Shooting victim linked to Mob boss: sources
Police believe restaurateur killed in drive-by attack was associate of Rizzuto
A restaurant owner shot to death Friday afternoon in front of the wine bar he ran in the Roncesvalles neighbourhood was an associate of Montreal Mob boss Vito Rizzuto, according to multiple police sources.
Paolo Caputo, 64, of Richmond Hill, became Toronto’s 38th homicide victim for 2019 after he was shot at about 4 p.m. outside Domani Restaurant, at 335 Roncesvalles Ave., near Grenadier Rd.
Witnesses reported two gunshots. Caputo died on the scene, Toronto police said. An autopsy is planned for Saturday.
Domani Restaurant’s website lists Paul Caputo as its owner.
It says he purchased it after owning and operating the Savorie Restaurant in Forest Hill for 11 years, an establishment visited by Rizzuto when the Montreal Mob boss came to Toronto, according to police sources.
Police believed Caputo was a longtime associate of Rizzuto, who was believed to be Canada’s most powerful underworld figure until his death almost six years ago.
Caputo was arrested in November 2007 with dozens of other men when police broke up what they said was a highstakes poker game at a social club on Finch Ave. W. near Dufferin St. Police were alerted to the gambling activity after the club was robbed by two men that year.
The OPP organized crime unit estimated that operation grossed more than $1 million yearly, and that it funnelled funds to Rizzuto.
Caputo is also the older brother of Martino Caputo, one of four men convicted of the 2012 murder of drug trafficker John Raposo in broad daylight on a crowded College St. patio, in a killing connected to a group called the Wolfpack Alliance.
Martino Caputo was convicted in 2017 of first-degree murder in Raposo’s death, along with Dean Wiwchar of Stouffville, Nicola Nero of Niagara on the Lake and Rabih (Bobby) Alkhalil of Montreal.
Raposo, 35, was shot four times at close range on June 18, 2012, while watching a Euro Cup soccer game on TV at the Sicilian Sidewalk Café as part of plot to steal 200 kilograms of cocaine from him.
Martino Caputo’s lawyer, Greg Lafontaine, told the jury that his client barely contributed in the murder conspiracy alleged by the Crown.
Martino Caputo “was not an important cog in the drug importing machine … it doesn’t really appear he brought anything to the table,” Lafontaine said. The trial also heard that Martino Caputo had once been one of Raposo’s friends who attended the baptism of his child.
“None of us could imagine ‘his friend’ (Martino) Caputo, who came to his child’s baptism, would turn on him like this,” Raposo’s cousin, Helena Pacheco, told the court in her victimimpact statement.
Police canvassed the neighbourhood Friday for witnesses or surveillance video in the latest shooting. A gun was found at the scene.
Police described the suspect as male, with a fair complexion, thin and standing 5-foot-11 to 6-foot-2 tall.
The suspect fled west on Constance St. in a white, four-door SUV, which was believed to be driven by someone else.
Following the shooting, patrons to Domani’s had to be buzzed inside the locked front doors.
Domani’s website states that the Roncesvalles wine bar/restaurant has been open for 20 years, offering “Great food. Great Wine. Great Service.”
“After owning and operating Savorie Restaurant in Forest Hill for 11 years, Paul purchased Domani Restaurant and immediately fell in love with both the restaurant and the neighbourhood,” the website states. “Slowly and respectfully enhancing the 17 year Roncy favourite has proven to be an excellent approach as passionate diners continue to embrace this gem.”