| Domenico Tozzi |
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| Domenico Tozzi, born in the early 1940s, has been described as being a major money-launderer for the Montreal Mafia. He was the supposed confidant of reputed chieftain Vincenzo “Jimmy” Di Maulo. Other supposed close associates of Tozzi include former lawyer Joe Lagana and Sabatino “Sam” Nicolucci. Tozzi often travelled abroad. From 1990 and 1993, he travelled to numerous countries, including the United States, Italy, Venezuela, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Thailand. In 1990, the RCMP set-up a phoney currency-exchange business at the corner of Peel street in Montreal in an attempt to snare some of the city’s top underworld hoods. Mounties posed as the employees at the fake business. What they came across probably surpassed their best expectations. |
| Authorities allege that Tozzi began stopping by the establishment to exchange cash. In less than a three year period, from December 2, 1991 to July 28, 1994, Tozzi brought $27,253,000 to the currency-exchange business. The authorities said the cash was converted into U.S. currency and used to finance the purchasing and transportation of major drug shipments. During an April 1, 1993 lunch with one of these undercover police officers, according to a news article by Andrew McIntosh, Tozzi allegedly said Nicolo Rizzuto, the father of reputed Montreal Mafia godfather Vito Rizzuto, was released from a Venezuela prison, where he was serving time on a cocaine conviction, after an $800,000 bribe was delivered to officials of the South American nation. Tozzi allegedly boasted that he personally delivered the cash to Venezuela. Nicolo Rizzuto was paroled and landed in Montreal on May 23, 1993. He was greeted by his son Vito and over two dozen friends and family members. A lawyer representing the Rizzuto family denied that such a payment was ever made. The Canadian government reportedly made numerous requests to Venezuelan officials about the early parole but were suspiciously ignored. Tozzi also reportedly boasted to undercover officers of having high-ranking contacts within the Montreal Urban Community police. These contacts, the reputed mobster allegedly told police, had access to computers with privileged information. According to the same news article, Joe Lagana, one of Tozzi’s associate, reportedly told an undercover officer that Tozzi talked so much, he risked finding himself at the bottom of the St. Lawrence River in a sleeping bag. The RCMP brought an end to their four-year investigation on August 30, 1994 when they arrested Tozzi and 56 other underworld hoods, including reputed Mafia figures Vincenzo Di Maulo, Emanuele Ragusa, and Sabatino Nicolucci. Tozzi was charged with money laundering and conspiracy to traffic in drugs. His wife was also charged. In March, 1996, Tozzi admitted his role in the transferring of over $27 million and plotting three cocaine shipments of “industrial quantity.” He was sentenced to ten years in prison and fined $150,000. In exchange for Tozzi’s guilty plea, authorities agreed to drop charges against his wife. Benefiting from a disposition in Canadian law, Tozzi was released two years later, after serving only one-sixth of his prison sentence. |