Canada's Mafia Influence

"It was an inopportune time for them to come."
"We happened to be live [with wiretaps] when they [a southern Italian 'Ndrangheta boss and his lieutenant] travelled here [to Toronto]."
Det.Sgt.Carl Mattinen, anti-Mafia task force, York Regional Police Force

"[The Canadian board can have influence over the] entire 'Ndrangheta."
"The governing body of the Siderno branch no longer operates only in Calabria, transmitting orders abroad, but also does so directly on Canadian soil, to give it a more effective and efficient command structure."
Italian federal police authorities

"[This indicates that Canada's mobsters are] more strategically powerful than we had thought before."
"From the wiretaps it appears that -- differently from the situation portrayed in [previous investigations] -- the chamber of control in Toronto can extend its strategic resonance to Siderno as well, for the first time reversing the order."
"Decisions might be taken in Canada first and arrive in Siderno later."
Anna Sergi, criminology lecturer, University of Essex, 'Ndrangheta specialist

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The head of one mob family in the southern region of Calabria, Carmelo Muia, was assassinated -- a not uncommon occurrence between disputatious, territory-jealous mobsters anywhere, but particularly those of the infamous Italian Mafia. His brother inherited his role as mob boss and vowed to avenge the murder of his brother. Whose life was taken not by police authorities in a shoot-out with the gang, but by someone within the 'Ndrangheta network harbouring a grudge.

Vincenzo Muia, the new boss of the Mafia clan left leaderless with his brother's death, was intent on hunting down those responsible for his brother's assassination; honour demanded it, much less brotherly love. In analyzing details of the ambush, seeking clues, he finally concluded that the identity of the culprit must surely be a chief suspect whose own two brothers had been killed during a mob feud in which Carmelo Muia had been involved.

Vincenzo though prepared to order his personal sense of justice be carried out, exercised a bit of caution, wanting to be absolutely certain before launching a murder that would have internal repercussions within the mob clan network of the Mafia. So he travelled with an aide to Canada to verify his suspicions by interviewing "u Briganti", two brothers, Angelo Figliomeni and Cosimo Figliomeni, Toronto-based "fugitives" who had fled Italy just as Italian authorities were preparing to charge them.

Carmelo Muia sought answers and advice from the brothers before proceeding. The brothers were part of the 'chamber of control' a local board of decision-making with authority over the clan mobs within the Mafia. The original "camera di controllo" established in Siderno. It now appears a decision was made to launch a shadow chamber, but then the 'shadow chamber' of authority became dominant according to police in both Italy and Canada.

Who assert that the board, located north of Toronto has assumed the authority of decision-making beyond Canada's underworld, extending abroad, including back in its origins in Siderno, Italian authorities claimed in court documents. Camelo Muia's arrival in Canada happened to coincide with York police preparing to move in on Mafia leaders in the region, resulting in mass arrests out of an anti-mob probe, a large Toronto-area Mafia bust.

Among those arrested was Angelo Figliomeni. Respected, influential Calabrian mobsters have left their country of birth to immigrate to the Toronto area, many in flight from Italy's anti-Mafia investigations. The Canadian chamber of control was meant to supplement the Siderno original but has now overtaken it in significance and authority, a planned move to ensure the survival of the Mafia and its kingpins.

According to Fausto Lamparelli, director of the Central Operational Service of the Polizia di Stato the level of 'Ndrangheta authority concentrated in Canada is unprecedented.

Arrests took place in Italy simultaneous to the arrests in York region last week in Canada. Carmelo Muia was among those swept into the ambitious York Region dragnet. The Italian arrests under the probe Operation "Canadian 'Ndrangheta Connection", scooped up the man who had accompanied Muia to Canada, charged with Mafia association and financial crimes. As for Muia, he is charged with interfering with the police investigation in his brother's murder.

Attempting to preempt the police to exact his own vengeance, but as well because he hid evidence from police by taking possession of his brother's cellphone from the murder scene -- to shield evidence from police.

Det. Sgt. Carl Mattinen of York Region’s Organized Crime and Intelligence Services is part of York police’s new anti-Mafia task force, which ran a sting called Project Sindacato that resulted in several arrests.  Peter J. Thompson/National Post