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The Musitano crime family () is a

'Ndrangheta The 'Ndrangheta (, , ) is a prominent Italian Mafia-type organized crime syndicate and secret society, criminal society based in the peninsular and mountainous region of Calabria and dating back to the late 18th century. It is considered one of ...

organized crime family

Southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...

and Buccinasco and

Bareggio Bareggio ( lmo, Baregg ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, located about west of Milan. Bareggio borders the following municipalities: Pregnana Milanese, Cornaredo, Sedriano, Cus ...

Northern Italy Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. It consists of eight administrative regions ...

. The Musitano family was founded by Angelo Musitano in Canada in the 1940s, and was one of three centralized Mafia organizations in Hamilton, with the other two being the

Luppino crime family The Luppino crime family, () also known as the Luppino-Violi crime family, is a 'Ndrangheta organized crime family based and founded in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, in the 1950s by Giacomo Luppino. The Luppino family is one of three centralized Mafi ...

and 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 ...

. Unlike the other two Hamilton families, the Musitanos did not form a strong alliance with the

Buffalo crime family The Buffalo crime family, also known as the Magaddino crime family, Buffalo Mafia, The Arm, the New York State crime family, the Upstate New York Mafia, and the Todaro crime family, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Buffalo, Ne ...

, staying closer to their 'Ndrangheta cell.

Early history

In 1937, Angelo Musitano, who was also known as the "Beast of Delianova", fled illegally from

Delianuova Delianuova () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about southwest of Catanzaro and about northeast of Reggio Calabria. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 3,542 and ...

, Italy to Canada, after killing his sister Rosa and injuring her lover due to his belief that she had disgraced the family by becoming pregnant out of wedlock; he lived under the assumed name of Jim D'Augustino upon arriving in Canada. In 1940, an Italian court convicted Angelo ''in absentia'' to 30 years in prison. In 1965, Angelo was

extradited Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...

to Italy to serve his sentence. Angelo Musitano had two nephews, Anthony "Tony" and Dominic Musitano. In 1978, Dominic Musitano, owner of a Hamilton haulage company, Rocco Luppino, and Angelo Natale, president of the Ontario Haulers Association, were charged with conspiracy to commit extortion after police uncovered a

protection racket A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from viol ...

on Ontario's independent trucking industry; after a five-year legal battle, they were acquitted in 1983. In January 1983, Tony was sentenced to 15 years in prison for bombing a number of businesses in Hamilton, including bakeries. While in prison, he orchestrated the murder of Toronto mobster Domenic Racco of the

Siderno Group The Siderno Group is a criminal association in Canada, Australia and Italy related to the 'Ndrangheta, a Mafia-type organization in Calabria. The association is labelled the "Siderno Group" because its members primarily came from the town of Sidern ...

, who violated their cocaine trade agreement by dealing behind Musitano's back, and also owed the Musitano family as much as $500,000. Tony Musitano befriended inmate Billy Rankin at

Millhaven Institution Millhaven Institution (french: Établissement de Millhaven) is a maximum security prison located in Bath, Ontario. Approximately 500 inmates are incarcerated at Millhaven. Opened in 1971, Millhaven was originally built to replace Ontario's other ...

in Kingston who was due to be released in December that year. Giuseppe "Joey" Avignone, nephew of Tony and Dominic Musitano, often visited Tony in prison to discuss details of the plot, which were secretly recorded by the police. Rankin was released on December 7, and given "the okay" by Dominic Musitano. On December 10, 1983, Racco got into a car in front of his

Mississauga Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...

apartment with Rankin, Dominic Musitano and Peter Majeste, thinking it was to discuss potential drug trade, but was taken to a railway track and killed. In March 1984, Dominic and Tony Musitano, Avignone and Rankin were arrested. Dominic Musitano received six years for being an accessory after the fact to murder. Tony Musitano, already in prison on the bombing charges, was sentenced to 12 years concurrently, Avignone got five years and Rankin was sentenced to 12 years, all three pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit murder. Tony was granted full parole in 1990. The Mafia expert

Antonio Nicaso Antonio Nicaso (; born 1964) is an Italian author, university professor, researcher, speaker and consultant to governments and law-enforcement agencies originally from Caulonia, Calabria, Italy, now based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Lejtenyi, Pa ...

