Has Musitano family saga reached its end?
With the death of Pat Musitano, a chapter of the city’s colourful, criminal past may be over
Hamilton is a city where more people can name the Mob boss than the chief of police.
It’s been that way for generations. Like it or not, traditional organized crime — ’Ndrangheta, the sort with deep Italian roots — is part of our history. Part of our lore. Its members so mythologized, they are more like quirky characters from central casting than criminals who shop in our grocery stores, drive on our streets, run shady businesses and plot murders.
When Pasquale Musitano was shot dead in a parking lot near the Good Fortune Chinese Buffet Friday afternoon in Burlington, his once mighty crime family may have lost its last member. The 52-year-old was the head of the enterprise, but possibly — at the end — he was the entire enterprise. If there are other Musitanos living “a criminal lifestyle,” as police call it, their names are not known publicly.
No new information on the hit was available over the weekend. There were no updates on the condition of Pasquale’s longtime bodyguard, John Clary, who was also shot, or of another, unidentified man, who was injured.
It is likely Pasquale’s funeral arrangements will be handled by Friscolanti Funeral Chapel, who took care of his father and brother. However, because of COVID-19 restrictions, the service will have to be a small affair.
Pat, as he was known, leaves behind his wife Linda DeRosa-Musitano.
For years the couple lived in a pretty house on scenic St. Clair Boulevard. They left the home and went into hiding in April 2019 when Pat was shot in the parking lot of his lawyer’s office in Mississauga after an early morning meeting.
Miraculously, he survived that attempt on his life. But his whereabouts and activities since have been clandestine, until he was identified as the man under the tarp at Friday’s murder scene.
If the Musitano story was turned into a Mario Puzo novel, it would begin in Delianuova, Italy in the 1930s. with Angelo Musitano, Pat’s great uncle. Two hours following his release from prison after serving a murder sentence, Angelo killed his sister Rosa and shot a man he thought was her boyfriend because she was unmarried and pregnant. He fled to Hamilton where he lived in the North End, sold bleach, bought ice cream for neighbourhood kids and went to mass at St. Anthony of Padua every Sunday. Angelo’s cold cruelty earned him the nickname The Beast of Delianuova, and gave him the credentials to establish his criminal network.
The Beast’s nephew, Dominic, eventually took over the business. He was a short, jowly man raising his family on Colbourne Street while involved in murder, extortion, drug trafficking, loan sharking, money laundering, arson and insurance scams.
On the more legit side of the ledger, he ran a quasi-legal tire dump with his eldest son Pat in Mount Hope — until it was shut down by the government for environmental infractions.
By then, Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Police estimated the Musitano’s were pulling in $14 million a year.
Dominic died in August 1995 of a heart attack. He was 57. One of the best known stories of the Musitano family is that his sons were so distraught at his death that they trashed the hospital waiting room in a fit of grief.
“Life is complicated,” Father Wilhelm eulogized to 1,000 mourners at Dominic’s funeral at Cathedral Basilica of Christ the King. “Christians desire to live according to God’s plan. But sometimes we fall short.”
When his casket was carried out, the procession was led by Pat and rival mob boss Johnny (Pops) Papalia, in his trademark dark sunglasses.
It was one of the largest funerals held in Hamilton, and it got news coverage across the country.
At that moment, Pat inherited the family business. Unlike his great uncle with the menacing nickname, Pasquale became known as Fat Pat.
A prevailing story about Pat is that he loved “The Godfather” films and watched them repeatedly. I thought that was an urban legend until I talked to a cop involved in executing a search warrant at Pat’s house. Sure enough, he had all the movies.
Pat’s little brother Angelo was eager to earn his way into the business.
In the spring of 1997, Ang got his wish. He and Pat ordered two brazen hits.
Johnny Pops was gunned down outside his Railway Street business and his lieutenant Carmen Barillaro was killed at his home in Niagara Falls. Papalia was targeted over money. Barillaro was killed because it was feared he’d take out the Musitanos as revenge for Papalia.
Hit man Kenny Murdock did the jobs. Ang went with him to Barillaro’s house and wanted to pull the trigger himself. But according to an agreed statement of facts presented later in court, “Murdock told him to wait in the car … Murdock went on to explain that (Ang) wanted to be the one to kill Barillaro. Murdock said that he would not allow him to commit the murder because of a promise that he had made previously. Before Murdock left the car (Ang) told him to be sure to deliver the message for shooting Barillaro. He said ‘Let him know it’s from us.’”
On Nov. 24, 1998, the Musitano brothers were arrested.
The front page of The Spectator the next day showed Ang, 21, being escorted out of his mom’s house in handcuffs. Meanwhile, police were arresting Pat, 31, at his house.
In February 2000, Pat and Ang struck a plea deal. Though they were originally charged with first-degree murder, they were sentenced to 10 years for conspiracy to commit murder for Barillaro’s death. They served no time for Papalia’s murder.
They were released from prison in 2006.
Payback for those killings, 23 years ago, is the reason many mafia watchers believe Ang was gunned down in his Waterdown driveway in 2017.
He had been living a quieter life with his wife and children. Just before he died, he wrote a testimonial about finding Christ. Published by his faith group as “Angelo’s Story” it reads: “I was born into a family — not just any family, but ‘the family’ — in other words, a family associated with organized crime.”
One man is charged in connection to his murder. There are arrest warrants for two others.
Ang’s murder set off a chain reaction of gangland killings across Hamilton and the GTA. The violence was all around Pat. Maybe time had not buried his sins against Papalia and Barillaro.
The Musitanos have been written about in books, magazines and countless newspaper stories — 433 times in The Hamilton Spectator in the last 30 years. Within moments of Friday’s shooting, social media lit up with the still unconfirmed rumour that Pat was the target.
The day after his death, someone left a tribute on the asphalt where Pat died: a bouquet of flowers and a crucifix necklace.
Many are mesmerized with the Musitanos’ underworld drama and will be saddened by Pat’s death. Not because they grieve for him, but because the tantalizing family saga may finally have reached its end.