The pick up in fire bombings and threats reminds me of the year leading up to Vito Rizzuto's release from prison. Vito's opponents were methodical, for the first few years, but just prior to his release things picked up. Opponents rushed and tried to fully have everything under control before he got out so that he couldn't mount a come back.

Once again, French Canadian media and police use terms like Calabrian and Sicilian factions to simplify things and make headlines.

It would be comparable to using Bloods vs Crips or Cali vs Medellin etc....There are various clans in Montreal operating and formerly, the inner circle of the Rizzuto family was in power, so most of those other clans would answer to them. Laurentian and others won't go into that detail when writing an article for the press.

It's easier and more eye-catchy to write Les Siciliens vs Calabrais.

Mirarchi-Desjardins-Di Maulo group was mixed, composing of multiple ethnicities, Calabrian, French, Irish, Sicilians.

Arcuri-Montagna group was also mixed but mostly Sicilian, fighting another Sicilian clan, the Rizzutos

The list goes on

Some of you may have watched the video to which I've linked below when TVA Nouvelles had a report shortly after the murder attempt on Raynald Desjardins in September 2011.

http://www.tvanouvelles.ca/videos/1168533220001

I saw the news report live at the time, but this was only because I was scanning the French-language TV channels for information about the attempt. You may want to fast forward to the 1:40 mark to hear the two organized-crime experts give their take on why Desjardins was attacked.

Claude Poirier theorized that there was an attempt on Desjardins either because 1) Desjardins failed to defend the Rizzutos' interests when Vito was locked up, or 2) Desjardins did not want to pay some type of tribute to the new crime group hypothesized to have taken over in Montreal, a group that was supposedly based in Hamilton.

We are now fairly certain that the attack on Desjardins came from the Montagna camp (even though Montagna denied this), but if one day we ever find out that Poirier's second theory back in 2011 is true in whole or in part, this means that the Desjardins-Mirarchi group, which likely had backing from the GTA Siderno Group, was in conflict with Violi's sons and the others who backed the sons (given the Luppino-Violi group has likely never inducted people who weren't related to Giacomo Luppino by blood or marriage, the group has to be relatively small even today; if you don't agree, please provide some proof of this group's large size).

It took me a long time to accept that elements of the Siderno Group in the GTA were the Calabrians who got on board with Sal Montagna and Desjardins to decimate the Montreal Mafia's Sicilian leadership (Nick Rizzuto Sr., Paolo Renda, Agostino Cun trera). In my opinion, there has been relatively little information made available to the public about the possible involvement of Paolo Violi's sons in the mayhem when compared with the information about Siderno Group figures who appeared to have played a part in the turmoil.

The desire of Violi's sons to see Nick Sr., Renda, Cun trera, and Vito Rizzuto dead was probably nurtured from a young age, but the actual evidence is scant that the sons were involved in plotting murders of those first three names. Seems as though Violi's sons were passive and were probably more than glad to have other people kill the Sicilians rather than having to do so themselves. I know I'm not the only one who believes that if the sons wanted the Sicilians killed because of a "vendetta," there was no obligation on the sons' part to get permission to kill made men or pay others to do so. Therefore, the sons wouldn't even need to consult senior GTA Siderno Group figures, although it would have been a good idea. The Commisso brothers and other members of the GTA Siderno Group in the 1970s did not have a good relationship with Paolo Violi and Violi's brothers--Paolo Violi's death meant the removal of a significant rival. (Remember, that when Rosetta Commisso married Domenico Luppino in 1972, the Commissos intermarried with the Luppinos, not with the Violis.)

When we look at the information available to us at this point about Salvatore Calautti's or Nicola Cortese's possible involvement in the murder of Nick Sr., we know that law enforcement had to release Cortese because of a lack of evidence; that law enforcement didn't even have any proof that Calautti was in Quebec at the time of the murder; that the murder of Nick Sr. was a long-range shooting rather than what was reported in newspaper articles at the time and in the epilogue to Mafia inc.; and that despite Calautti's reportedly bragging that he killed Nick Sr., Toronto police believe that the sniper who killed crime figure Clinton Yow Foo in Toronto may have also killed Nick Sr.

The reports last December that Michel Cotroni and Domenico Violi (Paolo's older son) were among the approximately 20 guests who met at the Linguini restaurant last October were the first reports of any Cotroni ever being suspected of foul play in relation to the ongoing Montreal mob war. If there is an alliance in place between the Violi sons and the Cotronis, have law enforcement, certain crime reporters, and certain organized-crime authors been suggesting that this group was behind the murders of Rocco Sollecito, Lorenzo Giordano, and Vincenzo Spagnolo? behind the bungled attempt to murder old Cotroni-Violi group member Tony Vanelli? Would any new Cotroni-Violi alliance go after any old Cotroni-Violi group members who have either stayed neutral in the war or sided with the so-called le clan sicilien?

I understand what you mean, but the misinformation about where the past and present Montrealers descend is repeatedly spread through books, articles, blog posts, forums, tweets, etc.

If the D'Amicos, Piccirilli, Franco Mattoso, the Di Maulos, and others have been misidentified as Calabrians and continue to be, then we all have to revisit our theories and, perhaps, look for the nuances in the relationships between two or more mobsters, two or more Italian criminal groups, two or more mafia factions within a criminal group, and two or more mafie.

For what it's worth and I mean take this with a grain of salt, basically what the journal de montreal was saying about the Violi Cotroni meeting in October and their potential takeover is likely, from what I heard.

The Calabrians are apparently getting rid of anyone who gets in the way.

The Ndrangheta promotes expansion, that is why they are based in several countries and I do not see why they would hold back on Montreal.

Bloodlines only went as far as Rizzuto's inner circle.As for the rest, being Sicilian wasn't a prerequisite. All types of Italians were involved. As they say no one's born into LCN, rather made.
The dranghetta is another animal all together for it is based bloodline ( being born one).That's what makes it more tough to crack.

Not true. As seen with the Di Maulo/De Vito/Desjardins connection. Much of the core of that alliance was fueled by intermarriage, thus blood lines.



And I think Antimafia may be on to something. Would be really astonishing if the Cotroni sons in collaboration with the Violi kids, are the "Calabrians" some of these articles are referring to.

Say what you want about the usa lcn but i doubt they ever fire bombed a ladys hair salon to strike fear in the wives heads. Crazy low down shit. But usa dont fuck around with arson in federal court they smoke people for it.

There's at least enough violence as there was in 2010 with big names getting killed. Maybe they mean it's one sided, or maybe there's an unorganized reorganization taking place and it's still unclear who's going to be out on top, perhaps similar to the years between 2006 and 2010. We'll know more when Arcadi and Del Balso return to the streets.

It's more than likely a new consortium of factions. Remnants of Mirarchi, Desjardins, Di Maulo, Cotroni and Violi. Perhaps add the Scoppas to the mix.

Still not sure why the RCMP is saying that there's no sign of a mob war. There's at least enough violence as there was in 2010 with big names getting killed. Maybe they mean it's one sided, or maybe there's an unorganized reorganization taking place and it's still unclear who's going to be out on top, perhaps similar to the years between 2006 and 2010. We'll know more when Arcadi and Del Balso return to the streets.