Mobster's death leaves vacuum of power

By Adrian Humphreys / Ottawa Citizens / Hamilton Spectator

HAMILTON -- Johnny Papalia's murder creates a huge power
vacuum that threatens to draw mob families in both Canada and the
U.S. into a deadly showdown.
A prominent mob-watcher says Mr. Papalia could well have been
killed by a Montreal organized-crime group as a first move on
Ontario's lucrative drug trade.
And that's a battle that could pit all Canadian Mafiosi against Mr.
Papalia's organization, which operated out of Hamilton but answered
to the powerful Magaddino organization in Buffalo.
Antonio Nicaso, author of nine books on Mafia activity, said his
extensive underworld contacts indicate Saturday's killing may have
been a dramatic move by the Montreal group.
"They (contacts) told me the Canadian family wants no longer to be
under the control of the American family,''said Mr. Nicaso.
"It is a very realistic hypothesis that a family group from
Montreal wants to move into Toronto. And John Pops was the major
obstacle.
"Now the situation is very complicated because for the first time
in Ontario there is a vacuum of power and anything can happen.
"Who will be the new boss is now the most important question.''
A source in the Buffalo police says the Magaddinos are powerful and
maintain a low profile, but have kept up their ties to Mr. Papalia
over several decades.
"There were at least weekly or monthly meetings between Hamilton
and Buffalo families. But 10 years ago, they would meet almost daily
in Niagara Falls or Fort Erie, (Ont.).''
A Hamilton-Wentworth police source, who has chased the mob for
years, says there are plenty of people in Mr. Papalia's organization
who can keep the day-to-day operation going.
"Right now there are other people running the show,'' he says.
But no one is thought to have the power to fill Mr. Papalia's
shoes.
Police say Hamilton has long been home to three prominent Mafia
organizations -- the Papalias, Luppinos and Musitanos.
The Luppinos and the Papalias generally have their own separate
spheres of interest.
The Musitano organization, which was run by Dominic Musitano, who
died of a heart attack in 1995, was a notch below the other groups,
police say.
"The (players who inherited Musitano's organization) are the wild
cards in this. It might give them access to a bigger piece of the
pie. It is difficult to say where their interests lie.''
Detective Pat Sardina, of the Buffalo city police, says the player
who is promoted or "made'' in the crime family is the best bet as
to who killed Mr. Papalia. When it's an approved hit, the killer can
expect some sort of reward. But if it's an upstart acting on his own
initiative, the only thing he can expect is to be killed himself.

June 3, 1997