OFF THE WIRE
Giuseppe Valiante
cnews.canoe.ca
Funeral for Salvatore Montagna was held at the Church of Our Lady of Pompeii in Montreal, Nov. 28, 2011. (MALETTE JOCELYN /QMI AGENCY)
MONTREAL – While the body of reputed mobster Salvatore Montagna was being laid to rest Monday morning in Montreal, Quebec police were in Ottawa, interrogating a key person of interest in his murder.
Jack Simpson’s arrest was for an unrelated parole violation, but the 67-year-old is of interest to Quebec police because he rents the home on the small island northeast of Montreal where Montagna was assassinated Thursday morning.
Quebec police wouldn’t say if Simpson was home at the time of the murder, but he hasn’t returned to Quebec since Montagna was heard breaking through Simpson’s window and seen running into the river to die.
Crime experts told QMI Agency Montagna was considered to be an aspiring leader of Montreal’s Mafia and his death could spark a mob war.
However, James Dubro, an author and filmmaker whose work focuses on organized crime, said it’s not that simple.
There is no such thing as a monolithic Montreal Mafia, he said, and war-like violence has already taken over the city.
Dubro co-wrote the original entry for organized crime in the Canadian Encyclopedia. He said the only thing certain about organized crime, including in Montreal, is that it’s constantly evolving.
Dubro described Montreal’s underworld as a nebulous collection of competing factions trying to out-do one another in ruthlessness.
He said the recent slaughter plaguing the city — in which people are being shot in the head by snipers or deliberately set on fire — is less of a traditional war and more of an insurgency of disparate groups fighting amongst themselves and the authorities.
There are no leaders and no one is in charge, he said, and that’s what makes Montreal’s vice market particularly unstable, dangerous and complicated.
Bikers, Sicilian and Calabrian clans, Haitian street gangs and the West End gang are just some of the groups vying for power in the city.
It’s highly difficult for one group to come out on top and be recognized by the police and each other as such.
It took 20 years for Nicolo Rizzuto and his son Vito to be considered major players in the city’s organized crime circles, Dubro said.
The Rizzutos allegedly controlled much of the city’s gambling, loansharking and drug trafficking starting in the late '70s.
The organization has since been decimated.
A sniper shot the alleged don of the family, Nicolo, 86, in the head through his kitchen window in November 2010.
“It’s much easier to lose power than to gain it,” Dubro said. “You have to survive. You have to be around for a while. You have to gain respect on the street from other groups.”
There doesn’t seem to be much respect these days. Over 40 cafes have been firebombed in the past two years and suspected mobsters are being gunned down in daylight.
Most recently, two men were deliberately set on fire during evening rush hour in an apartment
building in the city’s southern end.
Dubro said he spoke to gang members in south Montreal and heard that one of the fire victims was a small-time drug dealer who was more interested in promoting music than he was in organized crime. He was savagely murdered anyway, he said.
These unrelated crimes can be understood as part of a larger pattern of violence and overreaction taking control of the city’s criminal networks.
“Murder is always the ultimate weapon,” Dubro said. “It’s just right now it’s very popular as the first reaction.”
Montagna was another victim of this popular reaction.
The alleged former head of New York City’s Bonanno crime family had only been in the city since April 2009.
Montagna’s car was found next to a downtown subway station. It is unknown how Montagna got to that tiny island or if the white car seen speeding away the morning of his assassination was involved.
An autopsy was performed, but provincial police spokesman Benoit Richard won’t divulge the findings.
Quebec police have not laid any charges.
Dubro said Montagna is likely not as big a fish as is he being described as. His funeral was sparsely attended and “it sounds like Montagna wasn’t that well respected,” Dubro said.
Regardless of Montagna’s motives in Montreal, anyone aspiring to play a leadership role in the city’s vice market will have a target on their back.
“The whole thing about running Montreal,” Dubro said, “it’s a very tough job.”
Jack Simpson’s arrest was for an unrelated parole violation, but the 67-year-old is of interest to Quebec police because he rents the home on the small island northeast of Montreal where Montagna was assassinated Thursday morning.
Quebec police wouldn’t say if Simpson was home at the time of the murder, but he hasn’t returned to Quebec since Montagna was heard breaking through Simpson’s window and seen running into the river to die.
Crime experts told QMI Agency Montagna was considered to be an aspiring leader of Montreal’s Mafia and his death could spark a mob war.
However, James Dubro, an author and filmmaker whose work focuses on organized crime, said it’s not that simple.
There is no such thing as a monolithic Montreal Mafia, he said, and war-like violence has already taken over the city.
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Dubro described Montreal’s underworld as a nebulous collection of competing factions trying to out-do one another in ruthlessness.
He said the recent slaughter plaguing the city — in which people are being shot in the head by snipers or deliberately set on fire — is less of a traditional war and more of an insurgency of disparate groups fighting amongst themselves and the authorities.
There are no leaders and no one is in charge, he said, and that’s what makes Montreal’s vice market particularly unstable, dangerous and complicated.
Bikers, Sicilian and Calabrian clans, Haitian street gangs and the West End gang are just some of the groups vying for power in the city.
It’s highly difficult for one group to come out on top and be recognized by the police and each other as such.
It took 20 years for Nicolo Rizzuto and his son Vito to be considered major players in the city’s organized crime circles, Dubro said.
The Rizzutos allegedly controlled much of the city’s gambling, loansharking and drug trafficking starting in the late '70s.
The organization has since been decimated.
A sniper shot the alleged don of the family, Nicolo, 86, in the head through his kitchen window in November 2010.
“It’s much easier to lose power than to gain it,” Dubro said. “You have to survive. You have to be around for a while. You have to gain respect on the street from other groups.”
There doesn’t seem to be much respect these days. Over 40 cafes have been firebombed in the past two years and suspected mobsters are being gunned down in daylight.
Most recently, two men were deliberately set on fire during evening rush hour in an apartment
building in the city’s southern end.
Dubro said he spoke to gang members in south Montreal and heard that one of the fire victims was a small-time drug dealer who was more interested in promoting music than he was in organized crime. He was savagely murdered anyway, he said.
These unrelated crimes can be understood as part of a larger pattern of violence and overreaction taking control of the city’s criminal networks.
“Murder is always the ultimate weapon,” Dubro said. “It’s just right now it’s very popular as the first reaction.”
Montagna was another victim of this popular reaction.
The alleged former head of New York City’s Bonanno crime family had only been in the city since April 2009.
Montagna’s car was found next to a downtown subway station. It is unknown how Montagna got to that tiny island or if the white car seen speeding away the morning of his assassination was involved.
An autopsy was performed, but provincial police spokesman Benoit Richard won’t divulge the findings.
Quebec police have not laid any charges.
Dubro said Montagna is likely not as big a fish as is he being described as. His funeral was sparsely attended and “it sounds like Montagna wasn’t that well respected,” Dubro said.
Regardless of Montagna’s motives in Montreal, anyone aspiring to play a leadership role in the city’s vice market will have a target on their back.
“The whole thing about running Montreal,” Dubro said, “it’s a very tough job.”