Vito Rizzuto, a reputed Montreal crime boss, has been arrested to face murder charges in the U.S.

Rizzuto, often called the "godfather" of the Montreal mafia, surrendered peacefully to officers Tuesday morning.

The U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn, New York says the charges are related to the New York City murders of three so-called "captains" of the Bonanno family in May 1981.

The three were believed to be plotting to take control of the Bonanno family.

"Rizzuto has been charged with multiple murders as racketeering acts, specifically the 1981 conspiracy to murder, and murder of, Bonanno family captains Alphonse (Sonny Red) Indelicato, Philip (Phil Lucky) Giaccone and Dominick (Big Trin) Trinchera," documents released by the U.S. Justice Department said.

At the same time, more than 100 FBI agents and police officers have arrested dozens of members and associates of the Bonanno family with murder, conspiracy and other crimes.

Prosecutors in New York call it a decisive blow against the weakened crime family.

Rizzuto, 57,  made a brief afternoon court appearance in Montreal.

 U.S. authorities want him extradited to stand trial, said Justice Department spokesman Patrick Charette.

"He's wanted in the U.S. to stand trial on charges of racketeering and conspiracy linked to three acts of murder," Charette said from Ottawa.

Rizzuto returns to court Feb. 6 to set a date for an extradition hearing. He is facing 20 years in prison if convicted.

Authorities have said they consider Rizzuto to be the most powerful Italian mobster in Canada. In 1972 he was sentenced to two years for conspiring to commit arson. He was charged in two drug investigations in the 1980s but was acquitted both times.

The Rizzuto clan has played a major role on the Canadian crime scene for decades, Antonio Nicaso, a Toronto author and journalist who has written several books on the Mafia, has said.

The Rizzutos reached a silent agreement with the rival Cuntrera-Caruana clan in 1978 to split up territory formerly controlled by organized-crime godfather Paolo Violi, slain earlier that year, he said.

Under terms of the deal, the Rizzutos control illegal street-level activity in Montreal, Toronto and several other cities while the Cuntrera-Caruana family concentrates on money laundering and drug importation, according to experts.