A man once deemed to be 'a man of honour' in the Sicilian mafia was denied full parole as he continues to serve the lengthy sentence he received for his role in one of the biggest drug trafficking conspiracies investigated in Canada.

Evidence presented during a National Parole Board hearing in Laval today suggests Gerlando Caruana, 64, now leads a quiet existence while he deals with problems like diabetes and a bad heart. He spends most of his days respecting his day parole conditions in a halfway house. His parole officer informed the board Caruana appears to have severed his ties with his associates.

"But the parole board has to be prudent in your case," board member Jacques Letendre told Caruana at the end of the hearing where his day parole was extended for six months. "Full parole would be premature."


Letendre was referring to the last time Caruana was out on full parole. He was granted the release in 1993, while serving a 20-year prison term for smuggling 58 kilograms of heroin into Canada. A few years later, while he was still making regular visits to a parole officer, Caruana emerged as a key suspect in Project Omerta, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit investigation that cracked open a major cocaine pipeline running from Mexico to Canada. Shipments totalling more than 7,000 kilograms of cocaine were linked to the Caruana family during the investigation.

Yesterday, Caruana admitted he handled the distribution of the cocaine when it came to Montreal by selling it to major dealers. During that time he and Anna Staniscia, his then mistress, operated a piano bar in Pointe Aux Trembles. Wiretaps gathered during the investigation indicated the pair planned to flee to Belize when Caruana realised he was under police surveillance. Staniscia, who was also arrested in Project Omerta but eventually saw all the charges against her dropped, was present at Thursday's hearing. Caruana said they are a couple now and that she looks after him.

"I have a guard dog now," Caruana said meaning Staniscia keeps his past associates away. "She is the one who says they can't see me."

His younger brother Alfonso controlled most of the operation from Toronto. Both were arrested along with several other people when Project Omerta came to an end in 1998. Alfonso Caruana was sentenced to 18 years after he pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in 2000. Gerlando Caruana also pleaded guilty and saw his previous sentence, for smuggling heroin, added to the one he received in Project Omerta. His combined sentence is 31 years and 11 months.

Alfonso Caruana, 62, has since been extradited to Italy where he was tried in absentia and sentenced to 22 years for mafia association and his role in an international drug trafficking conspiracy. The Caruana brothers were born in Castelvetrano, a town in western Sicily, where their family had deep mafia ties.

At one point in today's hearing Letendre laid Caruana's reputed mafia ties on the table. He quoted a court document prepared by Giovanni Falcone, an Italian anti-mafia magistrate who was assassinated in 1992. Falcone described Caruana as a made member or so-called 'man of honour' in the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, or mafia. Before he was killed, Falcone investigated several mafia clans extensively, including the Caruanas. Letendre was likely referring to an indictment in which Falcone referred to both Alfonso and Gerlando Caruana as "part of the dangerous [BadWord]-Caruana organization" a "mafioso family of Siculiana that for years has ruled the line of vast and well-constructed international drug trafficking."

"I've lived in Canada for 42 years now," Caruana said of the allegation. "I don't know how Mr. Falcone judged me like that. It is false."

He went to say that his reputation could perhaps be attributed to uncles in Sicily who were reputed 'men of honour.'

Letendre also asked how someone can actually retire from an organized crime family like his.

"I've made a decision to get out," Caruana said adding he regrets that his sentence cost him time he could have spent with his grandchildren. "It's a decision I made when I was arrested a second time."

He said he was under pressure to earn money when he smuggled drugs into Canada. Now that his children are all adults, he said, "I don't place any more importance on money."

"Because of my health I can't even walk. I walk about 100 metres, I get tired and have to head back home."

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/ne...cfa6b11&k=59391