The trial of a man accused of murdering four people at the request of a Montreal mafia clan opened in Montreal on Tuesday, before a jury of 12 citizens. The Crown declared from the outset that it will call a hitman who has become an informer to testify, who will come to incriminate his former collaborator.
Posted at 10:09 p.m.
Jonathan Massari, 41, is charged with four murders and three murder conspiracies dating back to 2016. His trial is taking place at the Gouin Judicial Center in the north of the city.
In 2016, according to the lawsuit’s theory, Massari was the right-hand man of Salvatore Scoppa, a Calabrian clan leader of the Italian mob in Montreal. “To demonstrate his loyalty, some people had to be killed,” said Mr.e Karine Cordeau, one of the Crown prosecutors in charge of the file.
“The targets were on a list drawn up by Salvatore Scoppa among others,” she continued in her introductory statement to the jurors.
“The evidence will immerse you in a clan war that took place in 2016 within the Italian mafia”, announced Me Cord.
Series of assassinations
Me Cordeau explained that the evidence to be presented will relate in particular to the murder of Lorenzo Giordano, who was shot five times “on a cold winter morning”, on 1er March 2016, while he was sitting in the passenger seat of a Kia Sportage, with his spouse, in front of a gym in Laval.
Another murder that will be exposed to the jurors is that of Rocco Sollecito, who was shot in the arm, neck and chest “in a carefully choreographed series of events”, while making a mandatory stop at the wheel of his BMW on boulevard Saint-Elzéar, in Laval, on May 27, 2016.
The third and fourth murders for which Massari must answer are those of the brothers Giuseppe and Vincenzo Falduto, killed on June 30, 2016 in a garage in Saint-Jude, in Montérégie, continued the prosecutor. “The bodies left at the crime scene were never found,” she said.
Important Witness
The Crown told jurors on Tuesday that a key witness in the case would be a “hitman” who had been hired by the mafia to help the defendant kill Rocco Sollecito and the Falduto brothers. The identity of this hitman is protected by a publication ban. “For these three murders, [il] pulled the trigger,” explained Mr.e Cord.
For the murder of Lorenzo Giordano, the hitman was not present, but he received confidences from the accused, according to the Crown.
Because after a few years, this witness “with a heavy past and a well-stocked criminal record” decided to work for the police and even agreed to wear a hidden microphone in order to record his former acolytes, explained the prosecutor.
“This trial will be a bit like a puzzle to which we add pieces every day, so that at the end you can see a more precise picture of what happened,” she concluded.
Me Cordeau represents the pursuit with Me Isabelle Poulin, M.e Marie-Christine Godbout and M.e Catherine Sheitoyan. Jonathan Massari is represented by Mr.e Philippe Larochelle. The trial is presided over by Judge Michel Pennou.