Mafia continues Canadian expansion, experts predict turf war
MONTREAL (CP) -- The Mafia is tightening its grip on Canada's criminal underworld, and experts warn a mob war could break out as the crime groups consolidate their influence in Ontario and other provinces.
Organized-crime experts say Mob families in Montreal and Toronto have set their sights on the Ontario market for illicit drugs, gambling, money laundering, extortion and loansharking.
The Montreal-based Rizzuto family and the Cuntrera-Caruana crime group of Toronto are considered to be two of the most powerful Mafia families in Canada.
The Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC), an umbrella law-enforcement organization, says the Montreal-based Mafia clan could clash with other families as it fights for dominance in the lucrative Ontario market.
"The extension of this . . . crime family's influence into Ontario potentially could create conflict with established traditional organized crime families in the area," CISC said in a recent report.
"(They'll) participate in the planning and execution of large illicit drug movements . . . and a multitude of other illegal activities."
The 1997 murder of reputed Ontario Mafia boss Johnny (Pops) Papalia created a leadership vacuum in that province that the Rizzutos are more than happy to fill, say experts.
Toronto author and journalist Antonio Nicaso, who has written several books on the Mafia, says despite all the attention paid to biker gangs and their bloody turf war, the crime families are Canada's real underworld kingpins.
"They try to stay away from the spotlight," said Nicaso.
"They don't send press releases. The Mafia tries to be less visible and more business-oriented."
Omerta, the legendary Mafia code of silence, has largely stymied efforts by police to plant informants and build solid cases against top-level crime bosses.
The Mob has also set up legitimate businesses to mask their criminal operations, says RCMP Chief Supt. Ben Soave of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit.
"(Crime heads) do pose a serious threat, especially when most of them are becoming untouchable," said Soave, whose unit of municipal, provincial and federal law-enforcement agencies was created to fight organized crime.
"The more time they've had to entrench themselves in every sort of legitimate sector, it makes it tougher to get to them."
The Mafia's reach extends into the daily lives of unsuspecting Canadians who frequent restaurants, bars and strip clubs, mainly in Montreal and Toronto, say observers.
Here's one way in which the Mafia turns its proceeds of crime into so-called legitimate business earnings:
-- Money is generated from prostitution, drugs, illegal gambling and extortion. In one common extortion racket, restaurants in suburban Montreal have been strong-armed into paying a fee to sell pizza and pasta, or risk being bombed out of business.
-- A large percentage of the Mafia profits are then turned over to a business or corporation owned by the organization or a close contact.
-- The businessowner hides the Mob's funds by over-reporting profits, using the dirty money to make up the difference.
In this way, the proceeds of vice and crime are transformed into clean mainstream business profits, with no direct link to the top-level bosses.
The Canadian Mafia's current structure has been in place for decades.
The Rizzuto and Cuntrera-Caruana clans reached a silent agreement in 1978 to split up territory formerly controlled by organized-crime godfather Paolo Violi, slain earlier that year.
Under terms of the deal, the Rizzutos control illegal street-level activity in Montreal, Toronto and several other cities while the Cuntrera-Caruana family concentrates on money laundering and drug importation, said Nicaso.
The Cuntrera-Caruana family is actually made up of two families united by marriage. They have grown into one of the world's biggest drug-smuggling and money-laundering organizations, say police.
The RCMP says the group has been operating for more than 30 years in Canada, Venezuela, Aruba, the United States, Mexico, western Europe, Thailand and India.
Law enforcement scored its first major victory against the Cuntrera-Caruana organization when its alleged boss, Alfonso Caruana, and his brother Gerlando were sentenced in 2000 to 18 years in jail on drug charges.
The two had admitted to being high-level members of a ring that imported massive quantities of cocaine into Canada from Colombia.
The Rizzutos, meanwhile, have proven harder to catch. The family is allegedly headed by Vito Rizzuto, who lives quietly in an opulent home in north-end Montreal.
The Rizzuto group is referred to in the CISC report only as a "Sicilian crime family" that plays an influential role in the "diverse criminal milieu of Montreal."
While the Rizzutos are not mentioned by name, the family is clearly the focus of the report.
The document mentions a foiled murder plot against a reputed Montreal Mafia leader, as well as his out-of-court tax settlement with the federal Revenue Department. Rizzuto was at the centre of both cases.
The CISC says the crime family has forged close criminal partnerships with bikers, as well as with gangs from Asia, eastern Europe and South America.
Nicaso says Rizzuto is a polished operator and an elusive target for police.
"It's very difficult to arrest Rizzuto because you have to catch (him) in the act," said Nicaso.
"He's very careful but of course he's very powerful, he deals with stock markets, he speaks three languages fluently, he travels often.
"He's the new face of organized crime."
But Soave says the Mafia can't evade the law forever.
He predicts federal anti-gang laws will make it easier to dismantle criminal organizations. He added that joint Canadian law-enforcement units and shared intelligence with U.S. officials will also lead to more arrests.
Nicaso, however, says the public mystique surrounding the Mob must also be destroyed if Canadians are to become fully aware of the dangers of such criminal networks.
"There is no real perception of the threat of organized crime in this country," said Nicaso, pointing out that Canada has been a haven for international crime because anti-gang laws were passed only recently.
"In Canada, we have at least 18 different organized crime groups and one of the first questions we should ask ourselves is why they love Canada so much."
