According to Dubro, one associate of the crime family is “actually happy. And he’s not the one who likely hit him.”

For more than a decade, the underworld in southern Ontario was essentially at peace with the odd arson here and the odd murder there.

But when venerated underworld chief Dominic Musitano died of a heart attack on Aug. 13, 1995, the man known as “Fat Pat” on the streets of Hamilton is said to have taken over from his dad.

And he meant business.

First, he conspired to have rival Papalia taken off the board. Next, he had contract killer Murdock ice Papalia’s capo, Carmen Barillaro, at his Niagara Falls home on July 23, 1997.

While the powerplay may have decapitated the Papalia family — one of three alleged crime families in Hamilton, along with the Musitanos and Luppinos — it earned Fat Pat the enmity of fellow underworld denizens.

Too brash. Too public.

The Musitano hit is just the latest in a bloody civil war ravaging the southern Ontario underworld.

On Wednesday, his uncle Tony Musitano, 72, was buried. Pat Musitano did not attend the funeral.

On Thursday, just prior to the shooting, the alleged Hamilton mobster was attending an early morning meeting in Mississauga with his lawyer, Joseph Irving, according to the Hamilton Spectator.

“He had the meeting and left,” lawyer Shahid Malik told the newspaper. “Mr. Irving walked him to the door and said ‘Bye bye. Ciao Ciao’ and then something happened in the parking lot.”

The murder attempt left the corpulent criminal lying on the ground bleeding.

Following the shooting, as Peel Regional Police forensic officers scoured the scene, Musitano’s black GMC Denali SUV was towed away.

Dubro said that the underworld’s deck chairs are now being shuffled with newer, lower-key ‘Ndrangheta cells taking over.

He added there are between four and six such cells battling for turf in southern Ontario.

But the toe-tag with Musitano’s name on it was likely punched in 1997, Dubro agrees.

“It’s one of many solid motives. And there are members of the Papalia family still around. But 20-plus years is a long time for revenge which, as you know, is famously a dish best served cold,” he said.

Pat Musitano’s bloody rise turned many famously discrete underworld figures against him.

“He’s yesterday’s man. Pat never had the respect or success his dad Domenic had,” Dubro said.

“Killing Johnny and Carmen created fear but little respect. A lot of people wanted Pat dead.”

He added: “They will be disappointed if he survives.”