Salvatore Montagna (1971-2011), aka. "Sal the Iron Worker" was an Acting Boss of the Bonanno crime family, as well as one of the Sicilian faction-leaders of the Bronx crew.

Salvatore Montagna was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1971. He was raised in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily and became attracted by the United States already as a teenager. Montagna and his family settled in the Bronx, New York in the mid 1980s, and Montagna became quite attached to the ring of crime, violence and corruption. It is unclear when Montagna was inducted into the Bonanno crime family, however, it was during the late 1990s, under the leadership of strong Boss Joseph "Big Joe" Massino that Montagna was overheard in wiretaps and conversations between other reputed members of the Bonanno crime family, such as the Underboss, Salvatore "Good Looking Sal" Vitale.

Little is known of Montagna's personal life, Other than he met his wife in 1988 And married her in 1996 and they lived in Elmont, Long Island with his wife and three daughters. He started a small metalworking company called Matrix Steel Co., located at 50 Bogart Street in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Matrix Steel manufactures structural and rail mill products, gray and ductile iron foundry crucibles, foundry converters, casting machines, sizing or embossing presses, foundry mold machines and foundry dies and tooling. It was around this time that the Sicilian born Salvatore Montagna was given the nickname, "Sal the Iron Worker".

In 2002, Montagna was arrested along with the crew of Patrick DeFilippo for illegal gambling and loansharking charges. He refused to answer questions before a grand jury and was charged with criminal contempt. He later pleaded guilty to the charge in 2003, and was placed on probation. It was in late 2003 that US law enforcement and FBI listed Montagna as a Acting Caporegime of the Bonanno crime family on behalf of DeFilippo and the Sicilian faction which is based in the Bronx, New York.

After longtime Bonanno Boss, Joseph "Big Joe" Massino became a government cooperator and testified against 60 of his fellow mobsters, Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano was recognized as the reputed Boss of the Bonanno crime family, only to discover that Massino would testify against Basciano as well, and he was soon shipped directly off to prison. Around late 2005, Basciano stated that he would promote Montagna to acting boss of the Bonanno crime family from early 2006, with Nicholas "Nicky Mouth" Santora as Underboss and Anthony "Fat Tony" Rabito as the Consigliere, making the "Administration" of the Bonanno crime family once again whole and safe. It was reported by New York Times journalist Mickey Freeman that through wiretapped conversations, information surfaced about Montagna's intent to use west coast mobster Danyael Shovera Caliberi (Sho Caliberi) to "silence that rat Massino", but no evidence was ever brought forth to charge either Montagna or Sho Caliberi with a crime. As of 2008, Montagna was still the acting boss of the Bonanno's at age 36. The Daily News linked Montagna to known Sicilian Bonanno mobster, Baldassare "Baldo" Amato. Montagna was killed on November 24, 2011 in Montreal Canada. The police are looking to see if the hit may be related to the murder of an outlaw biker with organized-crime connections a week before. They said it “doesn’t seem to be” linked, but cops aren’t “ruling out anything.” Montagna, 40, was also reportedly involved in a three-way power struggle to take over the Montreal mob, and had been in talks with his rivals to pick a consensus leader. “Looks like it didn’t work,” an investigator told the Montreal Gazette

[[Category:Bonnanos ]