Canada's biggest mafia boss Leonardo Rizzuto and 11 others arrested in Quebec under the most significant crackdown on organized crime in decades
In a coordinated operation involving more than 150 police officers, Quebec authorities arrested 11 suspects on Thursday(June 12), including alleged
mafia
boss
Leonardo Rizzuto
, in what officials are calling the largest organized
crime
takedown in decades.
"This is one of the most significant police operations in recent decades," said Benoît Dubé, Director of Criminal Investigations for the Sûreté du Québec (SQ). Officers swept across nine cities, including Montreal, Laval, Quebec City, and Rosemère, executing warrants tied to a years-long investigation known as Project Alliance.
Targeting Canada's most powerful mafia group
Play Video
Play
Skip Backward
Skip Forward
Mute
Current Time
0:00
/
Duration
0:00
Loaded
:
0%
Stream Type
LIVE
Seek to live, currently behind live
LIVE
Remaining Time
-
0:00
1x
Playback Rate
Chapters
Chapters
Descriptions
descriptions off
, selected
Captions
captions settings
, opens captions settings dialog
captions off
, selected
Audio Track
Picture-in-Picture
Fullscreen
This is a modal window.
Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.
Text
Color
White
Black
Red
Green
Blue
Yellow
Magenta
Cyan
Opacity
Opaque
Semi-Transparent
Text Background
Color
Black
White
Red
Green
Blue
Yellow
Magenta
Cyan
Opacity
Opaque
Semi-Transparent
Transparent
Caption Area Background
Color
Black
White
Red
Green
Blue
Yellow
Magenta
Cyan
Opacity
Transparent
Semi-Transparent
Opaque
Font Size
50%
75%
100%
125%
150%
175%
200%
300%
400%
Text Edge Style
None
Raised
Depressed
Uniform
Drop shadow
Font Family
Proportional Sans-Serif
Monospace Sans-Serif
Proportional Serif
Monospace Serif
Casual
Script
Small Caps
Reset
restore all settings to the default values
Done
Close Modal Dialog
End of dialog window.
All 11 men have pleaded not guilty to charges including first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder.
Among them is Leonardo Rizzuto, 56, the youngest son of the late Vito Rizzuto, once regarded as Canada's most powerful mob boss. The Rizzuto family, long linked to Sicily's Cosa Nostra, dominated organized crime in Montreal for decades.
Live Events
The operation targeted members of the traditional Italian mafia, the Hells Angels, and local street gangs. Those arrested are accused of sponsoring or executing multiple murders and attempted murders between 2011 and 2021.
Retired officer Pietro Poletti noted a shift in tactics: 'In the past, Italian mafia or bikers wouldn't outsource hits. But this time, a freelance killer was key.'
Killer turned informant connected the dots
That man is Frederick Silva, a notorious contract killer who turned police informant in 2022. His testimony and cooperation, according to investigators, were pivotal in connecting the dots across different criminal factions.
One arrest shocked residents of St-Lazare, where armed officers surrounded a quiet suburban home at sunrise. 'We saw flashing lights and my son started crying,' said Marie Deschamps, a mother of two. 'You never expect this on your street.'
Stefano Sollecito from Montreal's underworld
The arrests also included Stefano Sollecito, 57, another major figure in Montreal's underworld. Authorities believe the charges carrying potential sentences of 25 years or more will severely weaken the mafia's infrastructure.
Future threat
Still, police are wary of what comes next. 'Where there's a void, someone will try to fill it,' said Francis Renaud of the Montreal Police Organized Crime Unit. 'We're watching closely to see who steps in.'
Five suspects remain at large, and the next court appearance for those arrested is scheduled for September. Meanwhile, police are urging the public to come forward with information by contacting Info-Crime Montréal at 514-393-1133.
