Recent killings signal
internal mob power struggle
Canadian Mafia may be trying to split from U.S. families

By Dan Nolen / Ottawa Citizens / Hamilton Spectator

Canadian mobsters may have taken advantage of disarray in the
U.S. Mafia to launch a bid to seize control of Canada's Mafia.
The elimination in the last two months of two mob kingpins --
including Hamilton's Johnny (Pops) Papalia -- with strong ties to an
once-powerful family in Buffalo wouldn't have even been dreamt of a
few years ago, says a top mob expert.
"We are not in the 1970s when the five families of New York were
strong,'' says Antonio Nicaso, author of various books on Mafia
activity and an internationally known organized crime expert.
"At the time, it was very difficult to do something like that, to
do some kind of intolerance. It was impossible.''
The latest victim of what may be a reorganization within the
Canadian mafia is Carmen Barillaro of Niagara Falls. The 52-year-old
father of two, known as an underworld lieutenant to the slain Mr.
Papalia, was gunned down at his comfortable Corwin Avenue home
Wednesday night by an unknown assailant.
Mr. Papalia, 73, was gunned down outside his Railway Street
business by an unknown assailant on May 31. He was considered the
most powerful mobster in Canada.
Niagara police remain tightlipped about Mr. Barillaro's killing.
They have taken control of his home to sift for evidence and expect
to be there for several days. Mr. Barillaro's wife and two teenage
daughters are at an undisclosed location.
Police will say they've been in contact with other police forces
about the murder -- including Hamilton-Wentworth -- and are checking
to see if the bombing of a van in a quiet Niagara Falls
neighbourhood Tuesday night is connected. They had dogs sniff around
three cars parked in Mr. Barillaro's driveway, but found no
explosives.
"I don't think there's any evidence associating the two together,
but it's the old story that you better be safe than sorry,'' said
Niagara police Sergeant Mark Carter. "We're not precluding
anything.''
Mob experts have two theories about the killings. It's either an
internal power struggle within the Papalia crime group or an attempt
by a Montreal crime family to seize Canada and cut the country's
criminal association with the Mafia in the U.S.
The Mafia in the U.S. has seen better days than the 1990s. It would
receive money from its affiliates in Canada much like a legitimate
franchising business, Mr. Nicaso said, only the money was from drug
trafficking, money laundering, gambling, prostitution and extortion.
Even in New York, where the Mafia is believed to be the strongest,
four of the five top Mafia bosses are either under indictment or in
prison. This includes John Gotti, head of the Gambino crime family,
and Vincent (The Chin) Gigante, head of the Genovese family.
Law enforcement officials and criminologists say the mob has been
reduced to a handful of families in a few cities. Some even say it
won't be around in the next century, at least not in any
recognizable form.
July 26, 1997