Reputed mob boss Vito Rizzuto is back in Canada today, after landing at Toronto's Pearson International Airport, hours after being released from a Colorado prison.
Rizzuto, 66, was released from a medium security facility in Denver Friday morning, after serving five years in prison for his involvement in the 1981 murders of three Bonanno crime family members.
Officers with Peel Regional Police were on hand as Rizzuto arrived on an Air Canada flight around 11 p.m. ET. Police provided the security to make sure Rizutto and other passengers were safe as the former Mafia don made his way through the airport. Police said the move was precautionary and that they knew of no threat issued against him.
It's not known where Rizzuto headed after he left the airport. A Peel Police spokesman say Rizutto is a free man and can go wherever he chooses.
Rizzuto, once known as Montreal's "Teflon Don," was arrested in Canada in 2004. Two years later, he was extradited to the U.S. where he was convicted on charges of racketeering and conspiracy in connection with the triple murder of the three New York City Mafia captains.
Once the dominant figure in the Montreal underworld, Rizutto returns home to weakened ranks. Both his father and son were murdered in Montreal as he served his sentence, while in 2010, his brother-in-law disappeared without a trace.
"At 86, his father was important enough to kill," crime writer James Dubro told CTV News Channel on Friday. "That sends a strong message to Vito that he is no longer in charge."
The same day that Rizutto left prison, services were held at a Montreal funeral home for his father-in-law Leonardo Cammalleri, who died of a heart attack this week at 92. Cammalleri was wanted by Italian authorities in connection with several murders, but was never extradited.
Meanwhile, Rizzuto's palatial home on the infamous Montreal street dubbed by police as "Mafia Row" is on the market for $1.5 million.
It is not known where Rizzuto will settle in Canada, or whether he'll stay in the country.
