Latest news with #LoPresti
Toronto Sun
13 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
Project Alliance: Hit man may have played a role in all 6 murders behind Montreal Mob arrests this week
Alleged Montreal Mafia leaders Leonardo Rizzuto and Stefano Sollecito among those charged in homicides that happened over a decade ago. Published Jun 13, 2025 • Last updated 3 hours ago • 5 minute read Pallbearers carry the casket of Lorenzo LoPresti on Oct. 29, 2011 after his funeral at St. Patrick's Basilica in downtown Montreal. LoPresti was shot while standing on the balcony of his condo on Cóte Vertu Blvd. condo on Oct. 24th, 2011. On Thursday, June 12, 2025, Leonardo Rizzuto was one of several people charged in his death. Tim Snow/Montreal Gazette When the 11 people arrested Thursday in Project Alliance, including alleged Montreal Mafia leaders Leonardo Rizzuto, 56, and Stefano Sollecito, 57, appeared in court, they were charged with a total of six counts of first-degree murder. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The homicides happened over a decade, and it appears that Frédérick Silva, a hit man who turned informant three years ago, had a role in all of them. Lorenzo LoPresti,Oct. 24, 2011: LoPresti was the son of Giuseppe (Joe) LoPresti, who was close to Leonardo Rizzuto's father, Vito, until LoPresti was killed in 1992 in a homicide that remains unsolved to this day. Both families lived on Antoine Berthelet Ave. in northern Montreal, and Lorenzo LoPresti attended the same high school in St-Laurent as Leonardo's sister. Throughout 2011, a coalition that tried to take control of the Montreal Mafia from the Rizzuto organization came under attack, and Lorenzo LoPresti was shot on Oct. 24 while standing on the balcony of his condo on Côte Vertu Blvd. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Weeks after LoPresti was killed, Antonio (Tony Suzuki) Pietrantonio was wounded in a shooting on Dec. 13, 2011, near the entrance of a Portuguese restaurant in a strip mall on Jarry St. E. near Chambord St. At the time, police sources told The Gazette that it appeared LoPresti was acting as Pietrantonio's right-hand man while Pietrantonio was one of the leaders of the group that sought to replace the Rizzuto organization at the helm of the Montreal Mafia. On Thursday, Leonardo Rizzuto and six other men were charged with the first-degree murder of Lorenzo LoPresti and with plotting with Silva to murder Pietrantonio. Domenico Facchini, Dec. 21, 2012: Facchini, 37, was killed and Vito D'Orazio was injured after they were shot inside a building tied to Giuseppe (Ponytail) De Vito who, at the time, was serving a lengthy prison sentence for smuggling cocaine through Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. De Vito had acted as a leader of several airport employees who were part of what was called 'the door' that let cocaine into Montreal. De Vito came to hate the Rizzuto organization because he felt its members lied to him about the quantities of cocaine they were bringing in and thereby holding back on his share in their arrangement. De Vito became part of the coalition that wanted to take over the Montreal Mafia, but on July 8, 2013, he was found dead in his cell in the federal penitentiary near Quebec City. A coroner later determined that De Vito died of cyanide poisoning. On Thursday, three men were charged with Facchini's murder and the attempted murder of D'Orazio. One of the accused, Jean-Ismel Zephir, 48, is the brother of Emmanuel Zephir, a notorious street gang leader. In 2022, Sébastien Giroux, who had just pleaded guilty to helping Silva hide from the police for months, was ordered to not associate with known criminals while he was awaiting his sentence. Giroux agreed to follow the order, but he asked for special permission to allow him to communicate with the Zephir brothers. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The other two men charged with the murder and attempted murder are Gianpietro (JP) Tiberio, 52, a convicted criminal identified during the Charbonneau Commission as an associate of the Rizzuto organization, and Patrick Gilbert, 51, of Anjou, who has a lengthy criminal record. Vincent Lamer, Nov. 3, 2017: During Quebec's biker gang war, a conflict that stretched from 1994 to 2002, Lamer appeared to be a very willing participant in the violence that resulted in more than 160 deaths. Lamer started as a member of the Rowdy Crew, a Hells Angels support club at the time, before he switched to another support club called the Rockers in 2000. Being part of the Rockers brought Lamer directly under Hells Angels leader Maurice (Mom) Boucher and his efforts to monopolize drug trafficking in Montreal. