Accused got house number wrong for hit, trial hears
There was something so comforting about what the jury in an alleged gangster shooting heard Wednesday, a reminder that criminals often aren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer.
This was t he opening day of the trial of four men — Nicola ( Nick) Nero, 40; Dean Wiwchar, 31; Martino Caputo, 43, and 29- year- old Rabih Alkhalil — accused of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the brazen daylight shooting of John (Johnnie) Raposo in the summer of 2012. All are pleading not guilty. And among the things prosecutor Maurice Gillezeau told Ontario Superior Court Judge Robert Clark and the jury was that when Caputo was scoping out Raposo’s home address for the hitman, he got the house number wrong; that some of the four discussed in text messages that there was a “job” to be done; and that the purported shooter, Wiwchar, bragged in a message that he was a contract killer, that he had one such contract on the go, and that he charged $100,000 a pop.
Aside from demonstrating the quartet’s collective dopiness, both old- school and new- school forms, it suggests that Raposo’s nextdoor neighbours in west-end Toronto ought to be grateful the hit wasn’t carried out at Raposo’s home, else, it appears, the wrong fella might have been done in.
On June 18, 2012, the 35- year- old Raposo was watching a European Cup soccer game on the crowded patio of the Sicilian Sidewalk Café in Toronto’s Little Italy when he was approached by a man who looked like a construction worker and shot four times in the head at close range.
According to the Crown theory, everyone involved was in the cocaine importation business, i ncluding Raposo.
Nero, who then lived in Niagara- on- the- Lake, had come to the attention of Niagara Regional Police, who launched a big drug investigation called Project Ink.
As part of that, police obtained multiple search warrants allowing them to tap Nero’s cell and plant listening “probes” in his car and house and intercept Caputo’s cell as well.
They also got judicial authorization for two “covert entries” into Nero’s house.
On one of these, police found a sticky note with an email and password thoughtfully written on it; that later enabled them to defeat his data encryption program ( called PGP, for Pretty Good Privacy, it was defeated by Nero’s clever writing down of the password) and download his messages.
Of the 41,420 calls made in the three- month period of the wiretaps on a total of 18 cell lines, three landlines and seven probes in cars and homes, police found a shining haul of allegedly incriminating evidence.
According to the prosecutor, the messages reveal that Nero was the driving force of the murder plot (he called Raposo a rat who should be killed), Wiwchar the actual shooter ( he flew in from Vancouver for the occasion), with Caputo and Alkhalil functioning as recce men and go-betweens.
Nero, Gillezeau said, was playing Raposo, pretending he would move Raposo’s 200 kilograms of cocaine across the border and into Ontario.
“What becomes clear, though, as the messages are read, is that there was never any intention of actually delivering Raposo’s cocaine to him,” the prosecutor told the jurors.
“Instead, the plan discussed was to steal t he cocaine, worth millions of dollars, split the profit three ways between Nero, Caputo and Alkhalil, and kill Raposo.”
Wiwchar, presumably, was paid separately and was not to share the proceeds.
Indeed, at the time of his arrest on June 21, police found $ 5,100 in his pants pocket and another $40,000 in his baggage. When police later searched Wiwchar’s parents house north of Toronto, they found another $ 20,000. All the money was wrapped in bundles with elastic bands.
At Wiwchar’s various resi- dences in British Columbia, in legal searches both after the shooting and before, Vancouver Police f ound construction worker gear ( including face masks) and a map of Toronto, assorted semi- automatic handguns and cartridges, three wigs, liquid latex skin, liquid adhesive, theatrical makeup, brushes and a makeup sponge, packages of hair, tins of modelling wax, fake moustaches and beards.
Unless Wiwchar was working as a drag queen or cabaret performer, he may have a time explaining such an unusual cache of goodies.
The first Crown witnesses Wednesday testified about “wire rooms” ( they are not unlike the ones in the brilliant TV series The Wire, except manned by civilian employees) and encrypted messages and the like.
The trial is expected to last at least eight weeks, and continues Thursday.
THE PLAN DISCUSSED WAS TO STEAL THE COCAINE, WORTH MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, SPLIT THE PROFIT THREE WAYS BETWEEN (NICOLA) NERO, (MARTINO) CAPUTO AND (RABIH) ALKHALIL, AND KILL (JOHN) RAPOSO.
— PROSECUTOR MAURICE GILLEZEAU, IN ONTARIO SUPERIOR COURT
THERE WAS NEVER ANY INTENTION OF ... DELIVERING RAPOSO’S COCAINE TO HIM.