Friends of Ours

Cop Fixed Ticket For Mobster

Apparently New York City's boys in blue aren't the only cops who have been charged with fixing tickets.

In Montreal, QB Canada a Sureté du Québec police officer made a ticket disappear for a wise guy as reported by CJAD:

Serge Parent pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy and theft of a speeding ticket that was given in 2003 to Francesco Arcadi, a top-ranking member of the Rizzuto crime family. Parent's uncle, who runs a café known as a mafia headquarters, had asked him to do the favour for Arcadi without mentioning his name at the time. Parent insists he never asked and didn't know after the fact either.

Parent may lose his job "because of provincial legislation which prohibits anyone with a criminal from working as a police officers" as reported by Paul Cherry for the Montreal Gazette:  "Parent is now expected to face a disciplinary hearing to determine his future with the SQ."

Mafia Slaying Of Antonio Di Salvo In Montreal

On Monday Antonio Di Salvo was shot dead with a bullet to the head at his home in Montreal, QC Canada as an all-out assault continues against the Rizzuto clan as reported by Paul Cherry for The Gazette:

Two people in particular Di Salvo was known to associate with were Francesco Del Balso and Francesco Arcadi.  Both men are currently serving lengthy prison terms . . . .  Arcadi was considered to be the Rizzuto organization's street boss, a position that required him to manage many aspects of the organization's activities, including drug trafficking.  Del Basco worked directly underneath Arcadi and, among other things, made sure his orders were carried out.

Over the last year several Rizzuto clan members and associates -- including patriarch Nicolo Rizzuto and his grandson Nick Rizzuto Jr. -- have been slain in Montreal, and speculation on who is behind the massacre continues as reported by Rob Lamberti for The Beacon Herald:

The violence in Montreal has spawned a number of theories.  One scenario police are considering is that the Bonanno mob of New York that [Salvatore] Montagna reportedly controlled is consolidating its hold on Montreal and with it southern Ontario. Yet another theory is that Italian crime families between Hamilton and Montreal, a lethal mix of Sicilian and Calabrian mobs, are now operating as one.

In any event, nearly everyone agrees that the storied Rizzuto clan which ruled the Montreal underworld for the last three decades pretty much is toast, and there is little that its reputed boss Vito -- currently stewing at the federal penitentiary in Florence, CO following his 2007 racketeering conviction involving the 1981 murders of three Bonanno capos -- can do about it.

Power Struggle In Montreal?

The fire bombings of nine Italian cafes in Montreal within the last several weeks is reflective of an underworld in disarray according to a former RCMP intelligence analyst as reported by Ingrid Peritz and Les Perreaux for The Globe and Mail:

The mob holds an iron grip on big chunks of the billions being poured into the province's infrastructure, including the roof of Montreal city hall, but the street tells a different tale, according to Pierre de Champlain, who analyzed organized crime for the Mounties. The high-ranked mob or "alta Mafia," of fixed bidding and kickbacks, is a world away from the "bassa Mafia" grunts who run Montreal's drug trade and protection racket, Mr. de Champlain said. Many key figures in street-level operations are locked up. "The Montreal underworld is in a state of anarchy because there is an absence of dominant organizations and charismatic leaders," said Mr. de Champlain, author of Mobsters, Gangsters and Men of Honour. "Street gangs have matured to challenge the lower echelons of the mafia. They are taking advantage of the vacuum left behind by [imprisoned] figures like Francesco Arcadi and Vito Rizzuto and [former Hells Angels leader] Mom Boucher."

The article speculates on many theories behind the firebombings, and concludes that no one yet knows the underlying motivation or the responsible group; however, "turf and money are undoubtedly at stake, according to Julian Sher, the Montreal-based author of a book about biker gangs": "The biggest question is whether the fire-bombings mark the renewal of some gang war involving the mob, Hells Angels or street gangs, or whether they are serving as an internal warning that some payment is due, said Mr. Sher."

Mob Rubout In Montreal

Sam Fasulo, a narcotics trafficker in Montreal with close ties to Rizzuto crime family boss Francesco Arcadi, died Sunday night after a gunman in a vehicle last Friday afternoon pulled up next to him in traffic and opened fire:

No arrests have been made in the shooting and investigators are trying to track down a pale coloured sports utility vehicle that is believed to have been used in the homicide. Several shots were fired into Fasulo's Jeep. Montreal police Constable Laurent Gingras said investigators have little in terms of a description of a white man who witnesses saw inside the suspect vehicle before it sped away.

Fasulo recently had completed a four-year prison term imposed in 2004 after his conviction on drug charges involving the trafficking of crack cocaine and heroin out of local Italian cafés in a years-long operation which generated $100,000 a week.  Mob boss Arcadi currently is serving a 15-year prison term imposed last October after his conviction on "gangsterism" charges.