The chess game for control of the Montreal underworld continues between the Rizzuto crime family and its enemies. It is believed that a co-operative of mobsters from Ontario and Quebec including the Calabrian mafia or Ndrangheta were responsible for the attack on the Rizzuto family trying to oust them from power in Montreal while mob boss Vito Rizzuto was imprisoned in Colorado. According to mob experts mobster in Ontario are now in hiding and on the run now that Vito is back in power and continues to strike back. Many Calabrian mafia members and co-operatives have not been seen around Ontario for quite some time believed to be hiding as more murders are expected as Rizzuto looks for revenge and to end the Montreal mafia war.

“Vito Rizzuto”

The co-operative which included key mafia figures like former Bonanno family boss Salvatore Montagna from New York and former Rizzuto family allies like Raynald Desjardins with Ndrangheta backing from Ontario and Quebec ended unsuccessfully. Things fizzled and they turned on each other says a mob source with Montagna failing to kill Desjardins before being murdered himself in 2011 by a group including Desjardins. This internal squabble leading to murder of Montagna and the arrest of six people in connection to his death along with other key murders cost them any chance they had to take down the Rizzuto family and dethrone Vito Rizzuto. The Rizzuto’s battered and weakened had a chance to stabilize things on the streets and hold on until Vito’s prison release and return to Montreal.

Mafia experts in Canada believe there are more murders coming in Ontario as Vito and the Rizzuto family regain their strength. They believe specific Ndrangheta mobsters could be targeted as Vito avenges the deaths of his father and son among other members of his crime family. Many believe the first sign of this Ontario assault by the Rizzuto’s was the murder of hit man Salvatore “Sam” Calautti in July. This was believed to be a surgical strike by Vito against his Ndrangheta clan enemies. Calautti was a suspect in the sniper style murder of Vito’s father Nicolo Rizzuto and was considered to be a close to the Camera di Controlo the Ndrangheta ruling board in Canada. A police source called the Calautti murder significant and it showed that no matter who you were hitman or boss you could be a target.

A local mob source said there has to be order and messages have to be sent and with each murder like that of Calautti a message is sent, its symbolic. He says Vito is definitely strong once again and too charismatic and for those now who have to deal with him , they are dealing with a giant. There are still enemies waiting in the bushes for a chance to get him but they are reeling. Rizzuto still has strong contacts in Ontario and his main goal now may be revenge over money and power. It is possible the bloody Montreal mafia war may end on the streets of Ontario as things for now quiet down in Montreal.