Carmen Barillaro
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Carmen Barillaro (24 July 1944 – 23 July 1997) was an Italian-Canadian
mobster A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...
who served as the right-hand man to Johnny Papalia of the
Papalia crime family The Papalia crime family () also known as Papalia 'ndrina, is a 'Ndrangheta organized crime family based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, as well as Platì in Southern Italy and Buccinasco in Northern Italy. Another branch of the family is based in ...
based in
Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a Canada 2016 Census, population of 569,353, and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington, ...
. Barillaro was briefly the
boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...
of the Papalia family in 1997 with his reign being ended by his murder.


Criminal career


"Made man"

Barillaro was born in Italy and immigrated to Canada with parents at the age of nine. He grew up in
Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Fall ...
, and joined the Papalia family. In 1931, when the Commission was established, dividing up North America into territories controlled by various Mafia families, much of
southern Ontario Southern Ontario is a primary region of the province of Ontario, Canada, the other primary region being Northern Ontario. It is the most densely populated and southernmost region in Canada. The exact northern boundary of Southern Ontario is disp ...
was assigned to the Magaddino family of
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
, to whom the Papalia family of
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...
were ultimately responsible to. Barillaro became a "
made man In the American and Sicilian Mafia, a made man is a fully initiated member of the Mafia. To become "made", an associate first must be Italian or of Italian descent and sponsored by another made man. An inductee will be required to take the oa ...
" in the Magaddino family of Buffalo. In 1978, Barillaro was convicted of conspiracy to import heroin and sentenced to two years in prison. Released on parole in 1979, he was convicted of trying to sell three pounds of heroin to an undercover police officer in 1980, causing him to spent the next three years in prison. During his time in prison, Barillaro had bulked up by working out, and upon his release Papalia employed him to extort money from illegal gambling houses in
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
's
Greektown Greektown is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Greeks or people of Greek ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. History The oldest Greek dominated neighborhood outside of Greece were probably the Fener in Ista ...
in the Pape-Danforth area. Considered to be a terrifying figure, Barillaro together with other muscular Mafiosi would raid gambling houses that refused to pay protection money to Papalia to intimidate and rob the gamblers.


The Iannzzelli disappearance

Louis Iannuzzelli was a prominent businessman in
Niagara Falls, Ontario Niagara Falls is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is on the western bank of the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, with a population of 88,071 at the 2016 census. It is part of the St. Catharines - Niagara Census M ...
who owned the House of Frankenstein Wax Museum and who started to engage in loansharking in the Niagara Peninsula, which Papalia considered to be his territory. However, Ianuzzelii had a protector in the form of Dominic Longo, an elderly Mafiosi who worked alongside Antonio Papalia, the father of
Johnny Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Varian ...
, who ordered Johnny to accept Iannuzzeli operations. Papalia was respectful of his elders and accepted Longo's orders. Longo died in October 1985, and three days later, Iannuzzelli disappeared without trace, never to be seen or heard from again. Barillaro was never charged, but remains the prime suspect in the presumed murder of Iannuzzelli. In an interview with the journalist Peter Moon of ''
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' in December 1986, Papalia denied having anything to do with Iannzzelli's presumed murder, but did express much hatred of Iannzzelli, whom he suggested maliciously was "depressed" because of his failures in life and had committed suicide. One police officer told Moon: "I'm sure he annuzzelliwas depressed. You'd be depressed too if you thought Johnny Pops was mad at you for some reason. He didn't commit suicide. And with him gone, there's no competition for John in Niagara Falls".


