All language subtitles for Mafia Most Wanted S01E03

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We had this person that
approached the police,

wanted to be an agent,

and could gather evidence
against ‘Ndrangheta members.

This agent was the first
time we had somebody

since the famous Cecil
Kirby as a police agent

targeting the Commissos and
the ‘Ndrangheta since the '80's.

Anytime you are running an agent,

the amount of stress that’s on an agent,

the concern about that
agent being found out.

The agent testified that
Cosimo wanted to murder him.

There was a vote,
whether he would live or die.

[Indiscernible]

I’m almost certain that people
are watching us right now,

wondering what we’re up to.

They are kind of allergic to cameras.

So we put together an operational plan

and O'Phoenix was born.

The mob is what controls the world.

A drug Lord is one thing.

Bikers are another thing...

but the mob controls
banks, lawyers, policemen,

money laundering, drugs.

Worldwide, you're talking
about $80 billion a year.

It's like an octopus.

They have their fingers
everywhere, every country,

it's never ending.

Most people are completely
swamped by the American

mythology of organized crime.

The reasons for the
mob’s success are clear,

organization and discipline,
vows of secrecy and loyalty,

insulation of its leaders from
direct criminal involvement.

It's a very nasty world, very violent.

There's not only Sicilians,
there are those from Calabria,

the southern part of Italy,

the Calabrese called the ‘Ndrangheta.

The ‘Ndrangheta basically
morphed from something in Italy,

to the new world.

It’s a very different
situation here in Canada.

Remo Commisso runs the
Commisso clan in Toronto, Canada.

If you wanted to draw a
picture of a mafia leader,

he would be it.

They’re organized crime,
murder incorporated.

They kill people and get away with it.

The Commissos were new
Canadians who were more aggressive.

There was a lot of money in
getting people shot or scared

or blown up.

[explosion]

If you were to ask Remo
Commisso or Cosimo Commisso,

they're just businessmen

living their life just like anyone else.

They have nothing to do with crime.

And if you look at their portfolio,

if you look at their outward image,

there's a lot of philanthropy there.

There's a lot of hobnobbing
with high-ranking people,

politicians, important people in
the business world, developers.

But if you talk to the police,

these are some of the most

important ruthless Italian organized crime

'Ndrangheta members,

not just in Toronto or
Canada, but in the world.

And we're not talking
about low-level street thugs.

We're not talking about street gangs,

we're talking about

transnational powerful crime groups,

one of the largest crime
groups in the world.

Over the years we've learned
that the 'Ndrangheta’s control

in Canada has become
extremely significant.

Our investigations, as
well as Italian investigations,

have identified various family names.

They're very influential in York
region in the GTA in Canada.

You're looking at DeMaria
Russo, Tavernese, Coluccio,

Commisso and Carmine
Verducci, and really it was

the Italian investigation
of Project Crimini

where they were identifying
the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrians,

and that's where we first started

to really understand
who these members were.

Hundreds of mourners packed a church

to pay their last respects

to the son of Canada’s
most notorious mobster.

He bore the Rizzuto name.

A gunman fired half a dozen
shots and killed Rizzuto Monday.

It was a mob-style hit in broad daylight.

Back in 2009, 2010, the Rizzuto
murders started happening.

HIs father Vitto Rizzuto

is the reputed Don of the Montreal mafia.

He is serving a jail sentence in Colorado

on racketeering charges.

At that time there was
intelligence to suggest

that the ‘Ndrangheta
might have been involved

in some of the Rizzuto murders.

The sudden and natural death
of mob kingpin Veto Rizzuto

in December, it left a power vacuum.

The 'Ndrangheta came on our radar.

The belief was that the
'Ndrangheta and the GTA,

there might be a turf war.

You know, a vacuum occurs for control.

Project O'Phoenix started in
2014 because of all the murders

between the Sicilian
Mafia and the 'Ndrangheta.

All this violence in the
streets led the police to try

to take a serious shot at the 'Ndrangheta.

There's a very large presence,

upwards of 3,000 'Ndrangheta
members in Ontario.