stated: "They were not at the same level of Papalia. For many years, the Musitano family lived in the shadow of Papilia". The relationship between Papalia family and the Musitano family were never friendly as the paranoid Johnny Papalia did not trust the bad-tempered and combative Dominic Musitano, who in turn disliked Papalia as the boss of a more powerful family. Dominic Musitano's two sons Pasquale "Pat" or "Fat Pat" and Angelo "Ang" Musitano joined their father in organized crime. By 1992, the Hamilton-Wentworth Police estimated that the family was earning $14 million per year through various aspects of illegal gaming. Pat Musitano was charged in 1992 after an attempted arson of the Collins Hotel in

Dundas, Ontario : ''For the county in eastern Ontario see Dundas County, Ontario. For the upper tier county, see United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry.'' Dundas is a community and town in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is nicknamed the ''Valley Town' ...

, the home of eight individuals at the time. He was not convicted. Pat Musitano was president of P&L Tire Recycling Inc. in 1992; he was found guilty of failing to make his Mount Hope tire dump conform to the Ontario fire code. According to documents obtained by the Toronto Star, "he and his father created a fire hazard with an illegal tire dump in Mount Hope and then tried ithout successto get $3 million to $5 million of tax dollars to clean it up". They were later handed a $1.8 million fine from the Ministry of the Environment for its cleanup of the site, a fine Pat dodged with a 1993 bankruptcy claim. The crime family was led by Dominic until his death on August 13, 1995 from a heart attack at the age of 57. Pat Musitano took over as boss of the family. In 1997, Pat Musitano was in charge of a

sports betting Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. The frequency of sports bet upon varies by culture, with the vast majority of bets being placed on association football, American football, basket ...

ring which brought in as much as $100,000 in bets per week; his cousin Joey Avignone also led a network for distributing illegal gambling machines in bars. According to John Ross who was a Hamilton police sergeant, Pat Musitano was "a decidedly blue-collar mobster who loved cars, hung out in restaurants, wore dark sunglasses and dressed up in suits ... He was

Tony Soprano Anthony John Soprano is a fictional character and the antihero protagonist in the HBO television drama series ''The Sopranos'' (1999–2007), portrayed by James Gandolfini. Soprano is a member of the American Mafia, Italian-American Mafia and, ...

before Tony Soprano was on television". The Musitano brothers' ideas about what a gangster should be like were considerably more influenced by how Mafiosi were portrayed in American films and television than by the traditions of Calabria or Sicily. Nicaso stated in 2010: "They were totally different in terms of character than Papalia; he always tried to keep a low profile-he was a very old-fashioned boss in that sense. They are the new face of organized crime-they liked to show off".

Papalia hit and arrests

Also later in 1997, the family ordered the hits of

Johnny Papalia John Joseph Papalia (; March 18, 1924 – May 31, 1997), also known as Johnny Pops Papalia or "The Enforcer", was an Italian-Canadian crime boss of the Papalia crime family based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The Papalia crime family is one o ...

, to whom the Musitanos owed $250,000 to cover bookmaking debts. The theory was that it was less expensive to have Papalia removed; the family paid $3,000 plus some cocaine for the hit. The family subsequently ordered the hit on Papalia's right-hand man,

Carmen Barillaro Carmen Barillaro (24 July 1944 – 23 July 1997) was an Italian-Canadian mobster who served as the right-hand man to Johnny Papalia of the Papalia crime family based in Hamilton, Ontario. Barillaro was briefly the boss of the Papalia family in 1 ...

. The

hitman Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...

for both murders, and for the 1985 murder of Salvatore Alaimo who owed gambling money to the Musitano crime family, was

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 ...

. Besides Papalia and Barillaro, the Musitano brothers 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 president of the Satan's Choice 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. On 20 August 1997, Murdock knocked on the door of Croitoru's house to tell him: "John' I've been sent here to kill you. But I'm not going to do it". Before Murdock could make an attempt against Parente, he was arrested for extortion. The Hamilton police had bugged the Gathering Spot Pizzeria, which was owned by the Musitano brothers and was also their favorite place to hang out. In the audiotapes the police played for Murdock, the Musitanos laughed at and mocked Murdock as a "scumbag" of very low intelligence, and found the thought of him dying in a "tragic accident" highly amusing. Murdock was heartbroken to learn how his employers really felt about him, and amid his tears agreed to turn Crown's evidence against the brothers Musitano. In October 1997, organized crime investigators intercepted a phone call from Pat Musitano to Toronto mobster Gaetano "Guy" Panepinto; Musitano thanked Panepinto for hosting a meeting in Toronto with

Rizzuto crime 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 ...

boss

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 ...

