A number of online news stories on this subject have been published today, specifically about a Calabrian-Canadian man from Thunder Bay who is on trial in Italy. Links to the articles, as well as the excerpts from the articles, appear below.
Link:
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/06/28/an_italian_crime_clans_reach_into_canada.htmlExcerpts:
An Italian crime clan’s reach into Canada
Trial of Thunder Bay's Giuseppe Bruzzese for alleged “Mafia association” highlights reach of ’Ndrangheta organized crime clan, authorities say.By Peter Edwards, Julian Sher, and Robert Cribb
Toronto StarPublished on Fri Jun 28 2013
LOCRI, ITALY—Italian prosecutors are calling for a Thunder Bay man to be sent to prison for 19 years if found guilty of Mafia charges in a trial authorities say highlights the global reach of a secretive organized crime clan, from the Calabrian region of southern Italy all the way to northern Ontario.
Giuseppe Bruzzese, 66, who was arrested while in Italy in 2011, is accused of “Mafia association” — a serious crime there, which has no comparable offence in Canada — after being caught on secret police recordings meeting with a top crime boss in that country.
Bruzzese, who denies the charges, looked relaxed and confident during the proceedings in the sweltering courtroom, wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt and smiling from behind the glass wall that separates prisoners from spectators and the battery of lawyers.
But his trial — and outstanding Italian arrest warrants issued for three other Thunder Bay residents, including a successful local businessman — may shed light on the connection between the city and a powerful Mafia organization called the ’Ndrangheta.
[snip]
Also listed in the arrest warrants are Antonio Minnella, 72, who runs a real-estate and development firm; a retired welder named Rocco Etreni, 66; and Cosimo Cirillo, 55.
Minnella denied he has any connection to the Mafia, in a telephone interview with the CBC on Thursday.
[snip]
A Star/Radio-Canada investigation last fall revealed Ontario has become an international “penal colony” for alleged Italian Mafia figures who find refuge here, untouched by Canadian law. RCMP officials told the Star there are likely two ’Ndrangheta cells — or “locali” — in Thunder Bay and five in Toronto....
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Link:
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/0...s_to_mafia.htmlExcerpt:
Italian arrest warrants accuse Thunder Bay men of links to Mafia
Antonio Minnella, one of the four accused, says he believes he’s a victim of mistaken identity.By Peter Edwards, Julian Sher, and Robert Cribb
Toronto StarPublished on Fri Jun 28 2013
THUNDER BAY—Depending on whom you ask, Antonio Minnella is either a successful businessman running a prominent local company with his two brothers or a wanted Italian Mafia figure nicknamed “Ntoni the goat.”
What is certain is that Minnella, 72, is one of four Thunder Bay men accused in Italian arrest warrants last year of being part of an international Mafia organization with roots in a northern Ontario city.
The others cited in warrants issued by Italian Judge Kate Tassone are Cosimo Cirillo, 55, Rocco Etreni, 66, and Giuseppe Bruzzese, 66.
Bruzzese is on trial in Italy this week after being arrested by authorities there in 2011.
There is no mention of any of the Thunder Bay men committing any crimes in Canada.
Minnella said he’s not a member of the Mafia and has no connection to the criminal organization, in a telephone interview with the CBC on Thursday.
He said he grew up in Siderno, Italy, with Bruzzese but only knows him well enough to say hello and goodbye.
Minnella said he believes he’s a victim of mistaken identity.
“I think they made a mistake . . . so many have the same name as me,” he said.
The Italian allegations focus on conversations between visiting Canadians and a top ’Ndrangheta leader named Giuseppe “The Master” Commisso in 2009. Commisso was eventually sentenced to 14 years in prison for his role as an ’Ndrangheta leader.
Italian judge Tassone concluded that secret police surveillance of the laundromat in Siderno where Commisso did business showed Etreni met with the Mafia boss at least three times between July 27 and Aug. 10, 2009. Tassone reported she saw evidence of Cirillo in recorded conversations with Commisso on two dates during the same time period.
Cirillo and Etreni, a retired welder in Thunder Bay, could not be reached for comment.
While Minnella himself was not captured in the laundromat recordings, he was referred to by the others as being a leading figure in a Thunder Bay Mafia cell, Italian authorities allege....
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Link:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-ba...al.html?cmp=rssExcerpt:
Ontario man accused of Mafia links faces prison in Italy
Giuseppe Bruzzese was arrested in Italy in 2011 and is currently on trialCBC NewsPosted: Jun 28, 2013 5:12 AM ET Last Updated: Jun 28, 2013 9:29 AM ET
[snip]
Nicola Gratteri, the chief anti-Mafia prosecutor in Calabria, said the ‘Ndrangheta is the only Mafia that is present on all continents.
"I think the foreign country where the ‘Ndrangheta is the most present is in Canada," he said.
"Mostly in Ontario, especially Toronto, and also in Montreal,” Gratteri added. “We have found in our research there are at least nine ‘Ndrangheta localis [sic] just in Toronto. Which means there are hundreds of members, as each locali has at least 51 members."
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Link:
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/0...d_in_italy.htmlExcerpts:
Siderno mayor feted in Thunder Bay, arrested in Italy
Siderno mayor Alessandro Figliomeni still in jail in Italy after police wiretaps of Mafia meetingsBy Peter Edwards, Julian Sher
Toronto StarPublished on Fri Jun 28 2013
THUNDER BAY—He was hailed as a “guest of honour” when he came here in 2009 to deliver a two-metre-tall brightly painted statue of the Madonna from the southern Italian city of Siderno to this city’s historic St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic Church.
But within a year, Siderno mayor Alessandro Figliomeni was arrested in a major Mafia sweep of more than 50 people in Italy. He remains in jail facing allegations that he was a “politician of reference for the criminal organization” who was “promoting the interests” of organized crime, according to court documents obtained by the Toronto Star and Radio-Canada.
Italian prosecutors said he was also a “santista” or senior member of the Giuseppe (The Master) Commisso crime family and they accuse him of being “part of a mafia-type association called the ’Ndrangheta that operated in Italy and “across national borders, specifically in Canada in the city of Toronto.”
Figliomeni made at least four visits to Thunder Bay — two of which were official — during his time at mayor.
Thunder Bay — which has a large population who hail from Siderno or have family ties there — was officially twinned with the Italian city for more than a decade until the agreement expired in 2006.
[snip]
His brother-in-law is Antonio (The Lawyer) Commisso, formerly of Hollywood Hills Circle in Vaughan. Antonio Commisso, who is not a Canadian citizen, was extradited to Italy in July 2005 to face a 10-year sentence for Mafia association. Italian authorities called him the “head of a dangerous, bloodthirsty Mafia association which . . . imposed on the town of Siderno the burden of a permanent criminal presence....”