Several men were involved in a Molotov cocktail attack at a Saint Michel café at Charland and Bruchesi streets around 10 p.m. Tuesday, police said. (Elias Abboud/CBC)

Investigators believe a recent rash of firebombings in Montreal may be connected to the fatal shooting of the son of the reputed head of the Canadian Mafia, police said Friday.

Police have now dedicated a squad of 16 officers to investigating the cases of arson, said Montreal police Const. Christian Émond.

"We can't afford not to look into that incident to see if it has any connection to the fires we've seen," Émond said.

"The three main leads that we're looking at right now is either an internal struggle within the Italian Mafia, a possible attempt to take over territory by street gangs or maybe a combination of both," Émond said.

Officers are also hoping to catch the culprits in the act, Émond said.

"We've increased the number of officers on the street in the concerned areas so that we have more eyes out there to help us determine if and when any other place is targeted."

Nick Rizzuto Jr. was shot several times in broad daylight in the city’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood on Dec. 28.

Rizzuto, 42, was the son of Vito Rizzuto, who is in a medium-security prison in Colorado, serving a 10-year sentence for racketeering relating to three murders in Brooklyn in 1981.

Attacks date back to November

The shooting came as police continued their investigation into a string of at least 14 Molotov cocktail attacks dating back to November.

The common thread between the targeted locations is that they are cafés owned by people of Italian descent, where police have observed known criminals or criminal activities in the past, Émond said.

Investigators do not believe the two latest attacks are related to the string of incidents, Émond said.

The casket bearing the remains of Nick Rizzuto is carried out of the church following Saturday's funeral. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

Early Thursday morning, a car was set on fire at a dealership in the city’s Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district. Twenty minutes later, a Molotov cocktail was thrown through the window of a La Belle Province restaurant a few blocks away.

The last incident tied to the ongoing investigation was the firebombing of a café in the Saint-Michel neighbourhood Tuesday night, Émond said.

In that incident, officers said the lone employee on site was pistol-whipped and robbed by three men.

The men then poured fuel around the café before tossing Molotov cocktails through the window of the building.

In December 2008, a 46-year-old man was shot dead in the same café.

In early December, police arrested an 18-year-old man in connection with the Nov. 24 firebombing of Café Ferrari on André-Ampère Avenue in Rivière-des-Prairies.