Underboss

In December 1985, Barillaro was arrested and charged with extortion of the gambling houses in Greektown as part of Operation Outhouse, a crackdown by the
Ontario Provincial Police The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. Under its provincial mandate, the OPP patrols provincial highways and waterways, protects provincial government buildings and officials, patrols unincorp ...
(OPP) on the Papalia family. The police believed that Barllaro was acting on Papalia's orders during his raids on the gambling houses of Greektown, but Papalia was not charged because it was thought likely that he would be acquitted in court, which would add to his mystique as Papalia had a near-legendary reputation by the 1980s. Instead, the police contented themselves with charging Barillaro, Enio Mora and several others for the brutal raids that saw numerous patrons beaten up and the ear of one gambling house owner sliced up with a knife. Ultimately,
the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
dropped the charges, and Barillaro never went to trial. On 24 December 1986, Barillaro filed for bankruptcy, claiming he had no assets and his only source of income was his weekly salary of $245 at Murphy's Restaurant, while at the same time he allowed a friend to use his credit card as much as he wanted, saying that the costs of paying off the credit card bill was not an issue for him. To launder money for the Papalia family, Barillaro opened up a restaurant-bar in Niagara Falls. Barillaro was an exacting and tyrannical manager who beat up a cook who tried to defrost a chicken with cold water instead of a microwave as he had ordered. He owned the restaurant-bar via a convoluted ownership structure that was meant to pass himself off as a silent partner as his criminal record made him ineligible to have a liquor license in Ontario. In 1989, Sergeant Reginald King of the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
(RCMP) made a listing of all 275 Mafiosi in Ontario in order of importance. King placed Papalia as number one and Barillaro as number seven. By the late 1980s, Barillaro was in charge of the Papalia family's operations in the Niagara peninsula area while Enio Mora was in charge of the Papalia family's operations in the Toronto area. In 1987, Barillaro hired a woman, Faye Fontaine, to serve as an assassin, saying he wanted Roy Caja, a drug dealer who had once belonged to the Outlaws biker gang, killed for not paying a drug debt. Fontaine ultimately chose not to serve as a hitwoman, and instead turned police informer. On 24 January 1989, Barillaro was sentenced to three years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder. Shortly after his release, Barillaro was charged in May 1992 with conspiracy to import several kilograms of cocaine and 900 kilograms of marijuana from the United States. The drug shipment was estimated to be worth $3 million Canadian dollars. Barillaro ended up pleading guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine and was fined $10,000. Barillaro and his crew specialized in loan-sharking, drug smuggling, and bookmaking. Barillaro was married with two daughters and always had dinner with his brother every Sunday. He was a devout
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
who was a close friend of his priest, Father Malachy Smith, who called him a model family man. Barillaro was considered to be friendly man by his neighbors who always greeted others on the street and loved to barbeque in his backyard with his family. Mora borrowed $7.2 million from
Vito Rizzuto Vito Rizzuto (; February 21, 1946 – December 23, 2013), also known as "Montreal's Teflon Don", was an Italian-Canadian crime boss alleged to be the leader of the Sicilian Mafia in Canada. He headed the notorious Rizzuto crime family based ...
of
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
's
Rizzuto family The Rizzuto crime family () is an organized crime family based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, whose criminal activity covers most of southern Quebec and Ontario. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) considers the family a facti ...
and gave the majority of the money to Papalia and Barillaro, who used some of it to open nightclubs and restaurants while the rest just vanished. Neither Papalia nor Barillaro were interested in repaying the loan as the police recorded Barillaro saying on his phone "They can't touch us". The Canadian journalists André Cédilot and André Noël wrote that this was a "major mistake" as Rizzuto decided to wipe out the Papalia family's leaders. On 11 September 1996, Mora was murdered getting into his car in
Vaughan Vaughan () (2021 population 323,103) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Regional Municipality of York, just north of Toronto. Vaughan was the fastest-growing municipality in Canada between 1996 and 2006 with its population increas ...
. Rizzuto formed an alliance with the
Musitano crime family The Musitano crime family () is a 'Ndrangheta organized crime family based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, as well as Platì in Southern Italy and Buccinasco and Bareggio in Northern Italy. The Musitano family was founded by Angelo Musitano in Can ...
of Hamilton, who had their own reasons for wanting to eliminate the Papalia family.


