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One alleged hitman has been arrested and two others are wanted in connection with two mob killings in Hamilton and York Region last year, amidst what police are calling a violent “power struggle” between organized crime groups in Ontario.

After a year-long project dubbed Project Scopa, Jabril Hassan Abdalla, 27, was arrested at his home in Hamilton on Wednesday afternoon. Warrants have been issued for the arrest of two other Hamilton men – Daniel Tomassetti, 27, and Michael Cudmore, 37 – who police believe have fled to Mexico.

All three men are charged with the murders of Angelo Musitano and Mila Barbieri and the attempted murder of Saverio Serrano last year.

They are alleged to have been directly involved in the planning and execution of these hits, but Hamilton police Detective Peter Thom said they are not believed to have been the masterminds behind them. While police believe they know who the men were working for, Det. Thom would not identify them.

He expects more charges to be laid.

A “number” of other persons of interest have been identified in the case, he said – including known mobster Daniel Ranieri, who was found dead in March in Mexico, where he had been hiding out from police for three years. A warrant was issued in 2015 for the Bolton, Ont., man, who was a target of the organized crime investigation called Project Forza.

Det. Thom said the accused men in these cases were known to be involved in a “sophisticated and well-organized surveillance scheme” that targeted not only the shooting victims, but their family and associates as well.

The planning for these murders, he says, began in October, 2016 – five months before Ms. Barbieri and her boyfriend, Mr. Serrano, were shot in the parking lot of his lighting store in Woodbridge, a suburb north of Toronto. They were sitting in Mr. Serrano’s black BMW when a masked gunman jumped out of a black Jeep Cherokee, darted across the lot and fired into their car.

Ms. Barbieri, 28, was not involved in organized crime. It was Mr. Serrano, 40 – the son of a notorious Canadian mob figure and cocaine importer – who was the target, police say. He survived the shooting, but she did not.

Two months later, Mr. Musitano, 39 – a member of the Musitano crime family – was executed in the driveway of his Hamilton-area home on May 2. And a month after his murder, his brother Pat’s home was sprayed with bullets. That incident remains unsolved and police said the family is not co-operating.

Within weeks of Mr. Musitano’s death, police said, Mr. Cudmore flew down to Cancun to join Mr. Ranieri, who was living under a false name. The two men had previously served time together in prison, Det. Thom confirmed.

In March of this year, Mr. Ranieri was found dead in the Cancun area. He had been tied up and executed, and his body was left in a ditch. Nobody has heard from Mr. Cudmore since around the same time. His family has reported him missing.

Mr. Tomassetti – who owns a Hamilton-based company called WayV Travel – is also believed to be in Mexico, police say. He boarded a flight to Cancun on Jan. 27, just four days after police held a press conference to announce that they believed the same gunman was behind both the Musitano and Barbieri cases.

He was supposed to return a week later, but did not. Police said Mr. Tomassetti is known to have connections in Mexico. His family members, Det. Thom said, are “more than aware” of his status in this investigation and have not reported him missing.

Det. Thom said Mr. Cudmore and Mr. Abdalla had criminal records. Mr. Tomassetti did not.

Det. Thom would not comment specifically on the perceived motive behind these killings, or which one of these men is believed to have pulled the trigger.

There has been a wave of mob-style shootings and arson across the Greater Toronto Area over the past year.

Just last week, another man with known ties to organized crime was killed in the doorway of his suburban Hamilton home. Albert Iavarone, 50, was a local real estate agent and small-business owner.

Asked about any connection to these cases, Det. Thom said it would be fair to say that Mr. Iavarone knew two of the men now charged in the murder of Mr. Musitano − as well as Mr. Musitano himself. He said he was also “very close” to another person of interest in that case.

Those ties, he said, are “something we’re very interested in following up on.”

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