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CANADA You could call it a foreign business trip. In May 1981, Victor Vito Rizzuto traveled from Montreal to Brooklyn, N.Y., eventually arriving at a social club with two other Canadians. They went to meet three captains of the Bonanno crime family: Alphonse Indelicato, Dominick Trinchera and Philip Giaccone, who were suspected of plotting a power grab while don Philip Rastelli was in prison. It was a short meeting. When the trio arrived, Rizzuto & Co. gunned them down, according to U.S. prosecutors. That hit, which U.S. and Canadian authorities say helped make Rizzuto’s reputation as “the godfather of the Italian Mafia in Canada,” was back in New York’s tabloids last week when police began digging up the same swampy area of Queens where Indelicato’s body was found 23 years ago. Mob turncoats have told the Federal Bureau of Investigation (fbi) that the spongy turf is a Mafia burial ground that holds the bodies of Trinchera and Giaccone, along with other victims. They also ratted out Rizzuto. He was one of 28 alleged mobsters indicted in the U.S. in January on racketeering charges related to conspiracy and loan-sharking as well as the 1981 murders. Rizzuto has been jailed in Montreal’s Rivière des Prairies prison since Jan. 20, and is fighting extradition to the U.S. Lawyers say Canada’s Justice Minister, Irwin Cotler, is expected to make a decision early next month. Although he faces a 20-year sentence if found guilty, Rizzuto, 58, a gray-haired and neatly dressed father of three, has attained “Teflon Don” status in Canada. “What Rizzuto did was to place Canada on the map of organized crime, but in an independent way, not as an appendix of the United States,” says Antonio Nicaso, co-author of Bloodlines: The Rise and Fall of the Mafia’s Royal Family and three other books on organized crime. “Vito was not a soldier, but a partner.” He has just one conviction in his life—for arson in 1972—despite more than two decades of fbi, r.c.m.p., Sûreté du Québec and Montreal police surveillance. U.S. officials claim that the Sicilian-born, Montreal-based Rizzuto heads loan-sharking and drug-running operations in Canada and that he is a soldier in the Bonanno family, the only one of the five New York Mafia clans to have a significant cadre north of the border. Prosecutors are basing a sizable part of their case on the testimony of Salvatore Vitale, a Bonanno underboss turned informant. Vitale, 57, has described in sworn testimony how he, Rizzuto and two others wore ski masks as they waited in the social club’s coatroom in 1981 to kill Indelicato, Trinchera and Giaccone, the latter having the sadly ironic nickname “Phil Lucky.” “I heard Vito say, ‘Don’t anybody move. This is a holdup,’ and then shots were being fired,” Vitale said on the stand earlier this year. “I seen Vito shoot.” Vitale says he met Rizzuto again as recently as 1999, after the Bonannos’ long-time Montreal captain, Gerlando Sciascia, was assassinated, allegedly by current Bonanno don Joseph Massino. Sciascia, a Sicilian, was with Rizzuto at the rubout in 1981, Vitale testified, and gave Rizzuto the signal to shoot the three renegade captains. Vitale says he was sent to appoint Rizzuto the new captain in Montreal, but Rizzuto declined, asking that his father Nicolo Rizzuto be named captain instead. Law enforcers on both sides of the border believe Vito became the de facto boss anyway. A report compiled by the Montreal police for Rizzuto’s bail appeal in August links the alleged Mob boss to convicted murderers, drug traffickers and loan sharks. He has been seen with them on golf courses—he says he plays 100 times a year—at boxing matches, weddings and funerals, and at the Consenza club, an Italian coffee bar in Montreal that police suggest is his office. He works for a company that pulled in less than C$75,000 in the past three years combined, yet he lives a lush life, say police. He has no credit cards. There are no vehicles registered in his name either, but he has been seen driving Ferraris and Porsches. Rizzuto’s home on a 14,000-sq.-ft. lot in north Montreal has a three-car garage and room for six more in the driveway. The house, a white-brick, Tudor-style mansion with pink-marble front steps in Montreal North, is a stone’s throw from his father’s house. The report also contains statements from undercover cops claiming that criminals have told them that Vito Rizzuto is their boss. But, as Rizzuto’s lawyers are quick to point out, keeping bad company is not a crime, and hearsay is not proof, even if it is submitted as an official court document. “If a police officer were to testify, he can give hearsay evidence,” says Jean Salois, the head of Rizzuto’s legal team. “It doesn’t mean it’s true.” In court, Rizzuto’s lawyers say the Canadian can’t be extradited because the evidence is too old. They say the U.S. prosecutors don’t have enough