Montreal Mafia figure presumed kidnapped

A Montreal Mafia player closely linked to the Rizzuto clan is believed to have been kidnapped after his car was found abandoned and unlocked with open windows.

Paolo Renda, 70, was last seen Thursday afternoon in Montreal's northwest Cartierville district in his car while running errands.

His wife Maria grew worried as the afternoon grew late and Renda didn't come home. She went to look for him, retracing his regular route along Gouin Boulevard.

She later told police she spotted Renda's Infiniti model sedan parked on the road near Albert-Prévost Avenue. The car was unlocked, with its windows rolled down and keys in the ignition. The family decided to call police around 6 p.m.

Investigators say preliminary evidence suggests Renda was kidnapped, but did not shed light on any possible motive.

Former crime reporter Michel Auger said it's difficult to guess what happened to Renda, but ransom kidnappings have targeted various members of the Montreal Mafia in recent years. What's different is none of those abductions were ever reported to police.

"The victims of those kidnappings simply reappeared at their home a few days or a few weeks after the kidnapping," Auger told CBC. "So it is possible the same thing will happen with Renda and we will never know if someone paid the ransom."

Renda part of tight-knit family



Renda is believed to be the right-hand man to Nicolo (Nick) Rizzuto, presumed elderly patriarch of Canada's most well-known Mafia clan.

Renda's wife Maria is Nicolo Rizzuto's daughter and his brother-in-law, Vito Rizzuto, is Montreal's alleged Mafia boss, now serving time in a Colorado prison on racketeering charges related to a trio of Brooklyn cold case homicides in the '80s.

Renda himself was released from prison several months ago after he pleaded guilty to gangsterism-related charges. But after reaching a plea bargain with the Crown, Rizzuto pleaded guilty to possession of proceeds of a crime, and possession of the proceeds of crime for the benefit of a criminal organization.

He is believed to have handled finances for the Rizzuto family and was one of dozens arrested during massive sweeps in 2006 part of Operation Colisée, a drawn-out investigation authorities described as a major crackdown on organized crime.

Renda was also uncle and godfather to Nicolo (Nick) Rizzuto Jr., Vito's son, who was killed in broad daylight last December in what crime watchers described as a targeted attack on the Rizzuto clan.

mafia drug baron’ arrested outside Rome:

Lucca, 20 May (AKI) – Italian police on Thursday arrested fugitive Neapolitan mafia drug baron Michele Chierchia at a villa near Fiumicino airport outside Rome. The felon was listed among the country’s 100 most dangerous fugitives, and anti-mafia prosecutors in three different regions had issued arrest warrants for him on drug trafficking charges.

Fifty-eight year-old Chierchia reportedly congratulated the anti-drugs police from the central Italian city of Lucca when they arrested him, marvelling at how they had found his hideout. He was taken to police headquarters in Rome.

His arrest followed a police investigation that began in April in the area of Tuscany surrounding Lucca, where two of Chierchia’s two children lived.

Last weekend, Lucca police managed to track Chierchia to the suburb of Fiumicino.

Chierchia had been living in the villa for some time, only making occasional trips to the Campania region surrounding Naples, where he was a local mafia boss in the southern city’s Torre Annunziata district.

Arrest warrants against Chierchia were issued by anti-mafia prosecutors in Lucca, Naples and in the Sardinia region’s capital, Cagliari.

Earlier on Thursday, Italian police arrested seven people near Rome with suspected links to the Naples’ mafia or Camorra.

Police also seized property worth 4 million euros in the early morning operation in the Rome and Latina provinces near the Italian capital.

Those arrested in that operation are believed to be members of the Naples mafia’s powerful Casalesi clan. Fugitive Pasquale Noviello was reported to be among those arrested
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.1.419534202.

Mob-star Lilo Brancato, prison pals with Plaxico

Lillo Brancato — the star of “A Bronx Tale” (1993) who is doing 10 years for a 2005 burglary in which an off-duty cop was killed — has never been in better shape. He has made friends in prison with former Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress — who is doing two years for gun possession — in the protective custody unit at the Oneida Correctional Facility in Rome, NY. “They are buds. They work out together,” nightlife impresario Noel Ashman, who talks to Brancato every week, told Page Six. Brancato, who was able to kick his drug habit behind bars, has gotten a lot stronger and healthier. “He earned his GED [high school diploma], and now he’s taking college courses,” Ashman said. “He’s clean. He sounds great. He’s excited. In a horrible away, he’s almost grateful.” While Burress is due to get out early next year, Brancato isn’t eligible for parole until 2014.

http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/jail_can_be_good_for_health_xlsr42CVTMzK5VYLiZzeSM

Imprisoned actor Lillo Brancato beats up inmate who wouldn't cut short phone call
New York Post
... about getting high once he's sprung and obsesses over the mob -- reading book after book about organized crime. "He got this fetish with the Mafia. ...