Jimmy DeMaria, is a grandfather, a baker, a financial services executive and convicted killer. He came to the GTA from Italy when he was nine months old but never sought out Canadian citizenship.
Jimmy DeMaria, is a grandfather, a baker, a financial services executive and convicted killer. He came to the GTA from Italy when he was nine months old but never sought out Canadian citizenship.
GTA grandfather and convicted killer Vincenzo (Jimmy) DeMaria was scheduled to take the witness stand to fight his deportation to Italy on Friday when his hearing was abruptly postponed over abuse of process accusations.
DeMaria, 71, a former Mississauga financial services manager and baker, has been accused by Canadian authorities of laundering money for international organized criminals.
DeMaria never got the chance to testify on Friday, after a dispute broke out over the use of secret recordings made by Italian police between himself and Italian visitorÂ
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Vincenzo Muià in 2019, while DeMaria was in custody at Collins Bay Institution in Kingston.
The secret recordings were made as Italian police investigated the slaying of a leader of the ‘Ndrangheta, or Calabrian Mafia, in Italy.
Italian police came to Canada in 2019 as they probed the murder of Muià ’s brother, Carmelo (Mino) Muià , in Italy.
Things heated up at the online hearing on Friday when Andrej Rustja, a lawyer for the minister of public safety, said that the government will not longer be relying on those intercepted conversations in DeMaria’s deportation appeal.
For years, DeMaria’s lawyers have called the surveillance an example of “foreign interference†which breaches Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms and amounts to abuse of process.
They should not be admissible in a Canadian legal proceeding, DeMaria’s lawyers argued.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
On Friday, they argued that the surprise announcement that the government would no longer be relying on the intercepted conversations disrupted their defence plans and amounted to abuse of process.
The hearing has been postponed to Oct. 20.
DeMaria moved to Canada with his family from Siderno, Italy in 1955 but never applied for citizenship.
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has been seeking his deportation for years, alleging he is tightly connected to the ‘Ndrangheta, or Calabrian Mafia, which authorities say has global scope.
DeMaria served eight years in prison in Canada after he was convicted of second-degree murder for a 1981 shooting, which police said was over a $2,000 drug debt, police say.
DeMaria’s parole conditions bar his association with organized crime figures.
He was detained in Collins Bay penitentiary after he was ordered deported in April 2018.
He was released in 2020 over health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Peter Edwards is a ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½-based reporter primarily covering
crime for the Star. Reach him via email: pedwards@thestar.ca
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation