The highest court in the province confirmed on Tuesday the decision of a judge of the Court of Quebec who had acquitted the youngest son of the late Mafia godfather, Leonardo Rizzuto, on charges of possession of pistols and cocaine in February 2019 .
Rizzuto, who was considered by the police as one of the leaders of the Montreal mafia, had been arrested along with several individuals in a major investigation called Magot-Mastiff by which the Sûreté du Québec had beheaded in November 2015 a mafia-alliance. bikers-gang who led organized crime in Montreal.
During the investigation, investigators from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) had fixed microphones and cameras in the office of former criminal lawyer Loris Cavaliere – also arrested – including his conference room.
The police had used certain conversations involving Leonardo Rizzuto captured in this conference room to obtain a warrant, search his residence and find two loaded pistols and five grams of cocaine.
The attorney-client privilege
Rizzuto was also charged with gangsterism in the wake of the Magot-Mastiff inquiry, but Superior Court judge Éric Downs dismissed the evidence obtained in Loris Cavaliere’s office by concluding that even though the investigators had not acted to in bad faith, they committed several breaches of solicitor-client privilege.
Judge Downs ruled that the microphones were fixed in a room used by lawyers and their clients who were not included in the investigation, that investigators had not established sufficient procedures to protect solicitor-client privilege , that conversations were listened to live rather than being recorded and listened to by a magistrate before being retained or dismissed and, finally, that the investigators still heard conversations that they should not have listened to because they had been considered privileged.
With that evidence excluded, Rizzuto and a co-accused, Stefano Sollecito, were acquitted of gangsterism in February 2018.
A year later, Judge Julie Riendeau of the Court of Quebec also dismissed the conversations and considered that the investigators no longer had sufficient grounds to search the residence of Leonardo Rizzuto, and the latter was acquitted.
The prosecution appealed against this decision, arguing in particular that Judge Riendeau had erred in law by excluding this evidence and the search warrant, but the Court of Appeal has just ruled in favor of the judge of the Court of Quebec.
The police still consider Leonardo Rizzuto, who has his legal title, to be a member of the Montreal Mafia.
To reach Daniel Renaud, dial 514 285-7000, extension 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of Press.