Fraudster granted day parole
Previously linked to the Mafia, Martorana warned not to go back to selling used cars
A man with close ties to the Mafia now serving a threeyear sentence for rolling back the odometers on cars has been granted day parole on the condition he not go back to being a used car salesman.
Frank Martorana, 54, was arrested in 2008 as part of an RCMP investigation into his family and three businesses he owned. The probe, dubbed Project Carwash, revealed Martorana, a man who has been linked in the past to reputed Mafia leaders like Vito Rizzuto and Francesco Arcadi, rolled back the mileage indicators on hundreds of used cars that he sold between 2006 and 2007.
The value of the fraud was estimated at $6 million and Martorana netted $2 million.
Martorana’s wife and two of his sons were also arrested in Project Carwash but were acquitted when he entered his guilty plea in December 2012.
While penitentiary sentences are rare in such fraud cases, Martorana has previous convictions for the same type of crime in 1994 and 1996. He was also convicted of intimidation in 2008 after admitting he used a goon to threaten to cut off the fingers of a Montreal luxury car dealer if he didn’t pay back $35,000.
“Information from the police confirms that you have been identified as being affiliated with traditional Italian organized crime,” wrote the author of the summary of the Parole Board of Canada decision. Martorana told the parole board he denies the affiliation even though he has known to have hung out at the Café Consenza, the past headquarters of the Rizzuto organization in St-Léonard. The board also noted that Martorana “was nebulous” when they asked him questions about his ties to organized crime.
According to the summary, Martorana now claims he committed the fraud to pay off a debt he was saddled with after having been abducted and held for ransom eight years ago. In 2005, four
Martorana has previous convictions for the same type of crime in 1994 and 1996.
men stormed into a barber shop in St-Léonard, grabbed Martorana and tossed him into a waiting vehicle.
He was held against his will for six days but never pressed charges against his abductors.
“According to your version, you didn’t file a complaint at the time because you feared for the safety of your family. You claim you don’t know the identity of your abductors, nor the reason why you were abducted. You say that even though you didn’t owe them money you paid them (more than $1 million) anyway,” wrote the author of the parole board decision.
Martorana told the parole board that if he ever finds himself in the same situation in the future he will call the police.
The two parole board commissioners who recently heard Martorana’s case, at a minimum security penitentiary in Quebec, decided he is ready to be released eventually to a halfway house. The decision was made, in part, because Martorana’s crime didn’t involve violence.
But one thing they could not accept was Martorana’s plans to return to selling cars while he is out on day parole.
Another condition attached to Martorana’s release is that he not allowed to communicate with known criminals or people with a criminal record.