Kenneth Bishop is a Canadian truck driver who was a hitman for the Musitano crime family of Hamilton, Ontario. In 1998, Murdock was convicted of three mob hits, sentenced to life imprisonment, but later released on parole in 2011 after he served 13 years in prison.
Early life
In the 1970s, Murdock's stepfather John Akister had relations with Musitano family boss Dominic Musitano. By the 1980s, Murdock worked as a bouncer at Hamilton strip clubs and also earned money through extortion and armed robbery. In 1984, Murdock built a relationship with Tony Musitano, brother of Dominic, while in jail for armed robbery; Murdock was later paroled in October of that year.
Three mob hits
Murdock's first mob hit for the family, for $3,000, was on November 21, 1985 on Stelco janitor Salvatore Alaimo who owed gambling money to Dominic Musitano. He used a submachine gun and later told the Star that he had planned only to frighten Alaimo. "I actually wasn’t trying to shoot him. I was trying to shoot all around him...When the thing goes off, it has a mind of its own." On May 31, 1997, Murdock shot mob boss Johnny Papalia in the head in the parking lot of 20 Railway Street outside his vending machine business in Hamilton; he later testified that he had been hired to do so by Angelo and Pat Musitano of the Musitano crime family, who owed Papalia some $250,000. The cost of the hit was substantially less — depending on the source, the payment received by Murdock was either $2,000 or $3,000; some reports indicate that Murdock received $2,000 plus 40 grams of cocaine. On July 23, 1997, he shot Carmen Barillaro, the right-hand man of Papalia and a previously convicted drug trafficker, with a 9mm handgun after making the comment, "This is a message from Pat". The murder occurred in Barillaro's Niagara Falls home after the victim's wife and children had left. Murdock said that Angelo Musitano was waiting in the vehicle outside during this time. The two then left the scene. The motive for the "hit" was self-protection. Pat was convinced that Barillaro would target him in retribution for the Papalia killing, so he and Murdock acted first. According to Murdock, the Musitano brothers had also been fed up with being a satellite of the Buffalo crime family and having to pay tribute money to the family. Murdock also claimed that he was waiting for Pat Musitano to approve the murders of four Luppino crime family members Natale Luppino and Vincenzo Luppino and Domenic Violi and Giuseppe Violi. In a later interview with journalist Peter Edwards, Murdock claimed that Pat Musitano actually "ordered" him to enter a coffee house with a machine gun to shoot all of the leaders of the Luppino-Violi group. Musitano's goal was to become the "godfather" in the Hamilton area, according to Murdock, who said that he did not refuse but never did proceed with the plan. Also revealed by Murdock was that Pat Musitano had discussed with Montreal mob bossVito Rizzuto and Gaetano Panepinto about Rizzuto investing in Ontario. Eventually, the Canadian intelligence agencies were convinced that the Musitano brothers did not act alone in the murders of Johnny Papalia and Carmen Barillaro. In an interview, Murdock revealed cocaine helped him cope with job stress, but consoles himself with thoughts of the half-dozen killings he was ordered to do, but did not go through with such as sparring professional wrestler and Satan's Choicebiker gang member Ion Croitoru and key members of the Luppino crime family.
Prison and later life
In November 1998, Murdock pleaded guilty to three counts of second degree murder and named Pat and Angelo as the men who had ordered the hits; Murdock was sentenced to life imprisonment. The Musitanos pleaded guilty to conspiracy in Barillaro's death, but no action was taken against them for the murders of Alaimo and Papalia. They received a 10-year sentence in February 2000, but were released in October 2006 on parole. Murdock was unimpressed with the level of justice.
"They ordered the killing, and they get just 10 years. They’ll be back on the streets in less than four. It doesn’t make sense to me."
In an interview with journalist Peter Edwards, Murdock explained the rationale for his involvement with Angelo and Pat Musitano. He had worked for their father, Domenic Musitano and said that "I promised to take care of his kids"... that was the dumbest mistake I ever made". Domenic died in 1995. After Murdock had served 13 years in prison, he was granted day parole in December 2011, before full parole in 2014. After release from prison, he relocated to British Columbia and works as a truck driver under his changed surname, Bishop.
