Montreal police are investigating a second homicide in less than 12 hours after a man was found shot dead in a parking lot in a northern borough. A police cruiser is shown at an apartment building in Montreal, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
Montreal police are investigating a second homicide in less than 12 hours after a man was found shot dead in a parking lot in a northern borough. A police cruiser is shown at an apartment building in Montreal, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
MONTREAL - A brazen daylight shooting of a Montreal salon owner has Mafia experts calling out the ruthlessness and arrogance of organized crime in the city.
Montreal police on Tuesday found a woman shot dead in a car that was still running and had collided with a building. Multiple reports identified the victim as Claudia Iacono, 39, the daughter-in-law of the late Moreno Gallo, a reputed mob boss. The car was found in the parking lot outside a popular salon that Iacono owned in Montreal's Côte-des-Neiges district.
Gallo was killed in 2013 in Acapulco, Mexico, a few years after he was deported from Canada. Iacono was married to one of Gallo's sons, Anthony.
And he said chances were slim that Iacono was hit by mistake; she was killed in front of a business she owned and actively promoted.
Another expert said it's not that unusual in Mafia circles for there to be retribution against family.
"I think there is a misconception about the idea that the mafia is not killing women or children," Antonio Nicaso, an organized crime author and Queen's University professor, said Wednesday from Italy.
"The history of the Mafia is full of women and children who've been killed, so I think when they have an obstacle, when they have to send a message, they don't pay attention to gender, they have to deliver a message and that is important for them, nothing else."
Montreal police said Wednesday their investigation was ongoing, but they refused to identify the victim. "Some information will be kept to investigators to not interfere with the investigation," Const. Jean-Pierre Brabant said in an interview.
He said witnesses reported a suspect fleeing on foot. "We did the fieldwork, we've got information, we met with people that were not far from where the events took place," Brabant said.
"We're still trying to gather information to understand the circumstances."
Meanwhile, police were investigating another homicide on Wednesday. They responded to a call around 3 a.m. about a 28-year-old man shot dead behind an apartment building in the north-end borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville. The two cases didn't appear to be related, police said.
"The victim was found in a back road not far from Henri-Bourassa Boulevard," Brabant said. "Some CPR manoeuvres were done and following verification they found a gunshot wound on the body."
The man was pronounced dead on site, which is close to many businesses and apartments; detectives were looking for any video evidence that could shed light on the case.
The two killings were the eighth and ninth homicides this year in Montreal.
This report by °µÍø½ûÇø was first published May 17, 2023.
