More than a year after four men were charged with the murder of a former Mafia boss, a fifth suspect has been arrested for the crime.
The Surete du Quebec arrested 61-year-old Pietro Magistrale in Cote des Neiges Wednesday morning, and he is scheduled to appear in a Joliette courtroom this afternoon to be charged with the first-degree murder of Salvatore 'The Ironworker' Montagna.
The SQ, along with the RCMP and the Joint squad against organized crime also raided Magistrale's Laval home Wednesday.
Sgt. Claude Denis of the SQ said the provincial and the national police forces have stepped up efforts against the Mafia in the past few years, and that has led them to believe they will make even more arrests in this case.
Murdered in 2011
Montagna was shot and killed on Nov. 24, 2011.
Police say he was abducted and taken to a home on the small Ile aux Tresors, northeast of Montreal, where he apparently tried to escape on foot after being shot, swimming across the river to the other shore, before falling unconscious and dying of his injuries.
A month later Raynald Desjardins, Vittorio Mirarchi, Felice Racaniello and Jack Simpson were charged with the first-degree murder of Montagna.
Montagna was born in Montreal but spent most of his life in Sicily before moving to New York in the 1990s.
Once there he became a kingpin in the Bonnano crime family, and was subpoenaed before a grand jury in 2002.
However he refused to testify, and as a result lost his right to remain in the U.S. He was deported to Canada in 2009, and his arrival coincided with a string of murders and assassination attempts among Montreal's organized criminals.
