![]() Girolamo Del Balso | On February 17th Girolamo Del Balso was nailed in Arizona with 62kg of cocaine destined for Canada. The brother of Francesco Del Balso was arrested in Arizona after specially trained police dog 'Amigo' sniffed out the cocaine in the vehicle he was riding in. Francesco (Chit) Del Balso, 45, was one of six men who took control of the Mafia in Montreal — roughly between 2003 and 2006 — after Vito Rizzuto was arrested and later jailed in the U.S. for being part of a conspiracy to murder three mobsters in Brooklyn in 1981. | ![]() Amigo |
![]() Francesco (Chit) Del Balso | Francesco (Chit) Del Balso had a penchant for talking on a cell phone and that provided police with evidence in Project Colisée, a major investigation into the Mafia in Montreal that produced dozens of arrests in 2006. One man involved with the Rizzuto organization later sarcastically referred to Francesco Del Balso, in court, as “the CEO of Bell” for how chatty he was found to be on police wiretaps. His actual nickname, “Chit,” is reference to Del Balso’s fondness for gambling. He was frequently seen at the Montreal Casino and police believed he was laundering his drug trafficking profits there. | ![]() |
![]() Francesco (Chit) Del Balso | News of the arrest in Arizona came weeks after Francesco Del Balso had conditions imposed by the Parole Board of Canada on his statutory release after having reached the two-thirds mark of his 11-year sentence. The underboss was busted running a sport bookmaking syndicate through which almost $500 million flowed in 11 months. Francesco del Balso ran 25 bookmaking operations in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. In Quebec, del Balso and his partner Lorenzo Giordano operated Internet and telephone sports gambling out of houses in Kahnawake, Montreal and Laval. Giordano was gunned down in a parking lot in Laval March 1, only months after being released from prison to a halfway house. | ![]() Lorenzo Giordano |
![]() Francesco Arcadi | Francesco Arcadi and Francesco Del Balso were released to halfway houses in February but following the hit on Lorenzo Giordano the pair have "been returned behind bars to ensure their own safety" | In this wiretap clip, Chit was checking in with Vito Rizzuto. Chit had earlier been given the task of recovering the briefcase that was in the back of businessman Terry Pomerantz's Cadillac Escalade after it was stolen. Vito's men easily recover the Cadillac — but the briefcase is no longer inside. Vito isn't pleased;Chit is sent back out to "investigate." |