| Paolo Gervasi |
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| Paolo Gervasi was born in the early 1940s, and has been said to be a long time member of the Montreal Mafia, as well as once being on the best of terms with reputed Mafia Godfather Vito Rizzuto. Gervasi's son, Salvatore Gervasi, was reported to have followed in his father's footsteps, allegedly involved in drugs, loansharking, and gambling. A nephew of Paolo's, Giuseppe Gervasi, was charged in 1998 with participating in a heroin network ran by reputed Mafia captain Giuseppe Morello, but was acquitted of all charges against him. Paolo Gervasi owned the popular Castel Tina strip club on Jean-Talon Street, a hang out for mobsters and bikers. The establishment was once raided by police, and was also bombed in 1998. |
Gervasi has always maintained a low profile but was once arrested in a police raid on the Consenza Social Club in Saint-Leonard, a café frequented by members of the Montreal mob. Gervasi, along with others, including Vito and Nicolo Rizzuto, were charged with being in a gambling house. On April 20, 2000, the body of Salvatore Gervasi, Paolo's son, was found in the trunk of his black Porsche, parked in front of the family's Saint-Leonard home. He had been shot and wrapped in a tarp. He was 31 years old. According to information published in La Presse, Paolo Gervasi had been ordered days prior to the murder to cease all contact with members of the Rock Machine, whom the Gervasis reportedly associated with and, according to what police sources told the Montreal Gazette, had a special table reserved for them at Gervasi's strip club. The murder was a clear message to Paolo Gervasi to end all contact with the Rock Machine, police allegedly told the press. The Montreal Mafia, being closely alligned with the Hells Angels, did not appreciate one of their own associating with the Hells Angels' sworn enemies. Shortly after his son's murder, Paolo Gervasi closed down the Castel Tina club, and reportedly hired a private detective to help find Salvatore's killers. On the morning of August 14, 2000, Paolo Gervasi was the victim of an attempted murder as he left a bank on Jean-Talon Street. He was apparently talking with someone he knew, when that person pulled out a gun and fired four slugs into Paolo Gervasi. The suspect then fled in a vehicle driven by an accomplice, while two others - possibly back-up shooters? - followed in a second car. Gervasi was rushed to a hospital and survived. On February 25, 2002, police were called to disarm a bomb in front of the Consenza Social Club, an establishment reputed to be a hang out for Vito Rizzuto and other reputed senior members of the Montreal Mafia. Under a black jeep Cherokee in the parking lot, police found about ten sticks of dynamite. Interestingly, it was reported in La Presse that the Cherokee had been rented out to the name of Salvatore Gervasi, killed almost two years earlier. Police did confirm, however, that Paolo Gervasi had not driven the vehicle. Hitmen finally caught up to Gervasi on January 19, 2004. As he sat in his Jeep Grand Cherokee in a St. Léonard parking lot, at least six shots were fired through the driver's side window of his vehicle, killing the veteran mobster. A firearm was found at the scene and witnesses saw two men fleeing the area. |