. Panepinto owned a Toronto casket company called Casket Royale, and Musitano incorporated a numbered company operating under "Casket Royale Hamilton". 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 also said that Angelo had been waiting in the vehicle outside during the Barillaro murder. 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. According to Murdock, the Musitano brothers had also been fed up with being a satellite (crew) of the Buffalo family and having to pay tribute money to the family. Murdock also claimed that he was waiting for Pat Musitano to approve the murders of four

members Natale Luppino and Vincenzo Luppino (the two sons of Giacomo Luppino) and Domenic Violi and Giuseppe Violi (the two sons of

Paolo Violi Paolo Violi (; 6 February 1931 – 22 January 1978) was an Italian-Canadian mobster and ''capodecina'' in the Cotroni crime family of Montreal. Violi was born in Sinopoli, Calabria, Italy, in 1931; his father Domenico was the boss of the Violi cl ...

). In a later interview with journalist Peter Edwards, Murdock claimed that Pat Musitano had "ordered" him to enter a coffee house with a machine gun to shoot all of the leaders of the Luppino-Violi group; that would probably have included Dominico and Giuseppe (Joey) Violi. Musitano's goal was to become the "godfather" in the Hamilton area, according to Murdock, who said that he did not refuse but never did proceed with the plan. In February 2000, the Musitano brothers were sentenced to 10 years for conspiracy in the murder of Barillaro in a

plea bargain A plea bargain (also plea agreement or plea deal) is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or '' nolo contendere.'' This may mean that the defendan ...

arrangement instead of their initial

first-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

charges. No action was taken against either in relation to the Papalia or the Alaimo murder. In 2004, both brothers were denied parole. In October 2006, the Musitano brothers were both released from prison. Angelo was re-arrested in March 2007 for a parole violation. He was held in the minimum security Frontenac Institution until June 2007 when the parole board decided not to return him to prison. Murdock was also later released on parole in 2011 after serving 13 years in prison. In an interview with journalist Peter Edwards, Murdock explained the rationale for his involvement with Angelo and Pat Musitano. He had worked for their father, Domenic Musitano and said that "I promised to take care of his kids" ... that was the dumbest mistake I ever made". Domenic died in 1995.

Angelo Musitano hit and investigation

Since the brothers' release, the police had little involvement with the family for some years. In April–May 2012, the cocaine smuggler Nick Nero, in his texts to

Martino Caputo Martino Caputo (born 1973) is an Italian-Canadian gangster currently serving a life sentence for murder. Gangster Caputo's family is from Capistrano, Calabria, Italy and is the son of Antonio Caputo and Vincenza Carnovale. Cauputo grew up in the T ...

, the Toronto agent of the Rizzuto family, complained about the "work tax" that he had to pay to the Musitano family in order to smuggle cocaine into the

Niagara Peninsula The Niagara Peninsula is an area of land lying between the southwestern shore of Lake Ontario and the northeastern shore of Lake Erie, in Ontario, Canada. Technically an isthmus rather than a peninsula, it stretches from the Niagara River in the ...

. Nero charged that the Musitano brothers took an exorbitant cut of the profits for doing no work. Nero asked Caputo to speak with the Musitano brothers to reduce their "work tax"; unknown to him, Pat Musitano was still angry with Caputo for not financially supporting his wife and children while he was in prison despite having promised to do so. In September 2015, Pat Musitano's 2013

Ford Edge The Ford Edge is a range of crossover SUVs manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. Introduced for the 2007 model year, the Edge is the first mid-size CUV marketed by Ford in North America; the model line is currently in its second generation. ...

was set on fire in a suspected arson; his home also sustained minor damage. On May 2, 2017, Angelo Musitano was shot dead in his truck in the driveway of his home in

Waterdown, Ontario Waterdown is a village in Canada which since 2001 has been a community of Hamilton, Ontario. Waterdown is approximately 60 km west of downtown Toronto. On January 1, 2001 the new city of Hamilton was formed from the amalgamation of six mun ...

, in broad daylight at the age of 39. Surveillance video showed a Ford Fusion in front of the home and a heavy-set man shooting Angelo. The vehicle was later found abandoned; it had been stolen previously. Almost two months later, on June 26, 2017, Pat Musitano's home was shot at multiple times during the night; no one was injured.

