MONTREAL- The wife of Tony Magi, a Montreal businessman with ties to the mafia, was the target of a gunman in a brazen daytime attack near her NDG home on Friday morning.

Rita Biasini, 50, survived the shooting attempt without injury.

She was driving her SUV south near her home on Beaconsfield Ave. at around 8:40 a.m. when she stopped at the corner of Somerled Ave.

Suddenly, a man who was evidently laying in wait opened fire.

"A man in his 20s, dark skin, came out of nowhere, took a shot, at least one shot at the lady," said Montreal police Const. Daniel Lacoursiere.

The gunman never hit Biasini, who hit the gas on her vehicle as soon as the shooting began and sought refuge at the police station on the corner of Somerled and Kensington Ave., just two blocks away.

The suspect fled on foot and was not immediately caught by police.

Police are working under the assumption that the assassination attempt, which took place in a residential neighbourhood, just two blocks away from a school, was a warning shot for her husband Tony Magi.

Magi was attacked in 2008

Best known as a real-estate developer, Magi has a reputation for being linked to the mafia, and in 2008 survived an attempted murder on Cavendish Blvd. near Sherbrooke St.

Magi's former business partner was Nick Rizzuto Jr., the son of jailed mob boss Vito Rizzuto, who was shot dead in December 2009 as he left Magi's NDG office on Upper Lachine Rd.

Police arrested street gang leader Ducarme Joseph in March 2010 as he left Magi's office, less than 24 hours after Joseph escaped an attempted murder in Old Montreal.

Magi's presence a concern for neighbour

Ever since the attempt on his life in 2008, Magi has been traveling in a heavily armored car with a security detail constantly by his side. Magi and his two security guards were arrested last September and arraigned on gun-related charges.

Magi is currently out on bail, but some of the neighbours around his NDG home are growing tired of the constant threat of his presence.

"I see bodyguards coming in and out, armed vehicles, and I can't keep my kids in the front to play outside," a neighbour told CTV Montreal's Stephane Giroux. "You don't know if your kid is walking on the street and there's some bomb in a car."

Friday morning's incident certainly won't help in dispelling that fear.