evidence to prove Rizzuto has been a member of a U.S. organized-crime group in the past five years—and five years is the statute of limitations for racketeering charges, irrespective of the underlying allegations. Alan Dershowitz, a high-profile U.S. attorney and Harvard law professor, told a Quebec court in August that since Rizzuto has not actually been charged with murder in the 1981 shootings, “it doesn’t matter that under the [New York] state law there would be no statute of limitations for murder.” (Dershowitz was called as an expert witness for the defense in Rizzuto’s bail hearing.) That argument wasn’t enough to spring Rizzuto. Although the judges at his initial extradition hearing in April and his bail hearing in August agreed that the defense had a point, they said it was not within their jurisdiction to interpret U.S. law. So Rizzuto remains in jail. In the meantime, the fbi will continue to dig in Queens for more evidence, and for more losers, in the Mob wars of 1981. —With reporting by Eileen Travers/Montreal and Simon Crittle/New York
Alleged Mafia boss denied bail By PETER RAKOBOWCHUK Justice Francois Doyon denied the bail request for Vito Rizzuto, 58, saying the accused didn't convince him that he should be released. "My conclusion remains that the defendant hasn't established that his detention isn't necessary in the public's interest," Doyon said in a 10-page ruling. The judge also said he didn't take into consideration the argument that time has run out to convict Rizzuto of racketeering charges that relate to the more than two-decade-old killings when he rejected the request. "The more complex the situation, the more delicate it is to get into an exercise that I qualify as perilous because it involves interpreting foreign laws." Rizzuto is facing extradition to the Doyon also suggested Rizzuto could be a flight risk. "I add that the defendant's participation in criminal activities in the Bonanno family and more generally in the Mafia for a number of years, plus the importance of his role and the respect within the organization can give him diverse resources which leads me to conclude it hasn't been established that he will abide by a court ruling." Justice Minister Irwin Cotler is expected to decide on Rizzuto's extradition in October. Rizzuto is known media reports as the "godfather" of the Montreal Mafia and was one of 30 suspects arrested by Lawyer Pierre Morneau, a member of Rizzuto's defence team, said he doesn't know how Rizzuto will feel about remaining behind bars. "We don't have that kind of conversation," Morneau said after the decision was released. Morneau also said the judge decided not to deal with the issue of statute of limitations on the alleged crime and looked to the public interest. "My feeling is the judge never tipped the balance in favour of the petitioner because he felt there was strong evidence. . .to the effect that the public interest would prefer that the accused stay detained." Rizzuto faces 20 years in prison if convicted because the murder allegations are filed as part of a racketeering case. He has not been charged with murder. Federal lawyer Christian Jarry said Rizzuto's fate is up to Cotler. "The decision on this question belongs first and foremost to the minister of justice who has until Oct. 5 to make the decision," Jarry said. Alan Dershowitz, a In April, Quebec Superior Court Justice Jean-Guy Boilard rejected a defence request to halt the extradition. He also decided not to rule on a request that Rizzuto be let out of jail pending an extradition decision. Alleged Mafia boss' fate Vito Rizzuto is accused of participating in the murder of three Mafia captains. Quebec Superior Court Justice Jean-Guy Boilard ruled against lawyers representing Rizzuto who wanted the extradition proceedings to be halted, partly because the charges date back to 1981. Boilard said if the case were to proceed in He also ruled that Justice Minister Irwin Cotler now will have to make a decision on Rizzuto's extradition. Rizzuto, known in media reports as the "godfather" of the Montreal Mob, faces one charge that encompasses murder and conspiracy. Defence lawyer Pierre Morneau said American authorities waited too long to charge the 58-year-old Rizzuto. Morneau said outside court that Cotler will have to decide whether the statute of limitations on the charge has expired. While there's no time limit on being charged with murder, that's not what Rizzuto specifically faces, he said. "Mr. Rizzuto isn't wanted on a murder charge in the Morneau said he will appeal Boilard's decision and also apply for bail for Rizzuto, who remains behind bars. "I've had that in mind for two months that I was to appeal any decision that was not in the total interest of my client," Morneau said. Rizzuto was among nearly 30 suspected mobsters nabbed in a sweep that Justice Department spokeswoman Pascale Boulay said Cotler could make a