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“In the city of Toronto there existed seven crime families whose members were mostly of Calabrian origin,” says the prosecutors’ report, a document similar to an affidavit used by authorities to authorize arrest warrants, which was translated from Italian by the National Post. None of the allegations in the report have been tested in court.

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A veteran Ontario detective has testified in a public inquiry that the Italian Mafia’s reach in that province extends to all kinds of legitimate businesses that mask criminal proceeds.

Mike Amato, a detective with the York Regional police, testified Thursday before the Quebec inquiry looking into allegations of corruption in the province’s construction industry.

Called to provide a portrait of the reach and scope of the Italian Mafia in Ontario, Amato described a group that, over the years, has managed to root itself deeply into everyday society.

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The veteran officer says the modern-day Mafioso is dressed in business suits, works 9-to-5 hours and holds jobs ranging from banker, to accountant to bus driver.

“They think it’s a bunch of old guys smoking cigars, playing cards in a coffee shop, and that’s not the modern-day Mafia,” Amato told the Charbonneau Commission.

“They hold meetings in restaurants, they do not operate in the dark and they operate in the light amongst us.”

Amato said Mafia-controlled legitimate businesses in his region include everything from garden centres to financial institutions to banquet halls.