Reputed gang leader Ducarme Joseph was gunned down in Montreal’s St. Michel neighbourhood Friday night.
Joseph’s body was found in the street at about 10:15 p.m. Friday. The 46-year-old was shot multiple times with what’s believed to be a semi-automatic weapon.
Police have not named a suspect in the case, but some crime experts believe Joseph was killed in retaliation for his alleged role in the 2009 murder of Nick Rizzuto Jr.
Rizzuto Jr.’s father was Montreal Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto.
Joseph was never charged in connection with the younger Rizzuto’s death, but he was believed to have been targeted for assassination a few months later. Two men died and two others were injured in a shooting at a downtown boutique Joseph owned. Joseph escaped unharmed.
Joseph had a criminal history that would have put him in contact with mafia. He co-founded the 67s gang in his Montreal neighbourhood in the 1980s. When the gang broke up in the late 1990s, he stayed active in Montreal’s criminal underworld.
Joseph and his associates worked for different criminal organizations, including the Mafia, LaPresse crime reporter Daniel Renaud told CTV Montreal. Renaud said Joseph was involved with extortion, confinement, and collecting money.
“He was the kind of individual someone could send to knock on someone’s door to collect a debt,” Renaud said.
Renaud said Joseph feared for his life when Vito Rizzuto returned to Montreal in 2012 after spending time in a U.S. prison. Even though Joseph believed in voodoo and thought that he was invincible, he was recently trying to keep a low profile, Renaud said.
“Obviously, last night the magic ran out,” he said.
With a report from CTV Montreal’s Rob Lurie