decision on extradition within 90 days. "It's up to the minister of justice to make the ultimate decision whether the person will be surrendered to the However, Boulay said Rizzuto can appeal the case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. "The process has started but he's not leaving tomorrow." Boulay said she couldn't comment on the nature of the charges or whether the Lawyer Ginette Gobeil, who represents the federal government, also said determining Rizzuto's fate could be lengthy because his lawyers have the right to appeal every step of the process. (April 8, 2004) Reputed head of Montreal Mafia to face March 29 extradition hearing The dates were set Friday during a brief court hearing attended by Rizzuto’s lawyers. He has been in custody since his arrest Jan. 20 at the request of A A motion for Rizzuto's release on bail could be filed March 15, when a judge is appointed in the case, said defence lawyer Julius Grey. The slayings of the three Mafia captains in 1981 led to racketeering and murder charges against Rizzuto. Known in media reports as the “godfather'' of the Montreal Mafia, Rizzuto was among nearly 30 suspected mobsters nabbed in a sweep that U.S. prosecutors called a decisive blow against a weakened Bonanno crime family. Rizzuto, 57, was arrested at his home by local police. He was the only person arrested in Mob crime flourishes despite arrests Organizations can keep operating without top leaders, expert says But with the arrest last week of Vito Rizzuto, alleged godfather of the city's Mafia, Mr. Rizzuto, described in court documents as a powerful, influential mobster, is in detention awaiting his extradition hearing to the Maurice (Mom) Boucher, fearsome leader of the elite Nomads chapter of the Quebec Hells Angels, and Gerald Matticks of the West End Gang are also off the streets these days. "They were seen as untouchables and the younger generations [of criminals] were looking up to them. You had to burst the balloons . . . destroy the legends," said retired anti-biker investigator Guy Ouellette. Still, observers are cautioning that while law enforcement has scored impressive successes in recent years, organized crime will remain a major problem for authorities. By definition, crime bosses don't handle street-level drug trafficking or muscle work, so their arrests don't cut into the everyday rackets run by lower-ranking cadres. "The boss had the moral authority and he is gone, but it wasn't him who was getting his two hands dirty," Mr. Ouellette said. In Mr. Rizzuto's case, there remains a long legal battle, first dealing with the request to deport him to Until then, the organization that Mr. Rizzuto allegedly oversaw remains powerful and able to operate on its own, says organized-crime expert Antonio Nicaso, the Toronto-based author of 10 books on the mob. "They have people able to run the day-to-day activities," Mr. Nicaso said. "But of course they will lack vision, strategy in the future." Some have speculated that Mr. Rizzuto's aging father, Nick, could become the acting boss of the clan, which was once a branch of the Bonanno crime family of Mr. Nicaso, however, doubted that the father could take a large role. "In the last few years, his role was more of a respected adviser, a consigliere, not a boss." The fortunes of The Quebec Hells Angels spearheaded their club's long-awaited move into As for the Rizzuto clan, it was described as an increasingly influential crime family in the 2002 annual report of Criminal Intelligence Service Canada. "This family's influence has extended throughout "It has connections to other Sicilian clans throughout Court evidence has shown that the Mafia, the Hells Angels and the West End Gang have often worked together to import drugs and set their retail prices. Mr. Rizzuto, who has been named in various court proceedings but not convicted of any offence since 1972, faces up to 20 years in jail if extradited to the U.S. and found guilty. His arrest Tuesday came after two other notorious Mr. Boucher received a life sentence in May, 2002, for ordering the murder of two prison guards. Three months later, Mr. Matticks, a prominent figure in the West End Gang, a notorious crime syndicate with mostly Anglo-Irish members, was sentenced to 12 years after pleading guilty to drug trafficking. At the sentencing this summer of nine members of Mr. Boucher's organization who had pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and conspiracy to murder gang rivals, Crown attorney André Vincent said the police have managed to destabilize the Hells Angels and curb drastically the number of gangland killings in Montreal. Nevertheless, Mr. Vincent conceded, the arrests have not stopped illicit drug sales. Mr. Boucher and about 120 other members of his Nomads organization have been arrested, but other bikers from Angels chapters in
