Kenneth Murdock

Kenneth Bishop (born 1963), previously named Kenneth Murdock,[1] is a Canadian truck driver who was a hitman for the Musitano crime family of Hamilton, Ontario. He was convicted of three mob hits, served 13 years in prison, and was released on parole.

Early life

In the 1970s, Murdock's stepfather, John Akister had relations with Musitano family boss Dominic Musitano.[2] By the 1980s, Murdock worked as a bouncer at Hamilton strip clubs and also earned money through extortion and armed robbery.[2] In 1984, Murdock built a relationship with Tony Musitano, brother of Dominic, while in jail for armed robbery; Murdock was later paroled in October of that year.[2]

Three mob hits

Murdock's first mob hit for the family, for $3,000, was in 1985 on Stelco janitor Salvatore Alaimo who owed gambling money to Dominic Musitano. He used a submachine gun and later told the Star that he had planned only to frighten Alaimo.[3] "I actually wasn’t trying to shoot him. I was trying to shoot all around him...When the thing goes off, it has a mind of its own."[3][1][4]

On May 31, 1997, Murdock shot mob boss Johnny Papalia in the head in the parking lot of 20 Railway Street outside his vending machine business in Hamilton; he later testified that he had been hired to do so by Angelo and Pat Musitano of the Musitano crime family, who owed Papalia some $250,000. The cost of the hit was substantially less — depending on the source, the payment received by Murdock was either $2,000 or $3,000; some reports indicate that Murdock received $2,000 plus 40 grams of cocaine.[5][1][3][4]

On July 23, 1997, he shot Carmen Barillaro, the right-hand man of Papalia and a previously convicted drug trafficker, with a 9mm handgun after making the comment, "This is a message from Pat". The murder occurred in Barillaro's Niagara Falls home after the victim's wife and children had left. Murdock said that Angelo Musitano was waiting in the vehicle outside during this time. The two then left the scene.[6][1][3]

In an interview, Murdock revealed cocaine helped him cope with job stress, but consoles himself with thoughts of the half-dozen killings he was ordered to do, but did not go through with such as sparring professional wrestler and Satan's Choice biker gang member Ion Croitoru and key members of the 'Ndrangheta Mafia such as Jimmy Luppino of the Luppino crime family.[3][7][8]

Prison and later life

In November 1998, Murdock pleaded guilty to three counts of second degree murder and named Pat and Angelo as the men who had ordered the hits.[9] He was sentenced to life imprisonment and was released on parole after serving 13 years.[4] The Musitano's pleaded guilty to conspiracy in Barillaro's death, but no action was taken against them for the murders of Alaimo and Papalia. They received a 10-year sentence in February 2000, but were released in October 2006 on parole.[3][10][11] Murdock was granted day parole in December 2011, before full parole in 2014.[12][4] After release from prison, he relocated to British Columbia and works as a truck driver under his changed surname, Bishop.[1][13]

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

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Kenny Murdock, mob-boss Papalia's killer, gets new identity". thespec.com. 28 July 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Humphreys, Adrian (1999). The Enforcer:Johnny Pops Papalia, A Life and Death in the Mafia. Toronto: Harper Collins. ISBN 0-00-200016-4.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Mafia hitman reveals his code for killings". thestar.com. 13 August 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 nurun.com. "Hitman out on full parole". Niagara Falls Review.
  5. ↑ Morton, James (19 April 2012). "The Mammoth Book of Gangs". Little, Brown Book Group – via Google Books.
  6. ↑ Kilpatrick, Timothy Appleby and Ken (5 February 2000). "Brothers plead guilty in mob murder case" – via The Globe and Mail.
  7. ↑ "Hamilton wrestler 'Johnny K-9' a member of B.C. gang". thestar.com. 29 August 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  8. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=zBbTCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA105&dq=pasquale+musitano&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwilufGGj_DUAhUB7oMKHSFCDKYQ6AEIRzAG#v=onepage&q=pasquale%20musitano&f=false, p=105
  9. ↑ "Speedy justice for Papalia hitman".
  10. ↑ "Brothers plead guilty in mob murder case". theglobeandmail.com. 5 February 2000. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  11. ↑ "Unease As Mobsters Set Free". National Post. 4 October 2006. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  12. ↑ "Parole of convicted mob killer notorious for his explosive temper tested by road raging motorist". 9 July 2014.
  13. ↑ "Hit man who took out mob boss starting a new life as B.C. trucker after years in jail". nationalpost.com. 24 July 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
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