High tech trackers, nefarious plans and the murders that started a Hamilton Mob war

The driver watches the house where the family’s minivan is parked in the driveway. It is a little before 4 p.m. on a Tuesday, the time when kids are coming home from school and the street is busy with families. They don’t know their neighbour, Angelo, is a prominent member of the Musitano crime family — the Mafia.

Unaware of what is waiting for him, Angelo arrives home from Stoney Creek in his white Ford F-150 pickup; his wife and their three young boys wait for him inside. The man in the Ford Fusion knows Angelo is on his way, because he and others have been tracking the 39-year-old’s movements, watching his house and following his family.

At 3:52 p.m., Angelo pulls into the driveway and the other man runs out. He is covered head-to-toe, wearing dark clothes, a balaclava and gloves; he carries a handgun in his right hand. As he runs, he begins firing, but the gun jams.

He hits the bottom of the magazine and racks the gun — a technique called tap and rack that is taught to police. But the man is not a cop — he’s a killer. He does this several times, leaving three unspent bullets on the ground, before the gun starts working again.

Angelo is shot repeatedly, point-blank through his driver’s side window. The 39-year-old tries to open the door, his arms flailing, before all goes still.

The killer runs back to the Ford Fusion and flees; seconds later Angelo’s wife, Haley Newton, walks out of the house. She looks confused and motions as if to talk to her husband before running over. She runs back into the house to grab a phone and dial 911, before frantically climbing inside her husband’s vehicle.

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This is all captured on surveillance video from Angelo’s own home.

In all, seven .45 calibre bullets were fired, five going straight through the driver’s side window.

Other neighbours who heard the gunshots and saw the fleeing car ran over to try to help. But there was nothing that could be done. When first responders arrived Angelo was without vital signs. He was pronounced dead at Hamilton General Hospital at 4:42 p.m. The cause of death was gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen.

This was May 2, 2017. It marked the start of a Mob war in the Hamilton area that has seen multiple unsolved murders in the years since, including Angelo’s big brother, Mob boss Pasquale (Pat) Musitano, who was gunned down in Burlington in July 2020.

A month ago, Jabril Abdalla, the only person ever arrested and charged in Angelo’s murder, struck a plea deal and walked out of court a free man. He was not the shooter, nor was he ever alleged to be at the murder scene. He pleaded guilty to participating in a criminal organization. In exchange, two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder were withdrawn.

With the case concluded, The Spectator can report never-before-heard details about police evidence and investigative techniques, the activities of the criminal underworld, along with the drama that unfolded as the murder case snaked through court.

The first pieces of evidence

Back in 2017, as Hamilton police launched into that first homicide investigation, they found key pieces of evidence on Angelo’s pickup, in his pockets and on the recordings from multiple security cameras outside his house.

Those clues would lead police to identify suspects and vehicles used to track Musitano family members and members of another known traditional organized crime family in York Region — the Serranos.

As the evidence was uncovered, it became clear to police that Angelo’s shooting was tied to one 49 days before. A joint-forces operation, dubbed Project SCOPA, was formed, bringing together police in Hamilton and York Region as well as the RCMP.

In the Musitano murder, the killer hit his mark, but in the case of the Serrano hit, the shooter missed and instead killed innocent bystander Mila Barberi on March 14, 2017. The murder shattered her family, average people who knew nothing about organized crime. They are the only family to come to court, seeking justice and also to keep Mila’s memory alive.

Barberi was shot outside her boyfriend’s BMW, which was parked in front of Teknika Lighting in Woodbridge. The veterinary technician was there to pick up her then-boyfriend Saverio Serrano — one of three sons to Diego Serrano, a well-known traditional organized crime figure who has been called a “cocaine cowboy.” Saverio, who ran away when bullets flew, was shot in the arm but survived.

Neither the Serranos, nor the Musitanos participated in the court process. The Musitanos would only communicate to police through lawyer Dean Paquette, who was with the family when Angelo died in hospital.

After Angelo’s murder Paquette told The Spectator that Angelo had “redeemed” himself. Before his death, Angelo had found God and was transformed, Paquette said.

Police connected the two murder cases because the same people and cars were involved. However, it remains unclear what connection, if any, the Serranos and Musitanos have, besides both being affiliated with traditional organized crime.

Police say the shooter in both cases was Michael Cudmore, a violent career criminal who rubbed shoulders with mobsters and outlaw bikers. He was found dead in a car on the side of a rural road in Mexico last June.

