Nick Nero
Nicola "Nick" Nero is a Canadian criminal gang participant currently serving a life sentence for murder. Nero served as one of the leaders of the Wolfpack Alliance and was briefly one of Canada's most successful cocaine smugglers.
Entry into crime
Nero was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario into an Italian-Canadian family. Nero was described by one high school classmate as "dumb as a bag of hair", but very ambitious and full of rage. Nero took to bodybuilding and steroid abuse as a teenager as it was his ambition to become a professional wrestler, whose ring-name was to be "Iron Man". Nero's steroid abuse caused him to have massive muscles and a raspy voice while excessive use of a tanning salon caused his skin to take a peculiar orange tinge. At the age of 18, he spent $3,500 to study professional wrestling at a warehouse in Hamilton.Nero told the reporter Wade Hemsworth of The Hamilton Spectator that he could bench-press 600 pounds and spoke of his desire to be Canada's greatest professional wrestler. Hemsworth wrote: "He's 5 foot 8, weights 278 pounds and has a chest big enough that you can rest a dinner plate on". He told Hemsworth: "I like bodybuilding, but it was kind of boring. You just go into shows. I want to be an athlete, not just a guy who works out". In 2003, Nero placed 7th in the super-heavyweight division of the Canadian Bodybuilder Federation's championships.
On the night of 11 December 2003, Nero took part in a robbery in Toronto where $3 million in cash were taken from an armored car. The driver of the armored car, Joseph Bruni, was involved in the robbery and opened the back door of the armored car, which allowed Nero and Michele "Mike" Stante to take the bags of cash. Nero was convicted of theft, but his share of the robbery, namely $1 million, was never recovered. Nero used his robbery proceeds to enter the cocaine smuggling business in partnership with a Hells Angel, Zavisa "Zav" Drecic.
In 2007, Nero was arrested while living on bail after the Hells Angel-turned-police informer, David Atwell, recorded Drecic buying GHB, the so-called "date rape" drug while Atwell recorded Nero buying cocaine from him. Nero was convicted in 2007 of trafficking in 9 kilograms of cocaine, 2 kilograms of hashish, 340 oxycodone pills, 200 Viagra pills and 468 liter of GHB on the basis of what Atwell's wire recorded Nero buying from him in 2005 and 2006. The fact that Nero refused the Crown's offers of a plea bargain where he would testify against his Hells Angels associates improved his reputation in the underworld as someone who could be trusted not to turn informer.
After his convictions for drug trafficking and robbery in May 2007, Nero met in prison a Mafiosi, Pietro Scarcella, and went into business with him. Scarcella had been nearly killed by another prisoner who stabbed him half dozen times with a homemade knife in an attempted "jailhouse hit" in April 2007 and he was afraid for his life. Nero, a tall man with bulging muscles served as his bodyguard. Scarcella when he applied for parole in 2007 and 2007 asked to be placed in the Niagara area, which would place him close to Nero.
In 2009, Nero appealed for parole, telling the parole board amid his tears that he was deeply sorry for his crimes as stated: "My life has been destroyed with this, this product . I don't even know how to describe it. This destroyed my family... I chose to profit from something that destroyed my family... I want to pay my debt to society. I want to do my time. I want to go out and I want to raise my family well...Cocaine destroyed my family. There is no need to destroy other families." The parole board agreed to his release, but did not grant him full parole as he wanted as he still refused to return the $1 million stolen in 2003. Nero's parole conditions stated he was not to own a cellphone or a pager; provide his parole officer with a monthly statement of his income and debts; not to associate with anyone with a criminal record; and "refrain from the purchase, possession or consumption of medicines without a prescription". The Canadian journalist Peter Edwards and the Mexican journalist Luis Nájera wrote that Nero immediately went about violating all of his parole conditions after his release on 3 November 2009. A lien was imposed on Nero ordering him to repay the $1 million he had stolen, which he avoided by refusing to take legitimate employment.
The Wolfpack
After his release on day parole in November 2009, Nero started to work with one of Scarcella's associates, Martino Caputo, the Toronto agent for the Rizzuto family of Montreal. Nero's request to join the Mafia was refused under the grounds that he was a "heat score", but Caputo went into business with him. Edwards and Nájera wrote that Caputo was among the "crėme de la crėme" of Mafiosi in Toronto who had greater authority to act as the Rizzuto family in Montreal was plunged into bloody in-fighting. Caputo joined the Wolfpack because he wanted to buy cocaine from the Sinaloa Cartel directly.Nero was in charge of smuggling cocaine into the Niagara Peninsula from Buffalo, New York as part of the Wolfpack Alliance. Rabih "Robby" Alkhalil of Montreal recruited Nero into the Wolfpack despite viewing him as being of low intelligence as he felt Nero's connections with the Hells Angels would be useful. The Wolfpack leaders used encrypted texts on the Pretty Good Privacy system to communicate, and wrote frankly about plans to commit crimes. Nero made an average profit of CA$1 million in cash for every 30 kilograms of cocaine he sold, which made him a wealthy man, although he always felt he was not making enough money. His steroid abuse made his moods very volatile and his paranoia and rage issues made him a difficult member of the Wolfpack. Nero had become of the most important cocaine smugglers in Canada, bringing in an average of 400 kilograms of cocaine per week into the Niagara Peninsula via boats and trucks. Despite his profits, Nero still refused to repay the $1 million lien, claiming poverty under the grounds that he was unemployed.
