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| Sabatino "Sam" Nicolucci |
| Sabatino Nicolucci, called “Sam” or “Sammy,” was born around 1947. He is a reputed long-time member of the Montreal mafia and has drug convictions on his criminal record dating back to the early 1970s. In September, 1985, Sam Nicolucci and William Papier were found guilty of importing narcotics, after police seized 12.6 kilograms of cocaine in Vancouver. The shipment, worth an estimated $2 million at the time, was reportedly destined for the United States for distribution. Both men were sentenced to 14 years in prison. Nicolucci was released in 1991, after serving less than half his sentence. |
| Nicolucci was relaxing in a Jean-Talon Street strip club one day in August, 1994, when members of a Colombian drug cartel barged in and kidnapped him at gun point. Nicolucci was first flown to Miami and then brought to Colombia. Nicolucci had allegedly raked up a $1.7 million drug debt and the Colombians planned to hold him as ransom until they were paid. That same month, the RCMP ended a four-year sting operation, charging 47 reputed underworld figures. Police had established a phoney money-change house on Peel Street in 1990 and lured some pretty big fish into their net. Nicolucci, who was nowhere to be found, faced 233 counts, including laundering $31 million and conspiring to import over 400 kilograms of cocaine. Other reputed mobsters charged were Vincenzo Di Maulo, Domenico Tozzi, Emanuele Ragusa, and Valentino Morielli. Although police originally suspected that Nicolucci had been killed, the reputed mobster was picked up by police in Colombia on February 22, 1995. After 18 months in that country’s prison system, he was extradited to Canada in late May, 1996. There had been reports that a drug cartel had threatened to attack the Canadian embassy in Colombia if Nicolucci was extradited, local newspapers said. On December 12, 1997, after a three month trial, Nicolucci was found guilty on 172 counts, including charges of conspiring to import over 400 kilograms of cocaine and of laundering $31 million in drug money. Nicolucci sought leniency from the court. He allegedly argued that by establishing a phoney money-change house, the RCMP created a way for people to commit crime. He also said authorities placed his life in danger by seizing the over $1 million his associates were putting together to pay off his Colombian kidnappers. Supreme Court Justice Jerry Zigman was apparently not convinced. He sentenced Nicolucci to 19 years in prison, with the condition that he serve half of the term before becoming eligible for parole. He also ordered Nicolucci to serve the rest of his 14 year 1985 drug conviction before starting his other sentence. |