Accused mobster Carmelo Bruzzese has no plans to fight a Canadian court decision that sent the former Woodbridge resident back to Italy to face a possible 10-year prison term for Mafia association.

Bruzzese, 67, is now in custody in Italy awaiting trial for Mafia association, his lawyer Barbara Jackman said on Monday.

“There’s no trial in sight,” Jackman said.

She said his deportation leaves several important legal issues untested, including whether different tribunals should have different standards regarding evidence.

“There are different standards,” Jackman said.

Bruzzese is an Italian citizen who gained Canadian permanent residency in 1974. He’s married to a Canadian but lived mostly in Italy between 1977 and 1990, with occasional visits to Canada.

Jackman questioned whether it was fair to send Bruzzese back to Italy to face charges of Mafia association, when such an offence does not exist in Canada.

Bruzzese was already in an Italian jail cell last October when Justice Robert Barnes of the Federal Court quashed his bid to challenge a decision by the Immigration Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board.

The board based its decision on its finding that Bruzzese belonged to the ‘Ndrangheta organized crime group, considered a strain of the Mafia.

Barnes noted that Bruzzese was prosecuted in Italy for belonging to a Sicilian criminal organization, but was acquitted of that charge.

“However, in 2010 a warrant for Mr. Bruzzese’s arrest was issued by Italian authorities alleging that he was wanted in relation to his alleged association with the ’Ndrangheta,” Barnes wrote.

The English translation of that case amounted to 910 pages, including 16 intercepted conversations involving Bruzzese, Barnes wrote.

He was described by Italian prosecutors as a high-ranking member — or the Capo — of the ‘Ndrangheta, Barnes wrote.

“Mr. Bruzzese contends that the Board deprived him of a fair hearing by refusing to order the production of the Italian wiretap recordings,” Barnes wrote.

Barnes notes that Bruzzese had argued he should not be compelled to testify.

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“There is not much doubt that Mr. Bruzzese did himself no favours with some of the testimony he gave,” Barnes wrote. “For example, his evidence that he knew nothing about the ‘Ndrangheta despite his established friendship with several of its high-ranking members was not believable,” Barnes wrote.

“On several other issues … Mr. Bruzzese was evasive or nonresponsive,” Barnes wrote. “The Board took particular note of Mr. Bruzzese’s claim that, while he was a friend of the notorious Mafia leader, Vito Rizzuto, he knew nothing about Mr. Rizzuto’s extensive criminal background.”