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. During an investigation dubbed Operation Springtime 2001, police managed to secretly record meetings held by the Rockers and during one in April 2000, Lamer told the other gang members that they could skip the gang's eight-month probation period if they killed a rival drug dealer. Lamer ended up with a 10-year prison term when he was sentenced as a result of charges filed against him in Operation Springtime 2001. Lamer was shot several times while he was inside his sport utility vehicle as he was driving away from a maintenance company where he worked on 55th Ave. in Rivière des Prairies. Jean-Richard Larivière, 57, a longtime member of the Hells Angels and a member of the Rockers when Lamer was also a member, was charged on Thursday with the first-degree murder of Lamer. He is also charged with conspiring to kill Lamer along with Samy Tamouro, a man tied to the Hells Angels in Quebec who was killed in Mexico near the end of 2023. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Sébastien Beauchamp, Dec. 20, 2018: During 2022, Silva underwent a lengthy trial for the murder of Beauchamp who, like Lamer, was a former member of the Rockers during Quebec's biker gang war. The hit on Beauchamp was a messy affair. Silva chased Beauchamp around a gas station in St-Léonard on Langelier Blvd., near Robert Blvd. He recklessly fired off several shots and a stray bullet ended up lodged in a gas pump. Beauchamp's murder is one of the reasons why Silva is now serving four life sentences. Larivière is charged with Beauchamp's murder, a sign that he allegedly asked Silva to kill him. Earlier the same year, on Jan. 24, 2018, Jean-Guy Bourgouin, another former member of the Rockers, was shot outside a restaurant in St-Léonard. It appears that Larivière allegedly ordered that shooting, too, as he was charged with the attempted murder on Thursday. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In 2020, Girard Anglade, a close associate of Silva's, pleaded guilty to shooting Bourgouin. He received a six-year prison term. Gaétan Sévigny, Oct. 17, 2019: During Project Magot-Mastiff, another investigation into Leonardo Rizzuto, Stefano Sollecito and members of the Hells Angels that resulted in arrests made in 2015, investigators learned that Sévigny was tied to the biker gang and that he was very active in drug trafficking in eastern Montreal. On June 19, 2019, Sévigny was sentenced to a five-year prison term after he pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, conspiracy and gangsterism charges filed against him in Project Magot-Mastiff. He had only a day left to serve behind bars when he was sentenced. Four months later, he was gunned down in front of his home in Terrebonne. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Larivière is also charged with Sévigny's murder. Charles-Olivier Boucher-Savard, Dec. 22, 2021: Boucher-Savard was shot multiple times near Lafontaine Park a few months after he was released from a federal penitentiary. He had served two-thirds of a sentence he received for stabbing a person tied to the Luppino family, a Mafia clan based in Hamilton, Ont., in April 2018. Pietro D'Adamo, 54, the alleged leader of a Mafia clan based in LaSalle, and Davide (Baldy) Barberio, 45, an alleged member of the Montreal Mafia who survived an attempt on his life when he was shot on Sept. 21, 2021, were charged Thursday with Boucher-Savard's murder along with three other men. World World Canada Celebrity Canada
Montreal Gazette
16 hours ago
- Montreal Gazette
Project Alliance: Hit man may have played a role in all 6 murders behind Montreal Mob arrests this week
Montreal Crime By When the 11 people arrested Thursday in Project Alliance, including alleged Montreal Mafia leaders Leonardo Rizzuto, 56, and Stefano Sollecito, 57, appeared in court, they were charged with a total of six counts of first-degree murder. The homicides happened over a decade, and it appears that Frédérick Silva, a hit man who turned informant three years ago, had a role in all of them. Lorenzo LoPresti, Oct. 24, 2011: LoPresti was the son of Giuseppe (Joe) LoPresti, who was close to Leonardo Rizzuto's father, Vito, until LoPresti was killed in 1992 in a homicide that remains unsolved to this day. Both families lived on Antoine Berthelet Ave. in northern Montreal, and Lorenzo LoPresti attended the same high school in St-Laurent as Leonardo's sister. Throughout 2011, a coalition that tried to take control of the Montreal Mafia from the Rizzuto organization came under attack, and Lorenzo LoPresti was shot on Oct. 24 while standing on the balcony of his condo on Côte Vertu Blvd. Weeks after LoPresti was killed, Antonio (Tony Suzuki) Pietrantonio was wounded in a shooting on Dec. 13, 2011, near the entrance of a Portuguese restaurant in a strip mall on Jarry St. E. near Chambord St. At the time, police sources told The Gazette that it appeared LoPresti was acting as Pietrantonio's right-hand man while Pietrantonio was one of the leaders of the group that sought to replace the Rizzuto organization at the helm of the Montreal Mafia. On Thursday, Leonardo Rizzuto and six other men were charged with the first-degree murder of Lorenzo LoPresti and with plotting with Silva to murder Pietrantonio. Domenico Facchini, Dec. 21, 2012: Facchini, 37, was killed and Vito D'Orazio was injured after they were shot inside a building tied to Giuseppe (Ponytail) De Vito who, at the time, was serving a lengthy prison sentence for smuggling cocaine through Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport. De Vito