Extradition of Vito Rizzuto might 'mess up' underworld Everything's going to be fragmented in Paul Cherry – The Gazzette Potential power grabs and internal conflict might be in the cards if the man alleged to be the godfather of the Montreal Mafia is extradited to the Vito Rizzuto, 57, is in custody and awaiting an extradition hearing that could take him to Rizzuto is openly described by "Things are going to be pretty messed up in But the same investigator added he's convinced that Rizzuto's father, Nicola (Nick) Rizzuto, who is about to turn 80, has always been the actual head of the organization. "A lot of the major decisions go through him," the investigator said of the elder Rizzuto, who enjoys driving his Jaguar and lives next to his son on "He still calls the shots." A court document unsealed Tuesday, when Vito Rizzuto appeared in court as his extradition process began, indicates he defers to his father. A former mobster, who has agreed to testify against the Bonanno family in This came after Gerlando Sciascia, a Montrealer and close associate of the Rizzuto family, was shot dead in "Rizzuto requested that his father, a soldier in the Bonanno family, instead be appointed the captain as a sign of respect." The witness cited in the document said that so far as he knows, the issue was not resolved. Unlike his son Vito, who has twice been acquitted in major drug trials, Nick Rizzuto has spent time behind bars in the past two decades. He was arrested in February 1988 in Tozzi was under investigation at the time and received a 12-year sentence for helping to launder $27 million for three different Mafia clans. The Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, a national agency that monitors trends in crime, describes the Mafia as complex, tight-knit and powerful. "Since a power shift from the Calabrian Mafia in the 1970s, the Sicilian Mafia have built their organizations on tight family bonds while increasing their capacity to carry out sophist-icated operations that can extend country-wide," the agency's most recent annual report said. "Generally, the capabilities of (the Mafia) in The The investigator also said that another potential side effect of Rizzuto's arrest could be an increase in mobsters becoming police informants. "Whenever you take down a person like Vito Rizzuto, you are going to have more and more informants popping up. You'll see a lot of crimes being solved that were committed as far back as the '70s," the investigator predicted. "Once you take (leaders) away, the reign of fear is gone and people will speak up." Antonio Nicaso - author of several books on the Mafia, including Bloodlines: The Rise and Fall of the Mafia's Royal Family - said he doesn't think the elder Rizzuto is running things. "I think he plays the role of an adviser, but I think he is too old to run things," Nicaso said, adding he believes the Mafia in "In my opinion, during the '80s and mostly in the '90s, Rizzuto was the man who drove the Montreal Mafia in a new direction. He created distance from the Americans," Nicaso said. "My opinion is that if he is convicted, it will be very difficult to replace Vito Rizzuto. It doesn't mean that the organization will be in disarray without Vito. They will manage to go on, but not with the same connections. "At this point, knowledge that we have from intelligence reports, there is no other person who is as capable or at the same level as Vito Rizzuto at present," Nicaso said. "Rizzuto is a cultivated man, charismatic, fluent in four languages. I think it will be difficult to find another Vito Rizzuto in pcherry@thegazette.canwest.com –
Vito Rizzuto, a reputed Rizzuto, often called the "godfather" of the The The three were believed to be plotting to take control of the Bonanno family. "Rizzuto has been charged with multiple murders as racketeering acts, specifically the 1981 conspiracy to murder, and murder of, Bonanno family captains Alphonse (Sonny Red) Indelicato, Philip (Phil Lucky) Giaccone and Dominick (Big Trin) Trinchera," documents released by the U.S. Justice Department said. At the same time, more than 100 FBI agents and police officers have arrested dozens of members and associates of the Bonanno family with murder, conspiracy and other crimes. Prosecutors in Rizzuto, 57, made a brief afternoon court appearance in "He's wanted in the Rizzuto returns to court Feb. 6 to set a date for an extradition hearing. He is facing 20 years in prison if convicted. Authorities have said they consider Rizzuto to be the most powerful Italian mobster in The Rizzuto clan has played a major role on the Canadian crime scene for decades, Antonio Nicaso, a The Rizzutos reached a silent agreement with the rival Cuntrera-Caruana clan in 1978 to split up territory formerly controlled by organized-crime godfather Paolo Violi, slain earlier that year, he said. Under terms of the deal, the Rizzutos control illegal street-level activity in
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