Johnny Papalia

John Joseph Papalia (March 18, 1924 – May 31, 1997), also known as "Johnny Pops" or "The Enforcer", was an Italian-Canadian Mafia figure based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He was boss of the Papalia crime family, one of three major crime families in Hamilton the other two being the Musitano crime family and the Luppino crime family.

Family and criminal activities

Papalia was born on March 18, 1924 in Hamilton. His father, Antonio "Tony" Papalia was a bootlegger who immigrated from Delianuova, Calabria, Italy to Canada in 1912 and settled in the so-called "Italian Ghetto" around Railway Street in Hamilton, Ontario in 1917.^[1] His father became associated with Calabrian compatriot and notorious bootlegger Rocco Perri and also became a bootlegger who operated speakeasies.^[2] He was suspected in playing a role in the murder of Perri's wife Bessie Starkman in 1930.^[3]

It is also believed Antonio and his son Johnny Papalia, along with Stefano Magaddino of the Buffalo crime family, played a role in Perri's disappearance in 1944 after Perri left members of his Mafia crew "slighted", though both cases remain unsolved.^[4] Papalia's mother, Maria Rosa Italiano also came from a Mafia family, the Italiano clan, who also participated in Perri's gang.^[4]

Papalia was involved in petty crimes from a young age. He was arrested in 1949 and given a two-year sentence for possession of narcotics, down from conspiracy to distribute narcotics.^[4] When he was released in 1951, he moved to Montreal where he worked with Luigi Greco and New York Bonanno crime family representative Carmine Galante in heroin trafficking.^[4] He later shifted to Toronto extorting brokers and running gambling clubs.^[4] By the mid-1950s, John was the Canadian arm of the powerful Cosa Nostra family of Buffalo, New York which was then controlled by Stefano Magaddino.^[5]

In 1955, with assistance from Guelph mobster Tony Sylvestro, Papalia started opening charter gambling clubs in Hamilton and Toronto. Sylvestro's son-in-law Danny Gasbarrini, Papalia's brothers Frank, Rocco and Dominic, half-brothers Joseph and Angelo, brother-in-law Tony Pugliese, and associates Red LeBarre, Freddie Gabourie, Frank Marchildon and Jackie Weaver, all worked in running Papalia's clubs.^[4] After police raids, Papalia started working with James McDermott and Vincent Feeley in several clubs throughout southern Ontario.^[4]

The illegal gambling business in Toronto was very lucrative, dominated by Maxie Bluestein who kept the Mafia out of his pocket. Bluestein's Lakeview Club did more than $13 million a year, but on March 21, 1961, at the Town Tavern, Bluestein met with Papalia in Toronto. Bluestein refused to "merge" his operations with Papalia's and was beaten with brass knuckles, iron bars and fists as a result.^[6] The 100 some witnesses to the beating were reluctant to come forward, but Papalia was sentenced in June of that year to 18 months, while Bluestein kept hold to the Toronto gambling market; though Bluestein had paranoia and was committed to a mental institution in 1973 when he killed a friend, before dying of a heart attack in 1984.^[7]

In 1961, Papalia demolished the family home and built a warehouse for his vending machine business, an all-cash business, to serve as the front for his criminal operations.^[8] By the early 1960s Papalia was a made man, earning his reputation from the French Connection, a smuggling operation that supplied over 80 percent of America’s heroin market between the 1960s and 1970s – having strong connections with the Buffalo crime family.^[9] He worked in this operation with the Sicilian Agueci brothers Alberto and Vito, along with the vending machine businesses with Alberto, until he was brutally murdered by the Buffalo crime family in late 1961, and Vito jailed.^[10] Papalia was extradited to the United States for trial in 1962 for his role in the French Connection heroin smuggling ring; he was coughing up blood due to the tuberculosis he contracted as a child.^[1] He was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years despite his condition. In 1968, after serving less than half the sentence, he was released from a United States prison and sent back to Canada.^[1]

In 1974, Montreal mobsters Vincenzo Cotroni and Paolo Violi were over-heard on a police wiretap threatening to kill Papalia and demanding $150,000 after he used their names in the $300,000 extortion of Toronto business man Stanley Bader without notifying or cutting them in on the score.^[1] Bader testified against them, and the three were convicted of extortion in 1975 and sentenced to six years in prison. Violi and Cotroni got their sentences appealed to just six months, but Papalia's was rejected; he served four of the years.^[11] In 1982, after Bader had moved south to Miami, he was sprayed with bullets when answering his front door. Papalia has been linked with his death, as well as the 1983 death of Toronto mobster Paul Volpe, but no charges were laid.^[11]

In July 1983, Réal Simard moved to Ontario from Montreal where he met with Papalia in Hamilton on behalf of Frank Cotroni.^[4] Simard seized the Ontario market, bringing Quebec strippers to Toronto clubs, where he allowed Papalia to put his pinball machines in his clubs.^[4]

In the 1990s, Papalia lieutenant Enio "Pegleg" Mora borrowed $7.2 million from Montreal mob boss Vito Rizzuto, and gave the bulk of the money to Papalia to open an upscale restaurant and nightclub in Toronto. After the Rizzuto crime family were not re-paid, in September 1996, Mora was shot in the head four times at a Vaughan farm; Giacinto Arcuri was arrested and charged with Mora's murder, but was acquitted for lack of evidence.^[12]

Papalia's brother Frank was also a member of the crime family who died of natural causes in 2014 at the age of 83.^[13]

Death

Papalia was fatally shot in the head on May 31, 1997, at the age of 73 in the parking lot of 20 Railway Street outside his vending machine business in Hamilton. The hitman Kenneth Murdock claimed that he had been ordered to kill "Pops" by Angelo and Pat Musitano of the Musitano crime family who owed money to Papalia.^[2] Murdock also killed Papalia's right-hand man Carman Barillaro two months later. In November 1998, Murdock pleaded guilty to three counts of second degree murder, was sentenced to life imprisonment, and named Pat and Angelo as the men who had ordered the murders; he was released on parole after serving 13 years.^[14][15][16] In February 2000, the brothers were sentenced to 10 years for conspiracy in the murder of Barillaro in a plea bargain arrangement. No conviction was obtained in relation to the murder of Papalia.^[17] In October 2006, the Musitano brothers were both released from prison.^[18][19]

Amid controversy, Papalia was not given a full funeral mass by the Catholic Church due to his criminal history.^[20]

Further reading

• Humphreys, Adrian. The Enforcer:Johnny Pops Papalia, A Life and Death in the Mafia. Toronto, Canada: Harper Collins, 1999. ISBN 0-00-200016-4

References