Pasquale (Pat) Musitano met his demise on Friday, but experts suggest that the notorious Hamilton mobster had been living on borrowed time long before the fatal shot rang out.
Surviving close calls and near-death experiences had become a routine for the scion of the Musitano crime family. In 2017, his home was riddled with bullet holes in a shooting incident. Just over a year before his death, he was hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds from another attack.
Antonio Nicaso, a Mafia expert from Queen’s University, remarked, “He was a dead man walking. In the world of the Mafia, revenge knows no time limit.”
Ultimately, at 52, Pat Musitano couldn’t outrun those seeking vengeance. He was shot and killed outside a strip mall in Burlington, Ontario.
The killing of Pat Musitano raises questions about the future of one of Hamilton’s most powerful organized crime families, now without its figurehead.
“With the underworld now wide open, various groups will vie for power,” said Stephen Metelsky, a criminology professor in Hamilton.
The Musitano saga dates back to the 1970s, marked by convictions for bombings, extortion, and the hit on mobster Domenic Racco in the 1980s. Pat and his brother Angelo were charged with first-degree murder in 1997 for the contract killing of local Mob boss Johnny “Pops” Papalia and Carmen Barillaro. They pleaded to conspiracy to commit murder in Barillaro’s death, leading to their release in 2007.
According to Nicaso, Pat’s survival didn’t appease other underworld figures, harboring grudges and seeking revenge for years.
Metelsky sees Pat’s death as linked to Papalia’s, both being daylight street shootings. Angelo’s death in 2017 foreshadowed Pat’s fate, with repeated attempts on his life signaling impending doom.
“There’s no retirement plan in the Mob,” Metelsky remarked. “You go to jail, get murdered, or become a co-operating witness.”
The aftermath remains uncertain. While mobsters globally focus on business over violence, Pat’s death may trigger further turmoil.
“Hamilton’s criminal landscape remains fertile ground,” Metelsky warned. “Violence may not cease; it’s a perpetual problem.”
The demise of Pat Musitano leaves a void, signaling potential power shifts in the underworld. The saga continues, with the shadows of revenge ever looming.
