Papalia crime family
| Founded | 1940s |
|---|---|
| Founders | Canada: Antonio Papalia Italy: Papalia brothers: Domenico (Micu), Antonio and Rocco |
| Founding location | Canada: Hamilton, Ontario Italy: Platì, Calabria |
| Years active | 1940s–present |
| Territory | Canada: Southern Ontario Italy: Delianuova and Platì in Calabria, and Buccinasco in Milan Australia: New South Wales |
| Ethnicity | Canada: Italians as "made men" and other ethnicities as associates Italy: Calabrians |
| Activities | Racketeering, loan sharking, money laundering, gambling, drug trafficking, extortion, fraud and prostitution |
| Allies | Barbaro 'ndrina Agresta 'ndrina Molluso 'ndrina Buffalo crime family Marando 'ndrina |
| Rivals | Musitano crime family and various gangs in Hamilton |
The Papalia crime family (Italian: [papaˈliːa]) also known as Papalia 'ndrina, is a 'Ndrangheta organized crime family based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, as well as Platì in Southern Italy and Buccinasco in Northern Italy. Another branch of the family is based in Griffith, New South Wales, Australia.
Antonio Papalia founded the Papalia family in Canada in the 1940s, and is one of three centralized Mafia organizations in Hamilton, with the other two being the Musitano crime family and the Luppino crime family. The Papalias had strong connections with the Buffalo crime family of Buffalo, New York, under long-reigning boss Johnny Papalia, who was often called "Pops" or "The Enforcer". The killings of Johnny and his lieutenant Carmen Barillaro in 1997, ordered by the Musitanos, had effectively wiped out the family's remaining leaders in Canada. One news report stated that the events of 1997 "decapitated the Papalia family". One leader remained, Johnny's brother Frank, who died in 2014 and retired years before his death.
In Italy, the Papalia family is a sort of branch within the Barbaro 'ndrina, operating in Lombardy, and having its stronghold in the city of Buccinasco. The branch was founded and headed by the children of Giuseppe Papalia and Serafina Barbaro.