ORGANIZED CRIME
Police penetrate Mafia clans at the top of Ontario’s criminal food chain in drugs, guns bust.
Two Canadian cells of a sprawling and powerful international Mafia organization were hit by police raids Tuesday, the culmination of a two-year probe aimed at toppling the ‘ Ndrangheta’s stranglehold at the top of the criminal food chain in Ontario.
The joint forces probe penetrated unusually deep into the highly secretive and insular organization, mapping its hierarchy and structure, which could signal trouble ahead for the wider organization burrowed into the Toronto area since the 1950s.
Investigators were even able to document the existence of a regional “camera di controllo” — a board of control regulating activities and smoothing disputes of multiple like-minded clans — the
National Post has learned. Police say two of the men at the heart of their probe were each a boss of separate clans of the ‘ Ndrangheta, the proper name of the Mafia that formed in the Calabria region of Italy.
On Tuesday, Giuseppe (Pino) Ursino, 62, was arrested at his home in Bradford, Ont., in a dawn raid by police. He has direct connection to the leadership in Calabria of the ‘Ndrangheta clan of the same family name.
If Carmine Verduci, 56, had not been shot dead in a café parking lot in Woodbridge, Ont., last year he, too, would have been arrested. He was named Wednesday as the other primary target of the probe and also as the head of an ‘Ndrangheta cell.
Also arrested was Diego Serrano, 66, of nearby Vaughan, one of Canada’s notorious “cocaine cowboys” with a long history as a drug importation specialist. While not named as an ‘ Ndrangheta member he was described as a “significant facilitator” for the clans’ importation schemes.
The last time Serrano was in police custody, in 1993, he arrived on a plane from his native Italy. He had been forced onto the flight in Rome by machine-gun toting police after authorities seized his sprawling condo, which featured a two-storey penthouse, marble floors, gold faucets, an indoor waterfall and a swimming pool with retractable roof.
Code-named Project Ophoenix, Supt. Keith Finn of the RCMP said the probe penetrated “the highest levels of the ‘ Ndrangheta operating in the area.”
It is a group, he said, that “tears at the fabric of society itself.” As for these two of an estimated seven major clans in the area, “Today, they are no longer effective,” Finn said.
Investigators allege drugs travelled to Toronto by plane from Jamaica and Costa Rica; and to Halifax by ship from the Dominican Republic and Guyana before being driven by truck to Toronto for distribution.
“Organized crime brings an element of criminality to our communities that is unacceptable and undermines the safety of our citizens,” said Insp. Mike Slack of York Regional Police.
“Criminals involved in conspiracies, drug and gun traf- ficking and extortion brings to our communities unwanted violence.”
As an example of the propensity for violence, Finn said the probe caught a conspirator being schooled in how to collect a debt: He was told not to ignore the potential leverage from going after the target’s family and, if need be, to “shove a gun in someone’s face.”
Police seized three guns, about 8.5 kilograms of white powder believed to be cocaine, seven kilograms of marijuana and an unspecified amount of cash and five vehicles. Officers said they believe the groups were responsible for far larger drugs loads than were seized.
The ‘Ndrangheta is the brand of Mafia born in Italy’s southern region of Calabria. It is similar but separate from the better-known Mafia of Sicily, the Cosa Nostra, which is featured in most Hollywood representations of Italian mobsters.
Police around the world say the ‘ Ndrangheta has eclipsed Cosa Nostra as the most dangerous and powerful Italian crime group and stands among the world’s largest criminal threats.
It is built on a confederacy of identically organized clans, each reliant on family bonds to retain cohesion and make it difficult for outsiders, including police, to penetrate.
In 2010, Italian authorities said ‘Ndrangheta clans in Canada climbed “to the top of the criminal world,” by becoming masters of the global drug trade and establishing a “continuous flow of cocaine.”
The Italian probe’s court documents, translated into English by the Post, said there were seven active ‘Ndrangheta clans in the Toronto area.
“Each of these seven families in Canada would be active in drug trafficking; extortion, only among members of the Italian community; gambling; and the making and marketing of forged material. Many of them have reinvested the illegally obtained money in businesses, including bars and restaurants, not only in downtown Toronto but especially in Woodbridge, which is the new Italian quarter.”
The Italian document said “an unbreakable umbilical cord” links the ‘ Ndrangheta in Canada and Italy.
In all, 19 men were arrested on Tuesday from several Ontario cities, including Toronto, Hamilton, Vaughan and Oakville.
Ursino is charged with trafficking in cocaine, gangsterism, possession of proceeds of crime, conspiracy to import cocaine, conspiracy to commit extortion and other crimes. Serrano is charged with trafficking in cocaine, possession of proceeds of crime, trafficking cocaine and firearms.
Organized crime brings an element of criminality to our communities that is unacceptable