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HAMILTON - A
report on organized crime released Friday
suggests the Golden Horseshoe could become a
gateway into Ontario
for the Hells Angels. The report states that
``a close associate'' of two high-ranking
mafia members murdered in 1997 ``has emerged
to take control of
business in the Niagara Peninsula.'' ``This
associate is closely connected with an
organized crime family in Buffalo, New York
as well as with the Para-Dice Riders and the
Hells Angels,'' said the 1999 Annual Report
on Organized Crime,
released Friday by the Criminal Intelligence
Service Canada.
GUNNED DOWN
Johnny Papalia, the head of the Cosa Nostra
organization, was gunned down on May 31,
1997. His underworld lieutenant Carmen
Barillaro, of Niagara Falls, was killed July
23, 1997.Mob expert Antonio Nicaso
said the report doesn't surprise him because
it's a prime example of the changing face of
organized crime. He said Papalia represented
the old guard, which preferred to deal only
with people within its own Italian-based
crime group. These days, different groups
are forging partnerships with Asians,
Italians, Eastern Europeans and biker
organizations, he said.
Papalia, of
Hamilton, was known to be vehemently against
the establishment of a Hells Angels chapter
in Ontario, the only
province in which the bikers don't have a
foothold. |
