Member of Hamilton mobster family shot to death outside home: police

A member of a notorious Ontario mobster family has been gunned down outside his home in what police are calling a targeted shooting.

Hamilton police said Angelo Musitano, 39, was shot multiple times as he sat in his pickup truck in his driveway in the community of Waterdown around 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

The suspect — described by police as a stocky man — took off in a dark sedan, police said. Paramedics took Musitano to the hospital, where he later died.

Det. Sgt. Peter Thom said Musitano is a member of a well-known crime family in Hamilton.

Musitano and his brother, Pat Musitano, were charged with first-degree murder in the 1997 deaths of Hamilton crime boss Johnny “Pops” Papalia, and his associate, Carmen Barillaro.

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The brothers pleaded guilty in 2000 to conspiracy to commit murder in Barillaro’s death. As part of a plea deal, the charges relating to Papalia’s death were withdrawn, according to Parole Board of Canada documents.

Shortly after Papalia’s death, Barillaro accused Pat Musitano of his boss’s killing, according to the documents. 

Angelo Musitano and his family, who has been involved in organized crime for three generations, took Barillaro’s “threats of retribution seriously,” the documents said.

On his brother’s instructions, Angelo Musitano gave the shooter the go ahead to kill Barillaro, the parole board said. Then on July 23, 1997, about two months after Papalia’s death, Angelo Musitano along with the shooter went to Barillaro’s home in Niagara Falls, Ont. The shooter went in and shot Barillaro in the head and chest, according to the parole documents.

Police also believe Angelo Musitano was involved in two restaurant bombings in 1990, according to the documents.

In 2004, the board denied his request for full and day parole.

After serving two thirds of his sentence, he was released in 2006, with conditions to avoid contact with criminals and his brother.

Angelo Musitano was arrested again in March 2007 as police believed he was in breach of his conditions. Hamilton police had records that showed “a large number of calls” between Musitano and his brother. A Hamilton police memo also contained allegations of violence and extortion, based on unnamed informants. Musitano denied those allegations, and the parole board released him on June 1, 2007.

Liam Casey, The Canadian Press