‘Time we put you in sniper school’
Raposo’s family left the courtroom in tears after the jury’s verdict. Raposo’s cousin Helen Pacheco thanked the jury, judge and prosecutors.
“Our hearts are broken,” she told reporters. “Justice cannot bring back the missing link in our family. As mentioned at the funeral mass, we ask everyone to remember John not how he died but how he lived.”
Raposo, 35, was shot in the head four times at point-blank range on June 18, 2012 at 3:30 pm. while watching a Euro Cup game at the Sicilian Sidewalk Café on College St.
Crown prosecutors said the plot began in April 2012.
On April 28, 2012, Nero messaged Alkhalil at 10:29 a.m. about Raposo, referring to Caputo as “lil guy.”
“We split the load 3 ways. Me u lil guy. The only thing is once we pick them up, we have to get him he is the biggest rat in the world. I told him don’t tell anyone I’m doing this for you but the retard can’t help his bigmouth.”
On May 15, 2012, Nero texted Alkhalil again using “work” to mean cocaine: “The work is free. Remember he ratted me and lil guy out. That’s why he is getting it.”
Prosecutors said Alkhalil brought in Vancouver-based Wiwchar to be the hitman.
“LOL. That’s my best hitter,” he texted Nero.
The Crown said Wiwchar admitted College St. was risky “but if I get em inside the shop its okay . . . no noise . . . why are we killing ice cream people. Lol.”
In another message Wiwchar, who is from Stoufville, Ont., says: “I’m flying there anyway so ill bang that one off for ya np.”
The murder was supposed to take place in May but was delayed due to police surveillance, the Crown said. But Wiwchar returned to Toronto from Vancouver without police knowledge in June.
Witnesses described the gunman as a tanned white man with shoulder length hair and a “pointy nose.” His face was partially covered with a mask and he wore a neon orange construction vest.
“Lol . . . I had the whole construction uniform on . . . mullet. . . helmet . . . dust mask . . . orange side road shirt . . . and rocker shades . . . lol . . . I sat down and ordered a corona.” DEAN WIWCHAR IN A TEXT TO RABIH ALKHALIL, AN HOUR AFTER THE MURDER
The Crown alleged Wiwchar texted Alkhalil an hour after the murder under the codename “Dreamcatcher.”
“Lol . . . I had the whole construction uniform on . . . mullet. . . helmet . . . dust mask. . . orange side road shirt . . . and rocker shades . . . lol . . . I sat down and ordered a corona.”
Alkhalil replied: “Time we put you in sniper school I think. This seems too easy for u.”
Lawyers for the four accused men argued that Raposo was actually killed as a result of an entirely different plot involving Montreal-based drug traffickers.
They argued the messages were simply “testosterone-fueled bravado” and were about drug trafficking, not murder.
Police managed to download hundreds of PGP-encrypted messages off BlackBerry’s belonging to Nero, Alkhalil and Wiwchar. In Nero’s case, the police had the benefit of a sticky note they found at his Niagara-onthe-Lake condo with his email ad- dress and password on it.
With the jury and judge out of the security-heavy courtroom there were often brief moments of levity over the five-week trial, particularly for Caputo who had family members attend almost every day of the trial. Young nieces and nephews were proudly shown off to Caputo and Alkhalil who have been in custody since their arrests.
Nero and Caputo were convicted of cocaine smuggling in 2014. Nero was sentenced to 22 years, Caputo to 12.
Wiwchar was under surveillance by police in May 2012 because he was suspected of being the hitman who killed a Vancouver gangster in January 2012.
He has not been charged in relation to that case. With files from Peter Edwards