Salvatore "Sal the Iron Worker" Montagna (; 1971 – November 24, 2011) was an

Italian-Canadian Italian Canadians ( it, italo-canadesi, french: italo-canadiens) comprise Canadians who have full or partial Italian heritage and Italians who migrated from Italy or reside in Canada. According to the 2021 Census of Canada, 1,546,390 Canadians ...

crime boss A crime boss, also known as a crime lord, Don, gang lord, gang boss, mob boss, kingpin, godfather, crime mentor or criminal mastermind, is a person in charge of a criminal organization. Description A crime boss typically has absolute or nearl ...

and acting boss of the

Bonanno crime family The Bonanno crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the " Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, and in the United States, as part of the criminal phenomenon known as ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, as well as the Sicilian faction-leader of the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

section. He had later been associated with the

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 ...

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- ...

. Montagna was born in

, Quebec, Canada in 1971. He was raised in

Castellammare del Golfo Castellammare del Golfo (; scn, Casteddammari; la, Emporium Segestanorum or ) is a town and municipality in the Trapani Province of Sicily. The name can be translated as "Sea Fortress on the Gulf", stemming from the medieval fortress in the h ...

, Sicily. In the mid 1980s, at the age of 15, his family immigrated to the United States and settled in

the Bronx, New York The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New York ...

. He later became an acting

caporegime A caporegime or capodecina, usually shortened to capo or informally referred to as "captain" or "skipper", is a rank used in the Mafia (both the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia) for a '' made member'' of an Italian crime family who he ...

for the

, and by 2004, he was the acting boss of the family in the absence of

Vincent Basciano Vincent John Basciano (; born November 14, 1959) is an American mobster who became boss of the Bonanno crime family after the arrest of boss Joseph Massino. Basciano was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in 2011 ...

. Montagna was a Canadian and Italian citizen, and was deported from the United States to Canada in 2009. In Montreal, Montagna rivaled with the

, and after the death of boss

Nicolo Rizzuto Nicolo Rizzuto (; February 18, 1924 – November 10, 2010) was an Italian-Canadian crime boss and founder of the Rizzuto crime family, the Sicilian Mafia organization based in Montreal, Quebec. Rizzuto was born in Cattolica Eraclea, Sicily, I ...

in 2010, he vied for power. In 2011, he had a falling out with Rizzuto mobster Raynald Desjardins, and on November 24, 2011, his body was found on the shore of Île Vaudry on the

L'Assomption River The Assomption River (in French ''Rivière l'Assomption'', named after the Assumption of Mary) is the most important waterway in the Lanaudière region of Quebec, Canada. It is over long, and has a drainage basin (watershed) of . Its source is th ...

, in the city of

Charlemagne, Quebec Charlemagne () is a city in the Canadian province of Quebec, Canada on the north shore of the Rivière des Prairies, northeast of Montreal's downtown core. In 2021, the population was 6,302. It is the birthplace of singer Celine Dion. The tow ...

. In December 2016, Desjardins received a 14-year prison sentence, including time served, for the murder plot.

Early life

Montagna was born in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

in 1971. He was raised in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. In the mid 1980s, at the age of 15, his family immigrated to the United States and settled in the Bronx, New York. 98.5FM
"La guerre de la mafia se transporte à Charlemagne"
, Alexandre Lebrun, 25 November 2011 (accessed 25 November 2011) It is unclear when Montagna became active in the life of crime or when he 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 Bonanno crime family. During the late 1990s, Montagna's name was overheard in wiretapped conversations between Boss Joseph "Big Joe" Massino and other reputed members of the Bonanno crime family. He was a dual citizen of Italy and Canada.Macleans
"Ex-N.Y. Mob boss found dead by river near Montreal"
, Canadian Press, 2011 November 24 (accessed 25 November 2011)

Sal the Iron Worker

Little is known of Montagna's personal life other than that he married Francesca Carcione and lived in a modest home in Elmont, Long Island with her and their three daughters. He started a small metalworking company called Matrix Steel Co., located at 50 Bogart Street in Bushwick, Brooklyn, managed by his wife.New York Post
"Mob boss gets iced"
, Mitchel Maddux, Tim Perone, 25 November 2011 (accessed 25 November 2011)New York Daily News
"Former Bonanno crime family boss shot dead in Canada, two years after being deported for refusing to testify"
, Tina Moore, 24 November 2011 (accessed 25 November 2011) Matrix Steel manufactures structural and rail mill products, gray and ductile iron foundry crucibles, foundry converters, casting machines, sizing or embossing presses, foundry mold machines and foundry dies and tooling. It was around this time that Montagna was given the nickname "Sal the Iron Worker".

Acting capo

In 2002, Montagna was arrested along with the crew of Patrick DeFilippo for

illegal gambling Gaming law is the set of rules and regulations that apply to the gaming or gambling industry. Gaming law is not a branch of law in the traditional sense but rather is a collection of several areas of law that include criminal law, regulatory law, ...

and

loansharking A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high interest rates, has strict terms of collection upon failure, and generally operates outside the law. Description Because loan sharks operate mostly illegally, they cannot reasonably ...

charges.Book : Mafia Inc.: The Long, Bloody Reign of Canada's Sicilian Clan by André Cédilot and André Noël, ''Les Éditions de l'Homme'', epilogue He refused to answer questions before a grand jury and was charged with

criminal contempt Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the cour ...

of court. He later pleaded guilty to the charge in 2003, and was placed on a five-year

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...

