An international fugitive wanted for nearly a decade for two Mob shootings that killed innocent bystander Mila Barberi in Vaughan and Hamilton mobster Angelo Musitano in Waterdown has been arrested in Mexico. Daniel Tomassetti was arrested in August and police are waiting for him to be extradited from Mexico back to Canada, said Hamilton police Staff Sgt. Jason Cattle, who was initially the primary investigator on Musitano’s killing and became the case manager. Tomassetti, once named one of the most wanted fugitives in Canada, was arrested in Mexico City and remains in custody there, where the extradition case is being heard in federal court. He is charged with two counts each of first-degree murder and attempted murder. The Spectator has confirmed Tomassetti is fighting extradition on the basis that he fears for his safety if returned to Canada. This Saturday marked the ninth anniversary of Mila Barberi’s death. Her parents Alessio and Elvira Barberi and younger sister Mara have always wanted justice. “I used to think, to hope they’d find him dead,” Alessio said. “When they found him, I was kind of happy … I’d rather see him rot in jail than rot in hell.” “We just want to see him face justice,” Elvira said, later adding that she also has mixed emotions about starting the court process all over again. Mara said news of his arrest, after all this time, came as a “shock.” She didn’t have much faith and had given up hope he would ever be found. Tomassetti has been in hiding since he flew to Cancun, Mexico on Jan. 27, 2018, while he was under surveillance by police investigating the March and May 2017 shootings. But he escaped by leaving his phone at home and having someone else drive him to the airport, according to court records. He boarded the 5:10 p.m. flight to Mexico — a country where he had connections — with a return flight booked for Feb. 3. He never showed, and police were searching for him ever since. Details about how police found Tomassetti after all this time remain unclear. In 2023, the Ancaster man was named one of the top 25 most wanted criminals in Canada as part of the Bolo Program (be on the lookout) that works with Crime Stoppers and police to amplify unsolved cases. He has also long been the subject of an Interpol “red notice” — reserved for the most wanted criminals in the world. As part of that red notice police released more photos of Tomassetti, including ones of him shirtless on a boat taken before he was on the run. Police speak at the news conference where it was first announced that Daniel Tomassetti was wanted for the Mila Barberi and Angelo Musitano killings. The file photos There is a $50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction.
Two dead in Mexico
Numerous tips about his whereabouts have poured in through the years, including in Canada and internationally, but there has never been any evidence he left Mexico. Some questioned whether he might be dead, like two other men connected to the case who died in Mexico. The killings, as well as the investigation and prosecution of one of Tomassetti’s alleged co-conspirators were featured in an award-winning series by The Spectator called “Trigger.” The series followed the conclusion of the court case against Tomassetti’s high school friend Jabril Abdalla, who was charged in the killings alongside Tomassetti and the alleged gunman Michael Cudmore. Until now, Abdalla was the only one arrested. Abdalla ultimately pleaded guilty to participating in a criminal organization and was sentenced to time served — credit for 46 months in pretrial custody — and walked out of court in June 2021 a free man. Abdalla admitted to registering two vehicles in his name and driving people around, but said he never knew of any murder plots. Instead, he was just motivated by money. At the conclusion of Abdalla’s court case, a publication ban on evidence heard at his bail hearing and preliminary hearing expired, allowing The Spectator to report on details, including what the evidence revealed about the case against Tomassetti. It is alleged that Tomassetti was the one who brought his friend into the business and phone records shared in court for Abdalla’s case connected Tomassetti’s phone with persons of interest who police suspect were behind ordering the killings. Text messages found by police on an encrypted BlackBerry at Abdalla’s house were submitted as evidence at Abdalla’s bail hearing. They showed Tomassetti allegedly asked Abdalla to register the vehicles in his name in August 2016. In court, police said Tomassetti used the PGP (Pretty Good Privacy encryption program) handle, ZNU.060 and Abdalla, Hunt. “Yo listen can u put car under Ur name for insurance boss is asking he’ll pay,” Tomassetti texted. Abdalla questioned why Tomassetti couldn’t do it himself. Tomassetti replied that there were three cars in his family already and he had a stunt driving ticket. “I do trust you, but no offence at the end of the day its business for you,” Abdalla texted. Eventually Abdalla agreed, and the two cars — a blue Infiniti and a black Honda Civic — were registered in his name. Both cars were used as part of the murder plots.
Daniel Tomassetti’s white Honda Civic captured on video before Mila Barberi and Angelo Musitano killings.
Court exhibit
Career Hamilton criminal
Cudmore, who police have identified as the shooter, was a career Hamilton criminal with ties to bikers and other organized crime figures. Cudmore also fled to Mexico. He was found dead in a burnt car on the side of the road in June 2020.
Angelo Musitano, 39, was killed when he was shot in the driveway of his Waterdown home May 2, 2017.
