Pietro "Peter" Scarcella (; born 12 July 1950) is an
Italian-Canadian
Italian Canadians ( it, italo-canadesi, french: italo-canadiens) comprise Canadians who have full or partial Italian heritage and Italians who migrated from Italy or reside in Canada. According to the 2021 Census of Canada, 1,546,390 Canadians ...
mobster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...
based in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, Ontario, Canada, linked to the Sicilian
Rizzuto crime family
The Rizzuto crime family () is an organized crime family based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, whose criminal activity covers most of southern Quebec and Ontario. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) considers the family a facti ...
of
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, Quebec.
In the 1970s, Scarcella became the driver of Toronto mobster,
Paul Volpe. In the 1980s,
Cosimo Commisso planned to murder him along with Volpe, but the plot was later foiled. In 1983, Volpe was found dead in the trunk of his car, and Scarcella is said to be the last one to see Volpe alive before his unsolved murder. In the early to mid 2000s, hostilities developed between Scarcella and rival mob figure Michele Modica. In April 2004, Scarcella devised an assassination attempt of Modica in a
North York
North York is one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located directly north of York, Old Toronto and East York, between Etobicoke to the west and Scarborough to the east. As of the 2016 Census, it had a popu ...
California Sandwiches shop, but only left an innocent victim, Louise Russo, paralyzed. An associate of Scarcella's,
Raffaele Delle Donne, became an
informant
An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informan ...
, which led to Scarcella's 2005 arrest and 2006 sentencing to nine years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder. In 2012, Scarcella was released on a statutory release program.
Early years with Volpe
Scarcella was born on 12 July 1950 in
Castellammare del Golfo
Castellammare del Golfo (; scn, Casteddammari; la, Emporium Segestanorum or ) is a town and municipality in the Trapani Province of Sicily. The name can be translated as "Sea Fortress on the Gulf", stemming from the medieval fortress in the ha ...
,
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
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, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
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, demographi ...
. He immigrated to Canada with his family at the age of nine, and obtained
Canadian citizenship
Canadian nationality law details the conditions in which a person is a national of Canada. With few exceptions, almost all individuals born in the country are automatically citizens at birth. Foreign nationals may naturalize after living in Ca ...
in 1971. In the early 1970s, Scarcella worked at a parking lot in downtown Toronto where one of Toronto mob bosses,
Paul Volpe's brothers used to park his car. This allowed him to establish a connection with Volpe, as Scarcella became his personal driver.
In 1980, Scarcella was charged in connection with a commissions scam at a disposal company and was found guilty of writing phony invoices.
[ The ]Buffalo crime family
The Buffalo crime family, also known as the Magaddino crime family, Buffalo Mafia, The Arm, the New York State crime family, the Upstate New York Mafia, and the Todaro crime family, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in Buffalo, Ne ...
also operated in Toronto and Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
, and in 1981, hired former Satan's Choice MC
Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club (SCMC) was a Canadian outlaw motorcycle club that was once the dominant outlaw club in Ontario, with twelve chapters based in the province, and another in Montreal, Quebec, at its peak strength in 1977. Satan's Choi ...
hitman
Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...
Cecil Kirby
Cecil Kirby (born 17 August 1950) is a Canadian outlaw biker, criminal and hitman for the Commisso 'ndrina, turned police informant.
Satan's Choice
Kirby was born in the Weston neighborhood of Toronto on 17 August 1950, and was twice expelled fro ...
to kill Scarcella and Volpe in an arrangement with Rocco Remo and Cosimo Commisso of the Commisso family of Toronto. However, the plot was foiled when Kirby turned Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
informant.[Schneider, ''Iced: The Story of Organized Crime in Canada'', pp. 330] During a conversation on 31 March 1981, Commisso told Kirby that he needed the approval of an unnamed higher authority before he could give the orders to kill Volpe.[Schneider, ''Iced: The Story of Organized Crime in Canada'', pp. 329] When Kirby asked "What about Volpe?", Commisso replied: "I'm waiting for an answer, OK?"[ On 23 April 1981, Commisso told Kirby that Scarcella could not be killed until he received permission from the unnamed authority, but he had the approval to kill Volpe.][ Commisso stated: "Ah, Scarcella, forget about it for now. Just don't worry about it for now", leading Kirby to ask "For how long?".][ Commisso replied: "A month, two months, we don't know yet. There's another guy".][ When Kirby asked "What the fuck is going on?", Commisso answered: "There's another guy I want you to take care of instead of him."][ Kirby later testified against Rocco Remo and Cosimo Commisso in 1982, and were arrested by the RCMP and charged with conspiracy to commit murder.][
Scarcella moved up in Volpe's organization, having a hand in running the gambling and loan-sharking operations, while also working on schemes where they would be paid kickbacks from both the union and the developers for negotiating construction contracts.][ However, in November 1983, Volpe was found dead in the trunk of his BMW at ]Pearson International Airport
Lester B. Pearson International Airport , commonly known as Toronto Pearson International Airport, is an international airport located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It is the main airport serving Toronto, its metropolitan area, and the surro ...
