Leonardo Rizzuto charged with 1st-degree murder in 2011 slaying

Leonardo Rizzuto, 56, alleged head of the Italian mafia in Montreal, was charged with first-degree murder Thursday afternoon in connection with the 2011 death of Lorenzo Lopresti.

Rizzuto and his alleged co-leader, Stefano Sollecito, were among 11 suspects arrested earlier Thursday in what authorities are calling a “major blow against organized crime” in Quebec.

Police say prominent members of three crime factions in the province were targeted: the Italian mafia, Hells Angels and street gangs.

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. 

The 11 suspects, ranging in age from 27 to 57, were arrested — the culmination of a three-year police investigation. Three of the suspects arrested were already in police custody.

“This investigation has helped solve several violent crimes, including incidents involving innocent victims, thereby providing answers to their families,” said Benoit Dubé, deputy director general of the SQ’s criminal investigations department.

Police have revealed few details on the investigation, but they say the offences involve murders linked to organized crime.

Authorities allege all 11 suspects participated in one or multiple murder or attempted murders — either as an instigator, perpetrator or collaborator — between 2011 and 2021.

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. 

“This is one of the most significant strikes in recent decades,” said Marc Charbonneau, deputy director and head of the SPVM’s specialized services department, at a press conference Thursday morning at SPVM headquarters in Montreal.

Former Lieutenant-Detective with the SPVM, Pietro Poletti, agreed this is indeed a “big blow” to organized crime.

“There are major players involved, especially the son of Vito Rizzuto, the grandson of Nick Rizzuto: Leonardo,” he said. “However, the rest are, we could say high ranking.”

Police say they arrested Rizzuto, 56, Sollecito, 57, Davide Barberio, 45, Michel Cliche, 54, Pietro D’Adamo, 54, Patrick Gilbert, 51, Daniele Guarna, 45, Richard “Race” Larivière, 57, Darius Perry, 27, Vito Salvaggio, 50, and Nicola Spagnolo, 50.

“These are names that have often escaped these arrests,” said Commander Francis Renaud, head of the SPVM’s organized crime section.

Five suspects, of which three are abroad, remain wanted: Sacha Krolik, 56, Pierry Philogène, 38, Mario Sollecito, 54, Gianpietro Tiberio, 52, and Jean-Ismel Zéphir, 46.

“Everybody is being arrested today not on drug traffic, being arrested on murders. So that’s the biggest impact I can see,” said Dubé. “And we got to look way back to see a case like this where we’re taking down 16 persons suspected all for murder cases, that’s why it’s so significant.

“And the impact is more … they’re not gonna be charged for two years in prison, they’re being charged for 25 years in prison. So that’s the impact.”

Touting it as a major success, police leaders say it will destabilize organized crime in the province while also providing some relief for families of the victims.

“Every act of violence, every murder, and organized crime, police forces, police communities, in this case joined together, to work hard and to give some answers back to the families, and that’s what was done in this case,” said Chief Insp. Michel Patenaude, the director of criminal investigations for the SQ.

The major operation took place in Montreal, Laval, Blainville, Rosemère, Shefford, Saint-Lazare, Repentigny, and Quebec City.

“We all knew (the arrests) were coming, somebody had turned and decided to collaborate with the police, Frédérick Silva,” explained Poletti. “He was the hit man or the killer executing contracts for the mafia and various groups like Hells Angels.”

Police called the arrest of Rizzuto, son of the former godfather of the Montreal mafia Vito Rizzuto, “very significant,” but also downplayed his role as a titular figure across organized crime in Quebec.

“Things have been divided, things are changing,” explained Patenaude. “There’s not one person that’s dominating in the province of Quebec. So we have to keep pressure on every organization. But it’s definitely significant.”

“Rizzuto is a big name in Montreal, it’s been for the since the 1980s,” added Dubé. “But when we put somebody in handcuffs — Rizzuto, Hells Angels, street gangs, we don’t look really at that. We’re putting a suspect in handcuffs. So what’s the major thing today is we’re taking down three factions.”

Authorities say Rizzuto’s absence — and the absence of other key figures with the Hells Angels and street gangs — will simply open the door for new players to fill their shoes.

“We’re very lucid and we know that we have to respond to the different organizations that are going to take that place, and we’ve seen it in the past,” Patenaude said. “There has been big investigations in the past, and organized crime adapts to the police techniques. So we’re already on the ground and we’re already anticipating what’s coming and we’re going to be ready to face it like we have done in this case and all the other cases.”

“They’ll take advantage of this void, they’ll go on the offence and now start taking territory,” added Poletti. “We’ll see much more violence in Montreal and the police have to be ready.”

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 to The Canadian Press.

The SPVM’s organized crime section says it’s doing just that.

“They’ll try to take that space, and our job is to make sure they’re not taking that space they need to rebuild, and we need to continue to put that pressure,” said Renaud.

“As the head of the organized crime unit, I’ll be watching the other gangs that might get lucky and try to make some space or try to take some space that was taken by the Italian organized crime. … That will be on my radar for sure. And you know, those kind of adventure can cause some damage or a violent scene, but we’ll be there and we’ll be watching. We’re already watching on our streets what’s going on.”

Commander Renaud was asked if this marks the end of the Sicilian clan in Montreal.

“Will there be an end to it? I don’t think so,” Renaud replied. “There are other factions of traditional Italian organized crime that exist. There are other families. There are other cells. We all know that. It’s a cellular model maintaining organized crime, so everyone works with everyone else. However, the impact is extremely significant.”

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.”

Police say the next steps in the operation will be finding and arresting the five wanted suspects.

Anyone with information is invited to share it by contacting Info-Crime Montréal anonymously and confidentially at (514) 393-1133 or the Criminal Information Center at 1-800-659-4264.

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. 

-With files from The Canadian Press