Cudmore was the muscle, not the brains, of the operation, and not a “made” member of the Mafia. He and others were hired. Uncovering who hired them — and why — is central to understanding what motivated the Mob war: a combination of power plays and revenge.

No one has ever been charged with ordering the hits, but there are clues in the evidence uncovered by police in the Musitano and Barberi investigations.

Abdalla is the only one to have spent time behind bars, but he was never alleged to have been the shooter or at the murder scenes.

Instead, he was accused of working with Cudmore and his high school friend, Daniel Tomassetti, to track the victims and plan the murders.

In court, Abdalla admitted to registering two cars in his name, at Tomassetti’s request, and to acting as chauffeur to people from the criminal group. He said he had no idea what they were planning and was only motivated by money.

While both Cudmore and Tomassetti fled to Mexico, Abdalla remained in Hamilton where he was arrested at home. Despite being the most low-level player, for nearly three years he was the only man to spend time in jail for the killings as he awaited trial. He was ultimately given credit for 46 months in pretrial custody — including extra credit for harsh conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am not a murderer,” he said before sentencing. “I have never been a part of a plan to hurt anyone.”

His lawyer, Leora Shemesh, told the court her client had been falsely accused of murder.

Shemesh told The Spectator that this case kept her up at night and shook her faith in the judicial system. She fought tirelessly to try to get Abdalla out on bail and to see the charges resolved.

“He had never been associated and or, involved in the murder of anyone,” she said in a recent statement to The Spectator. “It should be clearly stated, in fact, it should be underlined and highlighted that he had not gotten away with anything, and he had not found a way to beat the system.”

While Cudmore’s family reported him missing before he was ultimately found dead, Tomassetti has never been reported missing and there is no evidence he’s ever left Mexico. Abdalla’s plea does not change the murder charges Tomassetti faces: he is still wanted on an international warrant.

The case against Abdalla was complicated in many ways, featuring multiple bail hearings and unusual pretrial motions.

But those hearings also revealed the inner workings of the police investigations, and what is believed to have happened in the lead-up to the murders. The revelations show a sophisticated organized crime operation and the lengths police have gone to seek justice.

Tracking the victim

After Angelo Musitano’s autopsy, his clothes were examined, pockets emptied and photographed.

Stuffed inside his coat pocket was a piece of paper that read: grey Mazda CBFN 740.

This was significant, Det. Sgt. Jason Cattle, the primary investigator on the Musitano case, testified at the first bail hearing.

“We believe Angelo Musitano possibly felt he was being followed,” he said.

Angelo was right; he was being followed. One of the cars used had that licence plate. But he got the model wrong. It was actually a bluish-grey Infiniti, one of the two cars Abdalla registered in his name for the criminal organization. It was used by Cudmore in the lead up to Angelo’s murder.

Police would see that car and others on hours and hours of surveillance footage gathered around the two murder scenes.

Nearly 10 hours after Angelo’s shooting — around 1:30 a.m. May 3 — police towed his white pickup from his driveway and brought it back to the Hamilton police Mountain station on Rymal Road East to be examined in the auto bay.

Under the rear bumper police made another significant discovery: a high-tech tracker.

The Hamilton police homicide team, led by case manager Det. Sgt. Peter Thom, found out where that tracker came from. It was bought at a spy store on Yonge Street in Toronto called DoBuy Direct.

In all, seven trackers were bought in the months before the murders for $350 each. They used the account: Mike uppercut666. Mike Cudmore liked boxing and was known to use the nickname “Uppercut.” Police believe he set up the account when he bought the first tracker.

Once police had the tracker numbers, they were able to access their data, revealing a treasure trove of information. Police would also access cellphone data and surveillance video, which woven together, painted a picture of how the shootings were planned, the movement of the players in the weeks leading up to each shooting and how they called and texted each other before and after the shootings.

The conspiracy began as far back as August 2016. That’s when Cudmore moved to Hamilton into a unit at 135 James St. S., the Chateau Royale apartment building near the Hamilton GO station. He signed the lease using his brother’s name, Shawn Cudmore.

Also in August 2016, Tomassetti asked Abdalla to register two cars in his name, knowing those cars would be used by other members of the criminal organization.

