Police arrest Leonardo Rizzuto in major operation targeting Montreal Mafia

Nearly a dozen people alleged to be important members of Montreal's Mafia and other gangs were arrested on Thursday in what police called a major blow to organized crime. 

Those arrested include Leonardo Rizzuto, 56, son of the late crime boss Vito Rizzuto and the presumed head of one of Canada's most notorious crime families. He and the others have all been charged with first-degree murder. 

About 150 officers were deployed early Thursday morning in several cities across Quebec as part of a joint investigation between Montreal and provincial police called Project Alliance. They arrested 11 men between 27 and 57 years old, who they say are associated with the Mafia, the Hells Angels and street gangs. The suspects allegedly participated in several murders and attempted murders between 2011 and 2021. 

"This is one of the most significant police operations in recent decades," said Marc Charbonneau, head of the Montreal police specialized services department, during a news conference following the arrests. 

"The indictment of these individuals will undoubtedly have a major impact, destabilizing the spheres of organized crime."

Police are still searching for five other suspects, who have also been charged with first-degree murder. Three of the men arrested were already in detention. 

André Gélinas, retired detective-sergeant with the intelligence division of the Montreal police, said Rizzuto's arrest has symbolic weight, as he is widely perceived to have taken over as the "godfather" of the Rizzuto family following his father's death in 2013. 

He said there is no obvious successor to Rizzuto from within the clan. 

"It is a devastating blow that effectively decapitates the leadership of the Rizzuto crime family, an organization that for some years now has lost the power it once held in Montreal," said organized crime expert Antonio Nicaso in an email.

Rizzuto and six other men have been charged in the 2011 killing of Lorenzo Lopresti, reported to have been a Mafia member. The seven men, including 57-year-old Stefano Sollecito — another reputed leader of the Montreal Mafia — have also been charged with conspiring to murder Lopresti and seven other people. 

Richard Larivière, 57, reportedly an influential member of the Hells Angels, has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in killings that occurred between 2017 and 2019, as well as one count of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. 

The charges have not been proven in court. 

At the press conference, police cautioned that new figures will be quick to fill the void left by those arrested on Thursday. "We often say that humans abhor a vacuum, so that vacuum will be filled," said Francis Renaud, head of the organized crime unit of the Montreal police. "Do we put on our rose-coloured glasses and expect there to be no reaction? That would be false, that would be a lie to say that."

But Benoît Dubé, deputy director general of the Quebec provincial police, said it's significant that all of the suspects were charged with murder. "They're not going to be charged for two years in prison. They're being charged for 25 years in prison. So that's the impact," he said. 

Gélinas said the arrests will cause turmoil in the world of organized crime. "Will it be other organizations that end up trying to strategically take advantage of the destabilization, or will positions be filled internally with people who get promoted?" he said. "Time will tell."

Rizzuto and Sollecito were arrested in 2015 as part of a drug-trafficking investigation, but were acquitted after a judge ruled that police had illegally wiretapped them. Rizzuto later survived an attempted murder in 2023. 

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes