A man associated with the gangs was arrested Thursday night in Mascouche in connection with the attempted murder of Leonardo Rizzuto on March 15 in Laval. Kevin Rochebrun, 32, had already been sentenced to three years in prison in the past after the failed attack on Montreal mobster Marco Pizzi.
Rizzuto, youngest son of late Montreal mob boss Vito Rizzuto, was shot while alone in his Mercedes on Highway 440 West, near Highway 13, during rush hour , around 4:30 p.m.
He was hit by two projectiles, and suffered leg and shoulder injuries.
Kevin Rochebrun, arrested in connection with this attack, however, has not been charged. No appearance is scheduled at this time.
The 30-year-old linked to Montreal street gangs had already been arrested and convicted for the attack against the mafia and alleged cocaine importer Marco Pizzi, which occurred in August 2016.
Kevin Rochebrun then hit Pizzi’s vehicle. The airbag in the assailants’ van had activated, leaving traces of blood in the car and allowing investigators to detect Rochebrun’s DNA. Pizzi had fled to a park where children were, escaping his assailants.
After his arrest, investigators found the keys to a car in which they discovered a TEC-9 submachine gun made in the Perfection Metal factory, a sawed-off rifle and 300 rounds of various calibers of ammunition.
During a hearing before the Parole Board of Canada in 2018, Kevin Rochebrun admitted to having worked for two years for an illegal towing company and to having been involved in the theft of luxury cars. He also mentioned that he liked weapons and collected them.
“Your criminality is early and persistent. Offenses of a violent nature and involving the possession of firearms are listed in your file, “said the commissioners at that time, adding that Rochebrun had several links with organized crime individuals.
Rochebrun’s sentence ended in June 2020. He is prohibited from possessing weapons in perpetuity.
According to our sources, Rochebrun would have been close in the past to individuals linked to the gangs involved in the murder of an innocent customer of a café on rue Fleury, in Montreal, committed in June 2017. Rochebrun would also have had links with gang leader Arsène Mompoint, killed in Kanesatake in July 2021, and with Antonio De Blasio, murdered in front of young people who had just finished football practice in a park in the borough of Saint-Léonard in August 2017.
After his release, Rochebrun, who is also known to the police for narcotics and possession of weapons, would have approached certain influential individuals linked to the Montreal mafia.
“He is one of the individuals who would be directly involved in the attempted murder,” an SQ police officer told La Presse.
More arrests are expected. Police say individuals in two Porsche Macan SUVs, one red and the other black, were involved in the attack.
The first vehicle was seen near where Rizzuto was before the events, while it was from the other vehicle that the shots were fired at Leonardo Rizzuto, on the highway.
According to our information, before the attack, Leonardo Rizzuto would have been seated at the Rom Café, located on the boulevard des Laurentides, near the rue de Genève, and considered as one of the headquarters of the Sicilian clan of the Montreal mafia.
Investigators believe the attempted murder of Rizzuto may have been ordered by Francesco Del Balso, a former Sicilian clan lieutenant now more associated with the group of Martin Robert and Stéphane Plouffe, two influential Hells Angels from the Montreal chapter.
Del Balso himself escaped murder attempts last November and January in Laval, and the police believe that the attack on Leonardo Rizzuto could be a response to these events.
A week after the attack on Rizzuto, SQ investigators arrested Del Balso at Montreal-Trudeau airport as he was about to leave the country for Italy.
He was released pending further investigation, but his passport and cell phone were seized.
