Sal The Ironworker sleeping with the fishes

   Lots of questions concerning the unnatural demise of Salvatore Montagna Thursday morning in Charlemagne, which just across the river east of Montreal.
   Montagna was mocked in the New York press for being "sent to the boonies" when deported to Canada and resettling in his former home town of Montreal.
   One report criticized authorities for believing that the former NYC Bonnano family boss was attempting to go straight. Yet becoming a legit businessman would seem like a logical thing to do considering that the local Sicilian mobsters have been dropping like flies and as an entrepreneur in the metal business such as himself had a path to a quieter life. Also there's no point in getting killed when you have a wife and three kids.
   Montagna did not live at the house he was shot at. His car was not there, so he was given a lift. The house is rented by a guy in his 60s who is known to the police but his name was not revealed. It's not clear whether Montagna came willingly or not.
   It seems that he was chased towards the water by a gunman who shot him. The little creek near the crime scene is shallow, and he got to the other side, so his knowledge of the terrain suggests that he probably knew the spot.

The funeral

  
   Initial reports made mention of a white van leaving the scene.
   And so who killed Montagna? Some theories: the Toronto mob wants to make Montreal a branch of their own operation, Montagna was supposedly in discussions with Raynald Desjardins (who had also been targeted for assassination) and Joe Di Maulo. It's possible that the Hells Angels could have simply been trying to get the Mafia out of the way. We know that the Rizzutos empowered the Hells by hiring them to distribute their drugs but the bikers became far more powerful. The ensuing biker war surely honed some murderous skills, so the daring killing is not necessarily beyond them. There's also some mention of street gangs, but that seems a little dubious and then there's always the possibility of local infighting or orders from New York, which seems less likely because the Bonnanos have apparently lost their grip on the local mob and don't even collect tributes anymore.
   TVA reported Friday that Handsome Tony Mucci had been seen in the area near the house recently. Mucci is thought to be the acting street boss for the Rizzuto family and spent a month in jail last fall for carrying a gun and a taser designed to look like like a cell phone. His bodyguard Carmine Serino was also convicted of weapons charges.
   Mucci, 57, first hit the stand at age 17 in a tavern shooting in which he recanted his witness report. He was accused of trying to extort a pizzeria owner of $5,000 and then he attacked Harry Ship's two sons with a knife outside a nightclub as well. Two years later the then long-haired St. Michel barman made his name by shooting Jean-Pierre Charbonneau, crime reporter at Le Devoir, in 1974. Charbonneau survived and became a PQ MNA. For those two crimes he was sentenced to eight years in prison. He probably deserved a bit more than that.