Hamilton mobster Natale Luppino is now at the center of a developing case into a violent home invasion that took place back in 2018.
Authorities have now charged four people from Montreal with attempted murder in connection with the attack at a home owned by Luppino. Natale also known as “Nat” is the uncle of Cece Luppino who was gunned down earlier this year at the home of his father Rocco Luppino. Natale and Rocco are believed to be the current leaders of the Luppino crime family one of Hamilton’s Calabrian crime families. The Luppino family and Musitano crime family are seemingly at the heart of the ongoing Hamilton mafia war. There has been plenty of speculation as to the motives behind the renewed violence and this link back to Montreal will most certainly lead to more questions and newly formed theories.
According to police, the incident happened back in April of 2018 when multiple men forced their way into the home. They made contact with two victims one of which was stabbed while the other was able to escape into the neighborhood. The still unidentified stabbing victim was treated at a local hospital and released. The three attackers fled the area in multiple vehicles one of which was being driven by a female getaway driver. It remains unclear as to whether or not Natale “Nat” Luppino was a target of the murder attempt. Police treated the incident as a home invasion and was offered little to no cooperation from those involved. The case went cold but was reopened in December after authorities in Hamilton obtained new information from police in Toronto and Peel according to a recent report from the Hamilton Spectator.
It’s still unclear as to exactly what new information was obtained but it led police to change the case from a home invasion into a murder investigation. It was just a month later in January that Cece Luppino was gunned down. Even though Cece is related to known mobsters he didn’t have a criminal past although his death along with the murder of Angelo Musitano and the recent assassination attempt against Pat Musitano have all been linked to the ongoing mafia war. After traveling to Montreal and obtaining new information Hamilton police arrested Marc Monette and Martine Villeneuve back on April 11.
The case continued to develop and two more suspects Charles Boucher-Savard and Jonathan Monette who were already in custody on unrelated matters were also charged on Wednesday. All the defendants have been charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, and more. The men are not members of the mafia according to police but they are known in relation to street gang activity in Montreal. The Musitano family has flourished over recent years with the backing of Montreal’s Rizzuto crime family. The Rizzuto’s have fallen from grace after the death of Vito Rizzuto and their own bloody mob war leaving themselves and their allies vulnerable. But the Rizzuto’s have been known to contract local street and biker gangs to carry out various activities including these kinds of hits.
The question that will most certainly arise now is was this attack which went mostly unnoticed when it happened ordered by what remains of the Rizzuto’s in retaliation for the moves being made against the Musitano’s. Could this be a sign that at least a remaining faction of the mafia in Montreal still has a hand in what’s going on in Hamilton? Could new Rizzuto boss Stefano Sollecito be strong enough to make a move against the factions at war with their old Hamilton allies? Or maybe it’s simply a case of a Hamilton mafia family farming out some heavy lifting to some out of towners in an effort to stay anonymous?
What’s happened in Montreal has affected the organized crime landscape across the entire region including Hamilton and this could be one of the first direct links between the two conflicts.