Quebec police arrest suspect in Mafia boss killing
Police pulled body of Mob boss from Assomption river in 2011
Quebec provincial police have arrested a 61-year-old man in connection with the 2011 death of Mob boss Salvatore Montagna.
Pietro Magistrale was arrested in Montreal's Notre-Dame-de-Grâce–Côte-des-Neiges borough Wednesday morning.
In a police sweep one month after Montagna's death, Magistrale was arrested and charged with 29 offences linked to firearms possession and storage. Four others were also arrested at that time.
Raynald Desjardins, who was arrested in the same police sweep, is currently awaiting trial for charges of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Montagna.
Magistrale was released pending his trial.
On Wednesday, Quebec provincial police said they also searched Magistrale's home in Laval with the help of RCMP officers.
Magistrale is scheduled to appear at the Joliette courthouse this afternoon to face new charges related to Montagna's slaying.
The death of a reputed Mob boss
In November 2011, Montagna's body was pulled from the Assomption River in Charlemagne, a town northeast of Montreal.
Nicknamed Sal The Iron Worker, Montagna owned and operated a successful steel business in the U.S.
The FBI once called him the acting boss of the Bonanno crime family — prompting one of New York's tabloids to dub him the "Bambino Boss" because of his rise to power in his mid-30s.
With files from the Canadian Press