Hamilton Police The Hamilton Police Service (HPS) is the police service of the City of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. With 829 officers and 414 civilians employed under the service. It serves roughly Hamilton’s 545,000 residents. The Hamilton Police Service has ...

did not receive cooperation from the family; Pat refused police protection. Before his death, Angelo wrote a faith-based book called ''I Found Him'', claiming that starting a family and finding religion "changed him." According to

James Dubro James "Jim" Dubro (born July 12, 1946) is a crime writer of many books, articles and investigative television shows. Early life Born in 1946 in Boston, Dubro earned an undergraduate degree (Phi Beta Kappa) from Boston University. He received hi ...

, "The underboss of Buffalo omenico Violiordered the hit on Angelo... It was a move against the Musitanos and they would have needed Buffalo's approval. On January 11, 2018, investigations into Angelo Musitano's death revealed four vehicles were involved, and that he was stalked in the days leading up to his murder. On January 23, news reports from a press conference indicated that police believed that Angelo's murder and a

Woodbridge, Ontario Woodbridge is a very large suburban community in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, along the city's border with Toronto. It occupies the city's entire southwest quadrant, west of Ontario Highway 400, Highway 400, east of Ontario Highway 50, Highway 50, n ...

killing of veterinary technician Mila Barberi while she sat in her car with her boyfriend, two months earlier in March 2017, not previously considered to be related, appeared to have been carried out by the same individual based on footage of the shooter and the car used from surveillance cameras at the two locations. Detective-Sergeant Peter Thom of Hamilton Police stated "there is similar evidence, the same MO and the black Honda coupe." According to

York Regional Police The York Regional Police (YRP) are a law enforcement organization that serves over 1.1 million residents in the Regional Municipality of York, Ontario, York Region of Ontario, Canada, located north of Toronto. YRP was formed in 1971 from the poli ...

, Barberi was not likely the intended target. Barberi's boyfriend, Saverio Serrano, who was shot in the arm, was discovered to have connections to the 'Ndrangheta through his father, Diego Serrano of Vaughan, who was sentenced to four years and six months in prison on two counts of drugs conspiracy and one possession of proceeds of crime on January 15, 2018. The elder Serrano was an associate of crime figure, Antonio Sergi of Toronto, who was killed two weeks after Barberi's murder. Police did not find a link between Angelo's and Barberi's murders and the shooting of Pat Musitano's house in June 2017. On 13 September 2018, real estate agent Albert Iavarone was shot outside his home in

Ancaster, Ontario Ancaster is a historic town in the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, located on the Niagara Escarpment. Founded as a town in 1793, it immediately developed itself into one of the first important and influential early Kingdom of Great Britain, Bri ...

, a similar fashion as in the Musitano murder. Sources involved in the investigation said it was possible that the shooting was in retaliation for the previous actions against the Musitano family (specifically the hit on Angelo, according to some sources). In any event, it was part of a Mafia struggle in Hamilton according to several news outlets. A ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'' summary added that the latest hit came in "the midst of a dispute between two

Niagara Region The Regional Municipality of Niagara, also colloquially known as the Niagara Region or Region of Niagara, is a regional municipality comprising twelve municipalities of Southern Ontario, Canada. The regional seat is in Thorold. It is the southern ...

groups of mobsters who are both tied to the New York State (Buffalo) mob. Iavarone had no criminal record but was known to police as an associate of known mobsters in Hamilton. However, as of 15 September 2018, police had "not explained his alleged connection to the criminal underworld and have not determined if it was a factor in his death", according to CBC News. On 20 September 2018, the police task force (Hamilton, York and

RCMP 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 and national police service of Canada. As poli ...

under Project "Scopa") arrested Jabril Abdalla Hassan in Hamilton, and issued Canada-wide arrest warrants, and later international warrants for Michael Cudmore and Daniel Tomassetti who had both fled to Mexico in May 2017 and January 2018 respectively; a $50,000 reward for information leading to their arrests was also offered by police. Jabril Abdalla Hassan had already been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of conspiracy to commit murder in both the Musitano and Barberi murders, and attempted murder on Serrano. Cudmore was captured on surveillance camera at both murders with the same black Honda. Daniele Ranieri of

Bolton, Ontario Bolton (2021 population 26,795) is an unincorporated village that is the most populous community in the town of Caledon, Ontario. It is located beside the Humber River in the Region of Peel, approximately 50 kilometres northwest of Toronto. In r ...

is believed to be connected to orchestrating the murders; he was found dead in Mexico in March 2018. On September 16, 2020, Cudmore was found dead in Mexico. On June 15, 2021, Jabril Abdalla Hassan pleaded guilty to participating in a criminal organization was sentenced to time served — 46 months, and fined $500.

