Italian mafia boss visiting Canada unintentionally wiretaps police at meetings



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When a mafia leader visiting Canada, came from Italy, met with alleged criminals here in April, he advised them to pay attention to what they said because the police Canadian could be listening. He should have looked more internally.

The National Post may reveal that what was really happening was that the visitor's smartphone was secretly and secretly transmitting his closed-door conversations to the Italian authorities.

On Friday, Italy's Polizia di Stato launched 16 new arrest warrants out of the 12 that were already part of the trip to the Toronto area – and half of those named are currently living in Canada or were born here.

The York Regional Police listened to conversations from a leader of the Italian Mafia.

Polizia di Stato – supplied

The internal summaries of the police investigation, including excerpts from wiretap conversations in and around Toronto, have recently been filed in an Italian court to support arrest warrants and have not yet been released. tested during a trial. They were translated from Italian by post.

The documents add further evidence to what the Italian authorities call an "unbreakable umbilical cord" between the underworld of both countries.

The latest arrests in Italy were codenamed "Operazione Canadian 'Ndrangheta Connection 2", the proper name of the mafia that had formed in Calabria in southern Italy.

Vincenzo Muià, who was among those arrested in Italy, arrived at Toronto Pearson International Airport on 31 March with his cousin, Giuseppe Gregoraci, who was also arrested. They each traveled with a son, none of whom was charged.

According to documents prepared by investigators in Italy and filed in court, Luigi Vescio took the visitors in two vehicles registered at Funeral Homes Fratelli Vescio in Vaughan, Ontario. Vescio is listed as a principal of the family funeral home.

Vescio could not be contacted immediately for comment before the deadline.

This house is a bomb … if they want to hear you, they hear you

The police monitored their movements, a task facilitated by the serendipity that, while the Italian police were interested in Muià, opened an ambitious investigation into the alleged Mafia bosses in Canada, whom Muià met.

During his discussions, Muià warned of the need to pay attention to what they said, not only at home, but even in the street because the police can use directional microphones to record conversations by simply pointing at the targets.

"Even outside, they hear," said Muià. "You put the directional and hear what you say."

"In my opinion, this house is a bomb," he said after being invited to a meal at a home in Vaughan. "This house, full of insects. He said no (but) I told him … if they want to hear you, they hear you.

A man he was talking to said that people here were paying attention to what they say; they talk about "what lawyers say," adding, "We are always careful not to tell others," according to a translated transcript of the Italian.

"Yes, OK, if you talk about these things, it's not a problem," said Muià. "Otherwise, it's a difficult problem."

Detective Sergeant Carl Mattinen of York Region's Organized Crime and Intelligence Unit visits images of those arrested before speaking with the media at York Regional Police Headquarters in Aurora on Thursday July 18, 2019.

Peter J. Thompson /

National Post

Muia was right, their conversations were listened to and recorded by the police, but it was not always because of Canadian police phone tapping (although some were in operation at the time).

His conversations were collected and transmitted through the mobile phone that Muià brought to his meetings, according to court documents.

York Police and Polizia di Stato, a federal police force in Italy, had "direct collaboration", monitoring and listening to various suspects, according to the documents.

Muià claimed to have come to Canada for one thing only, to meet Angelo and Cosimo Figliomeni, two alleged Ndrangheta group leaders who left Siderno, a town in Calabria, Italy, for Canada while facing allegations of death. mafia badociation. According to the authorities, their influence on the underground world is considerable.

Muià was looking for answers to a question that was gnawing at him: who had ambushed his brother, Carmelo Muià, nicknamed "Mino", who had been shot dead in Siderno on January 18, 2018.

After meeting Angelo and Cosimo Figliomeni, according to the allegations of the Italian police, Muià was ready to go home, knowing that he had learned everything that he could here.

He had, however, booked a two-week visit.

"I do not know what we have to do here in the next 12 days. I could leave tomorrow, "he said, according to the transcripts.

He hesitated at someone's suggestion of sightseeing.

"I'm not going anywhere," said Muià.

Men living in Canada have not been arrested because they are not in Italy. They all face charges of mafia badociation. As the mafia badociation is not a crime in Canada, it is not an extraditable offense, which means that the charges against them are not a crime in Canada, it is not an offense punishable by extradition, which means that the charges against them in Italy could have little impact, unless they travel abroad or they encounter immigration problems.

Two of the people charged in Italy on Friday live in Canada and were born here: Giuseppe DeMaria, 56, nicknamed "Joe", is the brother of the alleged mafia boss Vincenzo (Jimmy) DeMaria, who has long been named senior. Ndrangheta is in Canada and is currently in prison here. The other is Vescio.

People searching in Italy and residing in Canada are:

– Rocco Remo Commisso, 73 years old, was named for decades one of the leading figures of the crowd in the Toronto area. In 1981, he was convicted of three counts of conspiracy to commit murder and, in 1984, to participate in a bombing in which a person was killed.

– Francesco Commisso, 62, known as "The Elect", who is an alleged leader of the group;

– Angelo Figliomeni, 56, also known as Angelino, arrested last month by the York Police as part of the Sindacato Project, would be the leader of this mafia clan in Canada. In Canada, he faces charges of leading a criminal organization, possession of proceeds of crime and tax evasion.

– Cosimo Figliomeni, 54, also called "Cosimino", who is the brother of Angelo Figliomeni;

– Antonio Figliomeni, 57, known as "Ntoni e fredu";

– 61-year-old Michele Carabetta, who was also appointed under last month's mandate in Italy.

• Email: [email protected] | Twitter: AD_Humphreys

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