Quebec's underworld may be shaken, but the long shadow of organized crime still looms.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
4 days ago
- The Hindu
Caravaggio: lover, murderer, artist
I have visited Italian painter Caravaggio in many cities — London, Florence, Rome, Venice, Paris. Now here he is, returning the visits, a guest in my hometown Bengaluru, where Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy is on display at the National Gallery of Modern Art. Caravaggio had carried the painting with him while escaping to Naples after murdering a man at a tennis court in Rome. This was in the 17th century, but the question, can you separate the art from the artist, continues to trouble us. Caravaggio painted people from the streets (upsetting people by using a prostitute as model for the Virgin Mary). But he is said to have painted the Bengaluru work (in a manner of speaking) from memory; the memory of a love affair with a prostitute, Lena. She is imagined with her head thrown back, hair loose and shoulder exposed, fingers clasped and lips parted in ecstasy. A teardrop has begun its journey. This, in response to a resurrected Christ revealing himself. It is a picture of abandonment and loss, too. Caravaggio's loss of his love. In combining the personal and the universal, Caravaggio pointed a way for all art. Everything we know about Caravaggio, born Michelangelo Merisi, comes from police reports and court records of the many crimes of the artist that French writer Stendhal called 'a wicked man'. Contemporaries writing a decade after his death — self-serving narratives, according to a recent biographer — give us some events. He died at 39, either murdered, or following malaria, of syphilis, or owing to lead poisoning from his paints. There are 70 or 89 or 106 paintings of his in existence — uncertainty hovered over his life, work and death. Painting the action Caravaggio was born in 1571, seven years after Marlowe, Shakespeare and Galileo. He was the first modern painter, creating the new world of art, literature, and science with his contemporaries. He was a pioneer of modern cinematography, too. Director Martin Scorsese has acknowledged his debt to the artist who chose to paint a moment not at the beginning or at the end of an action, but 'during the action... it was like modern staging in a film. It was as if we had just come in the middle of a scene and it was all happening', as he said. Caravaggio was his paintings. I first saw him at the National Gallery in London where his Supper at Emmaus draws you in, making you a participant in the tableau. Two disciples have walked into an inn with a man they befriended along the way. When the stranger blesses and breaks bread, they suddenly realise he is Christ. Caravaggio paints that moment of recognition. The foreshortening of the outstretched arms of one disciple and the perspective of the other about to rise abruptly make it look like a modern photograph (photography wasn't invented for another two centuries). There is a halo over Christ cast by the light from behind the innkeeper. A basket of fruits on the edge of the table is about to tip over. A split second has been eternalised. Over the years, I have spent hours sitting before the painting. Whenever my wife and I went to London, we joked that it was as much to see our son as to visit the painting. On our bucket list is a visit to every Caravaggio on display. It is a blessing that so many works are in churches, virtually free to view. Occasionally, you dropped a coin into a slot to light up the work as some are in dark niches. At Rome's Capitoline Museum, there is an unusual Caravaggio — later critics called it a 'genre painting' — The Fortune Teller, where a young man looks pleased to get his palm read by a girl. What he doesn't notice, and we do, is the girl removing his ring as she does so. Perfection of life or work? Caravaggio was unique. According to a biographer, he had the advantage of not having been taught, which meant he had nothing to unlearn. He had no studio in the conventional sense. He did not draw. He never established a workshop with assistants who painted the boring stuff, he had no circle of pupils. Yet he influenced every artist who followed. And possibly every viewer, too. It is impossible to stand outside his canvas and not feel the energy, the power and the passion within. It hits you with the force of a falling building or a charging horse. The Caravaggio Conundrum — how do we weigh an artist's accomplishment against his personal wickedness? — haunts us today as we contemplate the works of Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, and a host of others who provoked the cancel culture. As the poet Yeats wrote: The intellect of man is forced to choose/ perfection of the life, or of the work… It is a choice individuals have to make for themselves. The painting is on display at the National Gallery of Modern Art till July 6. The writer is a prominent journalist and author.
Hindustan Times
5 days ago
- Hindustan Times
Shloka Mehta's enthusiastic cheers light up husband Akash Ambani's padel match. Watch
Tech tycoon Mike Lynch's superyacht, the Bayesian, which sank off Sicily on August 19, is now being investigated after the tragic incident claimed seven lives, including Lynch and his daughter. The vessel was transported to Termini Imerese for a thorough examination by British and Italian authorities, aiming to uncover the causes of the sinking and ensure safety measures.
Hindustan Times
5 days ago
- Hindustan Times
Mang0 breaks silence after being banned from attending Ludwig's events
Tech tycoon Mike Lynch's superyacht, the Bayesian, which sank off Sicily on August 19, is now being investigated after the tragic incident claimed seven lives, including Lynch and his daughter. The vessel was transported to Termini Imerese for a thorough examination by British and Italian authorities, aiming to uncover the causes of the sinking and ensure safety measures.
