Police say mobster Pat Musitano shot dead in Burlington, Ont.

Halton Regional Police have confirmed that the man shot dead in a Burlington, Ont. plaza on Friday afternoon was reputed mobster Pat Musitano.

Det. Sgt. Kevin Britton says officers were called out to an incident at 484 Plains Rd. E. just after 1:00 p.m.

They discovered two victims with gunshot wounds and one person with undetermined injuries.

One of the two men shot died on scene, say police.

Halton police are currently searching for a male suspect believed to have fled in a newer model grey 4-door sedan, similar to an Infiniti Q50 with a sunroof.

The vehicle, which fled westbound on Plains Rd E., is said to have fresh damage to the driver’s side of the door, according to Britton.

Police say there will be a “heavy presence” throughout the evening,” at the plaza on Plains Road East, but don’t believe there is an “active threat to public safety.”

Musitano’s Hamilton home was shot at in 2017 and he survived a drive-by shooting outside his lawyer’s office in Mississauga in 2019.

The 52-year-old Pasquale (Pat) Musitano is one of two brothers who were charged with first-degree murder in ordering the death of Hamilton mob boss Johnny “Pops” Papalia in the late 1990s.

Both Pat and brother Angelo Musitano were sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder in the shooting death of Niagara crime boss Carmen Barillaro.

The hitman for both murders, Kenneth Murdock, took a plea deal and named the Musitanos as the men who ordered the killings.

The Musitano brothers were released from prison in 2007.

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Angelo Musitano shot dead in 2017

In May of 2017, Hamilton police say notorious mobster Angelo Musitano, Pat’s brother, was stalked and shot dead at on Chesapeake Drive in Waterdown, Ont.

“More than one person was involved in the stalking of Angelo Musitano and more than one vehicle was used to accomplish this task,” Det. Sgt. Peter Thom told reporters during a press conference in Hamilton on January 11, 2018.

When officers arrived they located Musitano inside a pickup truck suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to hospital and pronounced dead a short time later.

Investigators said the shooting was targeted and that witnesses reported seeing a man with a heavy build wearing a dark toque, black jacket and beige pants leaving the scene in a dark-coloured, four-door sedan.

A few days following the shooting, police said they located the car the alleged gunman used in the shooting.

The burgundy 2006 Ford Fusion with rusty wheel rims was recovered around 7 p.m. on May 7 in the area of Fenton Drive and Braeheid Avenue in Waterdown.

Hamilton police said it is believed the culprit entered and fled in a second vehicle at this location.

— With files from Erica Vella