Reputed New York godfather being deported to Montreal

Reputed New York godfather being deported to Montreal

Canwest News Service
April 19, 2009

MONTREAL - The reputed head of New York's Bonanno crime family is being kicked out of the U.S and is coming to live in Montreal.

Salvatore (Sal the Ironworker) Montagna, who was born in Montreal and raised in Sicily, opted to come to Canada after U.S. immigration officials took steps to try to deport him. He is expected to arrive within the next five days.

"He has family and friends in Montreal," Montagna's lawyer, George Stavropoulos, said this week.

On April 6, agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Montagna in Brooklyn for civil violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act, stemming from a contempt of court conviction back in 2003.

Montagna appeared in an Immigration Court in New York on Tuesday.

He was convicted of criminal contempt in New York and sentenced to five years' probation after he refused to answer questions from a grand jury. His conviction on the contempt charge is what has allowed authorities to force him to leave the U.S.

Montagna, 38, who runs a steel business in Brooklyn, is to remain in custody until he leaves the U.S., said Brandon Montgomery, a spokesman for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Washington, D.C.

Stavropoulos said his client will try to get a job in the steel business in Montreal and plans to fight to regain his legal status in the U.S.

Montreal Gazette

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He will still be able to run everything from Montreal! People who aren't too familiar with Canada are shocked when they find out the mob operates there just as much as in the US. Montreal, Quebec; Hamilton, Ontario and Niagara Falls Ont. are hot beds for activity...LOL!