Jonathan Massari, who was soon to undergo a second jury trial for the murders of four individuals linked to the Montreal mafia, has just pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges.
At the request of the prosecution, Judge Michel Pennou of the Superior Court withdrew the counts of premeditated murder.
The prosecution and defense have agreed to a 25-year sentence without eligibility for parole until the inmate has served half that term, but sentencing arguments have been postponed until March 13 to allow family members of the victims to express themselves, if they wish.
Massari was originally charged with three counts of conspiracy and four counts of premeditated murder for the 2016 murders of Lorenzo Giordano, Rocco Sollecito and brothers Giuseppe and Vincenzo Falduto.
According to the evidence presented during the first trial, Massari drove the getaway car and motorcycle during the murders of Giordano and Sollecito, and was present in the garage of a property in Saint-Jude, near Saint-Hyacinthe, when the Falduto brothers were murdered there.
The evidence showed that Sollecito and Giordano, two lieutenants of the Rizzuto clan, were murdered at the request of the Salvatore brothers and Andrew Scoppa in the context of a power struggle between the Calabrian and Sicilian clans of the Montreal mafia.
Statements inadmissible in evidence
Massari and accomplices Dominico Scarfo, Marie-Josée Viau and Guy Dion were arrested in 2019 after a former organized crime hitman began collaborating with the Sûreté du Québec and recorded them without their knowledge. .
A first jury trial for Massari had started last September but it was aborted a few weeks later because the former hitman, who had just started his testimony, had made statements inadmissible in evidence and prejudicial to Massari.
“Because of the mistrial judgment and the CREA’s testimonial framing motion, our evidence was at risk. For us, this regulation really meets the interest of Justice and society because it avoids a 4e trial in the Premeditate case and a 2e trial for the accused Massari”, declared to The Press one of the prosecution attorneys, Mr.e Isabel Poulin.
Massari has been detained since his arrest in October 2019. If Judge Pennou endorses the common suggestion of 25 years, subtracting the preventive detention of 42 months which is calculated in time and a half, Massari would have 19 years and eight months left to serve.
“The sentence is at the high end of the range for conspiracy to commit murder in an organized crime context and approximates a life sentence. For the counts of conspiracy, his accomplice, Dominico Scarfo, had received a 20-year sentence, ”added Me Poulin.
“We thank the families of the victims for their cooperation and their courage since the start of the proceedings. We hope that the end of this legal process, which was long, will allow them to go one step further in the mourning they are going through, ”concluded the prosecutor.