National Post (National Edition)
‘The less you know the better it is’
TORONTO • A man and woman shot dead on the street of a suburban neighbourhood north of Toronto early Friday morning are a relative of a prominent organized crime family and his girlfriend, sources tell the National Post.
Police released the names of the victims Friday afternoon as Cosimo Commisso, 33, of Vaughan, Ont., and Chantelle Almeida, 26, of Toronto, after notifying their next of kin.
Commisso shares a name and family ties with a man who has for decades been reputed to be a Mafia leader in the Toronto area. While Cosimo is not a known criminal, according to police sources he did have personal associations with crime figures.
The family patriarch died a few years ago, one neighbour said, but the Commissos have lived on Castlepoint Drive in Woodbridge, Ont., for decades and were the first to find the victims.
Soon after a reported flurry of gunshots, some into a white SUV that had stopped in front of the house and a second volley shortly afterwards, Commisso family members rushed out from the house.
“There was yelling and screaming,” one neighbour said. “When you find someone dead in your driveway, there was yelling and screaming. It’s a shame.”
When another neighbour was asked about the family’s reputed links to people involved in organized crime, there was a pause.
“To be honest, things like that could happen to anyone, so the less you know the better it is,” he said.
Media photos from the overnight shooting show the shattered side window of a white Mazda SUV, its doors open. It’s possible one or both of the victims tried to flee the car when the shooting started and were shot on the street.
York Regional Police said they received calls about a shooting on Castlepoint Drive, near Highway 27 and Langstaff Road, at 12:44 a.m. Friday. Arriving officers found the two victims and a vehicle that “was shot at,” said Staff Sgt. Andrew Bell.
Both the man and the woman were dead at the scene, he said. He declined to comment on whether organized crime played any role in the homicide investigation.
The victim’s family owns a restaurant and bar in Woodbridge that was shot at last year. As Dimmi Bar & Trattoria was closing one night in September, a man fired a gun into the restaurant, grazing a waiter in the head and causing a minor injury.
That shooting has not been solved. But it came amid a wave of arson and shootings at several bars, cafes and homes in Vaughan that had connections to reputed members of the Mafia.
Investigators believe Commisso was an associate of John Ignagni, 33, who was killed in an ambush in the parking garage of a downtown Toronto condominium in 2016.
Ignagni had a criminal record for threatening death in connection with a kidnapping after three victims said they were held against their will over unpaid drug debts. Ignagni was described as the son of a former president of the Vagabonds Motorcycle Club, considered an outlaw biker club by police.
TO BE HONEST, THINGS LIKE THAT COULD HAPPEN TO ANYONE.
At the time of Ignagni’s murder, police towed a BMW motorcycle and a Porsche sedan from the underground garage. The Porsche was registered to Commisso, police said.
Commisso and other members of his family attended Ignagni’s funeral. Also at the funeral were many crime figures.
Police are asking the public to help solve the killings.
“Any additional witnesses that may have seen or heard anything in the area leading up to, or following, the shooting are asked to contact police,” said Const. Laura Nicolle.
Several neighbours said they didn’t know anything was wrong until flashing lights from police and ambulance arrived or police knocked on their door to ask questions.
“We were just watching TV, we didn’t hear anything at all,” one neighbour said. Another said “the house could fall in” and she wouldn’t wake up. “It’s not good to wake up to that,” she said of the lines of emergency vehicles that closed off her street.
One neighbour said police asked about the video security camera at the front of their house. He checked the footage but it didn’t show the scene of the shooting, he said.
The family couldn’t get to sleep afterwards: “Just from worry, it’s one of our neighbours.”