Nine police officers were waiting at the door of an Air Canada jet arriving in Rome from Toronto on Tuesday. They lined the boarding bridge reaching out to the airplane door, ready to grab a passenger who had fought for three years to not be put on that plane.
Their target was a man named as a member of one of the world’s most powerful Mafia organizations, who had been hiding in Canada instead of facing trial at the largest anti-Mafia megatrial in a generation.
Domenico Cugliari, 40, married a Canadian woman while living in Toronto, where he desperately wanted to stay.
Once identified as a fugitive and arrested in 2020, he claimed refugee protection, saying he faces persecution by the Italian state. He argued at lengthy immigration hearings and court challenges.
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Italian authorities seemed weary with how long it took Canada to send Cugliari back, calling his airport arrest “the end of a complex administrative procedure.”
Nicola Gratteri, the crusading anti-Mafia prosecutor in charge of the sprawling megatrial known as Operation Rinascita Scott, said Cugliari will now join alleged colleagues in court.
“Mr. Cugliari is believed to be a made member of the ’Ndrangheta,” Gratteri told National Post, using the proper name of the Mafia born in Calabria, the toe of the boot-shaped map of Italy.
The ’Ndrangheta has eclipsed the better-known Cosa Nostra of Sicily to become one the world’s richest and most powerful crime groups.
Cugliari is accused of “Mafia-type association, fictitious ownership of assets, as well as a robbery of 220,000 euros committed with the use of weapons, in collaboration with other individuals, against a bank branch in the province of Vibo Valentia,” Gratteri said.
That makes Cugliari a relative minnow among suspects swept up in the huge Operation Rinascita Scott, but his presence in Canada should be a warning.
Canada is one of the strongholds of the ’Ndrangheta
“Canada is one of the strongholds of the ’Ndrangheta, along with countries such as Germany, Australia and the United States,” Gratteri said.
“Every time we investigate, there is some reference to Canada, where clans associated with the Calabrian Mafia have been operating for decades. Canada is a place to take refuge, but above all a place to invest the proceeds of illegal activities and manage shipments of cocaine bound for Europe.”
Bosses of the ’Ndrangheta have been in Canada for decades, hiding in plain sight among friends and family. Many are Canadian citizens, others are avoiding prison or rivals in Italy, usually in the Toronto area.
Cugliari is known by the nickname “Scric,” the Italian word for “writer.”
In his hometown of Sant’Onofrio, Italian police said he was a “close” and “serious” member of the Bonavota clan, one of many ’Ndrangheta clans in the province of Vibo Valentia that alternately feud and cooperate.
Before he left Italy, he allegedly was trusted by clan leaders, acting as a “postman” — someone who delivers messages between mobsters, often when visiting them in prison.
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Italian police say he was seen with senior members of the Bonavota clan more than 100 times, according to court records. In 2016, he was caught at an illegal cannabis plantation. He said the 800 plants were for personal use.
He was also described as a front man for a Bonavota boss’s bar.
The Bonavota clan, meanwhile, has quietly had a branch in Canada since the 1990s, turncoat mobsters revealed at the Rinascita Scott trial.
The Post has independently learned that members of the Bonavota clan have been living in Ontario since at least 2009. They appeared to be trusted and respected by senior mob bosses in Toronto and York region, north of Toronto.
That likely gave Cugliari a soft landing in Canada.
He applied online for a visa to visit Canada and was approved the same day. He first arrived at Toronto’s Pearson airport on Nov. 28, 2018.
He visited again in March, July, and December 2019.
That was a fantastic time for him to be away.
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Starting Dec. 18, 2019, and continuing over several days, a series of police raids swept through his home province. Hundreds of accused mobsters and associates were arrested in an historic assault against Mafia clans, called Operation Rinascita Scott.
“Among the defendants there are also law enforcement officers, politicians, professionals, and entrepreneurs,” said Antonio Nicaso, a specialist on the ’Ndrangheta who teaches courses on organized crime at Queen’s University. “It is important to remember that external relations have always been the backbone of Mafia power.
“This trial, in terms of the number of defendants, is second only to the maxi-trial in Palermo (in the 1980s).”
Although Cugliari was listed on Italian arrest warrants, he wasn’t found during the raids, and he continued to live quietly in Canada.
In the summer of 2020, Cugliari married a Canadian woman whose family is from Sant’Onofrio, his hometown. They lived in a bungalow in north Toronto and drove a modest car.
About the time of his wedding, the RCMP was told of an Interpol Red Notice for him, alleging membership in the ’Ndrangheta, said RCMP Deputy Commissioner Mike Duheme, who oversees federal policing. A Red Notice is a request for police around the world to detain a wanted suspect.
Duheme said the RCMP tried to find him but were unsuccessful at the time. By then, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) opened an investigation on whether Cugliari was legally able to remain in Canada. They decided he wasn’t.
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On Sept. 22, 2020, as Cugliari was leaving his Toronto home, he was arrested by Toronto police and CBSA.
The same day the Immigration and Refugee Board ordered him to be held in custody as a danger to Canada and a flight risk, he made a refugee claim, seeking Canada’s protection from the Italian government.
“I find it peculiar that Mr. Cugliari, up until his arrest, did not seek asylum in Canada, if he had a genuine fear of returning to Italy. Only now that he has been caught, has he hinted that he is afraid to return home,” a CBSA officer wrote in his file.
He was eventually released on bond and after a lengthy immigration hearing — despite testifying he was not a part of the Bonavota clan nor a member of the ’Ndrangheta — he was ruled inadmissible due to organized criminality in November 2021.
His refugee claim was rejected weeks later.
Still not willing to return to Italy, Cugliari appealed to the Federal Court of Canada, challenging both decisions.
On Feb. 23, 2023, a Federal Court judge rejected his appeals.
Preparations began for his flight to Rome.
It took so long to get Cugliari back to Italy that several dozen of his co-accused in the Rinascita Scott proceedings have been convicted and are already appealing their sentences.
“Everyone ordered to be removed from Canada is entitled to due process before the law, and all removal orders are subject to appeal and procedural fairness,” said CBSA spokeswoman Rebecca Purdy.
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