Woodbine Building Supply fire
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On December 24, 2001,
arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...
ists set fire to the Woodbine Building Supply Company building 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 Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Canada, causing an explosion and leading to one of the largest fires in the city's history. The arsonists were conspiring with John Magno, co-owner of the store, who desired to destroy the struggling business to collect a
fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...
ulent insurance claim and clear the site for construction of a condominium development. The fire led to the evacuation of over 50 homes on
Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
morning, and the death of one of the arsonists. After many years of sitting as an idle lot, it was replaced by a condo building, Carmelina Condominiums, completed in 2015.


Background

Woodbine Building Supply was a hardware store on Toronto's east-end
Danforth Avenue Danforth Avenue (informally also known as the Danforth) and Danforth Road are two historically-related arterial streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Danforth ''Avenue'' is an east-west street that begins in Old Toronto at the Prince Edward ...
owned by Magno with his two brothers, Frank and Carlo, and started by their father years before. For several years the company had struggled to compete with a nearby
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, and its owners had frequent disputes with local residents; it had been fined $11,800 for improper storage of materials. The brothers planned to move their store to a new location nearby, and construct a condominium development on the Danforth site. Weeks before the fire, the Magno brothers increased their insurance coverage on the store. A local demolition company quoted $145,000 to demolish the store and clear the lot, which was rejected by Woodbine Building Supply's owners.


Fire and explosion

Late on December 24, 2001, four men arrived at the store and began loading its contents into two vans. They chose
Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...
to start the fire because they believed Italians and Greeks living in the area would largely be in church for
midnight mass In many Western Christian traditions Midnight Mass is the first liturgy of Christmastide that is celebrated on the night of Christmas Eve, traditionally beginning at midnight when Christmas Eve gives way to Christmas Day. This popular Christmas ...
. At one point one of the men dropped a cash register in the parking lot, the noise attracting the attention of neighbours; Jason Regaldo then left in one of the vans. At 12:34 a.m. on December 25, the building was destroyed by a massive explosion; debris was found embedded in cars across the street. Investigators believe that the inexperienced arsonists failed to start a fire on their first try, and on trying again accidentally ignited flammable vapours which had built up in the building's basement. Sam Paskalis was badly burned, and spent several months in hospital in a
coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...
; he was badly disfigured. The body of Tony Jarcevic, 22, was discovered two weeks later. The fire which followed was one of the largest in Toronto's history. Families in fifty nearby homes were evacuated and sheltered in buses, and 171
firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...
s needed two days to bring the fire under control. The fire caused $4 million in damage and closed Danforth Avenue for several days.


Perpetrators


John Magno

John Magno was the President of Woodbine Building Supply, which he co-owned with his brothers Frank and Carlo. John and the store were known for frequent disputes with nearby residents. After the store was destroyed by fire, Magno filed an insurance claim worth $3.5 million. Investigators suspected arson, and based on testimony by Paskalis, Magno and Roks were charged with second-degree murder under section 229(c) of the
Criminal Code A criminal code (or penal code) is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that might ...
, a rarely used section under which a person is charged for taking "flagrant risks with human life in order to achieve some further unlawful purpose." Magno denied his involvement in the scheme. He was found not guilty of second-degree murder but guilty of manslaughter and three counts of arson and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Magno vowed to appeal his conviction and was released on bail; however, his appeal was dismissed in July 2015.


Adrian Roks

Adrian Roks, Jr., was a Toronto businessman who owned two tanning salons with his wife, and had no criminal record prior to the fire. Roks was with Magno's family on Christmas Eve when the fire was set, however investigators suspected Roks' involvement due to his relationship with the others accused. After Paskalis admitted his own involvement in the scheme, Roks was charged with second-degree murder under section 229(c) of the Criminal Code, as was Magno. Police offered to drop the charge against Roks if he agreed to give a "truthful statement" about the insurance fraud conspiracy; however, the offer was rescinded when police felt Roks was not telling everything he knew. On June 11, 2007, Roks was sentenced to life imprisonment.


Sam Paskalis

John "Sam" Paskalis had a history of being a
con artist A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...
, and one of his schemes involved people applying for a loan through a fake company and paying the insurance fees up front but never getting the loan. Paskalis also used stolen credit card numbers, some of them taken from unsuspecting customers at Woodbine, to order merchandise. He was supposed to get C$50,000, part ownership of a nightclub and a cut-rate condo for his role in the scheme. Paskalis had organized the theft of $1 million in store inventory before setting it on fire to cover his tracks. On the night of the fire, he was caught in the explosion and severely burned, spending several months in a coma. In March 2005, he admitted his involvement in the scheme, and 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 ...
pleaded guilty to manslaughter and arson in exchange for the Crown dropping second-degree murder charges. He received a
time served In criminal law, time served is an informal term that describes the duration of pretrial detention (remand), the time period between when a defendant is arrested and when they are convicted. Time served does not include time served on bail bu ...
sentence of five years, spending more than two years in jail.


Tony Jarcevic

Tony Jarcevic, aged 22 at the time, was taking a fire prevention course at a local community college and was hired to set the fire. According to Paskalis, the two men were spreading gasoline and fertilizer in the basement of Woodbine Building Supply when Paskalis decided to leave because of the fumes. Jarcevic called him back just before the explosion which destroyed the building. Paskalis escaped; Jarcevic's badly burned body was not discovered until 17 days later.


Shaun McMaster

Shaun McMaster helped the arsonists move merchandise from the store on the evening of the fire, and waited in a van while Paskalis and Jarcevic set the fire. After the explosion, McMaster tried unsuccessfully to contact the other trapped arsonists, then fled the scene. On January 3, 2008, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was given a time served sentence of 6½ years in prison.


Jason Regaldo

Jason Regaldo was a friend of Jarcevic, McMaster and Paskalis who agreed to store merchandise from Woodbine Building Supply which the arsonists removed as payment for setting the fire. On the night of the fire, Regaldo helped others remove merchandise from the store but fled after a cash register was dropped in the parking lot, attracting attention from neighbours. Later, fearing that Magno would sue for the damage done to the store, police convinced Regaldo to admit his involvement and testify against Magno. Regaldo was convicted of conspiracy to commit arson and given a suspended sentence.


Others

According to Paskalis, the arsonists were tipped off to the police investigation by an
Ontario Provincial Police The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. Under its provincial mandate, the OPP patrols provincial highways and waterways, protects provincial government buildings and officials, patrols unincorp ...
informant. Paskalis testified that Frank Magno, an OPP auxiliary sergeant and John Magno's brother, was contacted by "friends" in the OPP who advised him on homicide investigations, and Frank told the arsonists to "be careful." Frank Magno was not charged in the arson.


Aftermath

The lot formerly occupied by Woodbine Building Supply is the site of Carmelina Condominiums, a 12-storey condo building with 148 residential units and street-level retail. Carmelina is owned by JFC Properties, a company run by John, Frank and Carlo Magno. The tower is much larger than the surrounding two-storey retail buildings on Danforth Avenue, and taller than the recommendations in Toronto's Official Plan. While many residents initially welcomed the development of the empty lot which had been idle since the explosion, construction caused damage to surrounding properties which once again led to disputes with neighbours. Construction was completed and Carmelina Condominiums opened in 2015.


References

{{coord, 43.6853, N, 79.3134, W, display=title Arson in Canada Crime in Toronto Building and structure fires in Canada 2001 crimes in Canada 2001 in Toronto Commercial building fires Explosions in Canada