A murder contract worth at least $250,000 is now stuck to the skin of Francesco Del Balso, the hot Laval mob suspect who tried to kill Leonardo Rizzuto.
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That’s what our Bureau of Investigation has learned from sources familiar with this explosive affair of internal wars and betrayed loyalties worthy of a mafia movie.
So the leader of the ex-lieutenant of the Rizzuto clan would be worth a bonus offered to the hitman Gérald Gallant in 2000 to eliminate the leader of the Hells Angels, Maurice “Mom” Boucher, in the middle of the war of bikers.
No wonder Del Balso attempted an emergency escape from Canada on March 23 upon learning of the danger he was in. But the Sûreté du Québec was already eyeing him as a suspect behind the attempted murder that the late godfather Vito Rizzuto’s son survived in mid-March.
leak avoided
Police therefore intercepted him at Trudeau Airport as he tried to catch a flight to Europe and confiscated his passport to prevent him from disappearing overseas.
This extortion and illegal sports betting specialist would have responded by accusing the police of wanting him dead, when they were more likely to ensure he did not escape justice.
Since then, Del Balso has been in hiding, hunted on all sides. The only ones he can’t shake are the plainclothes cops, who hold on to him despite his movements as part of their investigation targeting him.
Yesterday the SQ conducted a search of his home in Laval, looking for evidence to support their investigation. Unsurprisingly, Del Balso was conspicuous by his absence.
The right goal?
The wick of the conflict was ignited on November 7, 2022, when the Lexus SUV that Del Balso was in was riddled with bullets in Laval.
Two projectiles smashed through the driver’s window and two more smashed through the windshield. He escaped unscathed.
Del Balso believed that only Rizzuto, believed to be one of the leaders of the Montreal Mafia, could have authorized such an armed attack against him, according to the police, who have no evidence that Rizzuto was involved in the crime.
However, retaliation erupted again in Laval on March 15, when Rizzuto was injured by multiple projectiles from a gun that pierced his Mercedes SUV. The shooter who fired from another vehicle and his driver are still on the run.
That day, Del Balso was lounging in the South, but his trip would be viewed as a false alibi by authorities.
In 2006, Del Balso was one of five leaders of the Rizzuto clan captured by the RCMP in Operation Coliseum, alongside Nicolo Rizzuto, Leonardo’s grandfather.
►After 15 years in prison for gangsterism, Del Balso was more involved in Hells criminal activity than Mafia, according to our sources.
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