A LOADED PISTOL IS SEIZED FROM A MAFIOSO A Laval mafioso who felt his life threatened by rivals has been convicted of unlawful possession of a loaded pistol.
Steve Casale, considered a lieutenant in the clan of influential mafia leader Vittorio Mirarchi and Caid Raynald Desjardins, conceded the verdict last week at the courthouse in Montreal.
The 40-year-old man, who would dip into illegal sports betting and loan sharking, according to a survey by the SPVM, should receive his sentence next month.
Armed bodyguards
Nicknamed "Cook" in the underworld, he was reported to Montreal police two years ago by an informant who claimed that Casale feared for his life and never moved without being accompanied by armed bodyguards.
On June 13, 2017, the SPVM carried out a search of his residence in Laval and seized a Beretta-branded, 22-gauge pistol.
The same evening, the police also arrested one of his bodyguards, Francesco Catalano, armed with a semi-automatic pistol as he was leaving a bar in Little Italy. The possession of this prohibited weapon earned him a 28-month sentence.
This same Catalano had already been accused in 2008 - then whitewashed - of having participated in a kidnapping with Mafia Salvatore Scoppa. He was murdered at a family party at a Laval hotel on May 4th.
According to court documents, Steve Casale was one of the wedding guests of Vittorio Mirarchi in 2009 in the Bahamas and the wedding of Raynald Desjardins' daughter at the Mirage Golf Club in Terrebonne in 2011. He did not criminal record.
Mirarchi was convicted of plotting the murder of aspiring sponsor Salvatore Montagna with Desjardins in 2011. He has been free for a year and a half. He would always be perceived as a potential sponsor of the Montreal mafia.
Man with alleged ties to Montreal Mafia sentenced for loaded gun
