A heavy police presence accompanied a funeral service for a reputed mobster who was slain in Montreal last week.
A Monday morning service was held at an east-end Catholic church for Agostino Cuntrera, a 66-year-old man who was gunned down in broad daylight last week.
Cuntrera was killed outside a food supply warehouse he owned in Montreal.
A man police described as Cuntrera's bodyguard was also killed.
No arrests have been made in either killing, though mob experts have suggested Cuntrera's death is linked to ongoing violence that has targeted suspected mobsters in Montreal.
Several hundred people filled the Monte Carmelo church on Monday morning. The service also attracted many onlookers who wanted to catch a glimpse of the people who gathered to pay their respects to Cuntrera.
"It's curiosity. No more than that," said one woman.
Reporters were kept at a distance, and people involved in the funeral were dissuaded from speaking to media. One man who tried to speak to CTV News was told to keep quiet in the middle of an interview.
Several large floral arrangements were visible, including two that included a Ferrari logo.
"I'm told that Mr. Cuntrera was a sports car enthusiast, so perhaps that's why they are there," CTV's Genevieve Beauchemin told CTV News Channel while mourners filed out of the church following the end of the service.
CTV Montreal's Stephane Giroux said many uniformed and plainclothes officers could be seen outside the church on Monday.
"It's hard to know who is checking who…there are a lot of plainclothes police officers taking notes, taking pictures, essentially just keeping an eye on the whole scene," Giroux said.
While the funeral was well attended, Giroux said "very few well-known members of the mob" were seen at the church.
"Are they sort of keeping an eye on themselves? Hard to say," he said.
One member of the funeral procession was seen entering a noisy construction site near the church, a few minutes before the service was slated to begin. The site fell silent for the start of the service, Giroux said.
Decades ago, Cuntrera served a five-year prison sentence for his part in a conspiracy to kill a mobster.
Cuntrera was believed to have been serving as head of the Montreal Mafia following the arrest of Vito Rizzuto, who is serving a 10-year sentence for racketeering in Colorado.
Outside the church, Beauchemin said Cuntrera's death "is a very significant moment in the scene here in Montreal."
"A lot of experts are looking at this as being perhaps a seismic shift in the way that the mob is organized here in Montreal," said Beauchemin.
Late last year, Rizzuto's 42-year-old son, Nicolo "Nick" Rizzuto Jr., was gunned down on a Montreal street. His father was not allowed to attend his son's funeral.
In May, Vito Rizzuto's brother-in-law, Paolo Renda, went missing without explanation. His car was found abandoned near his home.
With files from The Canadian Press and CTV Montreal