Police recovered a conversation from an encrypted BlackBerry found at Abdalla’s house. In court, police said Tomassetti used the PGP (Pretty Good Privacy encryption program) handle, ZNU. 060 and Abdalla, Hunt.

“Yo listen can u put car under Ur name for insurance boss is asking he’ll pay,” Tomassetti texted.

Then they text back and forth, with Abdalla questioning why Tomassetti can’t do it himself. Tomassetti says there are three cars in his family already and he had a stunt driving ticket.

Abdalla: “Dog relax. I (d) unno why you cussing at me. Yeah and I get screwed over if someone f-s up? The car would go under my name the insurance under my name I have no money in the bank. And to get money deposited into my bank that’s suspect.”

Tomassetti: “I’m not man I’m just saying why I can’t put in mine, or else I would, and I been trying to get u stuff man.”

Abdalla: “I do trust you, but no offence at the end of the day its business for you.”

Eventually Abdalla agreed, and the two cars were registered in his name. One was the blue Infiniti and the other a black Honda Civic.

On Oct. 19, 2016, Cudmore bought the first tracker. Data shows the tracker and one of Cudmore’s phones pinging off cell towers in the area. They travel from Toronto into Hamilton and to the area of 6335 Airport Rd., which was the home of Sean Bixby, also well known to police.

In court, Cattle, the lead detective on the case, testified that Bixby is connected with organized crime and outlaw motorcycle gangs and is known to be a drug dealer. Google images of his home show luxury cars parked on the large property, he said. Police would eventually find the Infiniti and another car tied to the case on Bixby’s property.

In the middle of the investigation, Bixby was arrested for Angelo’s murder, questioned and let go without charge.

During Abdalla’s last bail hearing, Shemesh, his attorney, suggested there may have been opportunity to argue Bixby and others as alternate suspects. However, police said he was an additional suspect, not an alternate one, and investigators are confident Cudmore was the shooter.

The second tracker was bought Feb. 25, 2017. That same day Daniel Tomassetti called a number in Mexico.

More Mafia, more murders

There were numerous calls to Mexico before and after the murders, usually very short. The police theory is they were calling Daniele Ranieri, a mobster from Bolton who fled to Mexico to escape charges in York Region. He was found bound and executed in a ditch in Cancun in March 2018. Project SCOPA listed him as a “person of interest” in the Musitano and Barberi murder cases.

Most old-school Mafioso won’t even admit the Mafia exists; “made” guys are introduced to each other as “a friend of mine.” The Mob is notoriously secretive. It’s common for mobsters to always expect someone is listening, that’s why business discussions often happen outside — a walk and talk — away from buildings, vehicles or phones that can be bugged.

But Ranieri was bold and unpredictable; he had La Cosa Nostra tattooed on his chest. That’s the name for the Sicilian Mafia. Ranieri and Cudmore were buddies — police found pictures of them together in Cudmore’s apartment, which they covertly searched after he fled to Mexico. Police believe Cudmore met up with Ranieri in Mexico after Angelo’s murder. Both men would eventually suffer the same fate, dead in Mexico before police ever found them.

Ranieri had been living under an alias, and Mexican police identified him under his assumed name. Canadian police had to travel to Mexico to confirm his identity. Cudmore’s death also took time to confirm. His family was contacted by the Canadian embassy and Hamilton police had to confirm it was him through fingerprints.

Calls to Mexico were not the only noteworthy communication around the time of the 2017 shootings.

There were calls to unidentified numbers in New York, home to the area’s “five families” to whom Hamilton Mob families are tied.

There were also numerous calls to numbers registered to an Antonio (Tony) and a Joseph Iavarone. Tony’s brother, Albert Iavarone, was killed Sept. 13, 2018 in the doorway of his suburban Ancaster home.

That Mob homicide, which remains unsolved, mirrored Angelo Musitano’s in many ways. Perhaps most importantly, both Angelo and Albert were the younger brothers of more powerful men. Killing Angelo was a way to hurt Pat, before his eventual death. Albert’s murder is thought to be revenge, perhaps a way to hurt Tony.

Crime families who rule Hamilton

Sources tell The Spectator that Tony Iavarone, once an ally of the Musitanos, has grown in strength as other traditional organized crime families in Hamilton — including the Musitanos — have declined. With the death of Pat Musitano, that crime family — one of three traditional organized crime families that once ruled Hamilton — is all but gone.

