1. History
    Later developments 

2. References

3. External links

The Musitano crime family ({{IPA-it|muziˈtaːno|lang}}) is a 'Ndrangheta (Calabrian Mafia) organization based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The Musitano clan is one of three centralized Mafia organizations in Hamilton, with the other two being the Papalia crime family and the Luppino crime family.^[1]

History

In 1937, Angelo Musitano, who was also known as the "Beast of Delianova", fled illegally from Delianuova, Italy to Canada, after killing his sister Rosa, after he believed she had disgraced the family by becoming pregnant out of wedlock; he lived under the name of Jim D'Augustino upon landing in Canada.^[1] In 1940, an Italian court convicted Angelo in absentia to 30 years in prison.^[2] In 1965, Angelo was extradited to Italy to serve his sentence.^[3] "The Beast" had two nephews, Anthony "Tony" and Dominic Musitano.

In 1978, Dominic Musitano, owner of a Hamilton haulage company, Rocco Luppino, and Angelo Natale, president of the Ontario Haulers Association, were charged with conspiracy to commit extortion after police uncovered a protection racket on Ontario's independent trucking industry; after a five-year legal battle, they were acquitted in 1983.^[4][5]

In January 1983, Tony was sentenced to 15 years in prison for bombing a number of businesses in Hamilton, including bakeries. While in prison, he orchestrated the murder of Toronto mobster Domenic Racco of the Siderno Group, who violated their cocaine trade agreement by dealing behind Musitano's back, and also owed the Musitano family as much as $500,000.^[6] Tony Musitano befriended inmate Billy Rankin at Millhaven Institution in Kingston who was due to be released in December that year.^[6] Giuseppe "Joey" Avignone, nephew of Tony and Dominic Musitano, often visited Tony in prison to discuss details of the plot, which were secretly recorded by the police.^[6] Rankin was released on December 7, and given "the okay" by Dominic Musitano. On the night of December 10, 1983, Racco got into a car in front of his Mississauga apartment with Rankin, Dominic Musitano and Peter Majeste, thinking it was to discuss potential drug trade – the night he was taken to a railway track and killed.^[6] In March 1984, Dominic and Tony Musitano, Avignone and Rankin were arrested. Dominic Musitano received six years for being an accessory after the fact to murder. Tony Musitano, already in prison on the bombing charges, was sentenced to 12 years concurrently, Avignone got five years and Rankin was sentenced to 12 years, all three pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit murder.^[6][12] Tony was granted full parole in 1990.^[2]

Dominic Musitano's two sons Pasquale "Pat" or "Fat Pat" and Angelo "Ang" Musitano joined their father in organized crime. By 1992, the Hamilton-Wentworth Police estimated that the family was earning $14 million per year through various aspects of illegal gaming.^[7] The crime family was led by Dominic until his death on August 13, 1995 from a heart attack.^[1] Pat Musitano took over as boss of the 'Ndrangheta organization.^[8] Pat Musitano was president of P&L Tire Recycling Inc. in 1992; he was found guilty of failing to make his Mount Hope tire dump conform to the Ontario fire code. He and his father were later handed a $1.8-million fine from the Ministry of the Environment for its cleanup of the site, a fine Pat dodged with a 1993 bankruptcy claim.^[9]

In 1997, Pat Musitano was in charge of a sports betting ring which brought in as much as $100,000 in bets per week; his cousin Joey Avignone also led a network for distributing illegal gambling machines in bars.^[2] Also later that year, the family was accused of ordering the mob hits of Johnny Papalia, to whom the Musitanos owed money, and Papalia's right-hand man, Carmen Barillaro.^[10] The hitman for both murders, and for the 1985 murder of Salvatore Alaimo who owed gambling money to the Musitano crime family, was Kenneth Murdock.^[20][11][12] In November 1998, Murdock pleaded guilty to three counts of second degree murder, was sentenced to life imprisonment, and named Pat and Angelo as the men who had ordered the murders; he also said that Angelo had been waiting in the vehicle outside during the Barillaro murder.^[20]