had acted as a leader of several airport employees who were part of what was called 'the door' that let cocaine into Montreal. De Vito came to hate the Rizzuto organization because he felt its members lied to him about the quantities of cocaine they were bringing in and thereby holding back on his share in their arrangement. De Vito became part of the coalition that wanted to take over the Montreal Mafia, but on July 8, 2013, he was found dead in his cell in the federal penitentiary near Quebec City. A coroner later determined that De Vito died of cyanide poisoning. On Thursday, three men were charged with Facchini's murder and the attempted murder of D'Orazio. One of the accused, Jean-Ismel Zephir, 48, is the brother of Emmanuel Zephir, a notorious street gang leader. In 2022, Sébastien Giroux, who had just pleaded guilty to helping Silva hide from the police for months, was ordered to not associate with known criminals while he was awaiting his sentence. Giroux agreed to follow the order, but he asked for special permission to allow him to communicate with the Zephir brothers. The other two men charged with the murder and attempted murder are Gianpietro (JP) Tiberio, 52, a convicted criminal identified during the Charbonneau Commission as an associate of the Rizzuto organization, and Patrick Gilbert, 51, of Anjou, who has a lengthy criminal record. Vincent Lamer, Nov. 3, 2017: During Quebec's biker gang war, a conflict that stretched from 1994 to 2002, Lamer appeared to be a very willing participant in the violence that resulted in more than 160 deaths. Lamer started as a member of the Rowdy Crew, a Hells Angels support club at the time, before he switched to another support club called the Rockers in 2000. Being part of the Rockers brought Lamer directly under Hells Angels leader Maurice (Mom) Boucher and his efforts to monopolize drug trafficking in Montreal. During an investigation dubbed Operation Springtime 2001, police managed to secretly record meetings held by the Rockers and during one in April 2000, Lamer told the other gang members that they could skip the gang's eight-month probation period if they killed a rival drug dealer. Lamer ended up with a 10-year prison term when he was sentenced as a result of charges filed against him in Operation Springtime 2001. Lamer was shot several times while he was inside his sport utility vehicle as he was driving away from a maintenance company where he worked on 55th Ave. in Rivière des Prairies. Jean-Richard Larivière, 57, a longtime member of the Hells Angels and a member of the Rockers when Lamer was also a member, was charged on Thursday with the first-degree murder of Lamer. He is also charged with conspiring to kill Lamer along with Samy Tamouro, a man tied to the Hells Angels in Quebec who was killed in Mexico near the end of 2023. Sébastien Beauchamp, Dec. 20, 2018: During 2022, Silva underwent a lengthy trial for the murder of Beauchamp who, like Lamer, was a former member of the Rockers during Quebec's biker gang war. The hit on Beauchamp was a messy affair. Silva chased Beauchamp around a gas station in St-Léonard on Langelier Blvd., near Robert Blvd. He recklessly fired off several shots and a stray bullet ended up lodged in a gas pump. Beauchamp's murder is one of the reasons why Silva is now serving four life sentences. Larivière is charged with Beauchamp's murder, a sign that he allegedly asked Silva to kill him. Earlier the same year, on Jan. 24, 2018, Jean-Guy Bourgouin, another former member of the Rockers, was shot outside a restaurant in St-Léonard. It appears that Larivière allegedly ordered that shooting, too, as he was charged with the attempted murder on Thursday. In 2020, Girard Anglade, a close associate of Silva's, pleaded guilty to shooting Bourgouin. He received a six-year prison term. Gaétan Sévigny, Oct. 17, 2019: During Project Magot-Mastiff, another investigation into Leonardo Rizzuto, Stefano Sollecito and members of the Hells Angels that resulted in arrests made in 2015, investigators learned that Sévigny was tied to the biker gang and that he was very active in drug trafficking in eastern Montreal. On June 19, 2019, Sévigny was sentenced to a five-year prison term after he pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, conspiracy and gangsterism charges filed against him in Project Magot-Mastiff. He had only a day left to serve behind bars when he was sentenced. Four months later, he was gunned down in front of his home in Terrebonne. Larivière is also charged with Sévigny's murder. Charles-Olivier Boucher-Savard, Dec. 22, 2021: Boucher-Savard was shot multiple times near Lafontaine Park a few months after he was released from a federal penitentiary. He had served two-thirds of a sentence he received for stabbing a person tied to the Luppino family, a Mafia clan based in Hamilton, Ont., in April 2018. Pietro D'Adamo, 54, the alleged leader of a Mafia clan based in LaSalle, and Davide (Baldy) Barberio, 45, an alleged member of the Montreal Mafia who survived an attempt on his life when he was shot on Sept. 21, 2021, were charged Thursday with Boucher-Savard's murder along with three other men.
