzutos in 1990's to early 2000's were being run by VITO/NICK SR. with paolo renda et al as well. VITO as well as his father although leaders also had members/associates who reported direct to them, effectivley the bosses/leaders having a crew. so i would lump j.r.f and even r. desjardins into this group. V.R. had a crew he did business with and he ran the family. so i dont see the proof that j.r.f or desjardins were ever anything more than associates, albeit perhaps two that has direct ear of the boss, this scenario in mafia history is not even rare actually...hugh mcintosh, jimmy coonan etc.

there is ample proof of fernandez operating in toronto for the rizzutos in early 2000's but this activity ceased to exist upon his may 2002 arrest. fernandez was not on bail awaiting sentencing on street. so how he could have continued his influence on streets for rizzutos from jail i do not know.crews can be run from jail i know but j.r.f. was part of a crew at this time not the leader of a crew. the easiest solution upon his arrest was simply to replace him. also while imprisoned he faced constant pressure to be deported again which he and his lawyers delayed until sentence was over. and the same stories are trod out in all 4 of those books...the engraved watch from VITO, what fernandez called him out of respect etc. but those antidotes arent proof of much. most evidence points to j.r.f as being closer to desjardins and some qc HA members or rockers mc at this time...early 2000's.

after j.r.f's deportation and subsequent arrival in sicily i think his alliance becomes easier to distinguish. it is said he was ordered by V.R. to a couple meetings like other members were after VITO was released. for whatever reason these requests were denied by j.r.f that is telling in and of itself. if these 2 were so close and j.r.f was considered a member then when the boss tells you to come in you come in. also where fernandez decided to operate in sicily is telling. if he was still indeed allied with VITO then would agrigento area not be a better spot. cattolica eraclea or there abouts. instead he sets up in bagheria working under sergio flamia a recently inducted member of that cosca. j.r.f continued to run drug exports from sicily into the hamilton/gta area while in bagheria. notice the exports were not going direct to montreal a possible destination if indeed he was still allied with the rizzuto faction. possible drugs were re routed north after? then he and his associate pimentel are murdered by same scaduto bros once operating in toronto. this part is confusing only because the scadutos when in toronto would have been against pietro scarcella in that infamous drive by shooting. one of scarcella's children had VITO as its godfather and scarcella has long been linked to the rizzutos. alas 9 years is a long time and scaduto bros loyalty could have changed as i am not sure of inter family disputes of bagheria cosca at this time but i believe there was contested leadership. i would put the hit on j.r.f et al in the likely ordered by V.R. category with possibility it had to do with inter family politics and perhaps VITO only gave blessing.

this was longer than intended...gotta go take kids to dentist...more on ranieri next.

thanks for all the thoughts as well everyone...today so far is a good day.

So all the way from 1979-1990 Juan Fernandez was incarcerated? Where did he ever find the time to work for Vito Rizzuto if he was always locked up? I'm surprised that we even have that iconic photo where Fernandez and Rizzuto are seated next to each other all suited up (one of my favorite mob pics by the way).

I also never once believed that Juan Fernandez was Vito's right hand man for the whole organization. But Vito was a skilled leader, he probably told certain individuals like Fernandez and Desjardins that they were his right hand men for a particular task at hand and they probably felt honored to be called that. Whether they believed it is another story.
And yes I agree with you on the the hits of J.R.F and AL.

It must of taken you a lot of time to gather all that information. Thanks for sharing.

well liggio there ya go. simplest answer is probably the easiest. fernandez never was V.R.'S #2 because of amount of time incarcerated for sure thats a reason. a seasoned, schooled sicilian mafia member making an oft imprisoned associate his overall #2 ridiculous. oh i thought desjardins was #2..no no its joe dimaulo...hold on valentino morielli...no its whats his name vincenzo spagnolo. just to show a few names that have been glossed with this title by media and police.

not so much the time to gather but remembering where to find it, and if anything i wrote down years ago made any sense.

