Was the Acapulco hit on Moreno Gallo local, or did the Mafia come to town?

The restaurant in Acapulco

At 9:20 Sunday evening at Forza Italia restaurant in Acapulco, Mexico, Moreno Gallo, 68, an Italian mobster who lived for decades in Canada, was gunned down.

Gallo was deported from Canada in 2012 due to his criminal record. He is understood to have once had significant influence within the Montreal mafia.

Police as well as employees of the restaurant, located at #82 Costera Miguel Alemán in the Pacific city’s tourist zone, said that Gallo had been living in Acapulco for over a year.

Gallo was wearing white trousers and a pink shirt with white stripes when a man dressed all in black approached him directly and shot him nine times, leaving him for dead.

Costera Miguel Alemán is a busy street, and the Forza Italia is not a “high end” restaurant. There was a strong post-shooting police mobilization, with many guests reportedly fleeing in panic. However, this was clearly a targeted hit and not a random act or a robbery. Gallo was transported to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

There is some speculation that his murder may have been timed to occur on the third anniversary of the death of Nicolo (Zio Cola) Rizzuto, which was also on Sunday. Gallo had reportedly fallen out of favour with  Rizzuto’s Sicilian organization, which has been fighting a bloody battle in Montreal and Toronto with the 'Ndrangheta from Calabria.

Mexican authorities would be wise to be watching all flight manifests connecting out of Acapulco to Canada or Italy.

There is also the possibility that Gallo was trying to drum up business in Mexico. If so, he seems to have met his match, as have so many other Canadian gangsters who have tried to work with Mexico’s ultra-violent drug cartels.

(TE Wilson is the author of Mezcalero, a Detective Sánchez novel.)