Eight years after he was arrested and then released in a major police investigation against organized crime, Leonardo Rizzuto, the youngest son of Vito Rizzuto, the former godfather of the Montreal mafia, can now recover several items seized from his home in 2015. $55,000.
On the other hand, two semi-automatic pistols of Walter P99 caliber .40 and Browning brands, seven bullets, 45 caliber .40 projectiles and a magazine containing white powdery substance containing about fifteen small ziplock type bags were seized. Quebec’s attorney general could be destroyed.
Between 2013 and 2015, investigators from the Montreal Regional Mixed Team (ERM) and their colleagues from the criminal operations of the Sûreté du Québec targeted several individuals, including Rizzuto, who was suspected of being the leader of the alliance Mafia-Biker-Gang. Organized crime reigned at the time.
On November 19, 2015, after obtaining a search warrant, investigators searched his Laval home.
Since Rizzuto holds a lawyer’s degree, representatives of the Syndic of the Bar accompanied him during the search, and they seized two handguns, small bags containing supplies and other items from his home.
Illegal wiretapping
Following the Magot-Mastiff investigation, Rizzuto was arrested and charged with gang involvement, drug trafficking conspiracy, weapons possession and paraphernalia possession.
Part of the testimony against the former godfather’s youngest son was based on a conversation captured in the conference room of ex-convict Loris Cavalier’s office.
However, a judge later ruled that the conversation was illegally intercepted by the police, and Leonardo Rizzuto was initially acquitted of racketeering and drug conspiracy charges.
In February 2019, a judge concluded that the items seized from his home were obtained in violation of his rights; The prosecution declared that the search warrant was therefore invalid and had no evidence to offer, and Rizzuto was acquitted of other counts of possession of weapons and paraphernalia.
The prosecution then appealed to the Court of Appeal, which was dismissed. These other procedures, completed in 2021, partly explain why items seized from his home can only be confiscated or returned to him today.
Four phones
The assets remained in the sheriff’s custody for years, including a sealed envelope containing material that Rizzuto argued was protected by the privilege.
In addition to the $55,000 ($30,255 in Canadian money and $18,490 in U.S. money), authorities gave Rizzuto four cell phones, two USB keys, several electronic devices, a document titled Resto Bar Romcafé, and a handwritten note. Words cc Mayer Lawee, a check for $50,000, several bank deposit statements and a DVD titled Republic holiday Vito and friends (Vido and his friends on vacation in the Dominican Republic).
Leonardo Rizzuto, who has no criminal history, is still considered by police to be one of the heads of the Sicilian clan of the Montreal mafia.
He was shot while driving his car on Highway 440 in Laval in mid-March.
Francesco del Palso, a former lieutenant of the clan suspected by police of organizing the attack, was killed in a shootout west of Montreal on June 5.
Contact Daniel Renaud at 514 285-7000, ext. Dial and text 4918 Write to [email protected] or mail Pres.
“Music geek. Coffee lover. Devoted food scholar. Web buff. Passionate internet guru.”
