A car and home involved in an east-end fire believed to be deliberately set belong to Hamilton mobster Pat Musitano, police sources have told The Spectator.

Police said they were called to a suspected arson at 206 St. Clair Boulevard, near Main Street East and Sherman Avenue South, around 11 p.m. Monday.

When emergency crews arrived, they found a Ford Edge SUV on fire in a shared driveway and flames spreading to a neighbouring home.

Neighbours on the residential street, who refused to be identified out of fear for their safety, described a loud "pff" sound coming from the Musitano driveway Monday night, followed by flames licking the air.

Minutes later, emergency vehicles flooded the area, including at least five fire trucks, police cars, an ambulance, a union gas vehicle and hydro.

A crowd of about 60 people watched as crews worked to put out the fire, witnesses said.

"The police arrived, and started hosing down the house and car for about 10 minutes and then it was basically done," said a neighbour who refused to be identified, adding that firefighters chopped at the side of a house for several minutes to put out burning embers.

A woman police describe as elderly was led out of neighbouring home.

Neighbours said she had a good relationship with the Musitanos and that they had even switched driveways for years, because the Musitano driveway offered the woman better access to her home.

Police estimated the fire, including minor damage to the brick, two-and-a-half storey Musitano home, caused about $60,000 in damage.

The street is lined with large trees and grassy centre medians surrounded by large, well-cared for homes.

In 2006, Pat Musitano, now in his late 40s, was released from prison along with his younger brother Angelo following convictions for conspiracy to commit murder in the shooting death of Niagara crime boss Carmen Barillaro in 1997.

They were sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2000.

They were originally charged with first-degree murder in the 1997 contract killing of Hamilton mob boss Johnny (pops) Papalia.

A plea bargain allowed the brothers to plead guilty to the lesser offence regarding Barillaro, who was killed at his Niagara Falls home. The charges in the Papalia killing were dropped.

Hamilton police declined to comment on whether the incident was a targeted attack against the Musitano family or Pat Musitano, in particular.

A middle-aged stocky man with dark hair who answered the door at the Musitano home said "absolutely not" when approached by a Spectator reporter. When The Spectator called the Musitano home, a male voice answered "hello" and hung up after he was a told it was a reporter calling.

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Witnesses said they had been noticing a rise in mischief and crime in the area within recent months, but also suspected that the fire could have something to do with the Musitano background.

"I've had an extension cord stolen from my backyard, my car broken into and a broken window only within the last couple of months," said a nearby female resident who has lived in the area for 36 years. "There has definitely been an upswing in this kind of activity lately, but it might not have had anything to do with that."

Some residents were surprised at the idea the fire may have targeted the family, saying they felt safer with Musitano in the neighbourhood because they believed he would keep crime away.

"I never heard of or saw any problems when he was around," said one neighbour who declined to be identified because he was "terrified" of what might happen. "I saw the Musitanos walking down the street from time to time, and they were just quiet neighbours (who) kept to themselves."

On Tuesday afternoon, the burnt SUV remained in the driveway, taped off and sitting next to noticeable black streaks of fire damage on the Musitano home. The home had three sets of lights clearly visible on the front — one on either side of the porch and another mounted a couple of metres high on the side of the home next to the driveway.

By evening, an investigator from the Ontario Fire Marshal's Office was on scene, while a Hamilton police cruiser remained parked outside the home. The fire marshal's investigator said it would be too early to comment as the investigation was ongoing.

One area resident said she has lived in the area almost 50 years and "this is the first time anything like this has happened."

The woman said she was scared, and that she believed things were getting worse in the neighbourhood.

Another neighbour who refused to be identified, said he wasn't worried about a rise in crime in the area because "innocent by-standings don't happen in Hamilton," and that there was no more of a concern in Hamilton than in any other city of its size.

Anyone with information is asked to call Det. Tim Bower or Staff Sgt. Emidio Evangelista at 905-546-2991, or anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

- Hamilton mobster's SUV fire may not be mob activity: expert