Musitano family makes first public comment since murder
Police say family has not co-operated with investigation
The uncle of Hamilton mob murder victim Angelo Musitano says he’s confident police are doing their best and have a good chance of finding the shooter.
“Things take time,” Antonio (Tony) Musitano, 71, said in an interview with the Star, his family’s first public comment on the May 2, 2017 murder.
Police this week released descriptions of three vehicles used to stalk his nephew, Angelo Musitano, 39.
The father of three was shot dead in his white pickup truck after it pulled into the driveway of his home on Chesapeake Drive in the suburban Waterdown area of Hamilton shortly before 4 p.m. while his wife and children waited inside for him.
Hamilton police offered no motive for the slaying in a news conference Thursday but said they believe he was stalked by several people in cars in the days before the murder.
Det.-Sgt. Peter Thom said the family has not co-operated with police.
Tony Musitano said he has nothing to offer.
He hasn’t run afoul of the law since the early 1990s. His criminal record includes helping set up the 1983 gangland slaying of Toronto mobster Domenic Racco and arranging a string of extortion-related bombings.
“My past is my past,” Tony Musitano said. “I’ve been so out of touch there’s not much I can add. I have no idea.”
“It’s a very emotional thing. It’s a major, major shock to everyone.”
The hit team involved in the plot to murder Angelo Musitano checked out his lifestyle and his habits from April 27 onwards, Thom said.
Angelo Musitano was the son of the late Domenic Musitano, a Hamilton mob boss who also did prison time for the Racco murder plot.
Angelo Musitano and his brother Pasquale (Pat) were each charged with first-degree murder for their roles in the 1997 gangland murders of John Papalia of Hamilton and Carmen Barillaro of Niagara Falls. They were eventually convicted of conspiracy related to Barillaro’s death.
Police said Angelo Musitano kept a low profile after he was released from prison in 1997, which family members and friends said was because of a religious conversion.
Tony Musitano said he believes his nephew’s talk of a lifestyle turnaround was sincere, since he says he had a similar change of heart of his own.
“I can say that because I’ve been there and done it,” Tony Musitano said. “My life has turned around as well.”
“I say and feel that he did see the light,” Tony Musitano said. “It’s just a tragedy. He was a good boy. He was a good man. A good husband. The father of three children. He saw the light. He was on the right path.”
This week, police released photos of the vehicles they believe were involved in stalking Angelo Musitano around the time of his murder.
The killer fled in a stolen burgundy four-door, 2006 Ford Fusion with rusty wheel rims that was used to conduct surveillance on the week before the murder, police said.
On the day before the murder, police said the driver of a red Chevrolet Malibu was seen watching the victim’s home and left immediately after he arrived home.
The Fusion was later recovered in the Fenton Drive and Braeheid Avenue area of Waterdown. The killer fled from there in a second vehicle, police said.
A black, two-door Honda Civic, 2006 to 2011, and a grey or blue Infiniti sedan was seen interacting with the Fusion in the days leading up to the murder, police said.
Shots were fired into Pat Musitano’s Hamilton home on St. Clair Blvd. in late June, but Thom said there’s no direct evidence linking the two attacks.
No one was injured in the attacks, which left a reported 20 bullet holes outside the upscale home.
Tony Musitano told the Star that the murder of his nephew Angelo still doesn’t feel real.
“I loved him very much. I’m still shaking my head,” Tony Musitano said. “It was a tragedy that I don’t wish on anyone.”
Tony Musitano also had no criticism for police investigating the case, despite his own run-ins with the law.