Jonathan Massari’s 25-year prison sentence for the murders of four Mafia-linked men was marked by moving testimonies from family members of the victims Monday morning in Montreal.
Massari, 41, pleaded guilty two weeks ago to plotting the 2016 assassinations of Lorenzo Giordano, Rocco Sollecito and brothers Vincenzo and Giuseppe Falduto in a power struggle between Calabrian and Sicilian clans of the Montreal mafia, had indicated the Sûreté du Québec.
“Lorenzo was killed in a barbaric and defenseless manner. How can a person have so little regard for human life? These years, we have lived them in a state of mind devastated by the nagging pain that does not cease and will never lessen,” wrote a member of the Giordano family.
“Spiritually he (Massari) destroyed my faith in God,” wrote a member of the Falduto family.
“What happened to them?” Did they suffer? Giuseppe and Vincenzo were brutally taken away and not even a cemetery to visit. How do we ever explain to our children what really happened? There is no way to hide the truth from them, because the internet is at your fingertips,” added another family member of Vincenzo and Giuseppe Falduto, whose bodies were burned and have never been found.
“For Jonathan, they were his next paycheck. For us it has destroyed us mentally and emotionally and no words can sum up the damage we live with every day and for the rest of our lives,” he concluded.
“Thank you for sharing with the Court the difficult things you have been through and your pain following events that are not ordinary. Crimes like these have consequences that last and last,” responded Superior Court Judge Michel Pennou.
In sentencing Massari to 25 years, the magistrate accepted a joint suggestion by the Prosecution and the Defence.
Subtracting the time spent in pre-trial detention, Massari has just under 20 years left to serve, and he will need to serve at least half that time before he is eligible for parole.
Three of the four victims were murdered by a former organized crime hitman who then collaborated with the police and registered his former accomplices without their knowledge during the summer of 2019.
The evidence was largely based on the testimony of this ex-hitman who became a civilian undercover agent (ACI).
Recall that Massari had begun to undergo a first jury trial last fall, but it aborted because this witness had made several statements that were inadmissible in court and prejudicial to the accused.
Faced with the risks involved in holding a new trial and another testimony from the hitman, the prosecutors and defense lawyers began negotiations and came to an agreement following facilitation before retired judge Johanne St-Gelais.
“We are in a case where the evidence rested on a particular and problematic main witness. Mr. Massari never wanted to shirk his responsibility. In a trial, he could have given his version of the facts and corrected elements of the evidence that were not accurate. He would have repudiated a good part of the testimony of the ACI, a crazy witness who felt an intense hatred towards Mr. Massari “said Me Véronique Robert who, with Me Philippe Larochelle, defended the condemned.
“Mr. Massari is not the main author. He didn’t pull the trigger because he couldn’t. I say this not to diminish his responsibility, but to explain his advocacy, which is in harmony with his moral responsibility,” she added.
“I would like to tell the Court and the families of the victims that I had bad associations at the time, which led me to do things that I regret. I apologize to those I hurt,” said Jonathan Massari before heading to the penitentiary.
The prosecution was represented by Me Marie-Christine Godbout, Me Isabelle Poulin, Me Karine Cordeau and Me Catherine Sheitoyan of the Serious Crime and Special Affairs Bureau.