Six men who took part in plot to kill mafioso sentenced

Six men who took part in the conspiracy to kill mafioso Salvatore Montagna nearly six years ago have each been sentenced to prison terms of between seven and 10 years.

Superior Court Justice André Vincent agreed with sentence recommendations made by lawyers on both sides of the case during a sentence hearing at the Montreal courthouse Tuesday afternoon.

Jack Simpson, 75, the man who is believed to have actually shot Montagna, received the longest sentence, but that had more to do with his criminal past before Montagna was killed.

Vittorio Mirarchi, 39, a man who appeared to have a leading role in the plot, was sentenced to a nineyear prison term. With time served factored in, Mirarchi’s sentence will end in a little more than four months.

Five of the six men were left with sentences of under two years when the time they have already served was factored in. That means they can serve their sentences in provincial detention centres and will be eligible for releases soon, in some cases in a matter of weeks.

Only Steven Fracas, 33, will be sent to a federal penitentiary because the time that he is still required to serve once time already served is factored in — 39 months — is more than two years. Fracas was detained much less than most of the accused while his case was pending.

Raynald Desjardins, the leader in the plot, was sentenced to a 14-year prison term in December.

Both Desjardins and Montagna were trying to take control of the Montreal Mafia in 2011 when the latter was killed. They had tried to work together the previous year but their partnership fell apart.

Evidence gathered in the case revealed Desjardins assumed Montagna was the person behind a failed attempt to kill him, on Sept. 16, 2011, in Laval. After the failed hit, it appeared that Desjardins made arrangements to have Montagna killed on Nov. 24, 2011, inside Simpson’s home on Île Vaudry, in Charlemagne, just east of Montreal.

On Sept. 14, 2011, two days before the attempt was made on Desjardins’s life, the Sûreté du Québec had Montagna under surveillance and noted that he met with two men — Giuseppe Renda and Antonio Pietrantonio — at Westmount Park. The SQ was not able to listen in to the conversation the three men had that day but, according to a court document filed as evidence in the case, both men sided with Montagna in his effort to take control of the Montreal Mafia.

Pietrantonio was shot and wounded just weeks after Montagna was killed and Renda disappeared in 2012 and has not been seen since.