There's very powerful
members and bosses here

but a lot of people
in the criminal circles

never even heard of.

The Secret Society, but
they're grown in numbers.

Project O'Phoenix, there
were four primary targets.

Cosimo Commisso,

Giuseppe Ursino,

Carmine Verducci,

and Diego Serrano.

With Cosimo Commisso
as one of their targets,

you can't aim much higher than that.

Cosimo Commisso was believed
to be one of the most important

Italian 'Ndrangheta mafia
members in this country.

O'Phoenix, that investigation

was what we would call agent led.

Sometimes an investigation,
you know you have a priority target,

but you have no ability or opportunity

to have a successful investigation.

You can't just listen
to people's phone calls.

They're never going to talk
about crime over the phone

and they're never going
to admit to anything else.

Even through a forensic investigation,

if they've done their job really well,

they can hide how they've
laundered their money.

Informants are crucial
for getting convictions

in organized crime cases in Canada,

especially when it deals
with the 'Ndrangheta.

Because of the power
structure of the 'Ndrangheta

and so many of these
people being literally related,

it's so hard to get an informant.

So anytime you can get an
actual organized crime member

of the 'Ndrangheta to flip
or one of their associates

to actually wear a wire
and try to take down

their business partners, it's massive.

We had this person that
approached the police

wanted to be an agent
and could gather evidence

against 'Ndrangheta members.

Carmine Guido had a reputation
when we first identified him

as an informant.

He was well-connected
within organized crime.

He was a moneymaker
through mortgage frauds.

He was a moneymaker through
drugs and drug trafficking.

He had a life in the 'Ndrangheta circles.

He was kind of seen as an enforcer

just because of his physical presence

and possibly his reputation.

At some point, Carmine made
the decision that he wanted

out of the underworld.

And that is the only people
you're ever going to get

that are going to be able to do this work.

They're connected,
they've been there forever.

This agent, was the first
time we had somebody

since the famous Cecil
Kirby as a police agent

targeting the Commissos and
the 'Ndrangheta since the '80's

So we put together an operational plan

and O'Phoenix was born.

Time is 1120 hours.

Activate devices 2 and 4 for scenario 152.

This is Sergeant Brad Trainor.

The agent was going to
be tasked with going out

on undercover scenarios
and obtaining evidence

against those four targets.

We knew some of them were importing drugs,

dealing in drugs and
other criminal offenses,

so we want to explore that.

My friend is a little late
to tell you face to face,

No, no, he have it.

He's coming, but it's coming from far end.

I don't want to text you all the--

Yeah, yeah.

When we purchase drugs, for example,

we want to see who the associates were

and to find out who
was importing the drugs

into the country.

We gathered evidence against
Verducci by purchasing drugs

and the same with Ursino.

Pino Ursino comes from
a large 'Ndrangheta family

from Calabria.

They're well-known in Italy

and they’re known for importing cocaine

and drug activities
in different countries.

If you walked into the
farmer's market in Bradford

and saw Pino Ursino,

you would never know he was a member

of one of the largest, most
powerful criminal organizations

in the world.

Carmine Verducci was also a
prominent 'Ndrangheta boss.

He had his own family, his own following.

He was known for violence,

very colourful kind of
a bull in a china shop.

When a guy like Carmine
Verducci is talking about

importing a hundred kilos of cocaine.

That's just one deal of many

that are ongoing all of the time.

So this whole area, there's
a lot of mafia in this area.

This is a typical community
in Woodbridge in Vaughan.

We did a lot of
meetings in areas like this

during the investigation,

and we even did some cocaine purchases

in some of these parking lots.

The police set up a company
and we leased a warehouse

just in case the targets want
to see it was a real company.

It was up and operating
and we were ready to go.

We were serious

to import coke and or any other products.

There was a few different conspiracies.

One was from Jamaica
where they were going to hide it

in five gallon buckets of jerk sauce.

The cocaine was going
to be in the jerk sauce

and then they were going to
extract it from the jerk sauce.

These groups have so many different ways.

One of the ways was they
were going to put it into fish

and it wasn't like a brick of cocaine.

