FOUR CANADIAN ORGANIZED - CRIME … LANDMARKS?

As a landmark, a brick row house in Philadelphia is certainly gritty

— it’s the home of Mafia boss Angelo Bruno, where he was murdered in 1980. His bloody body was famously photographed in the passenger seat of a car out front, his mouth agape. The house was nominated for official landmark status with the Philadelphia Historical Commission, a creative move rebuffed this week. The idea

is fascinating. There are times when mobsters steal headlines, dominate conversations, reflect demographic and social change, steer economic interests and change public policy — all of which are important criteria for historical significance. Are any organized crime landmarks in Canada worthy of being designated, even protected, as historically significant? The National Post’s Adrian

Humphreys offers four candidates.

4891 JARRY ST. E., MONTREAL

For decades it was called Club Social Consenza and the Jarry St. E. café was the headquarters for the Montreal Mafia. Mob patriarch Nicolo Rizzuto would wander into his secure domain, hang his fedora on a rack by the door and settle into a comfortable day surrounded by friends and allies, variously playing cards with pals and collecting huge wads of cash in the backroom from gangsters and businessmen. As power shifted to Vito Rizzuto, his son, the café remained a part of his routine. The Rizzutos were the strongest, wealthiest, and most successful criminal organization Canada will likely see, with connections and influence stretching around the world. In 2003, police investigators finally penetrated the Consenza. A series of hidden cameras recorded backroom meetings, money exchanges and whispered conversations. In 2006, the club’s name was changed to the Associazione Cattolica

Eraclea, an homage to the Rizzuto’s hometown in Sicily.

20 RAILWAY ST., HAMILTON

Railway Street is a cluttered, dead-end street in central Hamilton, once part of the city’s “Italian ghetto.” It was here the city’s most famous crime cartel was built. Halfway down the short, stick of a street stands the centre of the universe for John “Johnny Pops” Papalia, Canada’s longest-reigning Mafia boss. An architect of the famed French Connection heroin smuggling ring, he kept this spot as his modest base. It is where he was born, where he ran his rackets and where he died. In 1917, Papalia’s father, Antonio “Tony” Papalia settled on Railway Street, entered the bootlegging business and took over neighbouring houses as speakeasies. Johnny Papalia first took control of his family’s business and became the pre-eminent mob boss in Ontario, with the backing of the powerful Mafia in Buffalo. In 1961, he demolished his family home and replaced it with a cinder block warehouse and office where he used a vending machine business as cover. Police called

his office “Fort Knox,” but it wasn’t impenetrable. Papalia was there in 1997 when a hit man arrived and asked to speak with him. As they walked and talked in the parking lot, Papalia was shot

once in the head. It is now a private diabetes clinic.

498 EASTERN AVE., TORONTO

The most artistic and stylish elements of this cinder block bunker — beautifully crafted twin metal sculptures of a skull wearing an elaborate, winged helmet — were stripped off by police in a highprofile raid in 2007 and dumped in the trunk of a cruiser as news

cameras ate up the action. Ontario’s Biker Enforcement Unit’s seizure of the fortified clubhouse of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club’s downtown Toronto chapter wasn’t subtle, blowing a hole in the front wall (now patched) and unfurling a “SEIZED” banner over where the biker’s logo had been. The government declared it proceeds of crime. The violence inherent in the modern-day biker culture is broadcast by the security features still visible outside: concrete pylons skirting the perimeter as a crash barrier, a concrete block protective wall that shields the front door, and steel mesh on the windows. After the seizure, the clubhouse was ensnared by a legal battle to win it back, but a court cleared the

way for the federal government to sell it.

210 KEEFER ST. AND 600 MAIN ST., VANCOUVER

These neighbouring addresses in the city’s Chinatown made headlines in the 1920s and became symbolic of the city’s rampant vice, corruption, racial tension and its emerging crime lords. A bustling brothel on Keefer was run by Joe Celona, helping him build his reputation as “the vice czar” and “King of the Bawdy Houses” in a city that, like all large port cities, had a thriving redlight district. Next door, near the corner of Main Street, Celona had a more reputable business, a cigar store, which is the premise where — officially — he befriended the city’s movers and shakers, including the mayor, L.D. Taylor. The addresses became notorious when it was revealed Chinese men were allowed to buy sex from young white girls in the bawdy house, a public outrage at the time. That these transactions were under the illicit protection by police and the mayor’s office furthered the scandal, leading to a judicial inquiry. The Main and Keefer headquarters of Celona are now occupied by the HSBC bank. The old brothel is a jewelry store.