Ricky Zarbatarny, a fast-living, hard-slugging, jovial father-of-two and former middleweight prizefighter, who in later years became a henchman for mob real estate developer Tony Magi, died recently of a heart attack at the age of 61.Zarbatany raced out of the gates as a pugilist, losing only three of his first 16 bouts from 1975.
Life was good for the scrappy Zarbatany who was photographed in a 1979 Montreal Gazette fashion spread clad at a boxing ring flashing a million dollar smile and a $5 mustache.
But after four years of fighting, the dance cards were getting more difficult.
Zarbatany was getting regularly beaten by up-and-comers in such places as Rochester, Miami and Kansas City.
He boasted a 21-14-3 record when he bid adieu to the Scientific Art of Self Defence, Lord Queensbury Rules in 1980.
Zarbatany was busted in January 1986, along with a half dozen others connected to a car theft ring that grabbed about 100 luxury vehicles and sold them mostly in the United States.
Zarbatany was deemed the mastermind of the affair, as he got a car dealership to clone keys and then simply drive off with the cars.
The gang then forged sale documents to get legit papers to allow them to drive the stolen cars over the border in a plot that raised an estimated $3 million.
The charming and dynamic Zarbatany mystified friends and family, who did their best to see his good side.
His older sister Sandy expressed her complicated feelings towards her brother in a public online tribute on February 3.
I learned early on that my larger-than-life brother was invincible. He could do anything, perform any daredevil trick, get hurt yet survive. He was a very handsome man who was remarkable in so many ways. He lived his life to the fullest and touched so many people during his time here with us.
Ultimately some of his choices and opinions caused some of his many internal struggles and sadly, we were estranged for many years, because Ricky, was always testing boundaries, exploring the limits.
Zarbatany lived in underworld obscurity until his name came up at the Charbonneau Commission in 2011. He claimed that this led him to be harassed by police. Police charged him with impaired driving that year. Zarbatany believed that cops unfairly pulled him over to search for weapons, as an informant had told them that Zarbatany was frequently packing heat.Zarbatany, apparently one of about eight henchmen guarding Magi, was not caught with guns but Magi himself was busted with connection with 24 guns a few days after Zarbatany's arrest.
Magi apparently needed the guns due to his beef with the Rizzuto Mafia clan.
Magi, who had survived an earlier shooting, was finally shot dead in January 2019 at a condo project he was building near the corner of Upper Lachine and St. James Street West in NDG.
Zarbatany lost a 2018 legal appeal related to his DUI arrest and the once-celebrated prizefighter who knew the glory and pain of the ring, the elation of criminal enterprise and the pain of incarceration, was booted from his apartment for failing to pay four months of rent last summer and died of heart failing on or around February 1, 2020.
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An online search for Zarbatany Montreal came up with another fascinating character with the same last name, who enjoyed some criminal notoriety in local press.
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| Emile Zarbatany 1941 |
Articles do not reveal which drug Emile Zarbatany was addicted to.
The janitor, Norbert Valcourt, survived. Emile Zarbatany was known for holding up drug stores and other such establishments for at least seven years by this point.
Emile Zarbatany much later escaped from a BC prison in 1973, at the age of 61, the same age Ricky was when he died.
It's not clear that the two are related. Suffice it to say that there are many other Zarbatanys in Montreal and elsewhere who are entirely respectable and have no ties to crime.