Drug trafficker with close ties to Hells Angels gets day parole

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An organized crime figure who survived an attempt on his life inside a federal penitentiary two years ago has been granted day parole.

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In a decision Friday, the Parole Board of Canada granted the release to Sergio Piccirilli, 62, but also decided he is not ready for full parole.

Piccirilli was revealed to have close ties to the Hells Angels — including childhood friend Salvatore Cazzetta, an influential member of the biker gang in Quebec — while being investigated by the Sûreté du Québec for the crimes for which he is currently serving time.

Also, during 2005 and 2006, he was involved in a heated dispute between a group based in Granby smuggling marijuana into the US and the Rizzuto organization.

The dispute involved a large quantity of pot that was rotten when it reached a customer, and the Granby group felt the Rizzuto organization was responsible for the financial losses.

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At the time, leaders of the Rizzuto organization were under surveillance. On Oct. 13, 2005, a surveillance camera captured Piccirilli walking into the organization’s then-hangout in St-Léonard, pulling out a firearm, pushing a loading clip into it and showing it to everyone in the café. He and a man the RCMP were never able to identify walked away without a shot being fired.

Piccirilli was also recorded on wiretaps referring to people in the Rizzuto organization as “idiots.”

He is serving a sentence of nine years and nine months that he received in May 2016 after his conviction on several charges, including: gangsterism; conspiracy to possess drugs with the intent to traffic; instructing a criminal offense for an organized crime group; conspiring to import and export controlled substances; and offenses related to firearms.

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When Piccirilli was arrested in 2006, police seized 60,000 methamphetamine tablets, firearms and bulletproof vests in offices and a warehouse connected to the network he ran while he managed a strip club. Cocaine and other weapons were seized at his house from him.

While serving his sentence, Piccirilli stopped associating with other organized crime figures. In 2019, Correctional Service Canada classified him as “inactive.” But someone tried to poison him later that same year, according to the parole board decision.

“The murder attempt you were victim of, and your past and current criminal involvements, leave your case management team rather perplexed about your status within the organized crime world,” the parole board wrote.

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(You) “were placed in administrative segregation for your own security. An investigation by the Sûreté du Québec revealed that you had been the target of an attempted murder. During a previous (parole) hearing, you mentioned that you do not believe that this event reflects an attempt on your life. You stated that authorities do not want to share a copy of the report that indicates that you were poisoned. You reiterated the same version at (Friday’s) hearing. You are not worried about your security and you do not understand why you can’t get the report.”

The board noted that, while Piccirilli claims he does not fear for his safety, a lawyer who represented him requested that he have a closed-door hearing “to contain a level of information for security reasons.”

Piccirilli’s case management team — the officials who prepare an offender for parole — felt his risk of reoffending is manageable if he spends the first three months on day parole performing volunteer work. For the following three months of day parole, he can work a regular job.

Piccirilli will reach his statutory release date — the two-thirds mark of his sentence — in November.

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