. In late 2003, US law enforcement and the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

(FBI) listed Montagna as an "Acting Capo" and

Caporegime A caporegime or capodecina, usually shortened to capo or informally referred to as "captain" or "skipper", is a rank used in the Mafia (both the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia) for a '' made member'' of an Italian crime family who he ...

of the Bonanno family on behalf of DeFilippo and the Sicilian faction based in the

Acting boss

After longtime Bonanno boss "Big Joe" Massino became an

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informant ...

in 2004, Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano was recognized as the reputed Boss of the Bonanno crime family, only to discover that Massino would testify against Basciano as well. In 2006, as Basciano was facing jail time, he stated that he would promote the Sicilian faction of the old Bonanno crew back into the family's leadership, as Montagna was recognized as the reputed acting boss of the Bonanno crime family from 2006 until 2010, with Nicholas "Nicky Mouth" Santora as

underboss Underboss ( it, sottocapo) is a position within the leadership structure of certain organized crime groups, particularly in Sicilian, Greek, and Italian-American Mafia crime families. The underboss is second in command to the boss. The under ...

and Anthony Rabito as

consigliere Consigliere ( , ; plural ) is a position within the leadership structure of the Sicilian, Calabrian, and Italian-American Mafia. The word was popularized in English by the novel '' The Godfather'' (1969) and its film adaptation. In the novel, a ...

, making the administration of the Bonanno crime family once again complete. At that time, Montagna gained the nickname "Bambino Boss" due to his relatively young age, being 35. In 2008, Montagna was still the reputed acting boss of the Bonannos, controlling the entire Bronx faction of the family, as the '' Daily News'' linked Montagna to known Sicilian Bonanno official Baldassare "Baldo" Amato. On April 6, 2009, Montagna was arrested by the

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from the cross-border crime and illegal immigration tha ...

as he left Matrix Steel. The 2003 criminal contempt conviction allowed U.S. authorities to strip him of his greencard and

deport Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportatio ...

him to Canada; he was succeeded by

Vincent Badalamenti Vincent Badalamenti (born 1958) is an American mobster who was acting boss of the Bonanno crime family. Biography Badalamenti is the owner of ''Bagels Plus'' a bagel store in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. He received his nickname "Vinny TV", because ...

as Bonanno family boss. According to mob writer

Jerry Capeci Gerald Capeci () is an American journalist and author who specializes in coverage of the Five Mafia crime families of New York City. Capeci has been described by news organizations, such as CNN and BBC, as an expert on the American Mafia.

, it was understood Montagna would have no standing or authority within Montreal's then-dominant

Montreal area activities

After a slide in power of the Rizzuto family, Montagna started to show his influence. Months prior to the assassination of

, he had tried to convince the old patriarch to step down, and let younger blood rule. In 2011, following the assassinations of several major Rizzuto mobsters starting in 2009, Montagna was identified as one of three major mobsters trying to fill the resulting power vacuum, if not take over the Montreal Mafia himself. He, along with Joe Di Maulo and his brother-in-law Raynald Desjardins attempted to take control of Montreal's mafia from the Rizzuto family. Montagna and Desjardins had a falling out in 2011, later said to be over control of such aspects as loansharking and bookmaking in Montreal.

Death

Police responded to gunshots in a suburban district of Ile aux Tresors on November 24, 2011, and found the body of Salvatore Montagna on the shore of Île Vaudry on the

, in the city of

, Canada, on Montreal's North Shore region. Witnesses reported that Montagna jumped in the river in an attempt to escape his killers. Law enforcement believed that Montagna was brought to the house of convicted smuggler Jack Arthur Simpson, as his vehicle was later found parked on a Montreal street. By June 2016, authorities were more specific as to how Montagna had died: "Montagna was shot three times inside Simpson's home ... and ran outside in a futile attempt to escape. After crossing a narrow section of the Assomption River, Montagna collapsed and was later declared dead in a hospital". The police investigation confirmed that Raynald Desjardins had taken part in the plot to murder Montagna, who, at the time, was suspected of trying to shake down Montreal-area construction companies, due to their alliance with the Rizzuto family. A number people were eventually arrested and charged, including Simpson and Desjardins. In 2016, Simpson, Vittorio Mirarchi, Calogero Milioto, Pietro Magistrale, Steven D'Addario, Steven Fracas and Felice Racaniello, all admitted to participating in the plot to kill Montagna and accepted plea deals except for Racaniello. In December 2016, Desjardins received a 14-year prison sentence, including

time served In criminal law, time served is an informal term that describes the duration of pretrial detention (remand), the time period between when a defendant is arrested and when they are convicted. Time served does not include time served on bail bu ...

. "The killing f Montagnais thought to be tied to a turf war for control of the Montreal Mafia", the CBC reported in 2015.

In popular culture

Montagna was portrayed by Joris Jarsky in the television drama series '' Bad Blood'', which debuted in 2017, surrounding the Rizzuto crime family.

References

External links

Policeone.com: FBI arrests 19 reputed members of N.Y. crime family
by Anthony M. Destefano {{DEFAULTSORT:Montagna, Salvatore 1971 births 2011 deaths People from Castellammare del Golfo Canadian gangsters of Sicilian descent American gangsters of Sicilian descent Sicilian mafiosi Acting bosses of the Five Families Bonanno crime family Murdered Mafiosi Murdered Canadian gangsters People murdered by Canadian organized crime People murdered in Quebec Deaths by firearm in Quebec Italian people murdered abroad Rizzuto crime family Criminals from Montreal Organized crime in Montreal People from Elmont, New York Canadian crime bosses