They were going to
have thin strips of coke

and they sow the fish back up

so you wouldn't notice the difference.

Once we get into the importation
of the cocaine and the planning,

that's really where we
put a lot of our focus on

and we met with Commisso and Ursino

and talked about 'Ndrangheta too,

to learn more about their
structure and hierarchy.

Ursino through some of the
scenarios was telling the agent

that there's a very large presence

of 'Ndrangheta in Ontario.

The bosses have a very tight circle

and only a few people know,

they insulate themselves that way.

Very rarely do they ever talk
to people on the bottom level.

It's always like the corporate
level, the executive level.

Ursino was talking about some
members on the board of control.

He mentioned Remo Commisso.

In Project O'Phoenix,

we never really got to see
Remo Commisso a whole lot

because he's always in the background.

Cosimo Commisso was like the face

of the Commisso crime family.

He was the boss on the street,

but there was always intelligence

that Remo was in the background,

the puppet pulling the strings.

The boss, the big boss.

It's through those
criminal investigations,

not intelligence investigations,

but actual criminal investigations,

where we learn who's part of that board

and we learned through
intercepts with Carmine Guido

and Pino Ursino,

they talked about who sat on that board

and again named those family names,

the Commissos, DeMarias,
Figliomenis, right, and Russo.

They named those names in
those and have those discussions

about who controls what.

Just a normal day in
the intelligence office.

The guys had come in and
it was one of those deals

where, boss, you got to see this.

If the guys are out on Verducci’s house

planning to do surveillance
on him for the day

and suddenly a group of
individuals start showing up.

These are all well-known
Siderno family members.

These are individuals
who are very influential

in the 'Ndrangheta.

You see Coluccio, you see
Cosimo Commisso arriving.

You see them having conversations.

Surely it shows that
these individuals meet.

This is what it's like when they meet.

It's not like something out of
a movie where they're meeting

around a boardroom
table in some café or hotel.

They're meeting at a
suburban residential street

and here they are meeting
at Verducci's house,

clearly having a
conversation. Very significant.

It was the spring of 2014 when
we first approached Commisso.

Cosimo Commisso,
he's kind of a combination

of an 'Ndrangheta boss,
a CEO and a politician.

'Ndrangheta boss runs
the daily criminal activities

of the organization.

The CEO looks after
the 'Ndrangheta structure

and is profit driven

and the politician
obviously deals with disputes

and some types of negotiations.

Carmine Guido, he owed a
debt to Cosimo Commisso

that he needed to pay off.

All of that helped build the scenarios

for the many conversations

and the many intercepts that occurred.

One of Cosimo Commisso's
favourite hangouts was a bakery

owned by Big Joe Cuntrera.

Big Joe Cuntrera was
an organized crime figure

on the Sicilian side.

The Cuntrera Mafia family runs

a multimillion dollar worldwide enterprise

smuggling heroine and
hashish from Southeast Asia

and India through Sicily,
Great Britain and Canada

to the United States.

So this is the bakery on
the left owned by Big Joe.

We had the agent coming in
there and paying up the Commisso.

Commisso’s routine was in the morning.

He would go to Big Joe's place.

It'd be a safe place to discuss
business, criminal activities.

So this is Big Joe's bakery.

I'm almost certain people
are watching us right now

wondering what we're up to.

They're kind of allergic to cameras

usually when the police are holding them.

Joe’s Cuntrera's bakery
was bombed in 2018.

Vaughan Fire got here
about 1:37 in the morning.

They spotted a broken window,

looks like maybe a chair was
used to smash the window.

Somebody was sending a message, obviously.

From time to time that'll
happen in the 'Ndrangheta circles.

Around the time there was
a few bombings in the GTA.

[explosion]

The entire wall of Café Coretto
has been blown to pieces.

Inside you can see gaming
machines and a whiteboard

where poker scores are kept.

And outside the car

two men suspected of
causing the explosion arrived in.

The bombing sends a very strong message

that somebody's not very happy with you.

The agent would often have
undercover scenarios here,

but he was always invited.

He would meet Cos Commisso
here on a number of occasions.

