Agostino Cuntrera, acting boss of the Rizzuto clan while Vito Rizzuto was in prison: Shot outside a whole food warehouse in Saint-Léonard, aged sixty-six (2010). Cuntrera was one of the gangsters implicated in Paolo Violi’s murder years before.
Nicolo Rizzuto, patriarch of the Rizzuto crime family: Killed in his Cartierville mansion by a sniper at the age of eighty-six (2010). Rizzuto’s killing was the most high-profile of the mob war. His alleged killer, hitman Salvatore “Sam” Calautti, was killed in 2013.
Salvatore Montagna, the boss of the New York Bonanno crime family, which was attempting to take over the Montreal Mafia: Shot and then drowned in the Assomption River (2011). Montagna was believed to have been involved in the recent Rizzuto killings. A Rizzuto associate was charged with his murder.
Lorenzo Giordano, a high-ranking member of the Rizzuto clan: Shot in his parked car in Laval, three months after being released from prison (2016).
Rocco Sollecito, a high-ranking member of the Rizzuto clan: Shot driving his BMW SUV in broad daylight (2016). Sollecito and Giordano were two of six men vying for leadership of the disordered Montreal mafia.
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Organized crime is alive and well in Montreal. Though a 2009 police crackdown on drug trafficking, which resulted in over 150 arrests, had the Hells Angels laying low for a time, a number of recent raids on member homes and clubhouses have proven that their illegal activities continue. The Rizzutos may not be as strong as they once were, but two of their leaders, Leonardo Rizzuto and Stefano Sollecito, were recently brought up on charges of gangsterism (they were eventually acquitted and released). The West End Gang lives on. Average Montrealers may remain largely oblivious, but organized crime continues to operate all around them, and hits are still being carried out all the time. So, keep your eyes and ears open, citizens. You never know who might be next on the mob’s never-ending hit list.
Give Ghosts a Chance
The Queen Elizabeth Hotel
In 1969 John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged their legendary “bed-in” in room 1742 of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. This two-week stint in the hotel was part of an ongoing “sit-in” style protest of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. This event led to the release of Lennon’s first solo single, “Give Peace a Chance,” a song that has become an ongoing anthem for anti-war movements and protesters.
The hotel also has another claim to fame: a mysterious guest who seems to have never checked out. There are multiple reports of an eerie “Lady in White” who has been seen wandering the hallways and occasionally making an appearance inside rooms in the hotel.
The downtown hotel, which was built by the Canadian National Railway and opened in 1958, boasts one thousand and thirty-nine rooms on its twenty-one floors. It is the largest hotel in Quebec and, behind the Royal York in Toronto, is the second-largest Fairmont hotel in Canada.
A Paranormal Studies and Inquiry Canada article reports that one particular hotel guest claimed that they had experienced spirit phenomenon in their room. They explained that they didn’t feel threatened by the presence, but that, starting at about 6:00 a.m. they heard what sounded like a person pacing back and forth beside the bed and around the room, as well as the sounds of movement inside the bathroom.
This unidentified hotel guest said that they heard something that almost sounded like a person involved in the ritual of getting up and getting ready for their day. Then, they explained, there was a sudden physical push as if someone had struck the mattress. They said that the message to them was quite clear: It was time to get up and get the hell out of bed.
There are several ideas about the identity of this spectral guest. In their book Haunted America, Michael Norman and Beth Scott detail the story of Pierrete Champoux, a distinguished writer and broadcaster, who had been attending a gathering of journalists at a convention at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel on Saturday, November 18, 1961. During her stay, something truly uncanny happened.
When she was on her way outside to take a short break from the events, the touch of a hand on her arm caught her attention. She turned to see writer Émile-Charles Hamel, a good friend she had not seen for quite some time. Hamel reached out and kissed her hand and the two spoke at length about the various experiences and work they had each been engaged in. According to Champoux, Hamel told her that he had “a great deal of work” he had to do at the time. She felt that there was certainly something on his mind, since he appeared a bit distracted during their conversation. After a few more pleasantries, they shook hands and parted ways.
She thought nothing of the incident until, a couple of days later, Champoux’s sister mentioned that she had read in the newspaper that their mutual friend Émile-Charles Hamel had unexpectedly passed away that Saturday morning, hours before Champoux had spoken to him. She told her sister that the newspaper must have made a mistake. She had, after all, had a lengthy conversation with the man that very morning at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel.
“It isn’t as if I merely recognized him across the dining room,” Champoux exclaimed. “He stopped me as I was leaving, he kissed my hand and we chatted together for quite a time.”
Champoux confirmed the time of death with the hospital. The only explanation for what had happened, she felt, was that Hamel had, beyond his mortal time on this earth, stopped in at a gathering of other writers and had engaged in this one final parting with a dear old friend.
Other unexplained phenomena have been reported at the hotel over the years, including mysterious knocks and echoing footsteps, disembodied voices, cold spots, and people being pushed, shoved, or touched by unseen hands. Could the Queen Elizabeth Hotel be haunted by more than memories of the infamous bed-in by Lennon and Ono? Thousands of hotels around the world are purported to be haunted by some sort of resident spirit or spirits. Hotel rooms, having seen a multitude of guests and an entire range of various emotional states — loneliness, anger, love, hate, passion, angst — are among the most probable locations to capture at least some essence of residual energy over the years.
The hotel was closed for more than a year between the summer of 2016 and 2017 for extensive renovations, but the true believer knows that no remodelling, no upgrades, and no reimagining of the decor (unless an exorcist was involved), can shake the ghosts and residual energy that might still be lingering in the hallways and suites, like the ear-wormlyrics of a beloved song.
The Missing Village of Hochelaga
The Dawson Site, Downtown Montreal
In 1534 Jacques Cartier sailed to the new world under a commission from the king of France to find a western passage to Asia. He planted a cross on the shores of Gaspé, claiming for France the land that would become Canada, and returned home believing he had discovered an Asian island. But we are most interested in his second trip in 1535, when he returned to Canada and sailed up the St. Lawrence River to land finally at the village of Hochelaga.
In a Montreal Gazette article, Marian Scott describes the joyous welcome Cartier and his men received from the Inidgenous inhabitants of Hochelaga. The people danced around the visitors and showered them with cornbread and fish. So much food was thrown into the longboats that it seemed to be raining bread, Cartier wrote in his records. He also gives an account of the village, which he described as being surrounded by a circular palisade that was ten metres high. Inside, there were at least fifty bark-covered longhouses that sheltered about 1,500 people. It was situated among cornfields at the foot of a mountain Cartier named Mount Royal.
Cartier’s descriptions of the village are vivid and there is no reason to doubt their veracity. There is a bit of a mystery about his description, however — it is the only existing written account of Hochelaga. The reason for this is simple: no other European ever saw the village. When Samuel de Champlain returned to the area in 1603, all traces of the village had vanished.