HA Released From Prison After Ten Years

[Greg Carr]

Vaughan man released following 2004 shooting


Infamous shooting
LUCAS OLENIUK FILE PHOTO
Since being shot and paralyzed in 2004, Louise Russo has dedicated
considerable time and effort to anti-violence initiatives with youth.
Vaughan Citizen
By Jeremy Grimaldi
A Vaughan man who received 10 years for driving the getaway car in an
infamous shooting that left a woman paralyzed has been released from prison.

Mark Peretz, reputed member of the Hells Angels, fled the scene of the
crime in a stolen vehicle carrying shooters Antonio Borelli and Paris
Christoforu in 2004.

Left badly injured inside the California Sandwhich shop, in North York,
was innocent mother Louise Russo, who would later discover she was
paralyzed by the shooting.

The incident occurred after the three men sprayed the location with 20
shots in a bid to kill Michele Modica, a Sicilian mobster who owed
$130,000 to Peretz’s online gambling website, according to the Toronto
Star.

As part of his parole he not allowed to contact Ms Russo or any member
of her family, engage in gambling or contact any known criminals.

Although Mr. Peretz was freed on statutory release in 2012, he was
rearrested months later when he breached his conditions.

His two accomplices are already free on parole.

As part of his plea agreement, he has agreed to pay Ms Russo $2 million
in cash, according to The Star.

— With files from TorStar News Network
http://www.yorkregion.com/news-story/4397763-vaughan-man-released-following-2004-shooting/
has a picture of the victim.
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Ms Russo also received 1 million from the HAMC to settle a lawsuit.
--
*Read and obey the Bible*

[Tony Tony Tony]

On Thursday, March 6, 2014 7:47:55 PM UTC-5, Greg Carr wrote:
> Vaughan man released following 2004 shooting
> Infamous shooting
>
> LUCAS OLENIUK FILE PHOTO
>
> Since being shot and paralyzed in 2004, Louise Russo has dedicated
>
> considerable time and effort to anti-violence initiatives with youth.
>
> Vaughan Citizen
>
> By Jeremy Grimaldi
>
> A Vaughan man who received 10 years for driving the getaway car in an
>
> infamous shooting that left a woman paralyzed has been released from prison.
>
>
>
> Mark Peretz, reputed member of the Hells Angels, fled the scene of the
>
> crime in a stolen vehicle carrying shooters Antonio Borelli and Paris
>
> Christoforu in 2004.
>
>
>
> Left badly injured inside the California Sandwhich shop, in North York,
>
> was innocent mother Louise Russo, who would later discover she was
>
> paralyzed by the shooting.

Ten years is not enough for what he did. AND why allow gambling on credit. True, profits would be reduced, but order would have been maintained, and stupid drive by shootings would be avoided. The Hells Angels need my leadership in order that they stay out of SLAM!. So they only make 1/2 profits. They benefit in keeping a low profile and staying for the most part out of trouble.

[Greg Carr]

Credit is routine in the gambling world even at legitimate brick and mortar casinos.

Paris Christoforou is nowhere to be seen
He was once a much feared enforcer for the Hells Angels, called upon to collect debts — and even kill — as part of the world’s largest OMG.

But today Christoforou is nowhere to be seen after narrowly escaping hitmen in both Toronto and Montreal. His enemies have grown to include the all powerful Hells Angels from Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières, which kicked him out of the club on bad terms in the fall, police and underworld sources say. Christoforou, 41, last escaped execution in Montreal in late January. Police sources say it was at least the second attempt on Christoforou’s life in less than six months.
Mark Peretz
A hooded gunman opened fire on Christoforou as he sat in a parked vehicle outside the Starbucks at Sherway Gardens in Etobicoke last August. Christoforou escaped with minor injuries but Mark Peretz was seriously hurt. The pair were in the news in 2006, when they were sentenced to nine years in prison for a botched shooting at a Toronto sandwich shop that left innocent bystander Louise Russo paralyzed. That was a major PR disaster for the Hells Angels.

Sources say Christoforou’s troubles began in 2017, when he accused a senior Hells Angel from London, Ont., of skimming proceeds from an online gambling enterprise. Christoforou took his complaint to other senior Hells Angels in Quebec. But rather than back him, they stripped him of his patches.
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CI-SHERWAYSHOOTING Onetime Hells Angels enforcer Paris Christoforou, left, suffered non-life threatening injuries after a gunman opened fire on Aug. 4, 2017 at Sherway Gardens. His longtime associate Mark Peretz, right, was seriously injured in the shooting. (Photo courtesy of CBC/The Fifth Estate)

 Uploaded by: werner, stephanie - Stephanie

Antonio Nicaso
Mafia expert Antonio Nicaso says gambling is not a top priority for law enforcement making it a tidy money-maker for the underworld. - Keith Beaty

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A pair of recent shootings in York Region are raising eyebrows in the organized crime world.

They involve two men, Mark Peretz and Abraham Diles, both known to police familiar with the world of illegal gaming in York Region, the GTA and beyond.

The shootings follow July’s major illegal-gambling investigation, dubbed Project Sindicato, in which police charged alleged members of the Figliomeni crime family, seizing $35 million worth of goods.

First was Peretz, at one point a gambling kingpin, targeted in his hometown of Thornhill.

'Friction in gambling territory': Vaughan kingpin Mark Peretz shot
Several shots were fired at him outside Garnet Williams Community Centre at 7 a.m. July 31 by a man in dark clothing.

