Joseph Ducarme, 41, survived a brazen midday shooting inside his Old Montreal shop that left two people dead

Joseph Ducarme, 41, survived a brazen midday shooting inside his Old Montreal shop that left two people dead. Ducarme managed to flee the building and, as of Thursday night, was still missing - as were the two gunmen. It is not known whether he was injured in the attack. Ducarme's bodyguard, Peter Christopoulos, and an unidentified man were killed. Two other men were injured. One of them managed to flee the scene and drive himself to the hospital. Ducarme is out on $50,000 bail for a charge of assault and was under orders not to communicate with street gang members. He is reputed to have ties to the Reds, a street gang reportedly trying to mark its territory in the city's lucrative drug trade in bars and restaurants on St. Laurent Blvd.Authorities suspect the Mafia may be behind the attack, and had stated in an earlier search warrant in connection with an investigation that Ducarme "feared retaliation from Italians, Arabs, and motorcycle and street gangs because of his involvement in the drug trade, armed robbery and extortion."Last December Nick Rizzuto Jr., the son of reputed Montreal mob boss Vito Rizzuto, was gunned down in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce district, and some believe yesterday's attack is in response to the assasination of the mob scion as reported by CBC News:Organized crime experts said the retaliation is likely part of a drawn-out struggle between Montreal's reputed Rizzuto Mafia family and street gangs, and likely linked to the shooting death of Nick Rizzuto Jr. Former crime reporter Michel Auger said Ducarme is a well-known player in Montreal's street gang scene and was once a powerful ally of Vito Rizzuto, but may have had a falling out with the clan. The attack can be seen as an escalation of the underworld conflict between the Mafia and warring factions, Auger said.Since Vito Rizzuto was convicted on a racketeering charge involving the 1981 murder of three Bonanno crime family capos in New York City -- he currently is serving a ten year sentence in a federal prison in Colorado -- and the takedown of several dozen others allegedly tied to the Montreal Mafia pursuant to Operation Coliseum in November 2006, there has been a power vacuum in the city's underworld, and "police have said they are exploring a variety of possible theories about a Mafia turf war" as reported by CBC News: "A power struggle pitting Montreal's mobsters against their counterparts in Toronto is one possible scenario; a battle between Calabrian families and the Rizzutos' Sicilian clan is another."