; Scarcella is said to be the last one to see Volpe alive before his unsolved murder.[ After Volpe's death, Scarcella forged closer ties with the Montreal Mafia, the ]Rizzuto crime family
The Rizzuto crime family () is an organized crime family based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, whose criminal activity covers most of southern Quebec and Ontario. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) considers the family a facti ...
, who were also Sicilian.[
]
Attempted hit on Modica
In the early to mid 2000s, hostilities developed between Scarcella and rival mob figure Michele Modica, who owed $130,000 to him and the Hells Angels
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide outlaw motorcycle club whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporatio ...
.[ Another mobster, ]Salvatore Calautti Salvatore "Sam" Calautti (; 1971/72 – July 12, 2013), was an Italian-Canadian hitman for the Calabrian-based Mafia organization 'Ndrangheta, based in Toronto and Woodbridge, Ontario, Canada. The organization rivals the Sicilian Rizzuto crime fa ...
ran up over $200,000 in gambling debts to the Rizzuto family and the Hells Angels; refusing to pay, the debt was believed to be assumed by Modica. This led to the April 21, 2004, attempted assassination of Modica in a North York
North York is one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located directly north of York, Old Toronto and East York, between Etobicoke to the west and Scarborough to the east. As of the 2016 Census, it had a popu ...
California Sandwiches shop, leaving an innocent victim, mother of three children, Louise Russo paralyzed, while Modica and his associates escaped unscathed. Scarcella's nephew Antonio Borrelli had sprayed bullets with an AR-15 assault rifle from a van including Hells Angels bikers Paris Christoforou and Mark Peretz as the driver. Modica was later deported to Sicily.
Prison time and later release
An associate of Scarcella's Raffaele Delle Donne, who had arranged the meeting to unsuspectingly double cross Modica under Scarcella's orders, was also in the shop at the time of the attempted hit.[ Delle Donne soon turned ]informant
An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informan ...
voluntarily to help put those involved in injuring an innocent bystander in jail.[ Delle Donne worked with police for 13 months wearing ]wiretap
Telephone tapping (also wire tapping or wiretapping in American English) is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitorin ...
s, and on April 14, 2005, Scarcella, Peretz, Christoforou and Borrelli, were arrested. In April 2006, in a plea bargain
A plea bargain (also plea agreement or plea deal) is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or '' nolo contendere.'' This may mean that the defendan ...
, Scarcella was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder
Conspiracy to murder is a statutory offence defined by the intent to commit murder.
England and Wales
The offence of conspiracy to murder was created in statutory law by section 4 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and retained as ...
, and sentenced to nine years in prison along with Peretz and Christoforou, while the shooter Borrelli received 10 years in prison. During the 2006 sentencing, Russo was paid $2 million in restitution from the mobsters to cover costs of rehabilitation and increased living expenses.[
On April 1, 2007, Scarcella was stabbed six times in the chest in Millhaven maximum security penitentiary, taken to ]Kingston General Hospital
The Kingston General Hospital (KGH) site is an acute-care teaching hospital affiliated with Queen's University located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Along with the Hotel Dieu Hospital (HDH) site, these hospitals deliver health care services to ...
and returned to prison the following week, but kept away from other prisoners. He moved to Beaver Creek Institution in 2009. In 2009, Scarcella recommended that Martino Caputo Martino Caputo (born 1973) is an Italian-Canadian gangster currently serving a life sentence for murder.
Gangster
Caputo's family is from Capistrano, Calabria, Italy and is the son of Antonio Caputo and Vincenza Carnovale. Cauputo grew up in the T ...
should start working with Nick Nero when the latter was released on parole. On 11 April 2012, Scarcella was released on a statutory release program.[
]
Books
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scarcella, Pietro
1950 births
Canadian gangsters of Sicilian descent
Italian emigrants to Canada
Living people
Naturalized citizens of Canada
People from Toronto
Rizzuto crime family