Hundreds of mourners crowded into a Montreal church Monday for the funeral of mob patriarch Nicolo Rizzuto, who was gunned down at his home last week at the age of 86.
Family members, lawyers, accountants and many of Rizzuto's friends packed Notre-Dame-de-la-Defense Church for the 90-minute funeral, which was conducted completely in Italian.
Outside the church, hundreds of curious onlookers watched a procession of black cars carry family, as well as Rizzuto's gold coffin, to the morning service, which was also under heavy surveillance by police.
Security guards kept reporters and other unwanted guests away from the service, while police recorded the attendees and their cars.
James Dubro, a long-time crime reporter who has covered the Mafia for decades, told CTV Montreal that he made it inside the Montreal church before the funeral began.
But he said security personnel asked him to leave, which he did "out of respect."
Dubro said that compared to past mob funerals, the service for Rizzuto was somewhat muted.
"This is very low key, even though there are 400, 500 people in there," Dubro told CTV Montreal on Monday.
There was no eulogy during the service, but the priest spoke and told mourners that Rizzuto "is going to go with God, where everyone's going to go," Leopoldo Seccarecia, who works at the church, told reporters.
Few of the mourners would speak to reporters outside the church. However, those that did remembered Rizzuto as a kind man.
"If anybody needed help, he was there to see what he could do," said one man, who did not give his name.
Suspicious package raises concern
Earlier Monday, a suspicious box package was left on the steps of the church. It had white tape on it in the form of a cross.
Police initially thought the box might have been some sort of funeral tradition, but quickly determined it was not.
"They set up this big perimeter around the church here, kind of keeping people back, wondering exactly what was inside the package," CTV's Genevieve Beauchemin told CTV News Channel from outside the church on Monday morning.
A police officer later picked up the package and carried it away.
Beauchemin said that police confirmed that a note was inside the box, though they are not revealing what the note said.
"The contents of the note will be kept confidential until our investigators have had a chance to look at it," said Montreal police Const. Daniel Lacoursiere.
Mourners were allowed to file into the church after the package was removed by police.
Rizzuto slain at home
Rizzuto died last week after being shot in the head at his Montreal home.
Police believe his killer may have lurked in the wooded area behind his residence, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
Former Quebec provincial police officer John Galianos said police watch mob funerals closely because there are few opportunities for investigators to take photos of known mobsters. And the photos they have on file can quickly become dated.
"People get older, and they start to look different, so they'll be trying to identify these guys," Galianos said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press.
Plainclothes police officers were filming the hundreds of people coming and going from Rizzuto's visitation services on the weekend, while others recorded the license plates of the cars that drove in and out of the funeral home.
But Galianos said he expected few big-name mobsters to attend Rizzuto's funeral, as many faces were absent at the January funeral for his namesake grandson.
The younger Nicolo Rizzuto was only 42 years old when he was shot dead on a Montreal street on Dec. 28, 2009.
His grandfather attended his funeral at Notre-Dame-de-la-Defense in early January.
A family under attack
The killings of Rizzuto and his grandson were only two of several deadly strikes against the family and those close to it in the past year.
The slain great-grandfather's son-in-law, Paolo Renda, went missing in May. His car was found two blocks from his home, with the keys in the ignition. The 70-year-old Renda has still not been found.
The following month, high-ranking Rizzuto associate Agostino Cuntrera, 66, was shot dead as he was walking out of a Montreal warehouse. His bodyguard was slain in the same attack.
Experts say the attacks are designed to knock down the Rizzuto family while many of its senior members, including Nicolo Rizzuto's son, Vito, remain in jail.
Political journalist Angelo Persichilli said it comes down to being "an extermination of the family."
With so many members of the Rizzuto family missing, killed or in jail, Persichilli said it is difficult to say who will take the top spot in the organization now that Nicolo Rizzuto is dead.
Vito Rizzuto, who is in a U.S. jail serving time for racketeering, is due to be released in October 2012 and many believe his life will be at risk. He did not attend his father's funeral.
With files from The Canadian Press and a report from CTV Montreal's Caroline Van Vlaardingen and Rob Lurie