Sometimes to discuss criminal activity,

other times to pay a tribute
and give him a gift of money.

He would sit down at a different table

and then Commisso would
come over and talk to him.

It's kind of a rule in
the 'Ndrangheta circles

that you just don't come
up to a boss and start talking.

You have to be invited.

The police agent would pay
him maybe $500 or a $1,000

maybe every couple of weeks.

The agent will just say, I did something.

This is for you.

Commisso didn't really want
to know what you were up to,

but he wanted was your money.

Greed is a motivating factor with Commisso

and that will keep Commisso happy

and the more times you paid him,

the more times he liked you

because he was getting
his pockets lined with money.

Whenever the agent spoke to Commisso,

he often talked in code.

He would whisper sometimes

almost like somebody's listening.

There was one scenario

and the agents started
talking criminality.

and Commisso kind of put
his finger up to keep him quiet

almost as if they were being recorded.

On some occasions
they would leave the café

so nobody could overhear the conversation

or it wasn't being recorded
by someone inside the café.

It's called a walk and talk.

They do a lot of meetings
face to face and we've seen it,

whether it's with Commisso or
with some of these other guys.

They don't want to get
caught on any wiretap.

'Cause they also know
technology works both ways.

This was a banquet hall where
the police agent went to a stag

just to be seen

with some of the other
'Ndrangheta associates.

The stags and the
weddings are very important

in Italian, of course,
'Ndrangheta culture.

It's a place where these
'Ndrangheta families

can go and meet and talk to
one another on a social level,

but still discuss business.

Some of the families are in there,

they're kind of all together in groups

and they kind of do
that to show their power

to the other families.

The agent was at a stag
on one undercover scenario,

and it was at that stag that
Commisso put his arm around

the agent and he was showing
him off to other associates

saying that he was with
him, he was with Commisso.

It was kind of a surprise to the
agent that Commisso did that

because the agent was already
claimed by Giuseppe Pino Ursino

and in the 'Ndrangheta world,

you're only claimed by one group.

So the police were kind of shocked.

Once the agent was claimed by Commisso,

that afforded him a level of protection

in his criminal activities.

The agent was in there,

I think, until about
11:00 or 11:30 at night,

and then we called it quits.

And then a few hours later I
get a call that there was a murder

that happened here
outside the banquet hall.

There were likely more
than a few mobsters gathered

at the high rolling bachelor party,

but only two were killed

when the gunfire rang
out early this morning.

They were murdered
probably two, three hours

after the agent had left the stag.

So that gives you an idea
like anything could happen

at any time, anywhere.

There's a wealth of evidence
against Carmine Verducci

that was obtained through
those purchases of cocaine

and firearms,

and he was most certainly chargeable,

but regrettably, he was murdered.

The reports that there
were multiple sounds

of gunshots heard.

The man under the tarp,
56-year-old Carmine Verducci,

known Italian hitman for
the 'Ndrangheta crime group.

Carmine Verducci was
murdered April 24th, 2014.

We were going to do a
scenario of Verducci that day,

but we did one with another target.

So that day he went out to the
Regina Café and a car came up,

two guys in hoodies,

and they executed 'em
out in the parking lot.

It was surprising that
Verducci got killed.

Ursino shed a little bit of light on that

during one of the scenarios

saying if you keep on making
mistakes over and over,

they'll come for you.

He was telling the agent
not to make mistakes,

'cause he goes, look at Verducci.

Organized crime is very quiet

and often that's also a reason why

when people hear about
it or if there was a murder

on their street,

oh, I never thought something
like this would happen

in my community.

They don't know that Verducci
is meeting Cosimo Commisso

and Coluccio on their street.

They don't even know
who these individuals are

until suddenly they read in the paper

that a guy named Verducci
is murdered in Woodbridge.

That homicide still remains unsolved.

- Hello?

- Hey Brad, I left eh, I’m on my way back.

- Okay, sounds good.

Stay in the car until we call you.

- We got a lot of good info
I don’t know if you heard.

- It’s great, we’ll talk
about it when you get here.

- Okay.

