Son of deceased mob boss setenced to 16 years in prison for drug trafficking
June 10, 2018 Dapper_Don
Giuseppe "Joe" Violi
of Hamilton leaned from the prisoners’ box and kissed his newborn
daughter moments before he was sentenced to 16 years in prison for
fentanyl and cocaine trafficking in Milton court on Friday.
The infant, born last Sunday, was held up to Violi, 47, by a family member before Justice R.J. LeDressay entered the Milton courtroom.
The infant, born last Sunday, was held up to Violi, 47, by a family member before Justice R.J. LeDressay entered the Milton courtroom.
/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/gta/2018/06/01/son-of-murdered-mob-boss-sentenced-to-16-years-in-prison-for-drug-trafficking/violi_edit.jpg)
The
son of a murdered mob boss, Violi, smiled broadly after he tenderly
kissed his daughter. He wore handcuffs during the brief, emotional
encounter.
Violi, who manages a linen and laundry services company, was arrested along with eight other alleged organized crime members in a sweeping investigation into the fentanyl and cocaine trades across southwestern Ontario and New York.
His older brother Domenico Paolo Violi, 52, was also charged in the case and has not yet come to trial.
Violi, who manages a linen and laundry services company, was arrested along with eight other alleged organized crime members in a sweeping investigation into the fentanyl and cocaine trades across southwestern Ontario and New York.
His older brother Domenico Paolo Violi, 52, was also charged in the case and has not yet come to trial.
LeDressay
was provided with 10 letters of support for Violi’s character,
including one from a priest who said he worked as an art historian from
the Vatican before moving to Canada in 2015.
LeDressay
noted Violi has no convictions since 1999, when he was found guilty of
mischief under $5000, and 1996, when he was convicted of conspiracy to
commit an indictable offence and sentenced to seven years and 10 months
in prison for conspiring to smuggle cocaine.
Tom Andreopoulos, deputy chief federal prosecutor of the Ontario regional office, acknowledged that Violi has many powerful letters attesting to his community involvement but added that Violi is “a career criminal who is dedicated to and responsible for the unravelling of that very same community.”
Tom Andreopoulos, deputy chief federal prosecutor of the Ontario regional office, acknowledged that Violi has many powerful letters attesting to his community involvement but added that Violi is “a career criminal who is dedicated to and responsible for the unravelling of that very same community.”
The
three-year RCMP case — called Project Otremens — relied on a police
agent who was inducted into the mob during the investigation.
“The agent was a trusted associate and then official ‘made’ member of the New York City based ‘Bonanno’ crime family,” according to the agreed statement of facts in the case, drafted by Andreopoulos and defence lawyer Alan Gold.
“During the course of the investigation, one of the people the Agent dealt with was Giuseppe Violi,” the statement continued. “Violi was involved in a conspiracy to import cocaine, trafficking cocaine, and trafficking fentanyl.”
The agreed statement of facts noted that Violi worked with Massimigliano Carfagna of Burlington in a cocaine importation scheme to import 200 to 300 kilograms of cocaine into Canada.
“Ultimately, Violi, Carfagna, and the Agent travelled to Vancouver, British Columbia, and met with an undercover police officer who represented himself as being an associate of the Agent, and an experienced cocaine trafficker,” the agreed statement of facts states.
The agreed statement of facts notes that Violi and Carfagna sent someone called “Porkchop” to Colombia and had another contact in Vancouver called “Alex the Greek.”
Much of their communication was done with PGP encrypted messages, the agreed statement of facts states.
The court document includes a transcript of a March 30, 2017, conversation between the agent and Violi in which Violi talked of his history in drug trafficking in the Hamilton area.
“You were dealing with crack too?” the agent said.
“I’m the first one,” Violi said. “I was bringing the liquid in and turning into a powder … crack.”
“A lot of people here were crack heads?” the agent asked.
“Oh, after a year, me bringing … you should have seen the city,” Violi said.
The report notes how the police agent made a payment to Violi by leaving $40,000 in an old BBQ.
Details of the drug conspiracies contrast sharply with the portrait of Violi from the support letters, which describe him as a longtime benefactor of children’s sports and charities in the Hamilton area, as well as a loving family member.
Paramedic Mario Posteraro of Ancaster praised Violi for volunteering time and money for the Heart and Stroke foundation and the Canadian National Autism foundation.
“Joey has never said ‘No’ to any request made of his time,” Posteraro said.
Violi’s wife, Stephanie Violi, described him as the doting father of two boys and two girls, all under four.
“His Chair is empty, and they keep waiting for papa to come home,” she wrote.
She included a note from his 4-year old daughter, who wrote, “Right now my papa is at school” and “I want to tell papps that I love you and miss snuggling.”
