Informant jailed nine months for threatening officers
A man who worked as an undercover agent in an investigation that produced arrests and charges in the deaths of four men, including two leaders in the Rizzuto organization, pleaded guilty Thursday to having uttered threats toward police officers while he was working with them.
The man, whose name is subject to a publication ban, appeared before Quebec Court Judge Salvatore Mascia at the Montreal courthouse and pleaded guilty to two of the three charges he faced since March. A source familiar with the case confirmed the guilty pleas and said the third charge, which involved alleged threats made toward a woman, was placed under a stay of proceedings. A publication ban has also been placed on information that could identify the police officers he threatened.
The informant received an overall nine-month sentence and when the time he has already served was factored in he was left with a prison term of just over four months.
The man has a lengthy criminal record, and when charges in the investigation dubbed Project Préméditer became public last year he was referred to only by the title of his undercover agent contract with the Sûreté du Québec — as a co-conspirator in the murder of Rocco Sollecito, a Montreal Mafia leader, in Laval on May 27, 2016.
Project Préméditer also produced charges in the deaths of Lorenzo Giordano, another Montreal Mafia leader, on March 1, 2016, and brothers Vincenzo and Giuseppe
Falduto, who were last seen alive in 2016.
The informant’s conviction calls into question his credibility if he is ever a prosecution witness in a future jury trial. Defence lawyers focus thoroughly on the backgrounds of such witnesses whenever they take the witness stand.
Besides the nine-month sentence, Mascia imposed a series of conditions on the informant, including that he not communicate with the police officers he threatened and that he take medication under the supervision of an SQ officer. He is also not allowed to travel to the island of Montreal unless he is escorted by the Sûreté du Québec.
Project Préméditer, a probe led by the SQ, led to the arrests of four people last year.