AS POLICE TAPES ROLLED, CONVERSATION FLOWED AT CAFE

Social Club Was HQ For Mob Bosses: Files

A small St. Leonard cafe was the headquarters and the centre of money
distribution for Montreal's top five Italian Mafia bosses, who took a
cut of every drug-trafficking and illegal-gambling dollar made by
their gang members, according to court documents.

The cafe is a modest, sparsely furnished storefront business where an
elderly Italian gentleman makes an excellent espresso allonge. But
police allege that for years some of Montreal's - and indeed Canada's
- - most powerful underworld figures made this coffee bar the centre of
their criminal empire.

Located in a strip mall at 4891 Jarry St. E., the cafe was called the
Consenza Social Club until December 2005, when the name was changed to
the Associazione Cattolica Ereclea after a small town in southern
Sicily where Montreal's reputed Mafia chief Nicolo Rizzuto grew up.

Police claim that for years Nicolo and his son, Vito Rizzuto, presided
over a crime syndicate of illegal gambling and drug trafficking. Both
men are now in jail awaiting trial, but their golf trophies still sit
over the cafe bar.

In a small office behind the main cafe, the bosses met daily to
discuss business and divide their profits, court documents say. Each
week, police allege, thousands of dollars in tightly packed wads of
bills, often delivered in paper or plastic bags, flowed through the
cafe's front door, only to leave minutes later hidden in the socks and
pockets of the bosses.

From June 2003 to November 2006, police from the Combined Forces
Special Enforcement Unit, who had been investigating the Italian Mafia
since September 2002, recorded thousands of conversations at the
social club.

Even though the bosses were clearly unaware of the secret microphones,
they often spoke in guarded, often cryptic, language.

The Money

A typical day at the Consenza Social Club had various bosses going in
and out morning, noon and night, chatting with each other and counting
money in the back office as elderly Italian men played cards in the
cafe.

Two police video cameras taped "191 occasions when substantial amounts
of cash were delivered to the heads of the organization and divided
among them," a police affidavit says.

The flow of money was succinctly described on May 23, 2005, when
alleged gang boss Rocco Sollecito told Beniamino Zappia in only
slightly cryptic language: "When they do something - and it doesn't
matter when they do it - they always bring something here so that it
can be divided up among us five: me, Vito, Nicolo, Paolo." (The fifth
man, who he doesn't mention, is Francesco (Compare Franco) Arcadi, who
is alleged to have replaced Vito Rizzuto after his arrest in 2004.

The three bosses to whom Sollecito refers are Vito Rizzuto, who is in
prison awaiting trial in the U.S. on charges relating to a 1981 murder
in New York; Nicolo (Old Man) Rizzuto, 82, who is Vito's father; and
Paolo Renda, who is Vito Rizzuto's brother-in-law.

Nicolo Rizzuto, Sollecito and Arcadi were arrested Nov. 22, 2006, in a
police sweep after a four-year investigation dubbed Project Colisee.
The four men are charged with gangsterism, counselling criminal
activity and benefiting from the proceeds of crime. Another 86
defendants also face a variety of charges that include drug
trafficking, illegal gambling, gangsterism and conspiracy to commit
murder.

After Vito was arrested, Nicolo Rizzuto went to the Consenza every day
to meet with other alleged bosses. When the money courier arrived,
Rizzuto carefully counted the cash, usually out loud, and then put his
take and that of his son in his socks, pocket, wallet or any
combination of the three, depending on the size of the cash packets,
the police affidavit claims.

The Murders

Gangland murders sparked heightened activity at the headquarters, as
happened on March 10, 2005, with the killing of Mafia enforcer Mike
Lapolla.

About 2:30 a.m., Lapolla was shot dead in a bar fight with a Haitian
gang member at a Laval club called Moomba.

Police say they believe Thierry Beaubrun shot Lapolla in the bar.
Beaubrun was then shot in retaliation when he left the bar.

The next day, police bugs at the cafe picked up the bosses questioning
Lorenzo Giordano, who was at the bar when the shootings took place.

Rocco Sollecito said he heard this was an isolated incident. But his
son, Giuseppe, replied Beaubrun was a "captain" of the "blacks" and he
heard "there will be blood" and that the "street" is aware of it.

According to the affidavit, Giuseppe added the "blacks" are "not
people you can sit down and reason with, that they are not like them.
They are animals."

But it was a third murder about 18 months later that really disturbed
the Mafia bosses.

On Aug. 30, 2006, in mid-afternoon in Riviere des Prairies, two men on
a motorcycle shot Domenico Macri.

The Mafia soldier was in a car driven by Mario Iannitto, who was
slightly wounded in the neck.

The two men were on their way to pick up Arcadi, and police intercepts
indicate Arcadi thought the hit men were gunning for him.

The murder created huge commotion at another alleged Mafia
headquarters. The Bar Laennec, located in a small strip mall on Rene
Laennec Blvd. in Laval, was where alleged underbosses gathered to
discuss their business.

Soon after the Macri murder, the bar became a beehive of activity as
men met to discuss what had happened and what they should do about
it.

The RCMP had planted video cameras and bugs at the bar in 2005. Now
their secret recording devices feasted on the conversations:

Giordano: "Yeah, bro, they shot DM, man."

Francesco del Balso, alleged head of gambling for the mob: "He's dead!
He's dead! What happened? What are we going to do now?"