In 2011, Nero had met Tawnya Del Ben Fletcher, a young woman from a wealthy family at a gym in Niagara Falls and started to date her. Fletcher's father owned a popular hotel. In October 2011, Nero became engaged to Fletcher, a much younger woman at the age of 27 with an MBA who turned down admission to a medical school in Australia to live with him. Besides for her MBA, Fletcher was awarded in 2006 an honours Bachelor of Science degree from McGill University. To impress her, Nero traded in his Ferrari F340 for a Ferrari F458 automobile worth $450,000, and later purchased a third car, a Lamborghini Aventador. At the same time, Caputo started to date Tamara Fletcher, the identical twin sister of Tawnya.
Nero lived in a St. Catharines half-way house from Sunday to Thursday and a place of his choosing on Fridays and Saturdays per his parole conditions. While out on his weekend passes Nero lived in a condo in Niagara-on-the-Lake owned by Fletcher, but lied to the parole board by bribing a former girlfriend to say he was living with her in Toronto while he was out on his weekend passes. Nero never admitted his relationship with Fletcher to the parole board, which reflected his tendency to hide as much as possible about what he was doing from the parole board. Fletcher had purchased the lakefront condo in Niagara-on-the-Lake from Caputo's brother, Antonio, in 2011 at a price significantly lower than the market price. Although he did not live in Toronto during his weekend passes as he claimed, Nero frequently visited Toronto in the company of Caputo, where the two men were often seen in the Little Italy neighborhood on College Street.
Nero attracted attention at the half-way house he lived in during 2011–2012 by driving either his Ferrari or Maserati automobiles. As Nero had no job, his choice of transportation was considered very suspicious by the police. Several of the other residents of the half-way house-who were jealous of Nero's way of flaunting his wealth-reported him to the police, saying he was living well beyond the means of an unemployed man. The police took an interest in the way that Nero who lived on welfare drove about his bright red Ferrari F430 automobile, leading one policeman to say of Nero: "It just screamed stupidity. You can't fix stupid". Another policeman noted that Nero modelled himself after the Jimmy "the Gent" Conway character played by Robert De Niro in the 1990 film Goodfellas, saying: "He thinks he's Robert De Niro in the movies". Nero had plans to expand his cocaine distribution business into Europe, developing a network of contacts in Germany and Greece with the aim of becoming Europe's top cocaine distributor. Nero's neighbors in the Niagara-on-the-Lake condo described him as an unfriendly and unpleasant man. The neighbors reported that both Fletcher and Nero "kept to themselves".
The police suspected that Nero did not intend to abide by his parole conditions as he violated his bail conditions. The police started an investigation of Nero dubbed Project Ink. In February 2012, the police seized 110 kilograms of cocaine worth $30 million from a warehouse in St. Catharines, which the police knew belonged to Nero. The police wiretaps of Fletcher's condo that she shared with Nero revealed that Fletcher was the more intelligent of the couple as she tried hard to assist her fiancée with becoming a successful gangster, using her business acumen. The police wiretaps showed that Nero's intelligence level constantly exasperated her. On the evening of 24 April 2012, she was recorded by the police wiretap shouting at her fiancée: "You just waste so much frickin' time and money you know". Nero stated he needed time to discuss matters with the Sinaloa Cartel more, which led her to say "why?" In response Nero stated "I don't understand what's going on". When she suggested that internal theft of cocaine that was so troubling him might be reduced by paying his workers more as she noted that his workers were had an annual income of only $30,000—which made stealing his cocaine very tempting—Nero vetoed that suggestion under the grounds it would mean less money for himself. Despite her later claims to only play a passive role in the Wolfpack, the police bugs inside their condo recorded Fletcher and Nero engaged in frequent conversations about how to discover internal theft in the smuggling ring as both were convinced that someone was stealing the cocaine on its way up from Mexico.
