Cosimo Commisso among 12 charged in Toronto

[Wiseguy]

12 arrested in $11M fraud investigation
Toronto police say the accused had been fraudulently obtaining cash from leasing companies.
By PETER EDWARDS. Staff Reporter
Sept. 20, 2017


A routine traffic stop led Toronto police to a multi-national organized crime investigation that has resulted in charges against a dozen people, including long-time Vaughan resident Cosimo Commisso.

Commisso, 72, is charged with possession of proceeds of crime following “Project Briscola,” which drew together investigators from Canada, the United States and Australia, Toronto police Insp. Peter Callaghan told a news conference Wednesday.

“Think of it as building a large puzzle whose pieces are scattered all over the world,” Callaghan said.

The investigation began in August 2015 when Giuseppe Gatti, 48, of Ajax, was arrested on a charge of impaired driving. The arresting officers alleged Gatti was carrying $10,000 in cash, as well as credit cards in a number of different names.

“None of this would have come to light if it weren’t for an impaired driving arrest,” Callaghan said.

Police say the investigation led them to a scheme in which lenders were defrauded of $11 million by individuals who falsely presented themselves as officers of a business that was seeking to expand by borrowing money to invest in heavy equipment.

That equipment was allegedly “undervalued or never leased at all” through a series of shell companies.

Investigators eventually tracked the payments to an account under Commisso’s name, which “did not initially come up in this investigation,” Callaghan said.

Commisso served prison time in the 1980s for convictions including two counts of counselling to commit murder and uttering a death threat.

Callaghan didn’t expand on allegations against Commisso, but said “we’re not alleging that he had a directing role” in the scheme, which allegedly saw money flow across Canada into Brazil and the Seychelles

Charged with fraud over $5,000 and participation in a criminal organization are Gatti; Faisal Iqbal Qureshi, 42, of Richmond Hill; Tarragh Bracken, 47, of Whitby; Darrell Shulman, 49, of Thornhill: Mary Sophie Kaloczi, 35, of Georgetown; Maurizio Adiletta, 53, of Brampton; and Pino “Frank” Guido, 53, of Kleinburg.

Charged with fraud over $5,000 are Eric Thomas, 57, of Mississauga; Sanjeev Mannan, 48, of Locust Hill; Laura Tolosa, 37, of Toronto; and Ravinder Bedi, 54, of Brampton.

The accused are all scheduled to appear in a Toronto court on Oct. 26.

https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2017 ... ation.html

[antimafia]

I went to the court proceedings this morning at Old City Hall (Toronto), as I did two weeks ago. None of the defendants has been present either time, and at this point procedural stuff is all you're likely to hear when these cases are spoken to.

But I found out by going this morning that the Crown has withdrawn the fraud charge against Commisso. I'm not sure whether he's still charged with possession of the proceeds of crime, and there is the possibility that he's had other charges tacked on that we don't know about. Today, as was the case back on October 26, Commisso was represented by an associate from the law firm of Brauti Thorning Zibarras. Peter Brauti is a high-profile police lawyer in Toronto.

The firm of Lockyer Campbell Posner is representing three defendants. This morning, a student-at-law appeared as an agent for Taragh Bracken (wife of Giuseppe Gatti and a lawyer herself) , Laura Tolosa, and a third person whose name I could not make out. James Lockyer is known for having collaborated in the 1990s with Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and the latter's Association in Defence of the Wrongfully Convicted, which helped those wrongly convicted have their convictions overturned.

[antimafia]

Crown withdraws ‘Project Briscola’ charges against Cosimo Commisso

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/1 ... misso.html

[Laurentian]

Charges dropped against highest-profile catch by Toronto police in international fraud probe.


http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/cha ... raud-probe

[antimafia]

^^^^
On Gangster BB, a question about the "two Sicilian mobsters" mentioned in Humphreys's article led me to comment on the Italian ancestry of Paul Volpe, as he and Pietro "Peter" Scarcella are presumed to be the individuals to which Humphreys refers.

I will cross-post here on The Black Hand Forum but will do so in the thread in which there was already a discussion about Volpe -- see http://www.theblackhand.club/forum/view ... lia#p49817.