Secret Italian Wiretaps Reveal Toronto Could Descend Into Full-On Mafia War

The revelation comes after talks between two Canadian-born mobsters based in Italy were recorded by Italian police in the course of an anti-mob Operation Acero-Krupy, according to the National Post.

Hidden microphones capture discussions between Vincenzo Crupi, who had recently come back to Italy from Canada, and his-brother-in law Vincenzo Macri. Local police issued warrants for the arrests of both men on September 28.

According to Italian prosecutors familiar with the contents of the recordings, there is a real “danger of an escalation of an armed conflict within the coterie of ’Ndrangheta [Mafia initially formed in Italian region of Calabria] clans, operating for a long time in Canadian territory … particularly among the Coluccio and the Figliomeni [clans].”

Prosecution documents indicate the recordings shed light on last year’s unsolved shooting in front of a café in Woodbridge, Toronto that resulted in the death of important Toronto-area mobster Carmine Verduci that dramatically increased tensions within Ontario mobster clans. Crupi reportedly called the death of Verduci, a key go-between between Canadian and Italian mobsters, an “assassination” in the recorded conversations, and accused two brothers from Vaughan, Ontario — now fugitives in Italy for their link to the Mafia — of “plann[ing] and determin[ing]” the killing.

Although Italian police shared information pertaining to the investigation with their Canadian counterparts, it will be difficult to use the wiretaps as evidence in Canada, the National Post reported, as the legitimacy of that data may be easily challenged in Canadian court and judicial authorization for wiretapping is far easier to obtain in Italy than it is in Canada.

Police in Vaughan, where many reported gangsters live and work, report they’ve seen little signs of an impending war.

“Whatever the problem was between these groups, it looks like, somehow, it’s may have been worked out,” an unnamed officer familiar with local ’Ndrangheta figures told the Post.

“There are too many important people who would lose money if there was a shooting war. They have to have some cohesion, they have to show strength to stave off competition from [mobsters based in] Montreal,” another cop reported.

But law enforcement pointed out that the absence of violence on the city streets doesn’t necessarily mean that all is well under the surface.

“People seem to be getting along, everyone is shaking hands and kissing each other. It is either really good or really bad — it is sometimes difficult to tell,” he said.

Operation Acero-Krupy (“acero,” which means maple in Italian, is a reference to Canada) was set up in Italy after talks were recorded between two criminals with close ties to Canada, Giuseppe and Antonio Coluccio. Giuseppe is considered the head of the “globally powerful Coluccio clan,” according to the Post.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police recently called ’Ndrangheta clans a priority threat.

Italian authorities said at least seven ’Ndrangheta clans were active in the Toronto area and that the organization had reached “the top of the criminal world” by establishing a “continuous flow of cocaine.”

Officials stressed the two governments continued to collaborate on investigations into families working internationally.

“It is not only a fight for Italy against this group,” one Italian official familiar with the latest case said, “but a fight at an international level. It is important to share information and work together.”