Arabnews24.ca:Monday 5 June 2023 02:49 PM: A reputed member of organized crime in Montreal was shot and killed Monday afternoon, sources confirmed to Radio-Canada.
Francesco Del Balso was shot near the corner of Deacon Street and Saint Régis Boulevard in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, a city in Montreal's West Island.
Montreal police were on the scene and reported a shooting with a seriously injured victim.
Del Balso was arrested as part of the Operation Colisée sweep of the Montreal Mafia in 2006. He was convicted of gangsterism and conspiracy to import cocaine.
He was released in 2016, then ordered back into prison over concerns for his safety. Parole board documents at the time described him as "next on an execution list." Del Balso was released again in 2017.
The shooting follows two other high profile attacks this year.
In March, Leonardo Rizzuto, who allegedly took over from his father Vito Rizzuto as a Montreal Mafia leader, was shot at in Laval, Que. The car he was driving was hit with multiple bullets. Rizzuto survived with injuries.
On May 16, Claudia Iacona, the daughter-in-law of Montreal Mafia member Moreno Gallo, was killed in a targeted shooting in the parking lot of her beauty salon in the Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough.