Toronto Sun
20 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
Mafia charges paint surprising picture of who killed whom in power struggles
When it comes to disagreements among organized crime figures, past ties don't seem to mean very much. Published Jun 12, 2025 • Last updated 16 hours ago • 3 minute read Jean-Richard Larivière (right), a member of the Hells Angels who was arrested June 12, 2025, in Project Alliance, a major investigation in the Montreal Mafia. Photo was taken in April 2000 during a funeral for a Hells Angel. John Mahoney/Montreal Gazette The charges filed in Thursday's roundup of significant organized crime figures on Thursday suggest past ties mean nothing during underworld power struggles. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The charge that stands out the most is one that accuses alleged Montreal Mafia leaders Leonardo Rizzuto, 56, and Stefano Sollecito, 57, of the first-degree murder of Lorenzo LoPresti, a man who was killed at his condo in the St-Laurent borough on Oct. 24, 2011. Five other men are also charged with the first-degree murder of LoPresti, but Rizzuto's name is the one that stands out because he and LoPresti grew up on Antoine Bethelet Ave. — a roadway in northern Montreal that used to be known as Mafia Row — when they were much younger. The tall, curly-haired LoPresti was the son of Giuseppe (Joe) LoPresti, who once made headlines for his arrest in a high-profile heroin smuggling trial in the U.S. Giuseppe LoPresti and Vito Rizzuto, Leonardo's father, were both from he same part of Sicily — Cattolica Eraclea — and while Vito Rizzuto rose to be the leader of the Montreal Mafia during the 1980s and '90s, Giuseppe LoPresti was killed in 1992 at age 44 in a homicide that remains unsolved. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. According to court documents filed in an RCMP investigation dubbed Project Clemenza, it appeared to investigators that Lorenzo LoPresti decided to join a group of people tied to the Montreal Mafia who tried to take control of it from the Rizzutos. The takeover failed when the opposing group developed differences of their own. Leonardo Rizzuto and Sollecito were also charged yesterday with plotting to kill men on opposite ends of the split, including Raynald Desjardins, a man who was once very close to Vito Rizzuto, and Salvatore Montagna, a Mafia leader from New York who tried to organize the efforts against the Rizzuto clan. Montagna ended up being killed on Nov. 24, 2011, in Charlemagne, just east of Montreal. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The list of men that Leonardo Rizzuto and Sollecito are alleged to have plotted to kill also includes; Giuseppe Renda, a man who vanished in 2012; Moreno Gallo, an Influential Montreal Mafia figure who was killed in Mexico in 2013; Antonio Vanelli, the intended target in a botched hit that took the life of Angelo D'Onofrio, an innocent man who was shot at the Café-Bar Hillside on Fleury St. in the Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough on June 2, 2016. Another two men that Rizzuto and Sollecito are charged with plotting to kill are Joseph Dimaulo, a 70-year-old Montreal Mafia leader who was killed in 2012, and Antonio Pietrantonio, a man who survived two attempts on his life in 2011 and 2024. Jean-Richard (Race) Larivière, 57, a member of the Hells Angels who was among the 11 people arrested on Thursday, is now charged with murdering men who were once part of the same biker gang as him. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Larivière had been a member of the Rockers, a Hells Angels support gang during Quebec's biker gang war, which stretched from 1994 to 2002, before he graduated to the Hells Angels by becoming a prospect member of a now defunct Nomads chapter based in Quebec. On Thursday, Larivière was charged with the murders of Vincent Lamer and Sébastien Beauchamp, two men who were also members of the Rockers during the biker gang war. Lamer, who was introduced into the Rockers in 2000, was killed in Montreal during 2017 and Beauchamp, who became a full-patch member of the Rockers in 2000, was killed in 2018. Larivière was also charged on Thursday with the attempted murder of Jean-Guy Bourgouin, a founding member of the Rockers when it was created in 1992. Toronto Maple Leafs Toronto & GTA Columnists Sunshine Girls Columnists
