Luppino crime family

Luppino crime family
Founded by Giacomo Luppino
Founding location Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Years active ca. early 1950s–?
Territory Various neighborhoods over Hamilton and Toronto
Ethnicity Made men are Italian, Italian-Canadian.
Membership (est.) Unknown
Criminal activities Racketeering, loan sharking, money laundering, fraud, murder, gambling, drug trafficking, extortion and corruption
Allies Buffalo crime family
Rivals Various gangs in Hamilton

The Luppino crime family is a 'Ndrangheta organization based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The Luppino clan is one of three centralized Mafia organizations in Hamilton, the other two being the Papalia crime family and the Musitano crime family.[1] The Luppinos had strong connections with the Buffalo crime family of Buffalo, New York.

History

Giacomo Luppino and his family immigrated to Hamilton in the early 1950s from Castellace, Calabria, Italy.[2]

In the early 1960s, the Luppinos became associated with local bootlegger Paolo Violi, but left for Montreal in 1963 on Luppino's orders to avoid clashes with other Hamilton mobster Johnny Papalia. In Montreal, Violi developed connections with the Cotroni crime family, while maintaining ties with the Luppino family; he married Giacomo Luppino's daughter, Grazia in 1965.[3]

In 1967, police began a five-year surveillance operation on Giacomo Luppino, which included wiretaping his Hamilton home.[4]

In the early 1970s, Natale Luppino, son of Giacomo Luppino, worked with Toronto mobster Paul Volpe on extortion schemes where they would be paid kickbacks from both the union and the developers for negotiating construction contracts.[5][6]

In 1982, Tony and John Luppino, and Gerry Fumo were convicted of fraud in 1982, receiving 15 month, 12 month and 18 month sentences respectively.[7]

Giacomo Luppino died of natural causes at the age of 87 in March 1987, whereby his son Vincenzo "Jimmy" Luppino took over the family.[2]

In a 1999 interview with Musitano family hitman Kenneth Murdock, Murdock revealed he was ordered to kill Jimmy Luppino, but did not go through with it.[8]

Born in 1926, Jimmy Luppino died of natural causes at the age of 83 in July 2009 in Burlington.[2]

A 2002 Halton Police report suggested the Violi brothers, Domenico (Dom) and Giuseppe (Joe) Violi, grandsons to Giacomo Luppino, who moved back to Hamilton after their father Paolo Violi was killed in Montreal in 1978, became affiliated with the Luppino family.[9] In November 2017, the brothers were charged with 75 offenses, such as conspiracy to import a controlled substance, possession for the purpose of trafficking a controlled substance, trafficking a controlled substance, trafficking contraband tobacco, trafficking firearms, and participating in a criminal organization.[10] Nine people in total were arrested and charged, including Massimiliano Carfagna of Burlington, Ontario and Adriano Scolieri of Vaughan, Ontario, while warrants went out for additional suspects.[11][12][13] During the multi-city bust, police seized large quantities of fentanyl and carfentanil, heroin, cocaine and over 250,000 tablets of controlled substances, some three million cigarettes and several gaming machines.[10] During the same week in November, the FBI arrested several people in New York on related offences;[10] the charges included narcotics trafficking, loansharking and firearms.[14] In March 2018, Carfagna was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison for drug trafficking and weapons offenses, and also stated between March and October 2016, he and Joe Violi agreed to import 200 to 300 kilograms of cocaine into Canada.[15] On June 1, 2018, Joe Violi was sentenced to 16 years in prison.[16]

References

  1. ↑ "Unease as mobsters set free". National Post. Archived from the original on June 29, 2013. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 "Retired mobster dies peacefully". thespec.com. 15 July 2009. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  3. ↑ Schneider, Iced: The Story of Organized Crime in Canada, pp. 259
  4. ↑ Schneider, Iced: The Story of Organized Crime in Canada, pp. 310
  5. ↑ "Mob war led to Russo shooting, sources say". theglobeandmail.com. 16 April 2005. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  6. ↑ Schneider, Iced: The Story of Organized Crime in Canada, pp. 319
  7. ↑ Schneider, Iced: The Story of Organized Crime in Canada, pp. 333
  8. ↑ "Mafia hitman reveals his code for killings". thestar.com. 13 August 2010. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  9. ↑ "2002 Halton Police report had intelligence on accused mobster". thestar.com. 15 November 2017.
  10. 1 2 3 "Sons of former Montreal Mafia boss implicated in major RCMP drug bust". Montreal Gazette. 10 November 2017.
  11. ↑ Edwards, Peter (15 November 2017). "2002 Halton Police report had intelligence on accused mobster" – via Toronto Star.
  12. ↑ Edwards, Peter (10 November 2017). "Accused Violi brothers in trafficking bust come from colourful family" – via Toronto Star.
  13. ↑ "Cafe owner gets 13 years for drug trafficking". thestar.com. 30 January 2018.
  14. ↑ "RCMP announces major bust with links to organized crime in Canada and U.S." 9 November 2017.
  15. ↑ "Burlington man sentenced in drug trafficking case - Toronto Star". thestar.com. 16 March 2018.
  16. ↑ "Son of murdered mob boss sentenced to 16 years in prison for drug trafficking". thestar.com. 1 June 2018.
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