The killings of Johnny and his lieutenant Carmen Barillaro in 1997, ordered by the Musitanos, had effectively wiped out the family's remaining leaders in Canada.
[8] Antonio Papalia was a bootlegger with early Picciotteria values,[9] who immigrated to Canada from Delianuova, Calabria, Italy, in 1912, through New York City before moving on to Montreal, Quebec then New Brunswick in the coal mines, before finally settling on Railway Street in Hamilton, Ontario in 1917.
[14] Between May and June 1929, an undercover Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, Frank Zaneth, was able to penetrate into the Perri-Starkman group by posing as a drug dealer from Montreal.
[15] In Toronto and Hamilton, Zaneth purchased considerable amounts of cocaine, heroin and morphine from members of the Perri-Starkman group.
[15] On 27 September 1929, Nazzareno Italiano was convicted of trafficking heroin on the basis of the evidence collected by Zaneth and rejected a plea bargain offer from the Crown to testify against his employers Perri and Starkman in exchange for a lighter sentence.
[24] After police raids, Papalia started working with James McDermott and Vincent Feeley in several clubs throughout southern Ontario.
[25] The principle enforcer for the family was the boxer Howard Chard, whose scarred face made "the perfect image of frightfulness".
[23] Johnny was extradited to the United States for trial in 1962 for his role in the French Connection heroin smuggling ring, found guilty and sentenced to 10 years.
[29] Ryce wrote in her 1988 memoir Mob Mistress: How a Canadian Housewife Became a Mafia Playgirl, "I was 23 years old and all of a sudden there I was with people waiting on me and taking care of me.
[31] In the summer of 1979, police pulled Frank over to ask questions about possible drinking and driving in hopes he would refuse a breathalyzer test, charge him, and impound his car to install wiretaps.
[32] Frank did refuse, fined $150, his licence suspended for three months and his car taken to impound, where it was worked on by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
[33] A court authorization also allowed for the implementation of wiretaps at the Papalias' businesses on Railway Street in Hamilton and consigliere Bruno Monaco's car while parked at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
[34] Through the wiretap planted in his car, Frank was heard procuring a woman, Shirley Ryce, for the Papalias' lawyer Clive Bynoe to have sex with her on September 5, 1979.
[30] Bynoe was identified by the Ontario Provincial Police in April 1980 and brought in for questioning, where he confessed the sexual favours made available by the Papalias.
[36] The fact that Bynoe had paid Papalia $100 in exchange for being allowed to have sex with Ryce left him open to the charge of soliciting prostitution, which had been very embarrassing for him, especially if he was holding a position of power.
[40] In 1983-1984, Papalia made plans to take over much of downtown Hamilton in a colossal real estate scam which he described as his "retirement fund", which stood to make him hundreds of millions of dollars.
[43] Robinson was able to expose the real estate scam to the media, but Elkind did not record enough incriminating statements for the police to lay charges against Papalia.
[47][48][49][50][46] The Musitano's pleaded guilty to conspiracy of Barillaro's death, but not Papalia's, receiving a 10-year sentence in February 2000, but were released in October 2006.
[31] Reflecting the new power structure, Gerald "Skinny" Ward of Welland, who had long served as the Papalia's family drug distributor and smuggler in the Niagara Peninsula area, went over to the Hells Angels after Johnny's murder.
Don Micu's personality, friendships, dedication to the rules with which he moves, the close relationships with the powerful De Stefano 'ndrina, immediately make him a point of reference for the rest of the 'Ndrangheta.
[54] His brothers, Antonio and Rocco Papalia, used ransom money from kidnappings to buy large shipments of drugs for export.
In 1993, authorities seized a house, factory, land, cars and businesses that belonged to Antonio and Rocco, worth over $40 million.
[53] On July 10, 2008, in the Cerberus operation of the Guardia di Finanza, several people were arrested including Barbaro 'ndrina members and Antonio Papalia's son Pasquale, who received orders from the bosses in prison, Domenico, Rocco and Antonio Papalia who were said to have controlled the construction sector in Buccinasco, Corsico and Pogliano Milanese.
[57] On July 15, 1977, Donald MacKay, a Griffith politician who had long been opposed to the activities of the 'ndrina in his hometown disappeared after going to meet a man who promised him information about the Papalia family.