Law enforcement's interest in Buffalo is also rooted in a wiretap conversation that caught Domenico Violi of Hamilton saying that he's the new underboss of the Mafia in Buffalo.

Violi, the son of Paolo Violi, former head of the Montreal Mafia, was sentenced to eight years in prison last year for drug trafficking. The case also included allegations of organized crime involvement.

"I think Domenic Violi was telling the truth," Manning said of the wiretap conversation. "I think he is an underboss."

In a conversation that was made public during his prosecution, the 52-year-old Hamilton man allegedly says he is the new second-in-charge of the Buffalo Mafia. He also boasts of being the first Canadian to serve in a leadership position in a U.S.-based Mafia family.

“Domenic, you know you made history,” Violi said in recounting an alleged conversation with a Buffalo Mafia member in October of last year.

He also says in that conversation that he was handpicked for the underboss job by Joseph Todaro Jr. during a one-on-one meeting in Florida, according to court records, and that he was selected over 30 other candidates, all of them "made" members of the Buffalo Mafia.