Pat and Angelo Musitano made names for themselves when they were accused in the 1997 contract killings of Mob boss Johnny (Pops) Papalia and his lieutenant Carmen Barillaro. Pat was 31 and Angelo just a baby-faced 21-year-old at the time. Papalia, 73, was one of Canada’s most powerful mobsters, known as The Enforcer.

Ultimately, the Musitano brothers struck a deal to plead guilty to the lesser offence of conspiracy to commit murder in the shooting death of Barillaro.

After the murder of Johnny Pops, the Papalias grew quiet. The same now appears true of the Musitanos. This leaves the Luppino-Violi crime family — the third of Hamilton’s traditional Mob families — still seemingly holding power. However, the Luppino-Violis have not been spared in the Mob war: Cece Luppino — son of mobster Rocco Luppino — was killed at his Mountain Brow Boulevard home in January 2019.

Cece’s cousin Domenico Violi is the self-described underboss of the Buffalo Mafia — the only Canadian ever named to that second-highest position in the U.S.-based Mob. He and his brother Giuseppe (Joey) Violi are in prison serving eight- and 16-year sentences in a drug-trafficking case where a mobster became a police agent.

Is Tony Iavarone working with the Luppino-Violis? They certainly know each other. There is talk about Iavarone being a “made man” on the wires for Project OTREMENS — the case that led to Dom and Joey’s incarceration. And during the SCOPA investigation, Hamilton police were watching Iavarone and knew that he visited an inmate at Collins Bay Institution, a federal prison in Kingston. But who he was visiting is not clear.

When Angelo was killed, many questioned whether it was revenge for Papalia. Perhaps it was; there is an old saying the Mafia never forgets. Or perhaps it was about more recent business ventures, a play for power. Or perhaps it was a little of both.

Regardless, the shooting was not spur-of-the-moment. Mob murders are planned and it’s expected that whoever orders the hits gets approval from the boss.

The level of planning is clear in the police evidence of what happened in the days leading up to the murders in 2017. The planning for both murders overlaps.

The killers get ready

On March 3 — 11 days before Barberi’s murder — Cudmore checked in to the Pinecrest Motel room 115, not far from the Serrano-owned Teknika Lighting store at 155 Caster Ave., in Woodbridge. He again used his brother Shawn’s name. Turns out he stole his brother’s driver’s licence.

That motel had been known to police for drug trafficking and other problems, so York Regional Police routinely keep an eye on the place, court heard. Between March 3 and 6, 2017, police queried a black Honda Civic parked there six times. The licence plate was CAES 145 — plates for the black Honda registered in Abdalla’s name.

Police believe Cudmore was using the car to do surveillance. He checked out March 6 at 11 a.m.

That same day, Tomassetti was captured on surveillance video parking his white Honda Civic — with a distinct red emblem on the hood — at Teknika. He then walked around the store and talked to staff about buying decorative lighting and left with a brochure.

Cattle testified that police believe this was also surveillance. Another theory is that he was posing as a potential customer as a sort of alibi, in case he was later identified near the shooting scene.

On March 10, two more trackers were purchased. They initially went back to Wayv Travel, Tomassetti’s former travel agency that operated from a building with no signage on Myrtle Avenue in Hamilton. Abdalla also worked there.

Seven days later, one of the trackers was placed at the residence of Joseph Cafagna, a full patch member of the Hamilton chapter of the Hells Angels and a known Musitano associate at the time. It was deactivated March 29.

The other tracker was placed on a vehicle at the home of Angelo and Pat’s mom, Carmelina Musitano, on March 11 and in April it was moved to a vehicle at Pat’s home on St. Clair Boulevard, where it remained until after Angelo’s death.

At his plea, Abdalla admitted to driving Tomassetti and Cudmore to Toronto to buy trackers and also to driving people to a residence where they affixed a tracker to a vehicle, but said he didn’t buy or place the trackers himself and didn’t know what they were for.

These trackers are activated by movement and there is an app that can be downloaded onto a cellphone to monitor travel.

In March 2017, the surveillance on the Musitanos had just begun, but police believe Cudmore and Tomassetti had already been watching the Serrano family.

Just three days after the tracker was placed on Pat and Angelo’s mom’s vehicle, Mila Barberi was killed.

Surveillance video from March 14, 2017 shows a black Honda, a white Honda, and a Jeep Grand Cherokee being used, scoping out the parking lot.

“It’s almost synchronized,” York police Det. Peter Cheung testified during a bail hearing.

