I remember that Alfonso Caruana of the C.untrera-Caruana clan was arrested back in 1998 in Woodbridge outside of Toronto and he apparently lived there. Are there quite a bit of mobbed-up Sicilians in Toronto as well? I wonder if the C.untrera-Caruanas had a lot of connections in Toronto and, if so, they must've lost a lot of power for Agostino C.untrera (who lived in Montreal) to be killed back in 2010. Either that, or they still had their power but the rival faction to the Rizzutos still wanted them taken out so they could takeover.

Also, how powerful was Alfonso Caruana? The media has made him out to be this huge Godfather, but that might've just been hype. He's in Italy serving time now if I'm not mistaken?

So many unanswered questions, but I'm beginning to think that the Rizzutos were not structured anything like the NY families and were more like the families in Sicily or even more like the drug cartels like Sinaloa, meaning more of a looser federation of different groups and interests as opposed to a structured, hierarchical organization... but I could be wrong.

This article implies the C.untrera-Cauranas have had ties in the Toronto area for decade, but it's odd that they weren't well connected enough to the Ndrangheta to avoid the Montreal war... if the Ndrangheta was involved.

http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justic...ge-de-laval.php

http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/molotov-cocktail-pitched-at-wyte-lounge-in-laval


A Molotov cocktail was launched in a commercial building in Laval after the bars closed.

The target location was the Wyte Lounge Restaurant located at 378 Curé-Labelle Boulevard in the Chomedey neighborhood.

It was a fire alarm that alerted the firefighters around 3:30 on Wednesday morning. They quickly detected smells of accelerating and a broken window.

However, the damage is limited to the trade concerned, so that the adjacent businesses were able to open their doors normally in the morning.

The case was transferred to investigators from the Laval Police Service.

Alfonso is in prison, but his brother Gerlando lives in the Montreal area.

Arab owned in a heavy Greek middle eastern neighbourhood

This past October, Franco Roberti--Italy's national antimafia and antiterrorism public prosecutor--along with a delegation of Italian judges who are part of La Commissione Parlamentare Antimafia (the Italian Parliament's antimafia commission), visited Canada for a series of meetings with Canada's Minister of Justice and other counterparts.

Roberti and the delegation were told that between 2009 and the current year, there were 20 crimes in Canada attributed to clashes between mafia groups (mostly 'ndranghetisti versus Siclians) and to clashes between 'ndrangheta factions vying for control of both illicit and legal activities.

Link to Italian-language article published two days ago:

http://www.ansa.it/legalita/rubriche/spe...48c492c538.html

This article further confirms what some of us thought all along that the ndrangheta was behind this feud in Montreal. What is also interesting is the mention of clashes between ndrangheta factions. Probably referring to the Figliomeni/Coluccio incident in Toronto that resulted in Carmine Verduci's death.

Good article.

Great article thanks.

Would be interesting to see which of the ndrangheta cells was most motivated in pushing out Rizzuto and what relationship do the Violis currently have with the camera di controllo

For the Violi's to be participating in the feud, they must of gotten the green light from the camera di controllo. With regards to which cells would have the motivation,I would be very interested to know myself. I have two that come to mind that interacted with Rizzuto for good and for bad but it remains to be seen.

There has been mention that Bruzzese was in constant communication with Rizzuto and his top men. Bruzzese was head of the Grotteria locale which I think is subordinate to Siderno and Rocella-Gioiosa in terms of power and influence.

I had read that the Commissos always had an uneasy relationship with the Rizzuto clan.

Ciment whatso your take?

Those two are the one's I had in mind. The book Business or Blood on page 184 mentions that the Coluccio's were central to the Ndrangheta push into Montreal. Bruzzese(Coluccio's father-in-law) at one point had good relations with Rizzuto but I guess they decided to take advantage when he was jailed. The book also confirms that the Commisso/Rizzuto relations were not good. The Commisso's are related by marriage to the Luppino's which puts the Violi's in good standing.

The killing of Giordano the strongman of the Rizzutos was probably also a warning to Arcadi.

Funny enough both Arcadi and Giordano are from Reggio but central to the Rizzuto organization

On page 78 of Business or Blood we read:

"It was around the time of Della Peschios killing in 2009 that wealthy montreal cafe owner and desjardins protégé Mirarchi quietly made a trip to Woodbridge to attend the opening of a modest eatery in the heart of Ndrangheta territory, territory where his was becoming a familiar face as Desjardins group sought to firm up its Calabrian connections. The York region restaurant was the business of a relative of Antonio Commisso."

The justice system works very slowly maybe in 2017, he will stay in prison untill the trial anyway. Not sure what the charges are but I think Leo will only be convicted of arms and cocaine possession, not trafficking.

I think we are on the right track.

You would think Arcadi being calabrese would understand the power of the Ndrangheta. Del Balso is also a calabrese I believe.

Even some of his family members back in Sant'Agata del Bianco are members of the 'Ndrangheta.

page 32 makes it more clear: Sept.17,2009 man connected to powerful Commisso crime family of the GTA flew to Montreal to meet with Mirarchi among others.

Good point

Del Balso is from Bari like Sollecito

If this was a 'ndrangheta organized take-over from the get-go it seems that they had enough respect (or fear) for Vito Rizzuto to allow him reclaim what was his and let him have his revenge... A little peculiar isn't it?

I can only imagine how that meeting in Toronto between Vito Rizzuto, the Calabrians and reps from NewYork went on. Obviously they struck some kind of a peace agreement in which Rizzuto was given carte blanche to kill his enemies, at least in Montreal. I state this because between his return and sudden death basically all victims were known enemies and there was no retaliation at the time. Yet I wonder why they didn't just kill him and be done with it. Cut the head of the snake so to speak. The most logical explanation is respect or fear or a combination. Ofcourse everyone also knew Rizzuto was the only one still alive who had proven to be capable to lead and bring stability among the factions. Perhaps it was only a practical decision given that the coup at the time had failed and had only created more turmoil.

Seems that way now don't it? I was interested in seeing which side he was on but when Giordano was killed right away and the fact that Arcadi seemed to stay loyal to Vito when he was away that they are all targets now. I don't see Arcadi going away quietly though. Isn't he still in prison after they put him back in after Giordano was killed?

This is a good question,I once asked myself that very question but after rationalizing this I came to ask myself what valuable or high ranking targets did the Ndrangheta lose in this power struggle? Then the answer I came up with is none. The people that got killed are all associates from Montreal and none from the Toronto ndrangheta clans. I admit Vito put up a good fight in Montreal while he was alive but in reality his problem stemmed from elsewhere.

Good point as the only major murder in Toronto was between ndrangheta cells. The blood was spilled primarily in Montreal

http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-ne...project-colisee

The article refers Del Balso, caught on tape ,as being from Calabria

Maybe some of the Calabrian victims in Montreal like Tony Callocchia and Moreno Gallo have ties to 'ndrangheta.

At most they might have some business interests with ndrangheta men but they're not ndrangheta members. Theyre both montrealers that were part of the local syndicate. Moreno didn't even stay in italy very long after extradition

Yes, but the ties are clear Gallo and Montagna had a meeting with the Violis in Toronto.

Yes they did meet with the Violi's but it does not make them Ndrangheta members. They were part of the consortium to take out the Rizzuto's then there was a split between Desjardin/Mirarchi and Montagna/Arcuri. Gallo sided with Montagna after that split.