Paletta Family Mafia

[Maral Mende]

Whilegang disputes in Toronto have floated in and out of the public consciousness during the last decade, the classic image of European mafias that once dominated pop culture have largely faded into obscurity. Consequently, these new murders have stuck out.

James Dubro has an encyclopedic knowledge of Canadian crime. From the biggest biker gangs to the triads to various mafias to rag-tag teams of criminals, Dubro has documented the most bloody and brutal parts of Canadian criminal history for the last 42 years. If he had a resume, his skills would include having hitmen as friends and access to a rolodex of mob bosses you only see in films like The Godfather.

Starting as a documentary journalist in 1974, Dubro covered a swath of Canadian gang activity from the 1970s to the 90s. Some of the highlights included the ups and downs of Ontario's Calabrian mafia, and the various warring factions of Asian gangs on the west coast. He's covered biker gangs like the Hells Angels and Rock Machine, as well as the Montreal-based Rizzuto crime family.

What was the climate of organized crime like in Canada in the 70s and 80s?

In the 70s it was very different. Vancouver has always been very interesting and the [west coast] has always been Asian gangs. It's something that goes back almost 100 years. You also have a lot of independent gangs in Vancouver. The white boys, the bikers, the street gangs, and all that. There's been a lot of violence in these gangs, a lot of killings in Vancouver. That's stayed the same.

In Montreal, it was always very violent because of its location. Drugs would always come through there, bootleg booze would pass through. It was also always much more structured, when compared to Ontario at least. We've had our ups and downs.

Toronto is really a different kettle of fish. The last real godfather we had in Toronto was Paul Volpe. [Volpe was assassinated in 1983 at the age of 55.] Volpe wasn't really the godfather of Toronto, but he was the closest thing to it. That means he was someone who everybody in the underworld respected and feared.

What was the legacy of Rocco Zito?

From talking to some of the people who work for him, it's that a lot of people in the underworld respected and feared him. He brought in drugs quietly and he provided illegal card games. He was very good at illegal gambling operations here in Ontario.

Is there anything brewing right now in organized crime that we have to keep an eye on?

These things change and they're flexible. They're not written in stone. I don't think there's going to be a mob [or biker] war in Ontario. I think whatever war there was in Quebec recently is now sorted out and, presumably, under the new leaders of the Rizzuto family, there will be less bloodshed. British Columbia, there's always battles because no one's supreme. There's always killings and there's always vengeance and there's always drug turf wars because there's so much money to be made.

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