Surveillance video shows the moment Mila pulled into the parking lot, Saverio walks out of the lighting store with a family member’s dog. An animal lover, she opens the door to pet the dog.

At that moment the shooter emerged from the passenger seat of the Grand Cherokee and ran up firing. He shot first into the passenger side of the BMW with tinted windows. In the weeks before the shooting, Saverio’s brother Francesco borrowed the car and — because he had a suspended licence — would sit in the passenger seat and have someone else drive. It’s likely the shooter thought Francesco, the only one of Diego’s three sons known to police, may have been in the passenger seat.

Then the shooter runs around the other side of the car and shoots at Saverio and Mila, who had just stepped out of the driver’s seat. Saverio runs away and Mila collapses on the ground, before the shooter runs off, gets back into the passenger seat of the Grand Cherokee and drives away.

Diego Serrano and all three sons were in the lighting store that day.

Police said the shooter was taken to a nearby street where he gets back in the black Honda Civic and drives off. The next day, the Grand Cherokee was found abandoned on Garyray Drive, an industrial street in Toronto. Someone had attempted to set it on fire, but it just smouldered and melted the passenger seat.

It appears a tracker was never placed on Saverio’s BMW, but one was mistakenly placed on another BMW with a similar licence plate that frequented a nearby Italian restaurant where the Serranos also went.

The plan to kill Musitano

Despite the botched hit, the plan to execute Musitano continued.

On March 21, someone bought another tracker from the Mike uppercut666 account and soon after, Tomassetti’s phone called a number registered to a Joseph Iavarone, the court records show.

The tracker was placed at the home of Guiseppe (Pino) Avignone on Miles Road near Rymal Road East — he is alternately described as a cousin or brother to Pat and Angelo and grew up in the Musitano house.

That tracker was later moved to a vehicle at Pat and Angelo’s mom’s home, before once again being moved — three days before the Musitano hit — to Angelo’s house. This is the tracker police found on the bumper of Angelo’s pickup.

The last two trackers were bought April 12 and were found on Angelo’s mom’s and wife’s vehicles.

It’s unclear if the trackers placed on other Musitano family members’ vehicles were simply intelligence-gathering to target Angelo, or whether other lives were also in danger. When police discovered the trackers during the investigation, they were obligated to warn them their lives could also be at risk — this is called a “duty to warn.”

The Musitano family did not co-operate with police and police have said publicly that Pat declined protection before his own murder.

The sophisticated plan involved more than just trackers. Surveillance video shows several cars driving by and stopping on Chesapeake Drive, including the Infiniti, a red Malibu and the burgundy Ford Fusion used by the killer on the day of the shooting.

The Ford Fusion was stolen from Gatineau, Que., on April 2.

When police identified the Ford Fusion and also the Infiniti (with the licence plate number Angelo had stuffed in his pocket) they searched to see if any other police in the province had queried those vehicles. It turns out a Halton police officer did searches on the vehicles before Angelo’s murder.

Boarding a plane to Mexico

Homicide investigators learned that a concerned citizen called a Halton police officer she knew after noticing these vehicles about one kilometre from Angelo’s house.

The woman thought maybe there were kids selling drugs.

She told Hamilton police she first noticed the suspicious activity on April 13, 2017. She started recording things April 27.

She documented white men coming and going from the Infiniti, a black Honda Civic and a red Malibu in the middle of the night. Later, the Ford Fusion showed up too. In pictures the licence plate of the Honda Civic registered to Abdalla is visible.

She was so concerned that she made detailed notes of the cars and time that she gave to police.

Police found the Ford Fusion used by Angelo’s killer May 7 abandoned a couple of blocks from Angelo’s house. When DNA test results came back on the Ford Fusion used by the shooter the day of Angelo’s shooting, they got a match: Cudmore.

But by the time police had this information, Cudmore was long gone.

On May 20, he ordered a taxi to his James Street South apartment under the name Chris. At 4 a.m., he was captured on surveillance video exiting through the front lobby carrying a large black suitcase and a red GoodLife Fitness duffel bag.

He was driven to Toronto Pearson Airport where he boarded a 6:45 a.m. flight to Cancun, Mexico, never to be seen by Canadian police alive again.

It’s one thing to have video of cars, or data from trackers and cellphones, and another to have enough to lay murder charges. The SCOPA investigation and court case would prove to be just as complicated as the murders themselves.