 | Once considered a rising star in the Montreal Mafia Danny (Arm) De Gregorio, 49, was caught with a loaded gun. He was sentenced in November to a 32-month prison term for having carried a loaded firearm, with the serial number scratched off, in 2011, while the Rizzuto organization was in conflict with other Mafia clans. De Gregorio has had ties in the past to the clans that are considered rivals to the Rizzuto organization. He has been granted early parole and will be transferred to a halfway house near the end of May and will be granted a full release in October. |  |
 | De Gregorio told the board that he was carrying the firearm because of an attempt on his life in 2009, when he was shot at least four times. Before granting him the release, the board asked De Gregorio about the legitimate job he had just before he was sentenced late last year. De Gregorio worked as “a pizza man” at Linguini, a restaurant that burned down two days before he was sentenced on Nov. 29. |  |
 | Le Journal de Montréal reported that about 20 men with Mafia ties from Ontario and Quebec were at the restaurant just weeks before the fire. Among them were two sons of Paolo Violi, a Mafioso who was killed in 1978 by the Rizzuto organization. Violi’s death cleared the path for the Rizzutos to take control of the Montreal Mafia for decades. |
 | In 2008, De Gregorio was arrested and charged in connection with a kidnapping. The men who carried out the kidnapping were trying to collect money that the victim owed. Among the people arrested was Salvatore Scoppa, the brother of Andrea (Andrew) Scoppa, a man alleged to be the leader of a Calabrian clan within the Montreal Mafia. |  |