Following that, Peretz and the suspect’s dark-coloured vehicles left the scene.

Police recovered the shell casings and later found Peretz unharmed.

A York Regional Police source, with knowledge of the investigation but unable to speak on the record due to his role, said Peretz was lucky to survive and was aided by “safety modifications" made to his vehicle.

Eight days after the Peretz shooting, on Aug. 7, shortly before 12:30 a.m., police responded to a weapons call on Bethesda Sideroad, near Highway 48.

Abraham Diles was driving when he was shot at by suspects in a dark-coloured four-door black sedan.

Not only did police find shell casings in the area, but his black SUV had bullet holes in its side.

Diles was charged as part of the Platinum Sports Betting bust that took place during a Super Bowl party at Markham’s Le Parc, in 2013, but the charges against him were eventually withdrawn.

Peretz, meanwhile, is widely considered the mastermind behind Platinum’s infrastructure, in an age when online gaming, now a $50-billion industry, was in its nascent stages.

“These two incidents seem way too coincidental not to be connected (to each other)," the police source said, "but the way they were done are totally different. Diles was in the middle of nowhere (when he was targeted) … They could have been trying to kill him, but they could have been trying to send him a message.”

The Peretz shooting had a more menacing tone, he added.

“Peretz was targeted and they were trying to kill him," he said. "Both of these shootings are being investigated pretty hard, but police aren't getting much help."

As for whether the two incidents might be tied to Sindicato or the vacuum left by the Figliomeni’s arrest, that remains unclear.

“(The Peretz) shooting, no doubt in my mind has to do with gambling," he noted, "is it a coincidence it happened soon after (Sindicato), I’m not sure."

But he said there's plenty of evidence that profit and violence are on the uptick when it comes to illegal gambling in York region.

"In the last few years the violence around gaming and gambling has gone up huge," he added. "In the old days, let’s say you owed $50,000 someone would have a chat with you, now that message is being delivered by putting a few rounds in your vehicle. If Sindicato highlights nothing else, it's the amount of money being made by these guys, gaming and gambling is extremely lucrative."

Peretz is known for his role as the getaway driver in the now infamous California Sandwiches shooting in 2004.

The hit was intended to kill Michele Modica as retribution for gambling debts, but instead left innocent bystander and mother-of-three, Louise Russo, in a wheelchair.

He's also known, as of late, for attempts on his life.

Peretz was shot and seriously injured two years ago alongside Paris Christoforou, a member of the Hells Angels and California Sandwiches co-accused.

"Peretz is a very smart guy, in illegal gaming and gambling he was a front-runner," the source added "He's been around a long time. When we take out a significant group like the Figliomenis, there's a vacuum that's been created. Organized crime likes nothing more than a vacuum because it will be taken up by someone."

Although it's unclear what links Peretz has to the Figliomeni crime family, he has been linked in the past to Emilio Zannuti, also arrested as part of the Louise Russo investigation, but convicted on separate matters.

Zannuti along with Angelo Figliomeni, the alleged head of the family, were released on bail along with the seven others arrested during Project Sindicato.

Giacomo Cassano, 46, from Toronto, turned himself in before also receiving bail.

Mafia expert and professor Antonio Nicaso said Peretz has connections to Pietro Scarcella, who is linked to the Rizzuto crime family, was the mastermind of the California Sandwiches hit and is heavily involved in gambling, illegal slot machines and video poker.

“Gambling is an important source of income for the underworld,” Nicaso said. “There’s less risk than drug trafficking and the profit is huge. People have underestimated this business and now with technology, there is more opportunity. This shows that many people are trying to get control of gambling territory.”

Although at one time the belief was that opening legal casinos would take business from the underworld, he said criminals have adapted, using the gambling addicts created by government-run casinos to wash their money and create new revenue streams.

“Around the casino there’s always room for loan sharking and prostitution,” he said. “Casinos also create an important opportunity to launder money on a larger scale."

As for Sindicato, he said although it was a significant step for York Regional Police, he said it didn't dismantle the entire Figliomeni crime family, who remain major players in illegal gaming.

“It was a move in the right direction, because it identified people who facilitate money laundering,” he said. “You have to combine the underworld and the upper world to find the people that invest laundered money. Sindicato was one of the few that targeted this. It was not a standard approach, it shows that enablers and criminals work together.”

James Dubro, another mafia expert, said Peretz isn't the only mobster involved in gambling machines facing threats on his life or taken steps to save his skin.

"Pat Musitano had a bulletproof car and a bulletproof vest ... if you're going to live that type of life that's what you need," he said. "Musitano has got 10 lives, he's survived three attempts on his life in the past several years, the shooting at his house, the bombing of his car and the shooting at his lawyer's office."

Dubro said part of the reason there are so many failed hits on mobsters these days is because the job has fallen to street gangs, whereas the mafia used to hire more capable hit men.

As for Peretz he said there could be countless reasons why he has a contract out on his life including becoming too powerful, a lack of respect, revenge or a rival group attempting to muscle in on his business.

"Peretz is aligned with various groups, he sort of works with everyone, but if you work with everyone chances are at some point everyone will want to get you," he added. "Also, if you are putting out hits or taking part in them, as Peretz did, the chances of you dying from natural causes is rare."

https://www.yorkregion.com/news-story/9622939-vaughan-gambling-kingpin-survives-assassination-attempt-thanks-to-bulletproof-car/ has pictures of the evil criminal men being targetted by other evil criminal men.