- Awesome, thanks, bye.

Anytime you're running an agent,

the amount of stress that's on an agent,

the concern about that
agent being found out.

How that agent lives their life

outside of when you're handling them.

A lot of stress on the agent,
on all the investigators.

We ran the agent from May,
2013 until the end of May, 2015.

Two years, working undercover,
was a long time for the agent

and you could start to see during the end

he was getting burned out.

- I know that name.
That guy’s a piece of shit.

You start to theorize, did they know...

did they know he's an agent?

Did they know? Did they suspect him?

That goes through your
mind over and over again.

Was our surveillance burned?

During that project,
Cosimo Commisso found out

through a contact at the banks

that we'd executed
production orders at the banks

so he became aware that the
police were interested in him.

I mean, these guys always know

the police were interested in them

but clearly that interest goes up and down

and they get that too.

So all of a sudden
does he start to evaluate,

well, who am I talking to?

What have I been saying?

Time is 1251 hours. May 27th, 2015.

Activate devices 2 and 3 for scenario 228.

The agent testified that
Cos wanted to murder him

on more than one occasion.

And he even mentioned one time

that there was a vote whether
he would live or die and he won.

So he got to live and keep on working.

That goes to Ursino telling the agent,

make sure you make no
mistakes out there, right,

because one day they're
not even going to ask.

They're just going to come get you.

It's a real cat and mouse
game that you play.

It was the second last scenario.

The agent had a scenario with Cos Commisso

and Commisso advised the agent,

you got to be careful
what you're doing in life.

You got to think about
yourself and your family.

And the agent took that to mean
Commisso was threatening him

and his family.

It looked like Commisso was
onto the agent after two years.

So that is a concern,

and then that's a decision that
we make at that executive level.

Do we continue on with the investigation?

How at risk is he?

Often sometimes that
also is one of the reasons

why we decide it's time to take it down.

So at that point, we really
couldn't go any further.

May 27th, 2015, 1338
deactivate devices 2 and 2

for scenario 228.

Carmine was able to gather
enough evidence that charges

were laid against Diego
Serrano and Pino Ursino.

Code named operation O'Phoenix.

The early morning raids went deep

into the highly protected
hierarchy of the mafia.

Police alleging they belong
to two cells of the 'Ndrangheta

operating in the GTA.

Captured in the police net Giuseppe Ursino

named by investigators as
one of the top mob bosses.

After the project O'Phoenix takedown,

there were 19 people arrested and charged.

Most of those plead guilty
and then Ursino and --

went to trial, and eventually
they were convicted.

Project O'Phoenix, It was
the first investigation in Canada

where the 'Ndrangheta was recognized

as a criminal organization
in a Canadian court.

So on that part alone, it was a success.

We did disrupt an importation
group out of South America

for bringing in cocaine, and
we obtained evidence against

most of the targets in the investigation.

The police felt that there was
enough to charge Commisso.

The prosecution looked at it
and the likelihood of prosecution

of conviction was not there.

So the prosecutors decided
not to charge Commisso.

They did a fantastic job, the prosecutors.

Commisso just escaped
again and it was narrow.

It's almost like he's so
conditioned at this point

to believe that he's
always being intercepted,

that he's always planting something there

that would put doubt
in a jury in the future

that would put doubt
in the mind of a judge

in the future.

He's so skilled and so wise
in how to avoid prosecution.

So he may last forever
without ever being prosecuted.

In 2018, a man by the name of Carmelo Muya

is murdered in Calabria, in Siderno.

His brother, Vincenzo
Muya, wants to avenge

his brother's death.

He goes into a fit of rage.

He gets information from
a man named Ricardo --

who actually tells him the
answers you're looking for,

lie in Canada.

Which is remarkable.

A boss in Calabria gets murdered,

and this guy's brother is being
told and decides I need to go

to Canada to get my answers.

It really paints the
picture of just how powerful

the mafia, the
'Ndrangheta, in Ontario are.

He wants confirmation out of Toronto

about who killed his brother,

but beyond that, he wants
permission to start a war.

He wants to strike back.

