This story appeared today in the National Post, and what I find interesting and puzzling is how an individual who was in the authorities cross hairs for quite some time was able to enter Canada repeatedly without apparent difficulty over a period of several years. Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, a person of whom there are reasonable grounds to believe will engage in criminal activities in Canada, or a person who is suspected of having committed crimes abroad, should not be granted entry to Canada. Were the authorities asleep at the switch? The other interesting ( and obvious) question is: why is Canada such a favourite destination for the world's most wanted? The answer lies in our law enforcement of immigration legislation. This is clearly mind boggling.
Suspected Mafia hit man arrested on immigration warrant
Suspected Mafia hit man arrested on immigration warrant
Adrian Humphreys, National Post
A suspected Mafia hit man linked to a savage family feud that claimed dozens of victims in Italy and Canada was arrested on Wednesday at Toronto airport.
Riccardo Gattuso, 39, an Italian national, was arrested on an immigration warrant after returning to Canada following his release from an Italian prison, where he served a sentence for Mafia association.
Italian authorities told the National Post that Mr. Gattuso was suspected of being recruited as a hit man for the Commisso clan in Italy in the 1990s. He was not, however, among those who were eventually charged in any of the many slayings.
Canadian authorities have been interested in Mr. Gattuso for some time as he worked to make Canada his permanent home.
For several years he was living in Woodbridge, north of Toronto, under his own name. The happy news of his son's birth in 2005 was carried in his Catholic parish's public bulletin -- despite him being wanted in Italy.
At the time he was considered a fugitive from justice after a sweeping prosecution against the Commisso clan in 2000 called Operation Bluff, but Italian authorities could not find him.
Giuseppina Latella, a judge in Italy, described the Commisso clan as "a dangerous, bloodthirsty Mafia association."
Under increasing attention by Canadian police, Mr. Gattuso left Toronto on Dec. 19, 2005, and was arrested at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci Airport by Italian authorities who were waiting to meet his plane.
He served a sentence for Mafia association in Italy and promptly returned to Canada upon his release. He soon left again for Italy where he lived with his family before his unexpected return on Wednesday afternoon on a flight from Rome.
Canadian authorities allege his arrival here is illegal because he failed to report his Mafia conviction on his previous arrival in Canada.
Italian authorities allege Mr. Gattuso and some members of his family were involved in a deadly vendetta that serves as a shocking backdrop to Wednesday's arrest. The feud stretched from the seaside town of Siderno in Italy's south to the suburbs north of Toronto.
At the heart of the vendetta was the clashing ambition of two mob clans in Siderno and the unforgiving tradition of the faida -- an institutionalized form of family feud in traditional Calabrian culture where spilled blood demands blood be spilled in return.
The Costa family had seven sons who had spent many of their formative years in Canada; four of the sons became mobsters while three apparently turned their backs on outlaw life.
After the Costa family returned from Canada to Siderno some of the criminally active sons chafed at the constraints of working in the shadow of the town's mob boss, a Commisso. Likely accustomed to the more relaxed mob hierarchy they found in Canada, the Costas failed to pay proper respect in Siderno, where tradition is firmly entrenched.
The most aggressive of the Costa sons was killed on Jan. 21, 1987. It might have ended there if his family had accepted the loss and settled down. Instead, they retaliated against the Commissos and a faida was on.
Three more Costa sons were murdered and by 1991, the tally of victims stood at 26 dead from among the Costas and eight from among the Commissos. A dozen or more bystanders had also died.
The Costa family "was practically wiped out," said Francesco Tripodi, an Italian judge, who colourfully described the clash as "a fight between a flea and an elephant."
As a coup de grace, the Commisso clan moved to finish off their rival's lineage. With no more criminal members of the family within reach -- some were in prison -- any remaining son became a target.
On April 4, 1991, a Costa son who was deaf and mute was killed in Siderno.
Three weeks later, Riccardo "Frank" Rumbo -- Mr. Gattuso's uncle -- travelled from Siderno to Toronto and, with local help, found the last Costa son living peacefully in Vaughan, north of Toronto, with his wife and three young children.
Giovanni Costa, 38, had no criminal record and is not known to have been involved in the mob. He came to Canada shortly after the faida started, likely to dodge its fury.
On June 26, 1991, Mr. Costa was driving near his home when a white car pulled alongside him. Rumbo pushed a shotgun through the window of the moving car and fired, killing him quickly but not quietly. Rumbo then fled back to Italy.
The death was a closing volley. The Commissos claimed success, "thereby imposing monopolistic Mafia power over the population of Siderno," a court in Italy declared in a ruling
Rumbo, however, was arrested in Siderno and in 1996 was sentenced to 30 years in prison by an Italian court for the Toronto shooting after three Canadian police officers testified in Italy.
Italian authorities have also shown an interest in other relatives of Mr. Gattuso, living in both in Canada and Italy.
In Canada, Mr. Gattuso married into the Figliomeni family. The family is well known in Siderno, where his father-in-law, Vincenzo Figliomeni, was reportedly killed in a past Mafia war.
Two of Mr. Gattuso's relatives living in York region, north of Toronto, are wanted by Italian police on Mafia-related charges, according to authorities: His brother-in-law, Angelo Figliomeni, 46, and Tito Figliomeni, 40.
Tito was acquitted of charges in a 2001 trial in Italy that also dismissed charges against Mr. Gattuso's brother, Davide.
Davide Gattuso was described by Italian prosecutors as "a close associate of all the members of the crime group, actively involved in drug trafficking and the possession of firearms."
At the trial the judge noted the notoriety of his brother who was then living in Canada.
"The fact that he is the brother of Riccardo Gattuso, a fugitive from justice associated with the Commisso group, can strengthen the circumstantial elements concerning the defendant's involvement in illicit drug-related activities on behalf of the criminal group, but the real evidence is not sufficient for his conviction," the judge ruled.
The feud between the Commissos and the Costas has since been settled after a provincial board overseeing the various Calabrian Mafia clans was established -- with the help of respected mobsters in Canada who are Siderno expatriates, sources said.
Both groups were clans of the 'Ndrangheta, the name of the Mafia formed in Italy's Calabria region. It is similar to the better-known Cosa Nostra of Sicily.
Authorities say the 'Ndrangheta has become the most powerful crime group in Italy, dominating the drug trade in Europe.
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