Suspected Mafia boss to testify before Charbonneau commission

Raynald Desjardins said inquiry would affect first-degree murder trial Raynald Desjardins was arrested on Dec. 21, 2011 in connection to the death of alleged Mobster Salvatore Montagna. Raynald Desjardins was arrested on Dec. 21, 2011 in connection to the death of alleged Mobster Salvatore Montagna

Quebec's corruption inquiry is insisting that a suspected Mafia boss must appear to testify.

Justice France Charbonneau, who heads the provincial probe into organized crime involvement in the construction industry, has rejected a bid by Raynald Desjardins to get out of appearing.

Charbonneau said in her ruling on Thursday that Desjardins has information pertinent to the inquiry, noting he has links to a company tied to organized crime and a labour union boss.

Desjardins' lawyer had argued that his client is already awaiting trial for the first-degree murder of a former boss with the Bonanno crime family.

Marc Labelle said it would be impossible for Desjardins to get an impartial jury if he appeared at the corruption inquiry.

But in her ruling the inquiry chair says it is difficult to argue his rights will be violated because no date has been set for his appearance at the probe.

News reports have described Desjardins as among the most senior figures in Canada's Italian Mafia and an instrumental player in the recent civil war in the underworld.

He was arrested and charged with killing a reported aspirant in the race to supplant the Rizzuto family. More recently, Desjardins' brother-in-law Joe Di Maulo was shot to death in his driveway.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Police say Mexican Mafia prison gang led crime ring in Ventura County

Image
A 39-year-old man in an out-of-state prison directed a crime ring in Ventura County that forced competing gangs to work together and funneled money back to the Mexican Mafia prison gang, authorities said Tuesday. Martin Madrigal was among 27 people, including two teens, who were indicted and accused of crimes such as conspiring to commit assault, extortion, home invasion , robbery and drug trafficking , Ventura County sheriff's and district attorney's officials said at a news conference. All but two have been arrested, and at least 16 more are expected to be indicted, officials said. The suspects are largely members of local gangs who worked with the Mexican Mafia , authorities said. "These are hard-core criminal gang members. They wake up every day and try to decide where they're going to commit crimes ," Sheriff Geoff Dean said at the news conference. Authorities have seized 32 weapons , $36,000 in cash and a quarter-pound of heroin, off
Read more

Porn mafia now targets students

Image
The porn mafia seems to have acquired a fresh and new market. It’s none other than higher secondary, high school and upper primary students of city schools .   Obscene and vulgar video clips are transferred to the mobile phones of these students through bluetooth , say special branch cops. The sources said a large number of people were involved in the sleazy business as the police found several instances of the mafia operating near educational institutions . Though most city schools have banned mobile phones on campus, students violate the order and smuggle them in. The porn clips are first transferred from an outsider to a student and they are later shared among others. Sources said internet cafes operating near schools are the supply hubs. The special branch police arrested a few men from Thrippunithura and High Court Junction on Sunday, on charge of providing porn clips to school students . “ Students usually give their mobiles to the s
Read more

A Mafia Boss Has Been Arrested in Uruguay After 23 Years on the Run

Police in Uruguay have arrested one of Italy's most wanted fugitives — the so-called "cocaine king of Milan"— who had been hiding out in the South American country for more than a decade. Rocco Morabito, a boss of the Calabria-based Ndrangheta crime group, which controls much of the world's cocaine trade, had been on the run for 23 years in total, the Guardian reports. He is subject to a 30-year prison sentence in Italy after attempting to smuggle almost a tonne of cocaine into the country from Brazil in the 1990s. Morabito's arrest at a luxury Montevideo hotel on Monday follows a six-month investigation by Uruguayan police, who were reportedly alerted to his presence when he registered his daughter at a local school using his real name instead of an alias. Italian and Uruguayan authorities cited by the Guardian said that Morabito, 50, had long been living in Uruguay's southern coastal resort of Punta del Esta under an assumed identity. He is thought
Read more