Hamilton man arrested in Musitano, Vaughan killing
HAMILTON— A Hamilton man has been arrested on two counts of first-degree murder and one of attempted murder in a sprawling Mafia investigation that wound through the GTA into the Niagara region and south to the Mexican Riviera.
“Organized crime is worldwide,” Hamilton police Det. Sgt. Peter Thom told a news conference Thursday after Jabril Hassan Abdalla of Hamilton appeared briefly in court.
Abdalla, 27, was charged in the slayings of Mila Barberi, 28, in a Vaughan parking lot in March 2017, and mobster Angelo Musitano, 39, outside his home in the Hamilton suburb of Waterdown two months later.
Canada-wide warrants have been issued for the same offences for Michael Graham Cudmore, 37, of Hamilton, and Daniel Mario Tomassetti, 27, of Ancaster.
“This case is about traditional organized crime, the mafia, the mob — whatever handle you want to give it,” Thom said.
Investigators believe Cudmore and Tomassetti fled separately to the Mexican Rivera, where York Region mobster Daniele Ranieri was living under an assumed name.
Ranieri’s bound and lifeless body was found in a ditch in Cancun on March 4, 2018. At one time, he was considered by police to be the top Ontario lieutenant for Montreal mob boss Vito Rizzuto, who died of reportedly natural causes in December 2013.
Anyone helping Cudmore or Tomassetti evade police can expect to be charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder, Thom said.
The investigation, called Project “Scopa” — which means “broom” in Italian — involved police forces in Hamilton, Toronto, York and Niagara regions, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canada Border Services Agency, as well as the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security.
“This was a particularly difficult crime to solve, given the complexity of the investigation across various jurisdiction,” Hamilton police Chief Eric Girt said.
Abdalla, Cudmore and Tomassetti are all also charged with three counts of conspiracy to commit murder.
Musitano was described as a known mobster and part of a long-standing organized crime family.
But Barbieri was a bystander whose boyfriend, Saverio Serrano of York Region, is believed to have been the intended target. The veterinarian’s assistant was in a parked BMW with tinted windows outside of a commercial building on Caster Avenue, near Hwy. 7 and Weston Rd. when her killer opened fire.
Serrano suffered two gunshot wounds to his arm in the attack.
Abdalla’s arrest on Thursday came less than a week after the killing of Hamilton real estate agent Al Iavarone, who was shot outside his home in the upscale suburb of Ancaster while his wife and three children were inside.