The next day, the alleged bosses and underbosses had a sit-down at the
Laennec. It was a solemn occasion, one that Arcadi used to remind the
troops of the religious significance of their calling.

Sollecito (to Arcadi): "Compare, we are already starting to study the
situation. As far as I'm concerned it's a big f-----g problem."

Arcadi: "Me, I agree. Here we are father, son and holy spirit. I agree that
it's things that we have to reason out, things have to be measured, things
have to be evaluated, but when it gets to a certain point and we are touched
by some stupidities, the discussions have to be short."

Renda then asked about the funeral arrangements and ordered they "do
whatever is needed to be done." He added the victim, Macri, was "a
very nice young man."

The conversation turns to Arcadi's safety and they suggest he go into
hiding.

Renda: "See, what you gotta do now, find an island, take your wife and
leave."

Giordano: "Even your wife, come on, I feel bad, Compare, all this s--t."

Renda: "Arrange, Compare ..."

Arcadi: "I have to decide if I go or don't go. Maybe I go to Italy with my
brothers."

Renda then leaves.

Arcadi: "Nobody is going to get rid of me, but ... we are looking, we are
looking for that pig, we are looking for him because he's a sea of problem.
What do we do, us, what we do, us, when one of us has been killed? To tell
you the truth, we do what we have to do."

According to the court documents, Arcadi left the country for Europe,
where he took a cruise with his wife. He returned to Montreal two
months later, about Oct. 27, when he is again seen at the Consenza.

After Macri's murder, police observed Giuseppe Fetta, Danny Winton,
Martinez Canas and Charles Edouard Battista, who police claim are
Mafia bodyguards, examining a handgun with a silencer in a warehouse
garage on St. Laurent Blvd. At one point, Battista fired a shot into
the ground. Battista was seen giving a machine gun to Fetta while he
assembled a second machine gun. Fetta was also seen with a 12-gauge
shotgun, according to court documents.

On Sept. 12, Montreal police seized two AR-15 semi-automatics, a
machine gun and a 12-gauge shotgun from the warehouse garage that
belonged to Francesco del Balso.

Police also seized two bulletproof vests and some ammunition. The
documents don't say what happened to the other machine gun or the
silencer and pistol.

According to police, del Balso then made arrangements to buy two
armoured SUVs from a company that he found on the Internet called
Streit Manufacturing. The company is located in Innisfil, Ont.
According to its website, it also has sales offices in Dubai.

Del Balso called the company and spoke to Ryan Holden, telling Holden
he needed a "high-level" security vehicle that was "full
bulletproof."

Holden told him he had a level B-5 vehicle capable of stopping shots
from an AK-47. Del Balso agreed to buy two and told Holden a car
leasing company would call him and make the arrangements.

During the next six weeks, del Balso and his partner, Lorenzo
Giordano, spent most of their time holed up at the Bar Laennec and
were never seen without their bodyguards, according to court documents.

Police saw them handling guns and recorded this conversation:

Del Balso: "What you have?"

Ennio Bruni (another bodyguard): "A .38."

Del Balso: "The old f-----g cop."

Bruni: "That's the best one, that's the best one. ... How you're gonna miss?
It's dead. You crank it one time."

Del Balso: "Yeah, relax. How many you have?"

Bruni: "Ten shots. Ten. It's only 10 shots over there. Here you only have
five or six."

The police bug picked up the sound of a shot.

Bruni (apparently referring to the gun's magazine): "Bro, this is
f-----g nice one. ... Once you place it inside, it loads the gun
automatically."

Del Balso: "That's what I want..."

Bruni: "The best gun to have is a .22, the long one."

Del Balso: "Long nose ..."

Bruni: ".357, short nose, that's a power you don't miss. The first shot that
you're getting, the first one you're ... you make him a hole like this."

Gambling

Gambling debts were an important problem at the Consenza.

One man, Frank Faustini, owed $800,000. The men of the Consenza
claimed that he had previously won about $1.3 million, which he
stashed in a bank in the Bahamas. Now he owed them $800,000 and was
slow to pay.

Sollecito complained to Nicolo Rizzuto: "He is always saying tomorrow and
after tomorrow. It's the same song now for five, six months."

Rizzuto said: "I'll speak to him now and I will tell him take the time
you need, but make it quick to pay the money."

Sollecito reminds Rizzuto: "This Frank Faustini, he already got a beating
because (he) jerked him around for two months. ... He got three, four slaps
and so he started to pay interest."

Some gamblers owed so much that their tardiness resulted in a
face-to-face with the Consenza patrons.

Stewart Goldstein, who owed $1.6 million, was invited to the Consenza
on July 13, 2004, to meet with Compare Arcadi.

Giordano began the meeting by telling Goldstein they wanted to
"negotiate an agreement with him." Giordano said they were tired of
watching Goldstein parade around the city in new cars while he owed
them $1.6 million. Goldstein, who was charged last year with
defrauding a bank and possession of an illegal firearm, had a Ferrari
and other expensive cars.

Del Balso told Goldstein:

"$1.6 million must be a joke for you." Goldstein agreed and replied
over the years he had "lost millions."

Arcadi suggested Goldstein "give us 300 ($300,000)" immediately and
then $100,000 a month until December, when the agreement would be
renegotiated.

Giordano said they wanted the $300,000 by the end of the week.
Goldstein agreed to sell his Ferrari and Giordano announced they had
an agreement.