Mafia boss killed in Montreal region

The body of an alleged Mafia boss, who U.S. authorities said once headed New York's notorious Bonanno crime family, has been fished out of a rivernear Montreal.

Salvatore Montagna's body was found in the Assomption River Thursday morning, in Charlemagne, northeast of the city.

Nicknamed Sal The Iron Worker,Montagna owned and operated a successful steel business in the U.S.

The FBI once called him the acting boss of the Bonanno crime familyprompting one of New York's tabloids to dub him the "Bambino Boss" because of his rise to power in his mid-30s.

His death is the latest in a series of Mafia-related killings and disappearances over the last two years. Montagna was considered a contender to take over thedecimated Rizzuto family.

Montagna was born in Montreal but raised in Sicily and, although he moved to the United States at 15, he never obtained U.S. citizenship.

The married father of threewas deported to Canada from the United States in 2009because of a conviction for refusing to testify before a grand jury on illegal gambling.

He pleaded guilty to the minor charge, but it made him ineligible to stay in the U.S.

Because he is a Canadian citizen, Ottawa couldn't refuse his re-entry into the country, and Montagna crossed the border without any trouble.

His arrival in Montreal occurred just months before members of the Rizzuto familybegan being killed.

The FBI had called Montagna the acting boss of the Bonanno crime family, an allegation his lawyer publicly denied.

The Bonanno crime family is one of the five largest Mafia families in New Yorkone of the notorious criminal gangs that formed the original Commission, along with Al Capone and Lucky Luciano.

The Bonannos also had close ties to the Montreal Mafia.There had been speculation that Montagna had been part of the new Mafia leadership in Montreal and was trying to reorganize the leaderless group.

His death comes just two months after another man with Mafia ties, Raynald Desjardins,narrowly escaped deathin a shooting in Laval, a suburb north of Montreal.Desjardins had close ties toVito Rizzuto, the reputed head of the Montreal Mafia who is currently imprisoned in the United States.

A rash of killings and disappearances in late 2009 and early 2010 decimated the operation and have robbed him of many of his closest family members.

Rizzuto's fatherand son were gunned down, as were other friends, while hisbrother-in-law simply vanished.Montagna became the latest name on the list.

A provincial police spokesman said Thursday that a private citizen called authorities just after 10 a.m., having spotted a body along the shores of the Assomption River, northeast of Montreal.

The same person also reported to local police that he heard gunshots, but Sgt. Benot Richard said he couldn't confirm just how the victim died.

"When [police] arrived, they saw a man lying near the river, they took him out of the water and started doing CPR with the help of the emergency personnel," Richard said.

"The man was transported to the nearest hospital where he was pronounced dead."

Richard said police will await the results of an autopsy, scheduled for Friday, to determine the cause of death.