Being spied on illegally, two former pillars of the mafia in montreal are paid

JMTL
Leonardo Rizzuto at the trial of Nick Rizzuto. He is accompanied by his brother Nicolo Rizzuto Jr, who was assassinated in 2009 in the Notre-Dame-de-Grace.

Éric Thibault

Monday, 19 February 2018 19:31

UPDATE
Monday, 19 February 2018 19:31

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Two ex-leaders of the mafia in montreal have been acquitted of the charges of gangsterism and conspiracy against them on Monday, because the police has controlled illegally with microphones installed in an office of lawyers.

The judge Eric Downs has made this decision to bludgeon in favour of Stefano Sollecito and Leonardo Rizzuto, who have thus managed to exclude the wiretap incriminating that the Squad joint regional anti-organized crime Montreal had done at their expense, in 2015.

SKETCHES/DELF BERG/QMI AGENCY

In addition, judge Downs found that a “cumulative violations” of constitutional rights were vitiated by this method of investigation, the execution of which has been “failing, or negligently” with respect to the privilege protecting conversations between lawyers and their clients.

A precedent in the country

Stefano Sollecito, whose father Rocco was murdered in Laval in the summer of 2016, and Leonardo Rizzuto, second son of the deceased godfather Vito Rizzuto, were respectively regarded as the numbers one and two of the mafia in montreal at the time of their arrest in November 2015.

For the jam, the police officers had carried out a first in Canada: save the suspects without their knowledge by installing microphones in the interior of the premises housing the office of Me, Loris Cavaliere, who was the lawyer for the Rizzuto organization and several key players in organized crime in Montreal.

To do this, the police had to obtain permission of a judge after allegations that the office of Me, Cavaliere, located on the boulevard Saint-Laurent, served as a meeting place for leaders of the organized crime.

Sollecito and Rizzuto have been recorded in the summer of 2015, in the company of an important member of another criminal organization, discussing territories illegal activities, “taxes”, to be paid to the Hells Angels and the possible use of violence to stay in control.

Thus, the police intend to demonstrate in court that Sollecito and Rizzuto were part of a small select group who “managed” the criminal market in Montreal.

A “sanctuary”

However, the security forces have not taken sufficient measures to avoid spying on “innocent third parties”, such as lawyers in the same office as Me, Cavaliere, who received their clients.

To make things even more complex, Leonardo Rizzuto is also a lawyer and he practiced law at the same firm as Me, Cavaliere.

In addition, Stefano Sollecito was himself a client of Me Cavaliere and another lawyer from the same office.

“A law office is a sanctuary and we do not like in a warehouse,” said the criminalist Danièle Roy, who was defending Stefano Sollecito.

“My client is very happy, she added. This is a big win in a complex debate.”

New failure

As these records constituted the bulk of his arguments in the case, the Crown has itself informed the judge Downs that she would not have another proof to offer, in a prospective trial. The judge immediately pronounced the acquittal of the two accused.

For the prosecution, this is another major project that falls in the domain of fighting organized crime, already damaged by failures recent as the quarantine of the judgment of proceedings ordered against the Hells Angels in operation SharQc or the release of a fifty traffickers linked to the Italian mafia in the operation Clemenza.

Held on an interim basis for more than two years, Leonardo Rizzuto has not yet done justice, since he is still facing charges for simple possession of cocaine and illegal possession of two semi-automatic pistols that the policers had been seized at his home in Laval, on November 19, 2015.

However, one may wonder if these charges will not be abandoned because the search for him had been authorized by a judge on the basis of illegal wiretapping in the office of Me, Cavaliere.

About Stefano Sollecito, he is now free as air, he who had convinced the court to allow him out of jail to be able to undergo treatments for cancer in the summer of 2016.

Incidentally, the lawyer Loris Cavaliere, who was arrested along with Sollecito and Rizzuto, had not challenged the validity of the wiretapping carried out at its offices by the police.

He pleaded guilty to charges of gangsterism and possession of a weapon and was sentenced to 34 months of incarceration before his release on parole after serving one third of his sentence, in November last.