Weakened position and hits on Pat Musitano

On April 17, 2019, Tony Musitano died in

Caledonia, Ontario Caledonia is a community located on the Grand River in Haldimand County, Ontario, Canada. It had a population of 9,674 as of the 2016 Canadian Census. Caledonia is within Ward 3 of Haldimand County. The Councillor elected for Ward 3 is Dan Law ...

of natural causes at the age of 72. Pat Musitano took over as the head of "what was once one of Hamilton's most notable crime families alongside the Papalias and the Luppinos". On April 25, 2019, Pat Musitano was shot four times outside his lawyer's office in

, sustaining life-threatening injuries; he was taken to

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (SHSC), commonly known as Sunnybrook Hospital or simply Sunnybrook, is an academic health science centre An academic medical centre (AMC), variously also known as academic health science centre, academic healt ...

in Toronto. By May 1, 2019, he was no longer in critical condition, and was released from hospital on May 8. A ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'' report made no comment as to the probable culprits for the attempted hit on Pat Musitano, but said that the "family's enemies are known to include criminal groups in Hamilton, Buffalo, Montreal and elsewhere, including the Luppino and Papalia crime gangs". Criminology professor Stephen Metelsky of Mohawk College provided this opinion to the ''

Spectator ''Spectator'' or ''The Spectator'' may refer to: *Spectator sport, a sport that is characterized by the presence of spectators, or watchers, at its matches *Audience Publications Canada * ''The Hamilton Spectator'', a Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, ...

'':

"Given all the extenuating circumstances leading up to this, not just his brother's death, but his house being targeted twice, his uncle passing away ... I think that just opened up a ripe opportunity to speed up whatever plans were underway to make a power play into Hamilton."

Former Hamilton police officer Paul Manning, who specialized in organized crime, also believed that the recent death of Tony Musitano was relevant to the attempted hit on Pat Musitano. "I think his protection just died". Manning said that the Buffalo mob may have been involved but Metelsky said that it could have been part of a local turf war.

CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...

said that the 2013 death of Montreal mob boss Vito Rizzuto had "left the Musitanos to fend for themselves". Court records from a 2018 matter against Domenico and Giuseppe "Joe" Violi of the

discuss a claim that the Musitanos were supporting the

Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan The Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan () was a Mafia clan of the Cosa Nostra and held a key position in the illicit drug trade and money laundering for Cosa Nostra in the 1980s and 1990s. The Italian press baptized the clan as "The Rothschilds of the ...

who have roots in Montreal and Toronto. The records also refer to a September 2017 recording made by police indicating that Pat Musitano was already a marked man at that time, but provide no indication as to who had authorized the "hit":

"The olice agentstated that ewould have thought that ‘they’ would have gotten rid of
at Musitano AT or at may refer to: Geography Austria * Austria (ISO 2-letter country code) * .at, Internet country code top-level domain United States * Atchison County, Kansas (county code) * The Appalachian Trail (A.T.), a 2,180+ mile long mountaino ...
before his brother, ngelo Musitano, murdered in May 2017 D Violi stated that 'they' wanted to show
at Musitano AT or at may refer to: Geography Austria * Austria (ISO 2-letter country code) * .at, Internet country code top-level domain United States * Atchison County, Kansas (county code) * The Appalachian Trail (A.T.), a 2,180+ mile long mountaino ...
that it was a message, D Violi thought. They had told D Violi that ...
at Musitano AT or at may refer to: Geography Austria * Austria (ISO 2-letter country code) * .at, Internet country code top-level domain United States * Atchison County, Kansas (county code) * The Appalachian Trail (A.T.), a 2,180+ mile long mountaino ...
would be gone; that that would be one headache out of the way".

A 2019

report later quoted a Mafia expert as stating that "

ito Ito may refer to: Places * Ito Island, an island of Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea * Ito Airport, an airport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo * Ito District, Wakayama, a district located in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan * Itō, Shizuo ...

