ITALY AND CANADA REFUSING TO PROTECT WITNESSES IN MOB CASES

Italy and Canada have begun to step up to the plate, and have begun refusing to protect witnesses who have testified or given information regarding organized crime.  While both countries are allowing those who testify lenient sentences, they are now pretty much refusing to foot the bill to protect witnesses, and today I want to talk about a particular case.

Italy, 2009.  The Demitri family.   The story is vast, but I will keep it as short as possible.   Fabrizio Demitri(name changed to protect his family by the Italian and Canadian government) married Alessandra Octavio(name changed to protect her by the Italian and Canadian government).  Alessandra came from a very power mafia clan known to be members of the Sacra Corona Unita in Puglia.  While she attempted to distance herself from her families business, when she met Fabrizio, who at the time alleged he was an electrician, things couldn't be better. It wasn't until after they were married with a second infant on the way that she found out her husband wasn't an electrician but rather an Italian police informant.   His job was to infiltrate a security company that law enforcement came to believe was working with the mob.

In Italy, covert operations are often a very serious and delicate business. One of the issues Fabrizio had was that the security companies in Italy often don't share information, so nobody truly knows whose working for the government and who isn't.  A comparison would be how the DEA and FBI often knock heads over cases and over step on another.   This would be the case with Fabrizio.  Also in Italy, they have a completely different standard when it comes to handling documents, recordings and more.  Often, there is no paper trial to these informants, no contract, no acknowledgement of said informants, therefore when the cases are over it's almost impossible for these informants to prove they actually were informants, making it damn near impossible to acquire help, protection or money for their services.


In 2012, Fabrizio's handler was transferred from his department, and it left Fabrizio without any way to contact or talk to law enforcement.  Eventually a manager in the security company found out that Fabrizio was an informant and outed him.  This would begin a nightmare for Fabrizio.   Employees of the company would begin threatening Fabrizio, meanwhile his wife Alessandra's cousin had turned informant and was getting ready to testify at a mob trial.   The mob was already threatening Alessandra over her cousin's upcoming testimony and were harassing her looking specifically for her cousin's whereabouts.  

A month later strange cars were seen sitting outside there home.  There son would be beaten up by another child whose father was in prison for mob convicted crimes.  The family dog would be poisoned.  They ultimately would flee there home in fear.  They would sleep in their car in parks for days on end before finally moving to a small town in northern Italy.  There safety wouldn't last long.

They knew they needed money, and they placed an advertisement online to sell their car.  A man would show up, look at the car, then uttered a phrase that terrified them.  "I come from the heart of Mesagne," which was a reference to the Sacra Corona Unita.   Terrified they would sell all their belongings and head to Canada.   They would land in Toronto, Canada in September of 2013.

They would file an asylum claim, and Fabrizio would be granted a partial work visa.  He would find a job, the kids would begin to attend school, but not long after arriving trouble would mount.   In August of  2014 there application for asylum was fully denied.   They would explain to the Canadian judge their particular issues, but Canadian judges refused to hear it.  While yes, there were circumstances, they didn't believe if the family was forced to return to Italy they were in any danger.  Secondary to that opinion, Canada would not foot the bill for their protection, or offer them any sort of protection.  

"We are not required to protect you, or any citizens at all times."  Also noted was that they felt the protection should have been provided by the country of origin.   Making matters worse, Italy currently has 6,200 known informants, and often times the country ignores them and refuses to help them.   Last month Italy's deputy prime minister doubled down on the viewpoints of the Demitri's by saying "for far too long the interior has been spending on protection, and some have been under police protection for far too long."

For Canada's part, they have said "Italy protects it's citizens and have made significant strides in tackling organized crime, and those protections or safety measure are more than adequate."   The Canadian government has ordered deportation, and the Demitri's have gone into hiding.

This is beginning to become the norm in both Italy and Canada.  Rightfully so.  While I respectively understand the danger they put themselves in(emphasis on that) I don't think the government of any state or country should foot the bill for informants to live a life of protection or luxury.  The reward system that the United States and other countries has for those informants has become obscene.  For example, Salvatore Gravano was given new teeth, a face lift, and was able to keep all his money, and earned 25% off of the money the F.B.I. was able to acquire after putting away John Gotti for life.

Other informants have been given homes, jobs, and a salary of $50,000 a year.   Former rat and now thankfully deceased stool pigeon Ron Previte made over a million dollars while working for the F.B.I., was allowed to keep all his nefarious money, and then went right back out and began bookmaking again under the protection of the F.B.I.   In another case a mob informant was on welfare, selling drugs, getting a government check, all under the F.B.I.'s watch.  When does it end?

While I can sympathize on some level as a human being, I think you forgo any liberties once you become an arm of the federal government.   I think you should have to work, and for the most part take care of yourself.   If the United States began to change it's policies on rewards and treats for informants, you might see it stop, and stop quickly.   The government doesn't owe you, and listen these people don't do it because they have some sudden moral inclination to do so, rather it becomes a way to fuck the system, and those who pay taxes and becomes just another racket, albeit a legal one which our government and the government of other countries sign off for.  So while I get it, I commend Italy and Canada for telling them to get lost and deal with their own problems.