Former Montreal Police Detective Pietro Poletti told Paul Cherry of the Montreal Gazette that he doesn’t believe that 39-year-old Claudia Iacono’s death is related to her husband’s, Antonio Gallo, alleged mafia associations. On Tuesday, May 17, 2023, Claudia Iacono was executed outside of her hair salon and spa, Salon Deauville Coiffure Spa. Cherry quoted Poletti as saying about what he thinks led to the death of Iacono, “I think there’s a conflict between individuals and not between groups. There’s no evidence that shows there’s a (current) conflict between groups, for example between the Calabrians and Sicilians. In this case (Iacono’s death), it could be totally, totally unrelated. It could be something else, business deals or dealing with different people.”

Antonio Gallo’s father, Moreno Gallo, was a member of the Cotroni Family. The Cotroni Family has roots in Calabria, Italy. In the 70s and early 80s, during the tenure of former mob boss, Vincenzo “The Egg” Cotroni , the Cotroni Family were at their height. The Cotroni Family begin to lose power after Vincenzo Cotroni began his battle with cancer. Soon after Cotroni, who was 72 during the time, died, the Cotroni Family was knocked off the underworld throne by their rivals, the Rizzuto Family.

The Rizzuto Family, which hails from Sicily, Italy, were led by Nicolo “Nick” Rizzuto. Although the two families are rivals, Moreno Gallo didn’t let that get in the way of his dealings with the Rizzuto Family. At least, that is what Cherry says the folks over at Project Colisee reported during their investigation of the Montreal Mafia Families.

Due to his alleged “extracurricular” activities with the mafia and not being a Canadian citizen, the Canadian government kicked Moreno Gallo out of Canada in January 2012. Gallo managed to find refuge in Mexico in the city of Acapulco. While there, Gallo tried connecting with Canadian officials who could help him get back to his family, friends, and home in Montreal. Sadly, on November 10, 2013, while he was out eating at the Italian restaurant, Forza Italia, an assassin showed up and made sure that 68-year-old Moreno Gallo never made it back alive to his family, friends, and home in Montreal.

According to Cherry, police investigators believe that Moreno Gallo was struck down by an assassin’s bullet due to his failure to stop the assassination of 86-year-old Nicolo “Nick” Rizzuto. Evidence of the investigators’ claim are the dates that both men were killed. The Rizzuto was assassinated on November 13, 2010, while Gallo was assassinated exactly three years later on November 13, 2013. A coincidence? Most likely not.

More proof in the pudding that someone in the mafia is out to get Moreno Gallo’s family members are the not so cool things that happened to his surviving family members following his assassination. The three not so cool things that happened after Moreno Gallo’s assassination are the 2015 firebombing of Claudia Iacono’s hair and spa salon, the 2019 kidnapping of Gallo’s wife, Ada Crispino-Gallo, and then the 2023 murder of Claudia Iacono.

“I think there is a misconception about the idea that the Mafia is not killing women or children. The history of the Mafia is full of women and children who’ve been killed, so I think when they have an obstacle, when they have to send a message, they don’t pay attention to gender, they have to deliver a message and that is important for them, nothing else, “ is what Cindy Sherwin of CTV News quoted Antonio Nicaso as saying.

Like the former Montreal Police Detective Poletti, Nicaso is considered an expert on all things mafia related. Nicaso is a writer who specializes in organize crime and he is also a professor at Queen’s University. There’s no doubt that both men’s expertise give them insight that everyday folk don’t have.

Having said that, it is also true that some things are just 180. And the timelines of all the assassinations, the firebombing, and the kidnapping says that the death of Moreno Gallo’s daughter-in-law, Claudia Iacono, is most likely related to the late Moreno Gallo’s mafia associations that continue to haunt his family.