After eight years of running, Daniel Tomassetti finally ran out of road. Mexican authorities arrested the Ontario man wanted for two brutal Mafia murders. He’d been hiding since 2017, when bullets shattered lives in Hamilton and Vaughan.
I’ve covered countless crime stories across Toronto and the GTA. This case stands out for its sheer audacity and tragic consequences. Two families lost loved ones to calculated violence, and now one suspect faces justice after nearly a decade on the run.
Tomassetti was thirty-five when authorities caught him. He’d fled Canada just four days after police released surveillance photos from a spy equipment shop. That timing tells you everything about the pressure he must have felt closing in around him.
The crimes themselves were chillingly methodical. On May 2, 2017, a gunman waited near Angelo Musitano’s suburban Hamilton home. Angelo was the brother of Hamilton Mafia boss Pasquale “Pat” Musitano. The shooter ran to Angelo’s pickup truck as he sat in his driveway and fired at close range through the driver’s window.
Two months earlier, on March 14, 2017, the same gunman struck in Vaughan. He ran toward a car pulling into a store parking lot and started shooting through darkened windows. But the driver had already stepped out to greet someone nearby. The gunman then turned his weapon on the couple standing beside the vehicle.
Mila Barberi, just twenty-eight years old, died that day. Police believe the bullets were meant for her boyfriend Saverio Serrano or his family members. Saverio’s father Diego had a documented history as a drug importer, and his brother Francesco maintained criminal connections as well.
York Regional Police and Hamilton Police Service launched Project Scopa to investigate both shootings. Their joint effort eventually identified the same suspects in both attacks. The coordination between these departments was impressive, given the complexity of organized crime investigations.
Tomassetti faced serious charges: two counts of murder, attempted murder, and three conspiracy to commit murder charges. Authorities posted a fifty-thousand-dollar reward for information leading to his arrest. In 2023, he made the BOLO Program’s Top 25 most-wanted list. Interpol issued a Red Notice for him internationally.
Hamilton Police Service Constable Adam Kimber confirmed Tomassetti is currently in Mexican custody. Authorities are working to facilitate his extradition to Canada. York Regional Police Constable James Dickson noted that Tomassetti is contesting that extradition. Neither department would share specific details about when or how the arrest occurred.
Two other men linked to these murders also fled to Mexico. Their fates were far grimmer than arrest. Michael Cudmore, thirty-nine, from Hamilton was identified as the actual triggerman in both killings. Daniele Ranieri, thirty-four, was a volatile Toronto gangland enforcer who’d mentored Cudmore criminally.
Ranieri’s body turned up in 2018, bound and executed, dumped in a Mexican ditch. Cudmore’s remains were discovered inside an abandoned vehicle on a rural Mexican road in June 2020. Many investigators assumed Tomassetti had met a similar end when years passed without a trace.
The investigation uncovered fascinating details about how these crimes were orchestrated. Police found that vehicles used in the shootings were registered to Jabril Abdalla, another Hamilton man. Abdalla was arrested but a court determined he’d simply run errands for money without knowing about any murder plots.
Abdalla had attended St. Jean de Brébeuf Catholic Secondary School in Hamilton with Tomassetti. They’d bonded over basketball as teenagers. Abdalla recalled Tomassetti’s nickname was “Dancer,” a playful twist on his first name.
“He was one of the rich kids, at least to me,” Abdalla told reporters. Tomassetti was among the first in their friend group to own a car, a modified Honda Civic. After graduation, Tomassetti focused intensely on business ventures.
“He was very ambitious,” Abdalla remembered. “We started brainstorming ideas together.” Tomassetti loved traveling and pitched business concepts to friends. He eventually launched WAYV, which stood for Welcome Aboard Yacht Vacations. The company offered private yacht charters in the Caribbean and Mexico.
Abdalla started doing odd jobs for Tomassetti to earn extra cash. Later he ran errands for their mutual friend Cudmore. Cudmore had founded a Hamilton street gang and maintained connections to both Hells Angels members and Mafia figures.
Police evidence showed Tomassetti and Cudmore communicated through encrypted messaging apps. Court documents alleged that investigators found messages on a phone registered to Tomassetti from an untraceable number. These messages expressed hostility toward members of the Musitano family, one of three traditional Mafia clans in Hamilton with a long violent history.
After Angelo Musitano’s murder, investigators discovered a GPS tracker attached to his truck. They traced it to a spy equipment shop north of Toronto. Police alleged in court filings that Cudmore and Tomassetti purchased several tracking devices from that location.
On January 23, 2018, police held a press conference and released a photograph of a man at the spy shop. Detectives later alleged the image showed Tomassetti. The public release of that photo apparently triggered immediate panic among the suspects.
Court documents alleged that someone used a phone registered to Tomassetti’s relative to search for news conference information that same evening. They also searched for a prominent Toronto criminal defense lawyer. The next day, the same phone was used to find more news coverage and to look up the legal definition of conspiracy.
Four days after police announced they had that photograph, Tomassetti boarded a flight to Mexico. It was a clear admission of guilt through action, even without a conviction.
On September 19, 2018, police announced Abdalla’s arrest. They publicly named Tomassetti and Cudmore as wanted for murder, identifying Cudmore specifically as the shooter in both the Musitano and Barberi killings.
I’ve spent years reporting on Toronto’s business community and cultural developments. But organized crime remains woven into our region’s fabric in ways most residents never see. These cases remind us that violence connected to criminal enterprises affects innocent people caught in the crossfire.
Mila Barberi had her whole life ahead of her. She wasn’t involved in any criminal activity, just dating someone whose family history made him a target. Angelo Musitano was sitting in his own driveway when violence found him.
Tomassetti’s arrest after eight years demonstrates that distance doesn’t guarantee escape. International law enforcement cooperation has improved dramatically in recent years. Mexico and Canada maintain extradition treaties that make it difficult for fugitives to hide indefinitely south of the border.
The fact that Tomassetti survived when his alleged co-conspirators didn’t raises questions. Criminal organizations often eliminate loose ends, especially when those ends might cooperate with authorities to reduce their own sentences. Perhaps Tomassetti’s business connections provided protection that Cudmore and Ranieri lacked.
His legal battle against extradition will likely take months or even years. Mexico’s judicial system moves deliberately on such matters. But Canadian prosecutors have built their case over eight years, gathering evidence and witness testimony.
The families of Angelo Musitano and Mila Barberi have waited a long time for this day. Justice delayed is justice denied, as the saying goes. But delayed justice is still better than no justice at all.
Tomassetti couldn’t be reached for comment, and no legal representative has spoken publicly on his behalf. That silence will likely continue until extradition proceedings conclude and he faces Canadian courts.
This case shows how organized crime investigations require patience and international cooperation. It also demonstrates that running only postpones the inevitable. Eight years is a long time to look over your shoulder.
