Here's another story of organized crime connected to investment fraud. Ricardo Francis Scarpino was a drug dealer with a lengthy criminal record and was shot dead outside a Vancouver restaurant in 2008.
His lengthy criminal record is interesting but so is his involvement with investment fraud. This Supreme Court decision states Ricardo Scarpino, one of the promoters of the investment scheme, ordered $5 million worth of gold bullion which was delivered to TGR and then vanished. To date, the plaintiffs say they have received no funds from the defendants, and that MDLP’s bank account balance is zero. Scarpino is now dead, and TGR is inactive.
Another inherently interesting fact is that Scarpino used to be the ring leader in a cocaine importation scheme in Victoria, BC around the same time as the RCMP allegations of drug and organized crime related to the search warrant for the BC Rail Bassi Virk trial.
It was described as Victoria's largest-ever drug bust, which took in millions of dollars worth of cocaine after a three-month undercover investigation that had ties to Naniamo. What I'm wondering is what ever happened to the drug and organized crime allegation in the BC Rail case that provided grounds for the initial search warrant? There's another organized crime group in Naniamo but I can't seem to think of the name of it off hand...
Scarpino used to squire Alana Drozduke around town. Ms. Drozduke is associated with Nicholas Lucier, Angela Araujo, Mike Oulton. This goes way back but Angela used to live with Jarrod Nicol and they were busted together for trafficking in cocaine.
ReplyDeleteI read all about the largest-ever drug bust in Victoria, why didn't they name the criminal organization involved? Victoria is a small town and everybody knows everybody. What really interests me is that Angela Araujo and Mike Oulton are friends with Jason Zailo. I would like to know how Jason Zailo fits into this circle?
Interesting, thanks. I’m going to have to follow up on the name trail association. Yeah not naming the criminal organization is a new fad that drives me crazy. Two cases in BC have finally succeeded at invoking the criminal organization legislation. However each time they never named the criminal organization. I guess they figure it’s a step forward.
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