Police release photos of truck possibly linked to fatal shooting of Montreal Mafia figure

Montreal police released these surveillance images of a Dodge Ram 1500 Limited pickup truck that they believe is linked to the June 5, 2023, homicide of Francesco Del Balso. (Source: Montreal police)

Six months after Montreal Mafia figure Francesco Del Balso was gunned down in broad daylight in Dorval, police have released surveillance footage of a vehicle allegedly linked to the crime.

Police released the images Monday in the hopes that members of the public will recognize a white Dodge Ram 1500 Limited pickup truck that the major crime unit believes could be a getaway vehicle. The suspect vehicle is believed to be between the 2019 and 2023 models.

On June 5, Del Balso was shot at around 1 p.m. outside the Monster Gym St. Regis Boulevard near Deacon Avenue. He was pronounced dead at the scene and his death marked the city's 12th homicide of 2023.

According to one Mafia expert, Del Balso was a senior member of the Rizzuto organized crime family who used to run gambling operations and later clashed with the organization's leader.

Police have not announced any arrests in the unsolved killing of the 53-year-old man.

The major crime unit is asking anyone who recognizes the truck to contact police by calling 911 or filing an anonymous report to Info-Crime by calling 514-393-1133. Police are offering rewards of up to $3,000 for information leading to the arrest of suspects.

Del Balso's killing was part of a string of organized crime-related shootings last spring. On March 15, Leonardo Rizzuto, the youngest son of late Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto, was shot in the leg while driving on a Montreal-area highway. He survived the attack.

Then, in May, Claudia Iacono, a 39-year-old mother of two, was fatally shot in the parking lot of Salon Deauville Coiffure Spa, a salon she owned in Côte-des-Neiges. Iacono was married to the son of Moreno Gallo, a man with links to organized crime who was assassinated in an Acapulco restaurant in Mexico on Nov. 10, 2013.