Alleged Montreal Mafia member qualifies for release, but remains detained as a murder suspect

Montreal Gazette

2 days ago

Montreal Crime
By
An alleged member of the Montreal Mafia has automatically qualified for a release on the sentence he received for stabbing a man in Old Montreal, but he will remain behind bars because of his recent arrest as a suspect in one of the murder investigations that produced the arrests earlier this month of several organized crime figures.
In a decision this week, the Parole Board of Canada decided to impose several conditions on the statutory released of Nicola Spagnolo, 50, including a requirement that he reside at a halfway house and that he respect a curfew.
Spagnolo was denied parole in November, but an offender serving time in a federal penitentiary automatically qualifies for a release after they reach the two-thirds mark of their sentence if they haven't been previously granted parole.
Spagnolo is serving a three-year sentence for the stabbing that left the victim badly injured. On Aug. 1, 2020, he was outside a bar in Old Montreal when the man, who was drunk, began making comments about Spagnolo to a woman who was nearby.
The conditions imposed by the board appear to be moot as Spagnolo was arrested on June 12, along with alleged Montreal Mafia leaders like Leonardo Rizzuto, 56, and Stefano Sollecito, 57, in Project Alliance, an investigation into six Mob-tied homicides and conspiracies to commit murder based on information supplied by Frédérick Silva, a former hit man who decided to become a prosecution witness.
Following his arrest while inside a federal penitentiary two weeks ago, Spagnolo appeared by video conference at the Montreal courthouse where he was charged with the first-degree murder of Lorenzo LoPresti, who was killed in the St-Laurent borough on Oct. 24, 2011.
At the time, a coalition had formed in an effort to take control of the Montreal Mafia from the Rizzuto organization. According to police sources, LoPresti appeared to be acting as a righthand man to one of the leaders of the coalition.
Six other men, including Rizzuto and Sollecito, are also charged with the murder. All seven men are also charged with conspiring with Silva to kill LoPresti and seven other men with alleged ties to the Mafia between 2011 and 2019. Included on that list of targets are men who were killed, like Moreno Gallo, and some who survived the underworld conflict, like Raynald Desjardins.
Two men accused of LoPresti's murder and with taking part in the conspiracy — Sasha Krolik, 56, of Montreal, and Sollecito's brother Mario, 54, of Laval — have yet to be arrested.
The next court date for the charges filed in Project Alliance is set for Sept. 9.
'According to Correctional Service Canada (CSC), you are an active member of a security threat group or organized crime, and your environment exposes you to criminality. You have denied your affiliation, but the CSC indicates you have such official affiliation,' the parole board noted in a written summary of its recent decision on Spagnolo's statutory release.
'The board finds that the exposure to negative associates in your community is a factor which increases your risk of violent recidivism. Notably, according to the CSC you are an active member of a security threat group, which makes you vulnerable to criminal associations who endorse use of violence and weapons. You have not stayed away from negative associates while incarcerated, either, which is a poor predictor of your ability to stay away from criminal associates outside of the prison.'