![]() | Sergio Piccirilli appeared disappointed as a Quebec Court judge delivered his sentence at the Laval courthouse. The Crown had requested an 18-year sentence while the defence suggested a 13-year prison term was more appropriate. Piccirilli was originally arrested with dozens of other people in Project Cleopatre in June 2006. With time served factored into his sentence Piccirilli is left with a prison term of 9 years and 9 months. | ![]() Torsten Trute received 12 years |
![]() Francesco Arcadi | Project Cleopatre was centered on the drug trafficking activities of Piccirill’s then girlfriend Sharon Simon, a Kanesatake resident. The probe branched out and uncovered Piccirilli’s drug trafficking as well as his plans to arm himself with a powerful automatic firearm because he was involved in a dispute with the Rizzuto Mafia clan. Nicolo (Zio Cola) Rizzuto (now deceased) and his street boss, Francesco Arcadi, were at war with a rival Mafia clan from Granby over a multi-million marijuana deal that had gone sour. Piccirilli appeared to side with the clan from Granby and was warned by police that a contract had been put out on his head. | ![]() Nicolo Rizzuto |
![]() | Sergio Piccirilli, 56, testified at the sentencing stage of the case where he was found guilty of 23 charges related to Project Cleopatra, an RCMP investigation into drug trafficking that centered on the activities of his former girlfriend, Sharon Simon. She was among 36 people, including two former police officers, who were arrested. Sharon Simon, nicknamed the Queen of Kanesatake, operated out of her luxury home in Kanesatake, exporting huge quantities of marijuana and ecstacy into the US. She has intimate ties to the Hells Angels. She exported about 45 kg of marijuana to the United States per week using the Hells Angels distribution network. Simon laundered $4.8m US in a 5 month period. | ![]() Sergio Piccirilli |
![]() | Piccirilli tried to convince the court that he has spent the past four years as a law-abiding citizen and that things were hard for him because police tell his clients he is Mafioso and a Hells Angel. Extra security measures were put in place at the Laval courthouse because police believe there may be a contract out on Piccirilli. | ![]() |
![]() | Piccirilli’s is the only case that remains open due to a 2008 stay of proceedings. A new trial was subsequently ordered. Piccirilli was found guilty of conspiracy, issuing orders for the benefit of a criminal organization and trafficking in methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana. Piccirilli is a childhood friend of Salvatore Cazzetta, leader of the Hells Angels in Quebec. Piccirilli possessed a military assault weapon, because, according to his lawyer, his life was threatened by members of the Rizzuto organization. | ![]() Salvatore Cazzetta |