Murdered Oakville man targeted five years ago
A hit was put on Dean Cosanza in 2012 by Niagara gang linked to Mexican cartel, documents show
An Oakville man who was shot dead outside his home this week was also targeted for murder five years ago by members of a massive cocaine smuggling ring connected to the Sinaloa cocaine cartel of Mexico, court documents show. Dean Cosanza, 46, was shot dead around 7 p.m. on Sunday in a truck outside the luxury home he rented in Oakville on North Park Blvd. near Sawmill Rd.
Halton Regional Police said that it was a targeted shooting and that Cosanza was known to them.
An autopsy was conducted on Monday. Police aren’t releasing details, including how many times he was shot, Sgt. Dana Nicholas said on Tuesday.
Court documents from a massive Niagara Regional Police operation called Project Ink show that Cosanza was earlier warned by police that there was a bid to murder him in 2012 by a Niagara Region gang connected to the Sinaloa Cartel of Mexico.
The gang was led by Nick Nero of Niagara-on-the-Lake, who’s now serving a life prison term for first degree murder in the June 2012 killing of John Raposo of Toronto.
Nero has also been convicted of cocaine trafficking as a result of Project Ink, which police said was a severe blow to cocaine trafficking and distribution in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia.
Project Ink court documents say Nero’s ring used transport trucks to bring cocaine across the border from warehouses in the Buffalo area. Cosanza and another man were mentioned as targets for kidnapping and murder in encrypted “Pretty Good Privacy” text messages from a gang led by Nero.
Shots were fired but neither man was injured, a police source said.
Police gained access to the encrypted messages when Nero left a sticky note with his password in plain view in his Niagara-on-the-Lake condo.
Police warned them and six men were charged with murder conspiracy and kidnapping conspiracy charges.
The charges were eventually stayed when Nero received a life term for murder and drug trafficking charges.
Police sources said that Cosanza kept a low profile since the kidnapping and murder plot was foiled.
He moved into the North Park Blvd. home with his wife and two children in the summer, a neighbour said.