Rizzuto's death paved the way for upheaval in the underworld. There's a power struggle left from the vacuum from Rizzuto". A report by ''The Hamilton Spectator'' discussed a "resurgence of Mafia violence in Hamilton and surrounding areas that has most recently included the shooting of Hamilton mob boss Pat Musitano" but made no connection to the Luppino family. Sources contacted by CBC News led the site to state that "some sort of underworld

power struggle In political science and political history, the term power vacuum, also known as a power void, is an analogy between a physical vacuum to the political condition "when someone in a place of power, has lost control of something and no one has repla ...

is tearing through the region, as old scores are settled and players jockey for power in a time of unrest". Although Pat Musitano survived the 2019 attempt on his life, "He was a dead man walking," according to Queen's University professor

. "In the world of the Mafia, revenge does not lapse. ... Mobsters can hold grudges for years, quietly hunting targets and harbouring festering feelings of revenge". On March 2, 2020, Giorgio Barresi, a former associate of Pat Musitano who had pleaded guilty to bookmaking in 1999, was shot to death in his Stoney Creek driveway. On July 10, 2020, Pat Musitano was shot to death beside his armour-plated SUV in broad daylight in the parking lot of a

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

shopping plaza on Plains Road East, at the age of 52. Two other individuals sustained injuries. One sustained gunshot wounds, Musitano's bodyguard John Clary; the other individual was Musitano's cousin, Giuseppe (Pino) Avignone. A retired RCMP officer later told the ''Toronto Star'' that in his opinion, Musitano was betrayed; "otherwise, how would the killer know where to find him?" Since the deaths of his protectors (Vito Rizzuto in 2013 and Tony Musitano in 2019), Pat had been "living on borrowed time", former Hamilton police detective Paul Manning told the ''Toronto Star''. Manning also said that at the time of Pat's murder, he had made enemies due to a scam that involved attracting investors to a gravel business. Pat's life had been at risk for some years according to the ''

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...

'': "Pat Musitano signed his death warrant on May 31, 1997, just minutes after longtime underworld chieftain Johnny Papalia hit the sidewalk dead ...". On July 17, two cars were burned and the word "rat" was painted on the garage of Avignone's home in Hamilton. In an interview with CBC News, criminologist Anna Sergi provided this "conjecture" about the incident at Avignone's home: it may have been a "sign that mobsters think Avignone either betrayed Musitano for another gang or broke the rule of omertà — the Mafia's code of silence — and is speaking with law enforcement". Other sources led the CBC journalist to state that there would probably be "continued mob violence in Hamilton ... Musitano's killers may try to take over s the Hamilton mob— but no one can prove who is responsible yet". On July 22,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

police identified human remains found on July 19 as Grant Edward Norton, an

Ingersoll Ingersoll may refer to: People *Ingersoll (surname) *Ingersoll Lockwood (1841–1918), American lawyer and writer Places Canada * Ingersoll, Ontario United States * Ingersoll, Oklahoma * Ingersoll, Wisconsin * Ingersoll Township, Michigan * ...

man who had been reported missing on July 12 by his family, and later ruled the death as a homicide. According to the Hamilton Spectator, Norton was a partner in a construction company and Pat Musitano was a minority shareholder. The firm, Havana Group Supplies, was charged with six counts of

illegal dumping Illegal dumping, also called fly dumping or fly tipping ( UK), is the dumping of waste illegally instead of using an authorized method such as curbside collection or using an authorized rubbish dump. It is the illegal deposit of any waste onto l ...

and had been under investigation for fraud; Norton was facing seven fraud-related charges related to the dumping. There were no charges against Pat Musitano but according to the Spectator "It had been alleged in a court document that Musitano was receiving under-the-table payments for loads of soil that were being dumped ... in rural

Flamborough Flamborough is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately north-east of Bridlington town centre on the prominent coastal feature of Flamborough Head. The most prominent man-made feature o ...

". The company's principal pled guilty to fraud in March 2020 but Norton failed to attend court and a warrant was out for his arrest at the time that his body was found. In 2016, Norton had been convicted of several charges after he was found in possession of illegal drugs and packaging materials. On August 20, London police announced that Norton's murder had "no connection whatsoever" to Musitano's based on a "mountain of information".

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* * {{Organized crime groups in Canada Italian-Canadian crime families Organized crime in Hamilton, Ontario