https://www.therecord.com/vito-rizz...a509a11-1185-58a2-99e1-6105ce537e27.html

VitoCahill I have proof that Juan Fernandez was not Vito's right hand man. Look at the picture and tell me which side of Vito is Fernandez sitting at.

onto daniele ranieri. his loyalty only lies with juan fernandez full stop. in this case making ranieri the #2 of a high ranking associate nothing more never inducted...despite the large omerta tattoo on his back allegedly.

ranieri's first major arrest i can find was part of an online gambling network based in ottawa, ontario.
a certain daniele ranieri, 28 yrs old of bolton, ontario was arrested in sept 2012 as part of proj amethyst. the leader of this network was benedetto manaserri a then known associate of vittorio mirarchi. i dont believe ranieri ever faced charges in this case or was sentenced as he was indicted and subsequently went on the run come proj forza arrests dec 2014.
so as of sept 2012 i would put ranieri as being allied with mirarchi and those looking after mirarchis rackets while he was imprisoned by this time for murder of salvatore montagna. the direct connection back to montreal for this gambling network is as of now still unknown but my money would be on manaserri or antonio guido.

when indicted in dec 2014 the ranieri mentioned was, 30 years old of bolton,ontario.
at this time ranieri was operating a small crew in toronto reporting direct to juan fernandez after j.r.f's april 2012 deportation. there is no evidence of ranieri reporting to anyone else in toronto or montreal.

i cannot find the article or transcript from trial but i can remember informant carmine guido mentioning ranieri on a wiretap. carmine guido was part of giuseppe ursino led 'ndrangheta cell. guido mentions ranieri putting vaseline on his face when doing a hit so gun powder residue doesnt stick, something crazy like that. but it was interesting to note that ranieri was known in this circle of 'ndrangheta members/associates. it did not say that ranieri did hits for ursino but it gave the impression that perhaps ranieri now operated closer to toronto 'ndrangheta groups then not so much montreal.

so i would say ranieri stayed loyal and allied to fernandez right up to his murder in 2013. after that considering the media and police suggested that fernandez was ordered murdered by V.R. i doubt he would then continue to operate in toronto and now be paying money back to rizzuto. more likely he sought safe haven with one or more of the 'ndrangheta groups and told to lay off revenge. there is no evidence of ranieri or anyone attempting vengeance for fernandez so someone influential must have been holding him back or his 2014 indictment came too quick. all crimes alleged in 2014 indictment took place in toronto NOT mtl as well.

there is also the case of one justin mcpolin arrested in 2014 proj forza. an ex hockey player and money collecter/enforcer was recently arrested along with an associate of benedetto manasseri, james kongkhaw. kongkhaw,mcpolin and david lafontaine were arrested dec 2022 for smuggling weapons across border. kongkhaw and manasseri are directors of an active company. so an ex ranieri associate is now working possibly for manasseri, someone who ranieri possibly was allied with. just trying to show the possibility that once the ranieri crew fell apart upon indictment in 2014 some members still knew where to cast allegiance. not a biggie as ranieri, manasser and mcpolin are all associates.

i will dig back into ranieri's possible allegiance at time of a.musitano and barberi murders as it has been a while and most evidence has come out now...stay tuned.

Good work, you would make a good investigator.

thanks ciment.

after going on run after indictment in 2014 rumors spread as to ranieris whereabouts. some place him in cuba, the d.r. or mexico. if he learnt anything from his mentor fernandez it may have been how to get into and out of canada undetected, very easy apparently. lets assume he went direct to mexico and communicated with associates from there. we will never know with technology and encryption where he made calls from and really at this stage in the game it does not matter.