Murder

On 31 May 1997, Papalia was fatally shot in the head in the parking lot of 20 Railway Street outside his vending machine business in Hamilton. The hitman
Kenneth Murdock Kenneth Bishop (born Kenneth Murdock; 1963) is a Canadian truck driver who was a hitman for the Musitano crime family of Hamilton, Ontario. In 1998, Murdock was convicted of three mob hits, sentenced to life imprisonment, but later released on paro ...
claimed that he had been ordered to kill Papalia by Angelo and Pat Musitano of the Musitano family, who owed some $250,000 to Papalia. More broadly, the Rizzuto family of Montreal were moving in to take over Ontario, and had chosen the Musitano family as their instrument, which in turn required the elimination of the Papalia family. As the most senior surviving figure in the Papalia family and the longtime heir apparent, Barrillaro became the new
boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...
of the family. Papalia, a deeply paranoid man, had never formally named a successor, but as Barrilaro was the strongest personality within the family after Papalia, he had been widely assumed to be the successor for years, and immediately proclaimed himself the new boss upon hearing of Papalia's murder. Two days after Papalia's murder, Barillaro met with Pat Musitano, a meeting which unknown to both men was secretly recorded by the police. The meeting was an extremely unfriendly one, with an angry Barillaro accusing Musitano of ordering Papalia's murder, saying he had heard a rumor that Murdock was the hitman and the Musitano brothers were his employers. At a meeting in Buffalo in June 1997 attended by senior Magaddino family leaders, Barillaro received permission to kill Pat Musitano. According to Murdock, Barillaro planned to personally kill Musitano himself as the rumor within underworld circles was that Barillaro had said at the meeting: "I'll take care of that fat piece of shit myself". Murdock testified that the Musitano brothers were greatly afraid of Barillaro and wanted him killed before he could kill them. Two months later, on 23 July 1997, Murdock killed Barillaro with a 9mm handgun after making the comment, "This is a message from Pat". The murder occurred in Barillaro's Niagara Falls home after the victim's wife and children had left. Murdock said that Angelo Musitano was waiting in the vehicle outside during this time. The two then left the scene. Murdock and Barillaro struggled for several minutes before Murdock was able to shoot him. When Barillaro's wife and daughters came home from their shopping trip with Barillaro's birthday presents, they found him lying in a pool of his blood. The motive for the "hit" was self-protection. Pat was convinced that Barillaro would target him in retribution for the Papalia killing, so he and Murdock acted first. Besides for Papalia and Barrillaro, the Musitano brothers had also wanted Murdock to kill
Ion Croitoru Ion William Croitoru (December 7, 1963 – February 21, 2017) was a Canadian professional wrestler. He was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. To wrestling fans, he is better known by his ring names, Johnny K-9, Taras Bulba, and Bruise ...
, the professional wrestler and president of the
Satan's Choice Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club (SCMC) was a Canadian outlaw motorcycle club that was once the dominant outlaw club in Ontario, with twelve chapters based in the province, and another in Montreal, Quebec, at its peak strength in 1977. Satan's Choi ...
Hamilton chapter, and
Mario Parente Mario Parente (born 1949) is a Canadian outlaw biker and gangster, mostly noted for serving as the Canadian national president of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club between 2000 and 2009. Satan's Choice Parente was born in Hamilton, Ontario into a worki ...
, the president of the Outlaws' Hamilton chapter. Barillaro's time as the Papalia family boss was very brief, lasting less than two months, but the Canadian journalist
Jerry Langton Jerry Langton (born October 1, 1965) is a Canadian author. His focus is on crime, specifically the rise of motorcycle gangs throughout Ontario. Langton's books are published by John Wiley and Sons. He has written 10 books and is the author of the ...
wrote that everything indicated Barillaro was a formidable Mafiosi who was more than capable of leading the Papalia family and with his murder, the family went into decline. In November 1998, Murdock pleaded guilty to three counts of second degree murder, was sentenced to life imprisonment, and named Pat and Angelo as the men who had ordered the murders; he was released on parole after serving 13 years. In February 2000, the brothers were sentenced to 10 years for conspiracy in the murder of Barillaro in a plea bargain arrangement. No conviction was obtained in relation to the murder of Papalia. In October 2006, the Musitano brothers were both released from prison. After Murdock had served 13 years in prison, he was granted
day parole Day parole is a form of release under Canadian law that permits prisoner participation in public activities during the day, and requires they return to their prison or halfway house nightly. The Parole Board of Canada may waive this requirement, or ...
in December 2011, before full
parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...
in 2014. After release from prison, he relocated to
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
and works as a truck driver under his changed surname, Bishop.


Books

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barillaro, Carmen 1944 births 1997 deaths 1997 murders in Canada 20th-century Canadian criminals Canadian male criminals Canadian gangsters of Italian descent Canadian crime bosses Italian emigrants to Canada Canadian Roman Catholics Murdered Canadian gangsters Murdered Mafiosi People murdered by Canadian organized crime People from Niagara Falls, Ontario Canadian drug traffickers Canadian people convicted of drug offences Canadian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Canada Organized crime in Hamilton, Ontario Buffalo crime family