The Canadian City of Hamilton, Ontario, has been a hotbed of organized crime activity since at least the 1920s.
Among the hundreds of varied hoodlums and racketeers of every size and stripe who plundered the territory were many notorious mafiosi, both Calabrian and Sicilian.
But of all these varied hoodlums, whether notorious or lesser known, arguably the most powerful Italian mobster was a virtual unknown Calabrian-born old-timer named Giacomo Luppino.
Luppino was born on January 16, 1900, in the little town of Oppido Mamertina. He and his wife, Domenica, were thought to have immigrated to Canada in 1956 and lived at 200 Ottawa Street South in Hamilton, Ontario.
By this time, Giacomo was already in his mid-fifties and had been a well-established and respected member of Calabria’s Societa Onorato — the Honored Society — for many years. The Honored Society was that southern province’s equivalent of Sicily’s infamous Mafia.
Better known in later years by the name Ndrangheta, Canadian authorities soon found out that the Calabrians were no slouches when it came to organized crime.
The N’drangheta was just as accomplished, efficient, and deadly in their activities as any Cosa Nostra Family.
Highly Respected
Because of Giacomo Luppino’s stature within the criminal underworld back in Calabria, the local Italian underworld welcomed him with open arms, to put it mildly, simultaneously with his arrival in Canada.
In fact, it seems that he received much more than simply a warm welcome.
