Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
Hamilton police have arrested two men for the 2020 murder of Giorgio Barresi, a 42-year-old realtor from Hamilton’s Stoney Creek area.
Jamal Chemin, 41, and Sorossa Moude, 27, have both been charged with first-degree murder. They are both Toronto residents with ties to organized crime, police said.
Det. Sgt. Jim Callender said Barresi did not know either of the men and called his murder “a financially motivated crime.”
Barresi was in his driveway in Stoney Creek around 10:45 p.m. on March 2, 2020, when he was shot multiple times. Paramedics attempted to revive him, but he died at the scene.
Callender said Tuesday police believe one man shot Barresi while another waited in a four-door sedan on the street.
Barresi was a father of three. Some of his family was inside the home during the shooting.
“Our family is forever broken. A piece of our hearts is gone,” Barresi’s wife, Sonia Horta-Barres, said in a video made by Hamilton police in 2020.
A Mafia expert previously told CBC Hamilton Barresi had ties to the Musitano crime family. Police said Tuesday they also had information that showed those ties.
Around the time of his murder, there were several other cases where victims with connections to organized crime were killed at their homes.
Callender said he did not believe the other murders were related to Barresi’s death.
‘I think of you and your final moments’: friend
Barresi’s best friend, Roberto Bucciarelli, spoke to reporters at the police press conference Tuesday. He thanked Barresi’s neighbours for rushing to give him CPR after the shooting, and for helping Horta-Barres when she found her husband.
Roberto Bucciarelli, Barresi’s best friend, spoke at a press conference Tuesday where police announced the arrests of two men in relation to Barresi’s murder. (Cara Nickerson/CBC)
He also had messages for the family.
“Sonia, what you’ve dealt with, what you witnessed, the severe trauma you’re dealing with — and yet you fight each and every day for your children, for George. You are an inspiration to your children,” he said.
To Barresi, he said: “George, I think of you and your final moments each and every single day. Love you.”
Police believe there are more suspects
Callender said the arrests of Chemin and Moude were part of Project Skyfall — a joint effort between Hamilton police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to target a “highly sophisticated drug trafficking syndicate involving organized crime groups” in the city.
“We believe that there’s definitely more individuals out in our community that know more about this homicide, as well as more individuals that have had part in this homicide.”
Callender said the arrests were not prompted by the $50,000 reward that police first offered in 2021 and said the reward is still available to anyone who has information about the murder.
*****
Credit belongs to : ca.news.yahoo.com
