The deadly shooting of a notorious Hamilton mobster in the driveway of his suburban home late Tuesday afternoon has left many surprised about the targeted shooting.
Mob experts told CP24 they believed the days of ordered hits were behind the former steel town, as the mafia’s role diminished with several key players taken off the streets.
This was before Angelo Musitano – a member of Hamilton’s infamous Musitano crime family – was shot several times at close range in his white pickup truck, outside his Waterdown, Ont. home.
“Like many people who woke up and read the headlines this morning, we were very shocked,” said Coun. Donna Skelly.
Two decades ago, she worked as a reporter covering the Musitano family whose influence, she says, coloured the history of Hamilton’s organized crime. Her son even played hockey on the weekends with Musitano’s son.
“We were under the impression that the so-called mafia role in the city of Hamilton had more or less seen its day,” she added.
“To see a murder that could be mafia or mob related is quite shocking to a lot of people.”
Angelo Musitano was killed in targeted shooting, police say
The shooting happened along Chesepeake Drive near Parkside Drive in a quiet neighbourhood of large detached homes around 4 p.m.
Hamilton Homicide Det. Sgt. Peter Thom said this was a targeted killing. The hit man had been waiting on the street for Musitano to return. Once he pulled into his driveway, the gunman got out a dark-coloured four-door sedan, walked up to the truck and shot the victim, he added.
The 39-year-old’s windshield was visibly riddled with multiple gunshots. When emergency crews arrived, Musitano was sitting inside the driver seat of the truck. Halton paramedics said he was without vital signs.
He later died at a local trauma centre due to the severity of his injuries, Hamilton police said Tuesday night.
Witnesses told CP24 that between six and eight shots were fired.
“It’s frightening because my wife heard the gunshots and actually came out to see,” said Albert, a neighbour.
His says his wife was quite shaken by what she witnessed.
“She had to see the guy with bullet holes,” he explained.
Musitano crime family's legacy in Hamilton
Musitano’s father was Domenic, a well-known mafia boss – a “king pin,” according to Skelly.
Both Musitano and his brother Pat, were charged with first-degree murder in the 1997 targeted mafia shooting of Hamilton crime boss Johnny “Pops” Papalia, known as the enforcer, and one of his lieutenants, Niagara Falls mobster Carmen Barillaro.
A plea bargain was struck with the Crown, which allowed the brothers to plead guilty to a conspiracy to commit murder charge.
Skelly told CP24 their deaths were contracted. Both Papalia and Barillaro were allegedly targeted because they were members of a rival crime clan who opposed Musitano’s father, Domenic.
The brothers were sentenced to 10 years in prison, and were released after serving approximately two-thirds of the plea deal.
The Musitano brothers have kept a low profile, since then, their uncle Tony Musitano told CP24 over the phone on Wednesday.
"He had no involvement in any criminal activity since he was released as far as I know," he said.
Police said they have been aware of their presence in the Waterdown area since 2015 when Pat’s vehicle was set ablaze in his driveway.
"My nephew was married, he had three young children under the age of four, a dedicated father, practiced religion, had a new life ... was hoping for the best," Tony said. "What happened was a tragedy."
'It’s not like in sports where you change a jersey'
While investigators haven't revealed the cause of the shooting, organized crime expert James Dubro who has written extensively about the mafia in Ontario, told CP24 he wouldn't be surprised if this was a revenge style killing due to the family's history.
"It's definitely a settling of accounts in the underworld," he said.
Homicide detectives don’t believe Musitano’s death was a result of a “mob war.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s a war,” Thom told reporters on Wednesday. “It’s been fairly quiet. If this is an organized crime situation in Hamilton, we haven’t had one in a long time.”
Toronto crime expert Peter Edwards has published several mafia-related books during his career. He says there are two reasons why Musitano may have been targeted despite having reportedly changed his ways.
“One is that it’s out of a dispute in Niagara Falls over gambling,” he said. “A couple of key players there had been taken off the street, so there was an opening and he had been involved in gambling. There were some murders 20 years ago that he did have a hand in, so that’s a possibility.”
The second has to do with what he calls “the Rizzuto fallout.”
“His allegiance had been to the Rizzuto crime family of Montreal,” Edwards explained. “They’ve been depleted and they have a lot of enemies around here, so that’s another possibility.”
Even though reports from family and friends have indicated that Musitano had reformed his character, cutting off ties to the mob, Edwards says it’s impossible for the 39-year-old to completely divorce himself from the past.
“The problem is what do you do?” he stated. “How do you get out of it? It’s not like in sports where you change a jersey. I mean he’s still got the name and the disputes from the past. It’s a very hard thing to get out of.
“A lot of times people wait until someone is really vulnerable and then they strike, so this could be for something from 20 years ago.”
Homicide detectives are searching for a male suspect with a heavy build. He was wearing a dark toque, a black jacket, grey pants and dark coloured shoes when he fled the scene.
The suspect was last seen driving north along Chesepeake Drive in a dark coloured, four-door sedan.
“There is a huge element of cruelty,” Edwards said. “If you think about it, three kids live in that house, a wife lives in that house and they’re going to have to walk by where their loved one died everyday or move away. That strikes me as an extra element of cruelty and cowardice.”