MONTREAL (CP) -- The Mafia is tightening its grip on Canada's criminal underworld, and experts warn a mob war could break out as the crime groups consolidate their influence in Ontario and other provinces.
Organized-crime experts say Mob families in Montreal and Toronto have set their sights on the Ontario market for illicit drugs, gambling, money laundering, extortion and loansharking.
The Montreal-based Rizzuto family and the Cuntrera-Caruana crime group of Toronto are considered to be two of the most powerful Mafia families in Canada.
The Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC), an umbrella law-enforcement organization, says the Montreal-based Mafia clan could clash with other families as it fights for dominance in the lucrative Ontario market.
"The extension of this . . . crime family's influence into Ontario potentially could create conflict with established traditional organized crime families in the area," CISC said in a recent report.
"(They'll) participate in the planning and execution of large illicit drug movements . . . and a multitude of other illegal activities."
The 1997 murder of reputed Ontario Mafia boss Johnny (Pops) Papalia created a leadership vacuum in that province that the Rizzutos are more than happy to fill, say experts.
Toronto author and journalist Antonio Nicaso, who has written several books on the Mafia, says despite all the attention paid to biker gangs and their bloody turf war, the crime families are Canada's real underworld kingpins.
"They try to stay away from the spotlight," said Nicaso.
"They don't send press releases. The Mafia tries to be less visible and more business-oriented."
Omerta, the legendary Mafia code of silence, has largely stymied efforts by police to plant informants and build solid cases against top-level crime bosses.
The Mob has also set up legitimate businesses to mask their criminal operations, says RCMP Chief Supt. Ben Soave of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit.
"(Crime heads) do pose a serious threat, especially when most of them are becoming untouchable," said Soave, whose unit of municipal, provincial and federal law-enforcement agencies was created to fight organized crime.
"The more time they've had to entrench themselves in every sort of legitimate sector, it makes it tougher to get to them."
The Mafia's reach extends into the daily lives of unsuspecting Canadians who frequent restaurants, bars and strip clubs, mainly in Montreal and Toronto, say observers.
Here's one way in which the Mafia turns its proceeds of crime into so-called legitimate business earnings:
-- Money is generated from prostitution, drugs, illegal gambling and extortion. In one common extortion racket, restaurants in suburban Montreal have been strong-armed into paying a fee to sell pizza and pasta, or risk being bombed out of business.
-- A large percentage of the Mafia profits are then turned over to a business or corporation owned by the organization or a close contact.
-- The businessowner hides the Mob's funds by over-reporting profits, using the dirty money to make up the difference.
In this way, the proceeds of vice and crime are transformed into clean mainstream business profits, with no direct link to the top-level bosses.
The Canadian Mafia's current structure has been in place for decades.
The Rizzuto and Cuntrera-Caruana clans reached a silent agreement in 1978 to split up territory formerly controlled by organized-crime godfather Paolo Violi, slain earlier that year.
Under terms of the deal, the Rizzutos control illegal street-level activity in Montreal, Toronto and several other cities while the Cuntrera-Caruana family concentrates on money laundering and drug importation, said Nicaso.
The Cuntrera-Caruana family is actually made up of two families united by marriage. They have grown into one of the world's biggest drug-smuggling and money-laundering organizations, say police.
The RCMP says the group has been operating for more than 30 years in Canada, Venezuela, Aruba, the United States, Mexico, western Europe, Thailand and India.
Law enforcement scored its first major victory against the Cuntrera-Caruana organization when its alleged boss, Alfonso Caruana, and his brother Gerlando were sentenced in 2000 to 18 years in jail on drug charges.
The two had admitted to being high-level members of a ring that imported massive quantities of cocaine into Canada from Colombia.
The Rizzutos, meanwhile, have proven harder to catch. The family is allegedly headed by Vito Rizzuto, who lives quietly in an opulent home in north-end Montreal.
The Rizzuto group is referred to in the CISC report only as a "Sicilian crime family" that plays an influential role in the "diverse criminal milieu of Montreal."
While the Rizzutos are not mentioned by name, the family is clearly the focus of the report.
The document mentions a foiled murder plot against a reputed Montreal Mafia leader, as well as his out-of-court tax settlement with the federal Revenue Department. Rizzuto was at the centre of both cases.
The CISC says the crime family has forged close criminal partnerships with bikers, as well as with gangs from Asia, eastern Europe and South America.
Nicaso says Rizzuto is a polished operator and an elusive target for police.
"It's very difficult to arrest Rizzuto because you have to catch (him) in the act," said Nicaso.
"He's very careful but of course he's very powerful, he deals with stock markets, he speaks three languages fluently, he travels often.
"He's the new face of organized crime."
But Soave says the Mafia can't evade the law forever.
He predicts federal anti-gang laws will make it easier to dismantle criminal organizations. He added that joint Canadian law-enforcement units and shared intelligence with U.S. officials will also lead to more arrests.
Nicaso, however, says the public mystique surrounding the Mob must also be destroyed if Canadians are to become fully aware of the dangers of such criminal networks.
"There is no real perception of the threat of organized crime in this country," said Nicaso, pointing out that Canada has been a haven for international crime because anti-gang laws were passed only recently.
"In Canada, we have at least 18 different organized crime groups and one of the first questions we should ask ourselves is why they love Canada so much."