The file photo
Police believe Cudmore flew to Mexico on May 20, 2017 — just 18 days after Musitano’s death — to join Bolton mobster Daniele Ranieri, identified as a “person of interest” in the shootings. Ranieri, who was also on the run from the law, was found bound and murdered in a ditch in Mexico in March 2018.
While Cudmore, Tomassetti and Abdalla are alleged to have been hired, whoever hired them has never been charged or publicly named by police. However, phone records show numerous calls to Mexico and New York before and after the shootings, including suspected calls to Ranieri and calls to alleged Hamilton mobster Tony Iavarone (once an associate of the Musitanos) and his son, Joey.
On March 14, 2017, 28-year-old Mila Barberi drove her boyfriend’s BMW to pick him up at his family’s lighting business — Teknika Lighting — in Vaughan. At 4:10 p.m., her boyfriend, Saverio Serrano, came out with a family member’s dog. An animal lover, Barberi opened the car door to greet the dog when Cudmore opened fire, killing Barberi and wounding Serrano.
Mila Barberi was killed March 14, 2017. She was an innocent bystander shot in a Woodbridge parking lot.
Barberi family
Barberi, a much-loved veterinary technician, knew nothing of the organized crime world. Her heartbroken family attended throughout Abdalla’s court case.
Now they are awaiting details from Mexico.
The Barberi family before Mila’s killing.
Barberi family
It’s not clear who in the Serrano family was the true target. Saverio’s father, Diego Serrano, was a prominent organized crime figure in York Region known for cocaine trafficking. Of his three sons, only Francesco was also known to police for criminal activity at the time and he was known to borrow his brother’s car and sit in the passenger seat. Everyone was at the lighting business that day.
In court, police alleged that Cudmore, the gunman, was staying in a nearby motel before the shooting and that Tomassetti — driving a distinct white Honda Civic — conducted surveillance and was there at the time of the shooting. The evidence is largely based on video and cellphone records.
Video from the scene shows three vehicles driving near Teknika: the white Honda Civic, the black Honda Civic driven by Cudmore and a stolen Grand Cherokee that was driven by an unknown person who drove Cudmore to and from the parking lot.
Their movements appear “synchronized,” Det. Peter Cheung testified in court about the co-ordinated vehicles.
The conspiracy continues
Despite the botched Serrano hit, the conspiracy continued. On May 2, 2017, Hamilton mobster Angelo Musitano, 39, was gunned down in the driveway of his Waterdown home. The shooter, Cudmore, was waiting for him on Chesapeake Drive in a stolen burgundy Ford Fusion. Police found a tracker on Musitano’s white Ford F-150, and also on vehicles belonging to his family and associates. The trackers were all purchased at a Toronto spy shop under the account name Mike uppercut666, believed to have been set up by Cudmore. Musitano’s killing was the start of an apparent Mob war in Hamilton that later killed his older brother Pat Musitano, along with members of other prominent Hamilton families. Police later formed a multi-jurisdictional investigation dubbed Project Scopa after linking the two killings through surveillance video that showed the same vehicle used in both cases. Tomassetti and Abdalla met in high school, with Abdalla’s parents testifying at their son’s bail hearing that they recognized Tomassetti’s name from their son’s days at St. Jean de Brébeuf Catholic Secondary School. But he wasn’t someone who frequented their house. Tomassetti had previously worked for a travel agency in Mexico and was known to have contacts there. While in Hamilton he also ran Wayv Travel, a travel agency that operated from a building with no signage on Myrtle Avenue in Hamilton where he employed his friends, including Abdalla.
The former location of Wayv Travel on Myrtle Avenue owned by Daniel Tomassetti.
Court exhibit
“For all intents and purposes it was not a travel agency,” Cattle told court during Abdalla’s bail hearing.
Ten days after Tomassetti fled to Mexico police executed simultaneous warrants at the Tomassetti Tollgate Drive, Ancaster family residence and at the Mountain home of Abdalla’s family.
They seized electronic devices, a walkie-talkie, Traveo Canada business cards with Tomassetti’s name and a Cancun address, and other documents.
Among the specific allegations against Tomassetti revealed in Abdalla’s court case are that he was present when trackers were installed on Musitano and associates’ vehicles, that his cellphone pinged off towers near DoBuy Direct — the spyware store — when some of the trackers were purchased, that he conducted surveillance before the killings, and drove a white Honda Civic (registered to his dad) near the Vaughan crime scene. He also allegedly made calls to the spy store and Mob figures, including to Mexico, New York and the Iavarones.
Surveillance video allegedly captured Daniel Tomassetti at a spyware store where trackers used to follow Angelo Musitano before his killing were purchased.
Court exhibit
Canada and Mexico have an extradition treaty whereby the countries can request the transfer of someone wanted for serious crimes in their respective countries. The request is submitted through the Canadian Department of Justice’s International Assistance Group and then handled by Mexico’s attorney general. Eventually, if approved, the case is heard in Mexican federal court.
Tomassetti’s case is now in federal court and it remains unclear how long that process will take.
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