The former boss of the Bonanno crime family was reportedly whacked today in his native Canada amidst a bloody power struggle for control over the Montreal mob.
Salvatore “Sal the Ironworker” Montagna, 40, was shot once during a struggle on a small island named Ild de Vaudry — a working class neighborhood about 30 miles north of Montreal, police sources told the Montreal Gazette.
But the mortally wounded Montagna jumped into the freezing Assomption River, and swam 30 feet across to the other shore, where he was found around 10 a.m. by emergency responders.
“He was lying on the bank of the river,” a police spokesman told The Post.
“They turned him over and started to do CPR.”
Montagna, who ascended to the head of the Bonannos during a time of turmoil as their ranks were being decimated by federal prosecutors, was rushed to a hospital where he died.
Investigators got a search warrant for a house on the island and discovered signs of a struggle but declined to release further details except to say Montagna did not live there.
Montagna, who got his nickname because he owned a construction company, Matrix Steel, in Bushwick, was tapped to succeed Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano in 2006.
Montagna, who was born in Montreal and in America as a resident, was deported in 2009 because of an earlier conviction for contempt.