TRADITIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME
 

Highlights
 
 

• In 1997, a number of major incidents, including unsolved murders, arson and drug importations, confirmed that Traditional Organized Crime (TOC) continues to be a threat in Canada.

In Canada, Traditional Italian-based criminals belong to or are associated with one of three main organizations: the Sicilian mafia, the Ndrangheta, and the Cosa Nostra. The Sicilian mafia is the most influential of the three. It has ties to other Sicilian clans within the country, as well as throughout the world, particularly in Venezuela, the United States and Italy.

The main Sicilian organization is led by the SICULIANA family (CARUANA\CUNTRERA). They maintain links with other criminal organizations, particularly outlaw motorcycle gangs, Asian-based criminal organizations, Columbian and South American groups, Eastern European-based organizations and Aboriginal-based organized crime groups.

There is less violence within the Sicilian clan, in sharp contrast to groups like the outlaw motorcycle gangs. This shows that this criminal organization has total control over its jurisdiction and its criminal activities. It is fully mature and is able to use the accumulated wealth from proceeds of crime to invest in legitimate enterprises and to engage in corruption.

In December 1997, Sabatino NICOLUCCI, a member a Sicilian organization, was found guilty in Superior Court on 172 counts, including four counts of conspiracy to traffic in cocaine and launder money. NICOLUCCI was sentenced to 19 years in prison for his role in these offences, which emerged during an RCMP undercover operation. The exchange office used as a front during the operation cleared close to $30 million in drug money for NICOLUCCI from 1990 to 1994.

In Ontario, two high\_ranking Italian-based organized crime members, namely John PAPALIA of Hamilton, Ontario and Carmen BARILLARO, a Papalia associate from Niagara Falls, were murdered in May and July 1997. These individuals were considered official Ontario representatives of the Buffalo based COSA NOSTRA organization.

Project CAVIAR/OVERDATE, an RCMP investigation that concluded at the end of 1997, led to the arrests of 32 individuals in Canada and in Spain. Major crime figures, mostly Italian-based organized crime members, were charged with conspiracy to import hashish and cocaine into Canada, as well as conspiracy to traffic in cocaine. They all pleaded guilty and were sentenced to varying prison terms. The same holds true for those individuals arrested as a result of Project CHOKE, in April 1996, and Project OILPALM, the Ontario segment of the investigation. All those arrested pleaded guilty and were sentenced to various prison terms.

Seven purported "made members" of the Sicilian Mafia and the Ndrangheta continue to reside in British Columbia. Meanwhile, younger Traditional Organized Crime (TOC) members in the area operate a variety of legitimate businesses. Some TOC owned restaurants and cafes feature illegal video gaming machines and backroom gambling operations, with particular emphasis on sports betting and horse racing. In some cases, known cocaine and heroin importers and traffickers operate out of these premises as well. Only a few TOC members in the Vancouver community have national or international links although there are affiliations to other criminal groups, including Asian-based, Colombians, Eastern European-based groups and the Hells Angels.

Quebec-based TOC continues to exert influence in Manitoba. In December 1997, RCMP Project DENOTE culminated in the arrest of several cocaine traffickers.

Third generation Ontario TOC members are entering adulthood and getting involved in criminal activity. This group appears to be straying from the traditional strict TOC code of trust, respect, honour, silence and solidarity within the family. Their business dealings have expanded beyond the ethnic group to include representatives of Asian, Colombian and Eastern European criminal
organizations as well as Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs.

In Quebec, the CARUANA-CUNTRERA and other TOC families are primarily involved in trafficking cocaine, heroin and hashish and have close ties with TOC groups in Toronto, the BONNANO family in New York, and the CUPOLA in Sicily.

On July 15, 1998, a raid in Toronto by members of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit resulted in the arrest of Alfonso CARUANA, reputed head of the CARUANA-CUNTRERA family, on drug-related charges. Eleven others were arrested in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Montreal and Cancun, Mexico. The two year Project OMERTA, involving police in Italy, Mexico and the United States, uncovered money laundering and drug smuggling between Canada, the United States, South America and Switzerland worth millions of dollars.

TOC influence extends into businesses as diverse as automobiles, real estate, construction, restaurants, wholesale food, hotels, and paving and asphalt. They are also expanding into telecommunications through cellular and pager companies.

TOC derives its strength from its structured nature and from its highly developed ability to conceal its criminal activities behind a facade of legitimacy. Even when arrests are made, the consequences are rarely drastic. In January 1997, a member of a Sicilian clan received ten years for the importation of two tonnes of cocaine. The same individual had been arrested for money laundering in 1994 as part of Operation COMPOTE. In April 1997, Frank COTRONI and his son were sentenced to seven and eight years respectively for conspiracy to import 170 kilograms of cocaine.

In June 1997 OPERATION CHOC, a Montreal Urban Community Police Department (MUCPD)/ RCMP joint force operation, disrupted an organization that was specializing in the importation of liquid hashish from Jamaica. One of the leaders was linked to a Sicilian clan and was carrying out this operation from the penitentiary in which he was incarcerated.

One of the great handicaps in many complex TOC investigations is that sentences are often shorter than the time taken to complete the investigation. In 1997, Joseph LAGANA, a lawyer convicted of laundering $47 million for a Sicilian organization took advantage of legislation that permits non-violent offenders to apply for release after serving one sixth of their sentences. In this case, the subject was released after serving a little over two years of a thirteen year sentence.

Many major drug shipments and offloads in the Maritimes have been directed and funded by TOC groups in Montreal and Toronto. Given the high level of TOC interest in the area and their numerous successes there, it is likely that the East Coast will remain an important staging ground for large scale drug importation operations.
 

Outlook

• Italian-based criminals will continue to engage in corruption to obtain favours, and will persevere in their attempts to avoid prosecution. Their ability to influence political and financial figures constitutes a threat to the security of Canada.

• Money laundering will continue to be one of their key activities.

• Given their enormous wealth gained through illegal activities, Italian\based criminals who own legal businesses will be able to undersell the legitimate business community, creating unfair competition.

• Italian-based criminal organizations remain a real threat in Canada. They have enormous power, augmented by their relationships with other criminal organizations.