The Montreal City Police Service (SPVM) released Monday afternoon photos and a description of a vehicle allegedly used in the murder of Francesco Del Balso, committed on June 5, in the Dollard- des-Ormeaux, in the west of the island of Montreal.
The vehicle sought is a white Dodge pickup-style van, model Ram 1500 Limited, built between 2019 and 2023.
The SPVM invites anyone who has information on this vehicle to call 911 or to contact their neighborhood station or Info-crime. The organization is offering a reward of up to $3,000 for information leading to the arrest of the suspect(s).
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE SPVM
The same van seen from above.
Considered an important player in Montreal organized crime, Del Balso, 53, was shot and killed early in the afternoon while he was near a fitness center, at the intersection of Boulevard Saint -Régis and Deacon Avenue.
According to our information, the shooter was approximately 90 meters from the victim when he opened fire from the cabin of the vehicle or near it.
Del Balso had just met a member of the Hells Angels when he was murdered.
He was not wearing a bulletproof vest and was hit by at least one projectile in the head.
Sports betting war
Police believe that Del Balso’s assassination is a response to the failed attack committed against Leonardo Rizzuto, youngest son of former Montreal mafia godfather Vito Rizzuto, which occurred in mid-March in Laval.
According to the police, Del Balso was involved in this attack, in particular to take revenge for two attempted murders of which he was the victim in November 2022 and last January.
The background to these events would be an attempt to take control, by a group of Hells Angels, of the very lucrative illegal online sports betting and the book of usurious loans linked to it, and which are controlled by the Sicilian clan of the Montreal mafia for decades.
PHOTO ARCHIVES THE PRESS
Francesco Del Balso circa 2020.
Former lieutenant of the Rizzuto clan and head of mafia sports betting, Francesco Del Balso is one of those who received the heaviest sentences after their arrest in Operation Coliseum, in which the Royal Canadian Mounted Police beheaded the Sicilian clan in 2006.
Dissatisfied with the way the clan took care of him during his long detention, Del Balso joined forces with Martin Robert and Stéphane Plouffe, influential members of the Hells Angels of Montreal, upon his release from the penitentiary.
To contact Daniel Renaud, call 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.