Suspect in Musitano, Barberi murders found dead in Mexico: police

A man connected with the 2017 murders of notorious mobster Angelo Musitano and Mila Barberi is dead, according to Hamilton police.

Investigators with a multi-jurisdictional task force have confirmed with authorities in Mexico that suspect Michael Cudmore was found dead at the end of June 2020.

Detectives say Cudmore’s body was recovered in an abandoned vehicle at the side of a rural road and have limited details about how he died.

“Members of the Hamilton Police Service have been in contact with Cudmore’s family to assist them in repatriating Cudmore’s body and to ascertain the facts surrounding his death,” police said in a release on Wednesday morning.

Authorities have had no contact with Cudmore since he fled to Mexico in May 2017 and believe he joined another person of interest in both murders, Daniele Ranieri.

Ranieri was found dead in March 2018, according to police. It’s believed he was murdered and his body left in a ditch in Mexico.

Angelo Musitano died in hospital on May 2, 2017, after he was found with multiple gunshot wounds inside a pick-up truck at a Chesapeake Drive house, near Rockhaven Lane, in Waterdown at around 4 p.m.

Angelo and younger brother of Pat Musitano were charged with first-degree murder in 1997, accused of ordering the death of Hamilton mob boss Johnny “Pops” Papalia.

Three years later, they 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.

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The Musitano brothers were released from prison in 2007. Pat Musitano was shot dead in Burlington on July 10, 2020.

Mila Barbieri was killed in a March 2017 double shooting at a Vaughan, Ont., address on Caster Avenue near Weston Road and Highway 7.

Barberi and her 40-year-old boyfriend, Saviero Serrano, were both shot while inside a parked vehicle outside an electrical supply store, according to detectives.

A joint investigation between York Regional Police and Hamilton police say the gunman wanted for the targeted shooting of Musitano was also responsible for that double shooting.

The intended target was Serrano, according to detectives. He survived the shooting and is alleged to be tied to organized crime in York region, say police.

Cudmore, Daniel Tomassetti from Ancaster, and Jabirl Abdalla of Hamilton were all accused of being connected to the murders.

“It’s still an open investigation and we’re still of the belief that those three were not the masterminds behind either Mila’s death or Angelo Musitano’s death,” Det. Sgt. Peter Thom said in a presser out front of Hamilton’s central station on Wednesday.

Abdalla was arrested in Sept. 2018, while warrants were issued for Cudmore and Tomassetti.

Investigators say Cudmore and Tomassetti fled to Mexico and warrants from Interpol were issued worldwide for the pair.

Abdalla is awaiting a trial date for his alleged participation in the murders.

Tomassetti, who fled to Mexico on Jan. 27, 2018, is still at large according to Hamilton police. Family members say the suspect is scared, but do not know his whereabouts, according to investigators.

“I believe they’re aware that he is alive and is still in that area,” Thom said.

“We will be making steps to speak to them again to see if they have any further concerns for Daniel’s safety. I believe at this time there’s nothing to indicate he is dead.”