2 men charged in March shooting of Leonardo Rizzuto in Laval
Officers out of the Quebec provincial police (SQ) organized crime squad (ENRCO) arrested two men in connection with the March drive-by shooting of Leonardo Rizzuto, the youngest son of late Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto.
Mascouche resident Kevin Rochenbrun, 32, and Steve Emmanuel Barthelemy, 34, of Rivière-des-Prairies, were arrested at the end of April and picked up again on Monday. They were charged on multiple counts, including attempted murder and possession of prohibited firearms.
They will be back in court on Wednesday.
Rizzuto, 53, was hit in the leg on March 15 around 4:30 p.m. while driving a black Mercedes on Highway 440 westbound in Laval, and "the occupant of a black Porsche Macan allegedly fired several shots at the victim's car," the SQ said in a news release.
Rizzuto's car was riddled with bullets in March, but he managed to exit the highway and park at a Laval funeral home before being transported to hospital in stable condition.
The shooting was one of three in the Greater Montreal Area in recent months involving people connected to the Sicilian organized crime world in the area.
Claudia Iacono, 39, was shot and killed in her car in the parking lot of the salon she owned in April. She was the daughter-in-law of Mafia associate Moreno Gallo, who himself was killed in Mexico in 2013. Police have not confirmed that the killing was mob related when an arrest was made in connection with the homicide.
Francesco Del Balso, 53, was shot and killed in broad daylight outside of Monster Gym in Dorval June 6. Mafia experts say Del Balso was a senior member of the Rizzuto crime family before he clashed with the organization's leader.
Del Balso was suspected of being behind the drive-by shooting of the young Rizzuto.
The provincial organized crime fighting squad includes SQ officers in addition to investigators from the Montreal (SPVM) and Laval (SPL) police forces, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), federal RCMP officers and agents from the Canadian Border Services Agency.
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