but this group of 4 men...ranieri, michael cudmore, daniel tomassetti and jabril abdalla have only been linked to 2 murders, angelo musitano and mila barberi. she was clearly not the intended target. saverio serrano son of diego was wounded i believe in the shooting. to the best of my knowledge the musitano have no connection to the serrano family. best evidence would suggest the violi/luppino family of hamilton ordered hit on angelo. the same violi/luppino group would have no cause to target the serranos. i do not believe that ranieri et crew were going total cowboy and willy nilly taking out random OC figures in toronto/hamilton. ranieri above anyone else would not have the ability to be picky about what jobs he was being offered and for how much. as i stated above any racket his small crew had going at time of 2014 indictment was gone upon ranieri fleeing. so i can see the violi/luppino family reaching out to cudmore possibly, someone from hamilton to set this hit up. the reasons for the hit on saverio serrano on the other hand remain less clear. i do not know which if any 'ndrangheta group diego serrano belongs to or works for. i have always thought of diego, the father as being an independent importer/broker for cocaine. if anyone has knowledge about serrano and where his allegiance may lye that would at least eliminate a possible OC group.

so i would not consider ranieri a mtl mafia associate post april 2013 murder of fernandez. i think he became an oft used debt collecter/muscle, hitman and associate of different toronto based 'ndrangheta groups. there also would be no connect or link left in mtl with most of all desjardins/mirarchi and most close associate either dead or imprisoned. i liken ranieri to how frederick silva operated in montreal.

an aside the terms that the media and police use to describe both mafia in mtl and toronto have caused way too much confusion when trying to distinguish who is who and what is what. to state, lazily, i may add that anyone from mtl that is mafia is a "rizzuto" or "sicilian", "calabrian" ,god even "cotroni" is just lazy and wrong. many in the media and law enforcement must by now be aware generally what groups say actually still exist, although this is canada so maybe not.
i dont think when we say with "the rizzutos" we can just assume then that that person lines up with THE RIZZUTO/SOLLECITO FACTION. it has turned into such a lunch bucket catch all term along with "cotroni group/family"...lets be honest there is no longer any functioning crew group or anything left in montrela being led by a cotroni.
i have expressed my views on sicilian vs calabrian before i will not do again but that term has been overused and quite wrongly ta boot.

Hey Vito, thanks for all of your research and responses. Two questions, if Fernandez wasn't really anyone that important, why was he killed in Sicily? And my next question is, do you know where I can find a complete list of all of these Canadian gangland murders as well as the most likely motives and groups behind them?

fernandez was killed by the scaduto bros, pietro and salvatore along with help from a giuseppe carbone (i think). carbone cooperated and evidence he gave was that it was part of the larger mtl mafia war. all of which could be 100% true, as i stated though the possibility exists that it was part of an internal bagheria cosca conflict over leadership. i can attempt to find old info on this if you like. and whether he was important or not my bigger issue has long been his alleged rank and titles bestowed on someone who only ever could be deemed an associate.

as far as that list, man theres many out there on the weeb, some good some terrible full of over inflated numbers of murders that have nothing to do with the wars in montreal. also there has been a tendency among these lists to mix in murders from ontario/toronto and elsewhere that again...HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THESE WARS. i digress, i can search around for a good list to start with and go from there but a bit of a daunting task.

It can be murders from Ontario/Toronto as long as they're organized crime related. But if it was due to, say, a love triangle or some kid killed his dad for the insurance money, I could care less about that. But yes please be on the lookout for the best one you can find, it will be greatly appreciated.

As for Fernandez, my guess is that it was due to the Mafia War in Montreal. I don't see why he would be killed over an internal Mafia conflict in Bagheria when he wasn't even a member, much less anywhere close to the administration. Another question is, what the fuck was he doing in Sicily anyway? Was he sent there and then set up to be killed? Very strange.

just posted on 2 older threads that have lists. again these are a good starting point but new information has come out since some of this was posted. also as i said some of these lists are very comprehensive almost to a fault. i think to do it proper you would first have to separate montreal/qc and toronto/on. this was not nor is it to this day one large all encompassing war covering the totality of the province of quebec to southern ontario/niagara falls... its just not. i mean that would be like saying any and all murders related to bikers in ny state are directly related to any and all biker murders in new jersey. i'm gonna take a look this weekend i cant promise anything this is a task and a half.

http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1054692

a link to an old thread post.