Explosion suggests Mob tensions ‘heating up’

Woodbridge café may be latest target in Hamilton and York Region

— A massive explosion at a Woodbridge café has police wondering if southern Ontario is on the brink of a hot summer of Mob violence.

“It’s a suspicious explosion,” Const. Andy Pattenden said after the blast early Thursday that knocked a wall off the Café Corretto on Winges Road, near the Highway 7 and Weston Road.

The incident came as investigators probe whether there are connections between a spate of recent Mob attacks in Hamilton and York Region.

“Things are heating up,” anoth- er police source said.

The explosion showered a parking lot with parts of gaming machines and bricks, covering a black BMW sedan in debris.

It was the fifth violent incident with possible Mob undertones in southern Ontario in the past two months, coming just two days after someone sprayed the Hamilton home of mobster/baker Pasquale (Pat) Musitano.

Musitano’s younger brother, Angelo Musitano, 39, was shot dead May 2 in the driveway of his Waterdown home while his wife and preschool kids were inside.

No arrests have been made in the killing or the attack on Pas- quale Musitano’s home.

The Musitano brothers pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in the 1997 fatal shooting death of Niagara crime boss Carmen Barillaro after their hit man, Kenny Murdock, turned against them. The brothers were released from prison in October 2006 after serving two-thirds of their 10-year sentences.

In the fourth recent incident, there were no injuries when someone shot up the home of a wealthy York Region mobster in mid-June. That mobster has since gone on vacation.

June 12, someone tossed what appeared to be an accelerant into the Di Manno Bakery on Buttermill Avenue, near Highway 7 and Highway 400, around 1:30 a.m.

Thursday’s attack on the Café Corretto happened about 5:20 a.m.

Pattenden said a 3 3-year-old man was spotted near the scene suffering from non-life-threatening injuries. He was arrested and taken to hospital, but there was no immediate word on charges, Pattenden said.

The scene was been sealed off by police pending investigations by the Ontario Fire Marshal and Emergency Management.

The business was one of 11 cafés in Toronto and York Region where illegal gaming machines were found in January 2016 by police in Project Oeider. That project was run by a combined forces unit that included investigators from the RCMP, OPP, York Regional Police, Toronto Police Service and Peel Regional Police. It resulted in the seizures of 74 illegal gaming machines and about $200,000 in cash from the 11 cafés.

The explosion was in a corner unit of the one-storey plaza, which also contains a car tinting business and a nail salon.

It’s a suspicious explosion.” ANDY PATTENDEN YORK POLICE CONSTABLE