Luck ran out for Tony Magi, a real estate developer with connections to the Mafia, who was killed Thursday morning after being shot several times in the Montreal neighbourhood of NDG.
Witnesses called 9-1-1 at 11:15 a.m. to report hearing gunshots near Beaconsfield St. and St. Jacques St.
First responders arrived at a building under construction to find a man lying unconscious on the ground with serious injuries.
“It's a bystander who saw the man that was unconscious, and at first they thought he fell from an upper storey, but when police made some verifications, they saw he was wounded by a gunshot,” explained Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant.
He was taken to hospital in critical condition, and he died soon afterwards.
Police cordoned off the area between Hingston and Grand while they search for clues and talk to witnesses. They are also examining surveillance video from businesses in the neighbourhood.
Sources have identified the victim as Tony Magi, a man who survived multiple assassination attempts.
Former assassination attempts
Best known as a real-estate developer, Magi was shot on Cavendish Blvd. near Sherbrooke St. in 2008.
He started travelling in an armoured car with armed bodyguards after that, one of whom was street gang leader Ducarme Joseph, who would also be shot dead years later.
Magi pleaded guilty to weapons charges in 2011 after police found a licenced firearm in a night table in his home.
Magi's former business partner was Nick Rizzuto Jr., the son of jailed mob boss Vito Rizzuto. Rizzuto Jr. was shot and killed in December 2009 as he left Magi's NDG office on Upper Lachine Rd.
Magi's wife was also targeted by would-be assassins in 2011, and in 2013 an armed man was walking toward Magi's home when he was chased off by private bodyguards.
Magi's ties to the underworld were well-known by many in lower NDG.
“He's not really on the street anymore,” said neighbour Ali Pazoki. “You know, many years ago he was more around and more active, he liked to show off and show his activities and his face.”
There are no suspects in his death.
