After 42 years of trying, Canada loses another bid to deport alleged top Mafia boss in Toronto
On the 42nd anniversary of Ottawa trying to deport a man who police named as Toronto’s top Mafia boss, the government has again failed to prove he should be deported back to Italy.
The Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) rejected arguments that Vincenzo DeMaria, better known as Jimmy DeMaria, has been a member of the shadowy and powerful ’Ndrangheta, which is the proper name of the Mafia formed in Italy’s southern region of Calabria, and that he engaged in Mafia activities, including money laundering.
If the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) had succeeded, it could have led to DeMaria being deported from Canada.
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The government’s latest effort ended in failure with a decision by the IRB’s appeal division quietly released in July after a year of hearings, arguments and deliberation.
DeMaria and the Canadian government have been fighting a monumental legal and bureaucratic war on many fronts over whether he is a Mafia boss and the related question of whether he can remain in Canada.
Now 72 years old, DeMaria has lived in Canada for all but the first nine months of his life, after he was born in Siderno, Italy, and came to Canada in 1955 with his parents.
Although he has lived here, he never became a Canadian citizen. His eligibility for citizenship ended in 1981 when he shot dead a man who owed him money. DeMaria was convicted of second-degree murder in 1982. He was released on full parole ten years later, but as a convicted murderer he remains on parole for the rest of his life.
He was first ordered out of Canada in 1984, while still in prison. He successfully defeated that deportation — and every other attempt to remove him since.
At immigration tribunals, parole hearings, and in court, DeMaria has mounted well-resourced and successful challenges, rebutting various allegations of involvement in organized crime. By disputing, denying, and delaying, he has remained with his wife and children in Canada.
5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on nationalpost.com — the content belongs to National Post.