Another of the letters of support came from Rev. Father Francesco Cucchi, who described himself as “former art historian of St. Peter Basilica in Vatican City, now in the Hamilton Diocese.” Cucchi said he met with Violi and his family often since arriving in Hamilton in 2015.
“He was always very funny, and he was so patient to give me some driving lessons with his SUV,” Cucchi wrote.
Violi’s older sister Nancy Violi wrote that he stayed in the same household as his widowed mother, even after his marriage in 2013.
Violi’s father, Paolo Violi, was murdered in 1978 in Montreal during a mob war with the crime family of the late Vito Rizzuto. Two of Violi’s uncles were slain during the same conflict in Montreal.
After the arrests last fall, police said their seeing a recent trend of organized criminals moving deeper into the opiate trade. Undercover officers allegedly bought six kilograms of fentanyl and carfentanil in six transactions in the operation.
Violi is a grandson of the late Giacomo Luppino of Hamilton, who was considered by police to be a founding member of the Crimine, a governing body for criminals in the ‘Ndrangheta crime group and a long-standing associate of the Buffalo mob.
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/06/01/son-of-murdered-mob-boss-sentenced-to-16-years-in-prison-for-drug-trafficking.html
“The agent was a trusted associate and then official ‘made’ member of the New York City based ‘Bonanno’ crime family,” according to the agreed statement of facts in the case, drafted by Andreopoulos and defence lawyer Alan Gold.
“During the course of the investigation, one of the people the Agent dealt with was Giuseppe Violi,” the statement continued. “Violi was involved in a conspiracy to import cocaine, trafficking cocaine, and trafficking fentanyl.”
The agreed statement of facts noted that Violi worked with Massimigliano Carfagna of Burlington in a cocaine importation scheme to import 200 to 300 kilograms of cocaine into Canada.
“Ultimately, Violi, Carfagna, and the Agent travelled to Vancouver, British Columbia, and met with an undercover police officer who represented himself as being an associate of the Agent, and an experienced cocaine trafficker,” the agreed statement of facts states.
The agreed statement of facts notes that Violi and Carfagna sent someone called “Porkchop” to Colombia and had another contact in Vancouver called “Alex the Greek.”
Much of their communication was done with PGP encrypted messages, the agreed statement of facts states.
The court document includes a transcript of a March 30, 2017, conversation between the agent and Violi in which Violi talked of his history in drug trafficking in the Hamilton area.
“You were dealing with crack too?” the agent said.
“I’m the first one,” Violi said. “I was bringing the liquid in and turning into a powder … crack.”
“A lot of people here were crack heads?” the agent asked.
“Oh, after a year, me bringing … you should have seen the city,” Violi said.
The report notes how the police agent made a payment to Violi by leaving $40,000 in an old BBQ.
Details of the drug conspiracies contrast sharply with the portrait of Violi from the support letters, which describe him as a longtime benefactor of children’s sports and charities in the Hamilton area, as well as a loving family member.
Paramedic Mario Posteraro of Ancaster praised Violi for volunteering time and money for the Heart and Stroke foundation and the Canadian National Autism foundation.
“Joey has never said ‘No’ to any request made of his time,” Posteraro said.
Violi’s wife, Stephanie Violi, described him as the doting father of two boys and two girls, all under four.
“His Chair is empty, and they keep waiting for papa to come home,” she wrote.
She included a note from his 4-year old daughter, who wrote, “Right now my papa is at school” and “I want to tell papps that I love you and miss snuggling.”
Another of the letters of support came from Rev. Father Francesco Cucchi, who described himself as “former art historian of St. Peter Basilica in Vatican City, now in the Hamilton Diocese.” Cucchi said he met with Violi and his family often since arriving in Hamilton in 2015.
“He was always very funny, and he was so patient to give me some driving lessons with his SUV,” Cucchi wrote.
Violi’s older sister Nancy Violi wrote that he stayed in the same household as his widowed mother, even after his marriage in 2013.
Violi’s father, Paolo Violi, was murdered in 1978 in Montreal during a mob war with the crime family of the late Vito Rizzuto. Two of Violi’s uncles were slain during the same conflict in Montreal.
After the arrests last fall, police said their seeing a recent trend of organized criminals moving deeper into the opiate trade. Undercover officers allegedly bought six kilograms of fentanyl and carfentanil in six transactions in the operation.
Violi is a grandson of the late Giacomo Luppino of Hamilton, who was considered by police to be a founding member of the Crimine, a governing body for criminals in the ‘Ndrangheta crime group and a long-standing associate of the Buffalo mob.
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/06/01/son-of-murdered-mob-boss-sentenced-to-16-years-in-prison-for-drug-trafficking.html
The only one in this case that really suffers is the daughter. God bless her
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