Rizzuto funeral cortege arrives at Montreal church

This story has been updated.

MONTREAL – Five bodyguards spread out on to Dante St. in a very co-ordinated manouevre Monday morning as a long line of limousines arrived at the church, one carrying the coffin with Nicolo Rizzuto’s remains.

As the bodyguards surveyed the street, Rizzuto’s relatives filed into the church, including his grandsons Leonardo Rizzuto and Calergero Renda and his granddaughter Bettina Rizzuto.

Earlier, a suspicious package left at the church was checked out and then cleared by Montreal police.

A security perimeter erected near the package was lifted and mourners were allowed into Notre Dame de la Defense church on Dante St.

Security appeared to be tight in the minutes before the funeral began. At least two large men wearing earpieces stood at the front door of the church and watched as mourners walked through.

The Toronto writer James Dubro, who has published several books on organized crime, was removed from the church just before the funeral began. The bodyguards could be seen directing Dubro, dressed in khaki pants, out the front door.

Montreal police Constable Daniel Lacoursiere said the package was a black box with a white cross and it contained a note.

Lacoursiere said the note will be analyzed but he would not disclose what the note said.

Rizzuto’s funeral was scheduled to start at 11 a.m.

About 8:30 a.m., police cleared the area near the front of to check out the shoe box-sized package with masking tape on it.

Reporters and photographers noticed the box when they arrived early Monday to cover the Rizzuto funeral.

The late 86-year-old reputed mafia boss was shot to death through a window of his home in Cartierville last Wednesday.