Car linked to Musitano killing found abandoned

Police believe shooter had second car waiting

The killer’s car drives slowly down the mobster’s street and pulls over in front of his house.

It is a four-door burgundy 2006 Ford Fusion with rusty wheel rims and tinted windows. It signals to pull over as it slows into the curb on pretty Chesapeake Drive in Waterdown, making way for another car behind it to drive past.

The time stamp on the security video that captures all this is 15:38 or 3:38 p.m. last Tuesday. (Police say the time is “fairly accurate.”) A few moments later, after the clip ends, Ang Musitano will pull into the frame, up into his own driveway in his white truck. A man driving the Ford will get out, approach Musitano while he is still in his driver’s seat, and shoot him several times with a handgun.

Musitano will die of his wounds, the killer will drive away and a neighbourhood will reel not only from the very public daylight murder but from the sudden realization it had a mafioso in its midst.

Police have publicly released the video clip of the car in the hopes of generating new leads. The clip is just a few seconds long and taken from Musitano’s own security camera mounted on his garage. The clip ends before Musitano, 39, shows up. It does not show anyone getting out of the Ford or the shooting itself.

Police found the Ford on Sunday at about 7 p.m., in the residential area of Fenton Drive and Braeheid Avenue in Waterdown. They were able to identify it from studying the video and descriptions of eye witnesses.

Det. Sgt. Peter Thom, who is overseeing the homicide investigation, says the car is registered to a company (not a rental company) and police are trying to determine if it was stolen. They believe the killer switched vehicles when he dumped the Ford. Officers have canvassed the street where the cars were switched, looking for anyone with video footage.

Investigators are asking anyone who may have seen the Ford in the area of Musitano’s home on the day of the murder or the week leading up to it to contact police. Thom has said neighbours noticed the Ford on the street before the shooting.

Musitano’s wife and three young sons were inside the house when he was killed. Thom says they did not see the murder happen. A private funeral was held Friday.

The shooter is described as a heavy-set man, weighing about 230 pounds, wearing a black tuque and a black jacket with grey pants and black shoes.

When he was 21, Musitano was charged with two counts of first degree murder for allegedly ordering a hit on Hamilton crime boss, Johnny “Pops” Papalia and on his Niagara Falls lieutenant Carmen Barillaro in 1997. Ang’s big brother Pat was also charged. The siblings struck a deal, pleading to the lesser charge of conspiracy to commit murder for the shooting of Barillaro. They served six years in prison and were released in 2006.

Both have kept a low profile since then. Friends say Ang turned his life around, was running a legitimate business and that he had found God.

Lawyer Dean Paquette, who represented Pat on his murder charges and Ang on other minor charges, is acting as liaison between police and the Musitano family. He says he is doing so as a friend. Paquette is close to the family and was by their side at the hospital the night Ang died.

Thom says police are hoping to talk with Musitano’s immediate family this week.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Det. Jason Cattle at 905-546-4167 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.