Cops link 2017 killings of Musitano, veterinary technician
Video surveillance suggests same husky man committed both crimes
The same hitman who gunned down reputed Hamilton mobster Angelo Musitano last year also killed a veterinary technician who was in “the wrong place at the wrong time” two months earlier in York region, police say.
“We’re confident that there was a link between these two,” Det. Sgt. Jim Kilby of York region police said Tuesday in a news conference in Vaughan.
Video surveillance suggests the same husky man committed both crimes and that a black Honda Civic was used in both cases, police said.
Hamilton police homicide Det. Sgt. Peter Thom said in an interview that identifying the Civic on surveillance video was “a big part” of connecting the two cases.
Police in Hamilton and York had been speaking for some time, but it was only recently the two cases became officially linked.
Thom said there is other evidence connecting the cases, beyond the car and shooter, but he declined to provide details.
There’s no known motive for the murders, police said.
Mila Barberi, 28, isn’t believed to be the hitman’s intended target, Kilby said.
“I think it’s a classic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Kilby said.
Her 40-year-old boyfriend sat beside her on March 14, 2017, in a BMW SUV when she was shot in a parking lot of an industrial park in Woodbridge. He was treated with minor hand injuries.
His name has not been released by police and Kilby said police believe a threat still exists against his life.
The killer in both murders was described as 6-foot-2 and 250 pounds.
Hamilton police said that Musitano, 39, was stalked by several vehicles before he was killed on May 2, 2017, in the driveway of his suburban home while his wife and three children were inside.
“We have basically zero cooperation from the (Musitano) family,” Thom told the news conference.
Angelo Musitano was released from prison with his brother Pasquale (Pat) in 2006, after they were both convicted of conspiracy in the gangland murder of Carmen Barillaro in Niagara Falls in 1997.
The brothers were originally also charged with the 1997 murder of Johnny (Pops) Papalia, a longtime Hamilton mob boss and Barillaro’s leader.
Kilby said there are no known links between the murders and the unsolved gangland hits of Carmen Verducci outside a Woodbridge café in April 2014 and Antonio (Tony Large) Sergi in March 2017 in Etobicoke.
Kilby said the killers made a number of mistakes, including botching an attempt to burn a getaway vehicle, a Jeep Cherokee that had been stolen in Quebec a month earlier.
During an interview, Thom said the Civic was used by the killer before Musitano’s murder and is also believed to have been used as the getaway car after attempting to destroy the Jeep.
Last week, Hamilton police released information on outstanding suspects and vehicles in the Musitano investigation.
Police have also released more surveillance video capturing moments before and after the murders. It includes brief new footage of the killer running from Musitano’s home.
The image of another man, pictured wearing a white baseball cap and a white, 2012 to 2015, fourdoor Honda Civic SI, believed to have been involved with following Musitano in the week before his murder, were also released by Hamilton police Tuesday.
Police said they believe the Musitano hit team used a stolen burgundy Ford Fusion that was found in Waterdown five days after the murder.
Other vehicles used to stalk Musitano were the 2006 to 2011 black, two-door Honda Civic; a 2017 red Chevrolet Malibu; and a grey or blue Infiniti sedan, police said.
Pat Musitano’s home was hit with several bullets on June 27, 2017. Thom said that police have no direct connection between that attack and the murder of Angelo Musitano.
Anyone with information on the Barberi case can contact York police at 1-866-876-5423 ext. 7865. Anyone with information on the Musitano murder can contact Hamilton Det. Jason Cattle at 905-546-4167. To remain anonymous call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. — with files from Nicole O’Reilly, The Hamilton Spectator