The targeted murder of a man in an upscale home in Ancaster on Thursday night is Mafia retaliation for an unsolved 2017 killing, according to a former Hamilton organized crime cop.

“This is not finished,” tweeted Paul Manning, a former Hamilton undercover cop who worked on organized crime cases.

Sources told him the murder of the Ancaster man at his home on Thursday night was “Mafia retaliation” for the murder of Waterdown resident Angelo Musitano in May 2017, Manning tweeted.

Hamilton police identified the victim as Albert Iavarone, a real estate agent.

“Mr. Iavarone had no criminal record but he is known to police as he is associated to individuals involved in traditional organized crime in the Hamilton area,” said Det. Sgt. Peter Thom of the Hamilton police.

The killer hid in bushes and lay in wait for Iavarone to return home Thursday night, Thom said Friday.

The 50-year-old was shot around 9:55 p.m. as he walked from his car, which was parked outside 32 Sunflower Cres. in Ancaster’s quiet Scenic Woods neighbourhood.

Police have described the killer only as a man who drove a silver car.

“It’s our belief that there is something going on in the underworld, maybe a power struggle,” Thom said.

“I’m not sure that this particular case factors into that, but that’s certainly something that we’re alive to,” Thom said.

Angelo Musitano, 39, was shot at close range several times while in his truck outside his home in the Hamilton suburb of Waterdown sixteen months ago.

Just two weeks after Angelo Musitano’s murder, the St. Clair Boulevard home of his older brother, Pasquale (Pat) Musitano, 51, was sprayed with bullets. No one was injured, but the shooting was seen as a warning shot to the reputed family crime boss.

In January, York Region Police said they believe the same hitman who gunned down Musitano also killed veterinary technician Mila Barberi, 28, who was in “the wrong place at the wrong time” two months earlier in Woodbridge.

“We’re confident that there was a link between these two,” Det.-Sgt. Jim Kilby of York Region police said at the time.

Last winter, homicide investigators with York Regional Police and the Hamilton Police Service have launched a joint-forces investigation and are seeking public assistance to identify two suspects and two vehicles which have been linked to two homicides, one in the City of Vaughan and the other in the City of Hamilton.

There’s no known motive for the murders, police said.

Barberi wasn’t believed to be the hitman’s intended target, Kilby said.

Her 40-year-old boyfriend sat beside her on March 14, 2017 in a BMW SUV when she was shot in a parking lot of an industrial park on Caster Ave. near Weston Rd. and Highway 7 in Woodbridge.

“I think it’s a classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Kilby said.

Her boyfriend was treated with minor hand injuries.

His name has not been released by police and Kilby said police believed a threat still exists against his life.

Barberi had no criminal record.

Musitano, a father of three, claimed to have found God and inner peace shortly before he was shot dead in the driveway of his suburban home in May 2017, sources said.

There were security cameras at the Ancaster victim’s home and the home of Musitano.

Hamilton police appealed for witnesses on Friday to the murder in an upscale subdivision at 32 Sunflower Crescent, Ancaster.

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Police said they responded to reports of shots fired shortly before 10 pm on Thursday, and arrived to find a 50-year-old man suffering from a gunshot injury.

“Efforts to save his life were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at the scene,” a police media release said.

Police are gathering surveillance video from the neighbourhood.

An autopsy was scheduled for Friday.

Musitano’s family has convictions for extortions and bombings in the 1970s, the 1983 gangland hit of Toronto mobster Domenic Racco, and the murders of mobsters John (Pops) Papalia and Carmen Barillaro in 1997.

Several theories were given by police and other sources about the Musitano murder.

Investigators have several possible theories. One police source said some key players in illegal gambling in Niagara Falls have been arrested, creating a turf war to replace them.

A police source and a retired police source both noted that Musitano was connected to the late Vito Rizzuto, a Montreal mob boss, who has long-standing bitter enemies in Hamilton and Toronto.

The Hamilton Spectator quoted a source as saying that Musitano’s older brother, 49-year-old Pasquale (Pat), is likely very concerned about his own safety.

The Musitano brothers were charged with first-degree murder in the May 1997 contract killing of Papalia, a Hamilton mob boss.

Papalia, 73, was gunned down by hit man Kenny Murdock in daylight as he walked through a downtown parking lot.

Angelo Musitano was 21 at the time, while Pat Musitano was 31.

A deal allowed the brothers to plead guilty to the lesser offence of conspiracy to commit murder in the 1997 shooting death of Barillaro.

Barillaro was considered by police to be Papalia’s second-in-command.

Neighbours all around the home expressed shock at the shooting. With several saying they were home, or out for a walk at the time of the shooting — yet none said they heard gunshots.

The couple in the home have lived there for more than a decade, were quiet, but friendly, and could often be seen enjoying their backyard pool.