He wants to take out the people
that he thinks are responsible

for his brother's murder.

...the afternoon when
Antonio Muya was murdered,

He was... hang out from this
market because he worked there.

...riding on his bike. He was shot.

What Vincenzo Muya doesn't realize is that

after his brother's murder,

the Italian police have
tapped into his phone,

and this isn't just a traditional wiretap.

They've turned Vincenzo Muya's phone

into a two-way listening device.

And Italian police decide,
well, he's going to Canada,

we have to keep listening to him.

The Italian police place a live
bug underneath the airplane seat

of Vincenzo Muya on his flight to Toronto.

He takes an Alitalia flight

lands in Toronto on March 31st, 2019.

From the second he gets off that plane,

York Regional Police are surveilling him.

The Italians have managed to
at least get York Regional Police

to tail Muya and the people he's with

while they're here in Canada.

He has his meetings,
but unfortunately for him,

he doesn't get his
answers and so he's pissed.

It's like I came all this way.

I came to get my answers
and I'm not getting anything.

He talks about the Commisso family.

He talks about the Figliomeni family.

He talks about the De
Maria family and he says,

I've been doing all
these things for 20 years.

I've been doing everyone's favours.

I've been essentially a good soldier.

You know what, forget
it. I'm done with this.

The cruel twist in all of this
is that Muya doesn't realize

he's walking right into Project Sindacato.

Project Sindacato is the biggest
organized crime investigation

in Canadian history.

Investigators are calling
it the largest take down

of traditional organized
crime by York Regional Police.

Hundreds of officers involved,

suspected major players
in a mafia under arrest.

It led to what they are
alleging here is the dismantling

of a well-known crime
family in this region.

In 2019 police execute
dozens of search warrants.

They arrest nine members
of the Figliomeni Crime Group.

They seize five Ferraris

along with dozens of
other luxury vehicles.

They seize millions of
dollars worth of property.

They seize hundreds
of thousands of dollars

in Rolex watches, alcohol.

We're talking a $6,000 bottle of scotch.

We're talking a $4,000 bottle of cognac.

They take all these things.

This was an $8 million investigation

involving over 500 police officers

from eight different law
enforcement agencies.

They think they've got
it. They've cracked it.

Sindacato was a significant takedown.

Ultimately, it resulted in the
arrest of a significant number

more so than any other investigation.

[In Italian]

Add to it, its connection
to the Italian investigation

that was running parallel to
the Canadian investigation.

It was huge.

One of the largest traditional
organized crime arrests

and takedowns that has occurred in, ever.

And while police were targeting
the Figliomeni crime family

in this case, who do you
inevitably see come up?

The Commisso family.

They're coming up in the documents.

They're coming up in
the investigative work.

There's confidential
informants talking about

all these different families

who are also part of the same
'Ndrangheta crime network

when it comes to the
'Ndrangheta and Canada,

the Commisso are always
going to be right here.

It's inescapable.

We needed to focus on taking
down criminal organizations

by attacking the finances,
the laundering of dirty money

and large profits from proceeds of crime

that have built these
organizations over decades

and allowed them to thrive.

The Italians often want
Canadians to take action

on deporting individuals.

They have cases in Italy

or charges of just mafia association.

So if they're able to,
through an investigation,

show that a Canadian
'Ndrangheta member is now--

there's a warrant
for their arrest in Italy

for mafia association,

they want us to be
able to arrest that person

and extradite them.

The problem is that there's
no such thing in Canada

as mafia association.

There's no parallel charge.
So it's not possible to do.

In Italy they can do that.

They can arrest you for
being associated with Joe Blow,

who's an assistant
boss to the 'Ndrangheta.

I mean, what law did you break there?

There's several challenges
when it comes to investigating

organized crime in Canada.

One of the big ones is actually our laws.

The laws in Canada aren't
as strong as they should be

when it comes to pursuing organized crime.

We don't have RICO laws like the states.

We don't have mafia
association laws like in Italy.

RICO is an act that was
passed by Congress in 1970.

RICO is just an acronym for
Racketeer Influenced Corrupt

Organization Act, which basically created,

I'm going to call it like an uber crime

for engaging in racketeering activity.

