Salvatore Scoppa, high-profile Montreal criminal, shot dead in Laval

  Sal Scoppa, 49, has been killed, shot dead outside Laval's Sheraton Hotel Saturday at 10 pm.
   His killers brazenly gunned him down, possibly firing shots to his head, before fleeing at high speed in a black Ford Explorer.
   Sal had been attending an event related to his daughter's first communion. Observers noted that it didn't seem like a signature Mafia hit, which are generally more discreet and never involve family.
   Scoppa had a contract on his head that would net the killer somewhere in the range of $300,000 to $500,000, cash likely offered by local Sicilians mobsters, La Presse reported.
   The news comes as no surprise, as police had warned Salvatore that his life was at risk as early as 2015 and he already survived another killing attempt earlier.
   Scoppa's brother Andrew is considered a Mafia boss but the two did not work together or even see eye-to-eye in recent years.
   Sal, eight years younger than Andrew, started out under his older brother but branched out on his own with his own crew of about 20 foot soldiers, including many blacks and Arabs.
  Salvatore worked with Mexicans and Peruvians and controlled some cocaine and heroin trafficking bars in RDP and elsewhere, and also oversaw dial-a-dealer operations.
  These dealings sometimes led to conflicts, including one with a bar owner who Sal kidnapped and beat savagely over a debt in 2008.
   Nine other accused, including Sal's then-associate nicknamed The Arm were released but Scoppa, was convicted.
   Montreal Mafia don Vito Rizzuto dealt with Andrew but did not know Sal.
   Vito's son Leonard didn't like Salvatore and once nixed a proposal forwarded by Gregory Woolley and Stefano Sollecito to have Salvatore killed, out of respect to his older brother Andrew.
   Andrew, while not on the same wavelengths as his brother, would never have been involved in any way with his brother's killing.
   Salvatore was once connected to Mafia upstart Giuseppe "Ponytail" De Vito whose dramatic tale began when he went to war against his boss Paolo Gervasi, who owned a strip club on Jarry and whose son Sal Gervasi was found dead in the trunk of his Porsche in 2000. Gervasi, also later killed, led one of the eight Mafia clans in Montreal (and there's also one in Granby). De Vito, a highly-intelligent criminal, died in prison and his wife killed their own two daughters.
  Sal lived in a penthouse at Guy and St. James for many years before moving to Laval to live in a large home with many surveillance cameras outside. He'd motor around in Corvettes and owned a Harley.
   The two Scoppas have another brother with no connection to crime and a sister who died as a child. Their mother lives in Laval.
   Salvatore had a pair of kids from previous relationships. He had a longtime girlfriend and was known to erupt in jealousy if anybody so much as looked at her.
  Salvatore's ambitions to consolidate and expand were said to have been frustrated by his own personal limitations, which included lack of diplomatic skills.
   Salvatore inspired many uncharitable and unsubstantiated descriptions, which might be taken with a grain of salt. One person who knew Salvatore offered Coolopolis a string of unflattering descriptions.
   "He had a demonic look that only worsened after someone tossed acid in his face"
   "He'd turn someone into a pretzel for looking at him the wrong way."
   "He had a crew of 20 and killed half of them."
    These accusations have not be substantiated and should be seen as colourful assessment more than anything else.
    Suffice it to say that this person did not have a positive impression of Salvatore Scoppa but there are undoubtedly others who felt differently.
 Update:  Scoppa's funeral scheduled for Monday May 13, 2019 at Madonna Della Difesa Church on Dante on the restaurant row in Little Italy has been cancelled, according to a source who says that police got wind of a plot to shoot "a whole bunch of people" as they were leaving. A private funeral will be held elsewhere.