Man with ties to Montreal mafia sentenced

Drug smuggling plot nets 10 years in jail

A man with ties to the Mafiain Montreal has been sentenced to a 10-year prison term in the U.S. for his role in a plot to smuggle massive amounts of marijuana into that country.

Nicola (Nick) Varacalli’s ties to the Mob in Montreal came to light in 2005 when he was kidnapped during a dispute between Mafia clans who were at odds over a large-scale marijuana smuggling operation that had gone sour.

While he was held against his will, Varacalli’s captors recorded him on video as he made a rambling and vague rant in which he appeared to lament the days when Vito Rizzutor an the Mafia in Montreal. At that point, the Rizzuto criminal organization was being run by committee while Vito Rizzuto was detained and facing a racketeering case in New York.

In the video, later played in court, Varacalli appeared to suggest that if Vito Rizzuto were still in charge, the conflict would never have escalated to the point of him being kidnapped. In response to the kidnapping, a Rizzuto associate arranged to have the car of a rival burned in front of his home in Granby, where the rival lived with his wife and kids. In the video, Varacalli appeared to have been offended by how the fire was set because the rival’s wife and children were upset by the fire — something considered verboten in Mafia circles.

Varacalli was eventually released unharmed, but the events of 2005 came back to haunt him in 2011 when a request was made to have him extradited to the U.S. He was indicted in a U.S. District court in Plattsburgh, N.Y., for taking part in a conspiracy with nine other people to smuggle pot into the States.

Varacalli, 65, a Canadian citizen, was brought to the U.S. in October last year. On Dec. 13 he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess marijuana with the intent to distribute.

U.S. District Judge Glenn Suddaby sentenced Varacalli on April 3, and his written decision was recently made public.

According to a written summary of the prosecution’s sentence recommendation, Varacalli “played a key role in an international drug smuggling organization designed to smuggle thousands of pounds of marijuana into the United States and generated millions of dollars in drug proceeds.” The prosecution asked that Varacalli be sentenced within a guideline that called for a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years.

“(Varacalli) was more than just a middleman. The defendant connected suppliers in Canada to the buyers in the United States. He helped arrange for the delivery of drugs to the customers and kept track of the flow of money between the customers and the organization.”

According to court documents, the conspiracy began in 2005 and continued for at least five years.

Varacalli’s lawyer, Terence Kindlon, filed a sentencing recommendation describing Varacalli as a devoted father and grandfather to his family in Montreal. Kindlon wrote that Varacalli decided to take part in the drug smuggling scheme after falling into debt when he lost his managerial position with a temp agency in Montreal. Kindlon had asked that Varacalli receive a sentence ranging from 70 to 87 months.