In February 2000, the Musitano brothers were sentenced to 10 years for conspiracy in the murder of Barillaro in a plea bargain arrangement.^[13] No action was taken against either in relation to the Papalia or the Alaimo murder.^[10][14] In October 2006, the Musitano brothers were both released from prison.^[1] Angelo was re-arrested in March 2007 for a parole violation. He was held in the minimum security Frontenac Institution until June 2007 when the parole board decided not to return him to prison.^[15] Murdock was also later released on parole in 2011 after serving 13 years in prison.^[16][12][11]

Later developments

Since the brothers' release, the police had little involvement with the family for some years.^[8] Then, in September 2015, Pat Musitano's 2013 Ford Edge was set on fire in a suspected arson; his home also sustained minor damage.^[17][18][19]

On May 2, 2017, Angelo Musitano was shot dead in his truck in the driveway of his home in Waterdown, Ontario in broad daylight at the age of 39.^[20] Surveillance video showed a Ford Fusion in front of the home and a heavy-set man shooting Angelo. The vehicle was later found abandoned; it had been stolen previously.^[8] Almost two months later, on June 26, 2017, Pat Musitano's home was shot at multiple times during the night; no one was injured.^[21] Hamilton Police did not receive cooperation from the family; Pat refused police protection.^[22][23]

On January 11, 2018, investigations into Angelo Musitano's death revealed four vehicles were involved, and that he was stalked in the days leading up to his murder.^[24] On January 23, news reports from a press conference indicated that police believed that Angelo's murder and a Woodbridge, Ontario killing of veterinary technician Mila Barberi while she sat in her car with her boyfriend, two months earlier in March 2017, not previously considered to be related, appeared to have been carried out by the same individual based on footage of the shooter and the car used from surveillance cameras at the two locations. Detective-Sergeant Peter Thom of Hamilton Police stated "there is similar evidence, the same MO and the black Honda coupe."^[25][26] According to York Regional Police, Barberi was not likely the intended target.^[25] Barberi's boyfriend, Saverio Serrano, who was shot in the arm, was discovered to have connections to the 'Ndrangheta through his father, Diego Serrano of Vaughan, who was sentenced to four years and six months in prison on two counts of drugs conspiracy and one possession of proceeds of crime on January 15, 2018. The elder Serrano was an associate of crime figure, Antonio Sergi of Toronto, who was killed two weeks after Barberi's murder.^[27][28] Police did not find a link between Angelo's and Barberi's murders and the shooting of Pat Musitano's house from June 2017.^[29]

On 13 September 2018, real estate agent Albert Iavarone was shot outside his home in Ancaster, Ontario, a similar fashion as in the Musitano murder.^[30] Sources involved in the investigation said it was possible that the shooting was in retaliation for the previous actions against the Musitano family. A Toronto Star summary added that the latest hit came in "the midst of a dispute between two Niagara Region groups of mobsters who are both tied to the New York State (Buffalo) mob.^[31] The resurgence of mafia violence lead police to believe Hamilton is the centre of a power struggle.^[32]

On 20 September 2018, the police task force (Hamilton, York and RCMP under Project "Scopa") arrested Jabril Abdalla Hassan in Hamilton, and issued Canada-wide arrest warrants, later issuing international warrants, for Michael Cudmore and Daniel Tomassetti who had fled to Mexico; a $50,000 reward for information leading to their arrests was also offered by police.^[32][33] All three men were charged with two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of conspiracy to commit murder in both the Musitano and Barberi murders, and attempted murder on Serrano.^[34][35] Cudmore was captured on surveillance camera at both murders with the same black Honda.^[32] Daniele Ranieri of Bolton, Ontario is believed to be connected to orchestrating the murders; he was found dead in Mexico in March 2018.^[32]

References

External links

• The Canadian Encyclopedia: Organized Crime

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