'Dead man walking': Mobster Pat Musitano has been shot and killed. What happens now?

Pasquale (Pat) Musitanowas killed Friday, but Mafia experts say the notorious Hamilton mobsterwas living on borrowed time long before the fatal shot was fired.

Closecalls and brushes with death had stalked thescion of the Musitano crime family for years.

He survivedoneshooting that peppered his home with bullet holesin 2017, and another, just over a year before his death, that sent him to hospital with multiple gunshot wounds.

"He was a dead man walking," said AntonioNicaso, a Mafia expert who teaches courses on organized crime at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont.

"In the world of the Mafia, revenge does not lapse. Revenge does not have a statute of limitations."

Ultimately, the 52-year-old couldn't escape those who were gunning for him. On Friday, hewas shot and killed outside a strip mallin Burlington, Ont., west of Toronto.

HaltonRegion police confirmed Musitano was killed and said another person who Nicaso saidis believed to have been the mobster's close friend and bodyguard was woundedand remains in hospital in serious condition.

Investigators are searching for a male suspect who fled in a newer modelgrey four-door sedan "similar to an Infiniti Q50."

The vehicle will have "fresh damage" on the driver's side near the doors, say police, who are asking anyone whospots it to contact them.

Musitano's death marksthe end of a string of violent attempts on his life, but it also raises questions about what will happen next now that one of the most powerful organized crime families in Hamilton issuddenly without a figurehead.

"With the playing field in the underworld being wide open, you're going to have a lot of different groups trying to make a power play," saidStephen Metelsky, a criminology professor at Mohawk College in Hamilton and a retired police sergeant.

'Those people never forget, never forgive'

The story of the Musitanos stretches back tothe 1970s, when the family was linked to convictions for bombings and extortion, as well as 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 bossJohnny "Pops" Papaliaandone of his lieutenants, Carmen Barillaro.

The Musitanosreached a deal and pleaded to conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Barillaro. In turn, the charges against them in connection with Papalia's death were dropped.

Both men were sentenced to 10 years in prisonand were releasedin 2007.

Nicasosaid he thinksother underworld figures never forgave Musitano for Papalia's death.

Mobsters can hold grudgesfor years, quietly hunting targets and harbouring "festering feelings of revenge" he said. In the world of the Mob, waiting 23 years for vengeance is nothing.

"There have been cases where revenge has come after 50 years," Nicasosaid."Those people never forget, never forgive."

Metelsky also traced Musitano's killing back to that of Papalia, pointing out the two deaths are "eerily reminiscent" of each other.

"Both mobsters [were] gunned down on the street in broad daylight," he said.

The organized crime specialist said Angelo's death in 2017 meant his brother's days were numbered, and therepeated attempts on Musitano's life were "foreshadowing" his death.

"The planning and scheming to kill Pat started the day after he survived last year," Metelskysaid.

Musitanoknew his death was coming, according to the professor.

"There's no retirement plan in the Mob," he said."There's typically three exit options in the Mafia:You go to jail, you're murdered or you put on a government jersey and become a co-operating witness."

Hard to predict what's next

Nicaso said he's not sure what the next chapter will bring for organized crime in the area.

Mobsters around the world are less visible today and more focused on making money, he said. The two warring factionswithin the Rizzuto family have reportedly reached a silent agreement to focus on business, not violence, he noted.

"My instinct is to say [Musitano's death] was a kind of mission to revenge a betrayal that took place in 1997 ... but you never know," Nicasosaid."They may have some other issue and may continue with the violence. It's very difficult to predict."

Regardless, the next moment will be one to watch.

Musitano's death means the family, or at least its namesake, is "completely decimated," Metelskysaid.

It's a situation that's left a power vacuum in the underworld and no shortage of groups that might try to fill it.

"Hamilton is a very ripe geographical area for all kinds of criminal rackets," Metelsky said, with a location nestled closeto Toronto and just a short drive from Buffalo and the U.S. border.

"Will the violence stop? No," he said."The problem is the violence never stops."