The five mob bosses are
accused of running the commission

said to be the ruling
body of the most powerful

organized crime elements
in the entire nation.

There was a recognition that
traditional crimes on the books

were not going to get
you to prosecute the boss,

the head of the family.

And until you can
prosecute the upper echelon,

you're not going to be
able to take the power

out of this organization.

Today, federal officials tried
to start making the mob bosses

do the paying.

For the first time ever,

the reputed heads of all
five crime families in our town

were hauled into court on one indictment.

A lot of the organized crime
in New York took a huge hit

because of the laws there,
because of the RICO laws,

but we don't have that here.

So people who want to battle
organized crime in Canada

are at a bit of a disadvantage.

You can look at the results.

When I started in the
office, all five bosses

of the five near crime
families who under indictment,

they were all convicted
and all went to jail

for dozens of years.

So proof is in the pudding.

This case charges more
mafia bosses in one indictment

than any ever before.

In the absence of RICO,
it's extremely hard to capture

the upper echelons of the mafia
because they're very insulated.

Our newsroom got a tip
that we should take a look at

Project Sindacato,

and this was at the point where

the charges had been well-laid,
the case was advancing,

but one of the lawyers
of the accused said,

it's falling apart.

I'm like, what do you
mean it's falling apart?

Everything was essentially
done, poof, gone in smoke.

There were cars, cash, even homes,

$35 million worth seized in
2018 in what York Regional Police

dubbed Project Sindacato,

the force's biggest
organized crime bust ever.

Now, those accused are walking away.

The charges for all of those
accused have been stayed.

Figliomeni's lawyer saying he
accused investigators in court

of using wiretaps to
listen in on conversations

between the suspects and their lawyers.

Police had permission to listen
in on phone calls of the people

they were targeting,

but police aren't allowed
to listen to phone calls

when their targets are
speaking with their lawyers.

They did so at a level that we claimed

was not just inadvertent,
wasn't just a mistake,

it wasn't just a one-off.

That this was actually consistently,

they failed to comply with
the terms of these court orders.

The Crown commissioned an investigation

by the Toronto Police
to get to the bottom of it.

Crown opted to stay those
charges before the results

of the investigation could
be shown in open court.

And so now you've got all
these cars, all these Ferraris,

all the cash, all the booze.

Well, what happens to it
now? You have to give it back.

Could you imagine
you’re York Regional Police

and you've seized all these goods,

you flashed 'em around like trophies

and now you have to go give it
back to the people you've said

are criminals, you've said are murderers,

you've said are extortionists.

Well, here you go.
Here's your Ferrari back.

Here's your booze back.
Here are your watches back.

Everything was useless.

The entire thing fell apart, completely.

Canadian taxpayers spent around $8 million

on this year and a half investigation.

And what was left to show for it?

Nothing.

Police and prosecutors were
left with their dicks in their hands.

That's what was left.

That shit don't happen in America.

Feds put their claws in you, that's it.

You're like a lobster.

You're boiling in the water, you're dead.

Just give it up.

You can't beat the US government.

Angelo Figliomeni, if he was here,

they would've shoved the
RICO Act all the way up his ass

where he wouldn't be
able to take the pain.

But in Canada, they
don't have the RICO Act.

So somebody screwed up.

I mean how many times is
Angelo Figliomeni been arrested?

He keeps getting out
because of technicality.

Last time I heard the police
had to release everything to him.

His cars and everything,
millions of dollars.

When he went to pick up his cars,

a friend of mine called me
and said as he's taken his,

I think it was a red Ferrari, he drove it

and rolled down the window
and said, "you fucking idiots."

It's always been my position.

It's the position of York Regional Police

that that case should have gone to court.

Let those officers come to court,

let the judge decide after
hearing from the officers

about what they did,

whether evidence should
be admissible or not.

And then based on that, if
evidence wasn't admissible

and you don't get a conviction,

will you and you don't get a conviction.

But that case deserved an opportunity

to be heard in court.

One of the remarkable things
about the Commisso family

is how long they've
been operating in Canada.

