Canada called 'ideal'

for mob investments

Peter Edwards / Toronto Star

Canada has become a paradise for organized crime syndicate seeking to launder their gains, a Mafia expert says.

“Canada is the ideal place to launder money,” author Antonio Nicaso said yesterday at a news conference to publicize a mass rally tomorrow to protest organized crime.

The anti-Mafia protest by Metro’s Italian community is believed to be the first of its kind in the country.

The protest is in reaction to the recent murders of top anti-Mafia judges in Italy.

The Italian cabinet, galvanized by the car-bomb killing of top anti-Mafia judge Paolo Borsellino, is airlifting 7,000 troops to Sicily in the biggest use of the armed forces against organized crime there in 40 years.

Italy’s tough stance was ordered on Saturday, six day after Borsellino and his five escorts were blown apart in Palermo and two months after the Mafia killed Giovanni Falcone, another crusading judge.

Since Italy has toughened its investment laws to combat money laundering, mobsters are channeling more money through Canada, maintains Nicaso, the author of four books on the Italian Mafia.
He says loose banking laws make Canada a prime spot to funnel money for a wide variety of crime groups, including the Mafia, South American cocaine cartels and Chinese traids.

The recession means mobsters can find particularly inviting buys in land here, Nicaso said.

Tomorrow’s rally includes a mass in honor of Borsellino.

The gathering begins at 7 p.m. at Earlscourt Park on St. Clair Ave. and Caledonia Rd.

A mass will follow at 7:30 celebrated by mons. John Iverinci of the Archdiocese of Toronto.

July 28, 1992