Montreal Gazette
2 days ago
- Montreal Gazette
Mafia charges paint surprising picture of who killed whom in power struggles
The charges filed in Thursday's roundup of significant organized crime figures on Thursday suggest past ties mean nothing during underworld power struggles. The charge that stands out the most is one that accuses alleged Montreal Mafia leaders Leonardo Rizzuto, 56, and Stefano Sollecito, 57, of the first-degree murder of Lorenzo LoPresti, a man who was killed at his condo in the St-Laurent borough on Oct. 24, 2011. Five other men are also charged with the first-degree murder of LoPresti, but Rizzuto's name is the one that stands out because he and LoPresti grew up on Antoine Bethelet Ave. — a roadway in northern Montreal that used to be known as Mafia Row — when they were much younger. The tall, curly-haired LoPresti was the son of Giuseppe (Joe) LoPresti, who once made headlines for his arrest in a high-profile heroin smuggling trial in the U.S. Giuseppe LoPresti and Vito Rizzuto, Leonardo's father, were both from he same part of Sicily — Cattolica Eraclea — and while Vito Rizzuto rose to be the leader of the Montreal Mafia during the 1980s and '90s, Giuseppe LoPresti was killed in 1992 at age 44 in a homicide that remains unsolved. According to court documents filed in an RCMP investigation dubbed Project Clemenza, it appeared to investigators that Lorenzo LoPresti decided to join a group of people tied to the Montreal Mafia who tried to take control of it from the Rizzutos. The takeover failed when the opposing group developed differences of their own. Leonardo Rizzuto and Sollecito were also charged yesterday with plotting to kill men on opposite ends of the split, including Raynald Desjardins, a man who was once very close to Vito Rizzuto, and Salvatore Montagna, a Mafia leader from New York who tried to organize the efforts against the Rizzuto clan. Montagna ended up being killed on Nov. 24, 2011, in Charlemagne, just east of Montreal. The list of men that Leonardo Rizzuto and Sollecito are alleged to have plotted to kill also includes; Giuseppe Renda, a man who vanished in 2012; Moreno Gallo, an Influential Montreal Mafia figure who was killed in Mexico in 2013; Antonio Vanelli, the intended target in a botched hit that took the life of Angelo D'Onofrio, an innocent man who was shot at the Café-Bar Hillside on Fleury St. in the Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough on June 2, 2016. Another two men that Rizzuto and Sollecito are charged with plotting to kill are Joseph Dimaulo, a 70-year-old Montreal Mafia leader who was killed in 2012, and Antonio Pietrantonio, a man who survived two attempts on his life in 2011 and 2024. Jean-Richard (Race) Larivière, 57, a member of the Hells Angels who was among the 11 people arrested on Thursday, is now charged with murdering men who were once part of the same biker gang as him. Larivière had been a member of the Rockers, a Hells Angels support gang during Quebec's biker gang war, which stretched from 1994 to 2002, before he graduated to the Hells Angels by becoming a prospect member of a now defunct Nomads chapter based in Quebec. On Thursday, Larivière was charged with the murders of Vincent Lamer and Sébastien Beauchamp, two men who were also members of the Rockers during the biker gang war. Lamer, who was introduced into the Rockers in 2000, was killed in Montreal during 2017 and Beauchamp, who became a full-patch member of the Rockers in 2000, was killed in 2018. Larivière was also charged on Thursday with the attempted murder of Jean-Guy Bourgouin, a founding member of the Rockers when it was created in 1992. This story was originally published June 12, 2025 at 6:01 PM.
