Pubdate: Thu, 19 Sep 2002
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2002 Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Adrian Humphreys, National Post
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?158 (Club Drugs)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?345 (Hallucinogens)

DEAD MOBSTER'S CREW ARRESTED, POLICE ALLEGE

'Multicultural': 32 Suspects Rounded up from Ontario, N.B. and N.Y.

If Gaetano Panepinto, a discount coffin seller and Mafia strongman, had not 
been shot dead two years ago when he drove his Cadillac into an ambush in a 
well-to-do Toronto neighbourhood, he would have likely been charged 
yesterday in a sweep police say mopped up the remnants of his criminal 
organization.

As it was, police arrested 32 people from Ontario, New Brunswick and New 
York State, who are accused of forming a major criminal organization 
involved in drugs, credit card fraud, stolen goods and violence.

Among them is Juan Ramon Fernandez, the new boss of the group, police allege.

Mr. Fernandez, 45, had been banned for life from Canada. He has twice been 
deported under armed escort to his native Spain, has a list of convictions 
- -- including one stemming from a gangland slaying -- and is well known to 
organized crime investigators in Montreal for his connections to top Mafia 
figures.

Yet, police investigators said, he still managed to re-emerge in 
Mississauga, under the alias of Joe Bravo, filling the void left by Mr. 
Panepinto's murder.

Before Mr. Panepinto died, however, he attracted the attention of more than 
his killers.

It was September, 2000, when a pair of experienced detectives with the York 
Regional Police noticed the hulking Mob enforcer muscling his way to 
prominence in the underworld north of Toronto. (The detectives did not want 
to be named.)

"Panepinto was making every effort to establish himself as an organized 
crime figure" said RCMP Chief Superintendent Ben Soave, who heads a special 
anti-organized crime unit but was not involved in this case.

Mr. Panepinto was an obvious target for police.

Looking a bit like Arnold Schwarzenegger, he was a suspect in a myriad of 
crimes and yet still spoke brazenly about his business, the Canadian 
operations of Casket Royale, a U.S. firm offering discount caskets, urns 
and funeral cards from storefront shops in competition with the more 
expensive offerings from funeral homes.

His caskets ran from $295 for decorated pressboard to a bronze luxury model 
for $4,900; he offered children's coffins for free and a denim-covered 
model with cowboy decorations.

On Oct. 3, one month after the detectives opened their file, Mr. Panepinto 
was followed from his home and ambushed, police believe. He was shot 
repeatedly from a van that pulled up beside him. Who killed him remains a 
mystery.

That sent the York police probe spinning in a new direction -- and also 
offered up the code name for their operation -- Project R.I.P.

"There was a bit of a hiccup there in the investigation and it took us down 
another road," said Detective Inspector Paul Sorel, officer in charge of 
York's investigative services.

While Toronto police investigated the murder, York police shifted their 
efforts to the rest of Mr. Panepinto's crew.

They had plenty to work with, police said.

They tracked marijuana, hidden in a spare tire in the back of a vehicle, 
being smuggled from Canada into the United States.

There was a large pill press in St. Agathe, Que., that churned out 
colourful tablets of Ecstasy, the popular nightclub and rave drug, by the 
bushel.

There were at least 10 litres of gamma hydroxybutyrate, a liquid drug known 
simply as GHB, that is sometimes used as a date-rape drug; anabolic 
steroids, in liquid injection form and pills in blister packs; magic 
mushrooms, an organic hallucinogen; and painkillers stolen from a pharmacy.

There were also sophisticated economic crimes, police allege.

Counterfeit credit cards were being created using a machine that steals the 
data contained in a credit card's magnetic strip. Replicas were then made, 
using a special embossing machine that spat out more than 100 credit cards, 
which were used to buy furniture, electronic goods and alcohol, police allege.

Investigators also found a new man they believed was moving to claim the 
leadership role of the organization, a man who came to the area from 
Montreal and was later identified as Mr. Fernandez, police said.

Then came another significant development.

Officers learned of a huge cocaine shipment making its way to Canada under 
the supervision of Mr. Fernandez, police allege. It was supposedly a load 
of at least 100 kilograms, said Det.-Supt. Sorel.

At the same time, however, police say they uncovered a plot by Mr. 
Fernandez to kill a rival drug baron.

That left officers with a dilemma: To prevent the murder of a crime figure 
they had to spoil their probe of the drug shipment.

In May, Mr. Fernandez was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit 
murder.

"We arrested him, we had to. We had to intercede, but because we had to 
arrest him we lost track of that big shipment of cocaine," said Det.-Supt. 
Sorel. He does not know if the drugs ever landed.

There were other signs that violence surrounded the organization, police said.

In June, sticks of dynamite were found in the basement of a Vaughan home 
when officers showed up with a search warrant, looking for evidence in 
their credit card investigation.

Police evacuated the buildings around the home, removed the explosives and 
arrested the couple who lived there.

And in other searches related to the case, police seized two Uzi submachine 
guns with silencers, three pistols, a rifle and a replica hand grenade.

Mr. Fernandez has been associated with the Rizzuto Mafia organization in 
Montreal for years, sources tell the National Post.

He came to Canada as a teenager but never took out citizenship, which left 
him vulnerable to deportation when convicted of a criminal offence.

On March 6, 1987, Mr. Fernandez was barred from residing in Canada because 
of his criminal past and taken under escort back to Spain. He returned 
under a false name shortly afterwards.

He again faced criminal charges and again was deported, this time on April 
3, 2001. And when these charges are dealt with, he will again face deportation.

The list of men and women arrested show how organized crime is evolving in 
Canada, said Antonio Nicaso, an organized crime observer and co-author of 
Bloodlines, a book chronicling Mafia activity in Canada.

"This is another operation that confirms the new criminal agreements that 
are forged in the underworld.

"This is an organization that combined people from many backgrounds -- 
motorcycle gangs, Greek criminals, American couriers, Vietnamese, Romanian, 
Italian.

"This shows the multicultural aspects of the underworld. This is the new 
face of organized crime -- criminal partnerships that, 20 years ago, were 
unthinkable."
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