We're talking 50 years, half a century.

And so you'd wonder as
a journalist or as anybody

who is familiar with organized crime,

how do they have that staying power?

How have they not been
tossed in jail long-term?

How have they not had their
financial structure crippled?

How have they not been killed?

These guys have been around for 50 years

and I think it speaks to
the power, the longevity,

the ingenuity, and the criminal mastermind

of an operation that they have going.

And so what we see over
the years from police reports

speaking with sources,
reports that have been done

is how the Commisso family

gets their tentacles into
the legitimate part of society.

These people aren't
getting their physical hands

dirty anymore.

They're allegedly involved
in the real estate industry,

the construction industry,
the restaurant industry,

bars, cafés.

Anywhere there's an
opportunity to make money,

they're part of it.

And it all has the
appearance of legitimacy

because if you were to look at it,

well, no, nothing's
illegal is going on here.

And part of what the Commisso
family has allegedly done

over the years to maintain
their power is penetrate

the powerful aspects of our society.

And that means getting the politicians.

That means getting into the banks.

That means getting the cops.

When you're trying to build a
relationship with your targets,

you do things like you buy them gifts.

So cigars were bought
for one of our targets

and I'm a cigar smoker,

and I went out and bought
the same cigar for myself.

And it was my commitment that
when that person was arrested

and charged and convicted,
that I would smoke that cigar.

So unfortunately, that cigar
is still sitting in my humidor

'cause I never got to smoke it.

It's not my favorite cigar,
but it's a very special cigar

and hopefully one day I'll read the paper

and stars will align and I'll
get to finally smoke that cigar.

The lifespan of the 'Ndrangheta members.

Some have been deported
to Italy, some are in jail,

some are dead.

There's very few out there

that have gone on for a long, long time.

Cos Commisso would be one of them.

So I don't know what his secret sauce is,

but he's managed to evade the
police on more than one occasion

and evade death... so far.

Remo will probably die before
he ever turns his life around.

And if the dead do walk,

then he ain't turning
it around then either

he's going to stay Remo.

He's going to die eventually.
we're all going to die.

But who knows who takes after.

So it doesn't end here,
doesn't end here at all.

It's like a circle, a merry-go-round.

That's all you do is keep going
round and round and round.

Either you die or someone else dies.

And for what?

They had their fun with me,
they got away with me doing shit

and they never paid for it.

So payback motherfuckers, fuck 'em all.

I got fucked without agreeing to get laid.

That's why I am doing it.

Oh boy.

I've never been afraid
of anything in my life,

especially them.

I only fear God and that's it.

They can shoot me, kill
me, but not words, nothing.

I've been shot, what? Two
and a half times in my life.

It burns, it hurts for a
while, but you get over it.

I turned on the Commissos

because they were different than me

and I figured I was better than them.

I've done some terrible things,

but I do not want to become like them

because they are murder
incorporated... period.

They don't care who they have to kill,

or what they what they have to kill,

and they still do it to this day.

I've moved over 50 times
in the last, what, 40 years?

I'm getting a little tired of it.

How do I want to be remembered?

I don't want to be remembered.

There was never a talk about the future.

It was a day-to-day life.

It was a day-to-day life.

You never know what's
going to happen tomorrow.

You didn't think about the future.

I think about the future now

because things are so...

but a lot of old gangsters
never prepared for old age.

I'm still in touch with
my family from Canada.

I still have the contacts.

And my old boss, I have
respect for him and we say hello

and hopefully in the next future,

the near future I should
say, we're going to see--

spend time together and he come and visit.

And yes, so our friends,
our brothers, our family,

we have contact that way.

I got to make plans to meet very soon.

I'm a piece of shit
because I took the way out

because I wanted to make the
money quick and easy and fast,

and I wanted to have
everything in my hands

and I didn't care who I
hurt and who I didn't hurt

or what I had to do.

So I always said I'm a piece
of shit since I was 13 years old

and I don't want to give up
my power and my money.

I want to die with power and money.

So I'm not going to give up

until I have everything I wanted
before... the same I had, right?