At one point, a police bug recorded Fletcher telling Nero: "I don't know how normal people afford life". Nero agreed with her as he expressed his utter contempt for people who lived honestly as "deadbeats" and told Fletcher that she was lucky to be engaged to a gangster who lived dishonestly and committed the "extra special" crimes that allowed her to live the lavish lifestyle that he told her that she deserved. Fletcher agreed with that statement and then started to talk about having children, which she clearly wanted. Fletcher only half-joking stated that any child that Nero might father by her would be a moronic "devil child". In March 2012, Caputo ordered Nero to stop driving his Ferrari and Maserati, saying he was attracting too much attention, forcing Nero to reluctantly drive a 2001 Yukon Denali SUV. Nero, who was very status-conscious, was deeply humiliated by the order, as the police wiretaps recorded Nero cursing his Yukon Denali as a vehicle unworthy of him and expressing the desire to show off by driving either his Ferrari or Maserati again.
One of Nero's Wolfpack associates was a Croat immigrant, Nebojsa Dronjak, the director of a luxury automobile dealership in Port Robinson turned cocaine dealer. Nero was a frequent customer at Dronjak's dealership and joined the Wolfpack after Nero boasted to him about the profits to be made via smuggling cocaine. The friendship between Dronjak and Nero proved to be facile. Dronjak took to taunting Nero via his texts, at one point telling him that a group of Mafia leaders had met in Montreal to discuss him, which clearly aggravated Nero. In one text, Dronjak wrote: "What's the sitdown in mtl ? I hear it ruled against you wtf is this Mafia movies now lol!". In response, Nero wrote: "WHAT???" Dronjak replied: "I dunno story in the falls that there was a sitdown in mtl little guy went and that it was ruled against you bro???"" Nero was thrown into a state of hysteria by Dronjak's claims, all the more so as Dronjak's story suggested that his mentor Caputo had turned against him, and only finally calmed down when he learned that Dronjak was just teasing him. Despite his claims of friendship, Dronjak seemed to take a sadistic pleasure in telling Nero's misinformation designed to work him up into fear and rage.
In response, Nero texted back to Dronjak: "No wasn't invited. Who ever is talking about me better shut up or I will fucking smash them in the face. Loosers !" Nero seemed to think that he was the victim of a plot by drug addict drug dealers. As Dronjak continued to tease him about the supposed Montreal meeting, Nero finally snapped as he texted: "We all responcble for our own losses. Real men come forward and say yes I'm responcble . They are goofs they own the balance. Simple. They can go to all the sits down they want. I will smash them all I don't care. They doing to so it gets back to coppers. I don't care who they lie to and make themselves look like victims. They know they are wrong. I sat with them. I told them they are responble for 27. I will give them work to work it off. They said ok. Now they run for help. I don't care why they cry too wrong is wrong who ever condones this is a goof too! I'm not scared of these junkie goofs. They not like us bro. We are real. U said don't worry bro let' make it back. We are there for eachother . A real man. They are goofs". The word "goof" is considered to be the worse insult in the Canadian underworld and Nero's use of the word "goof" was meant to disparage his supposed enemies. Edwards and Najera wrote: "There is no bigger insult in the underworld than calling someone a goof. It's a prison term for informers, child molesters and anyone else on the absolute bottom tier of their sharply stratified hierarchy".
Despite his work as a cocaine smuggler, Nero admitted to Fletcher that he did not know how to test the purity of the cocaine he was buying from the Sinaloa Cartel and thus had no idea if he was being cheated. Nero imported cocaine from Mexico that was supposed to be 98% pure, for which he paid a premium price. Nero also told Fletcher he was too afraid to admit to the other Wolfpack members his ignorance of chemistry out of the fear of appearing stupid. The cocaine testers send down to Mexico by Amero and Alkhalil reported that the cocaine that Nero was buying that was supposed to 98% pure was in fact only 38% pure. Nero was recorded telling Fletcher he was very confused about why he had to pay 15% charge on wiring money to Mexico and a 16% charge on receiving money from Mexico, admitting he did not understand, which worked him up to a state of steroid-induced rage as usually happened when he was faced with a situation that was beyond his understanding. Nero had plans to import $2 billion worth of cocaine into Canada per year as he told Fletcher that he wanted to be the biggest cocaine dealer in Canada. Nero constantly accused other members of the Wolfpack and the Sinaloa Cartel of cheating him, making accusations of diluting the cocaine he was buying, which vexed his business partners to no end, all the more so as Nero had no proof for his accusations. Alkhalil accused Nero of gratuitously straining relations with the Sinaloa Cartel and only seemed to tolerate him because he was one of the top drug smugglers in the Niagara Peninsula.
In one of his texts, Nero wrote to the car dealer-turned-drug dealer Alfonso "Al" Inclima on 2 May 2012 that the Air Canada airline was deeply corrupt and it was possible for the Wolfpack to smuggle a shipment of cocaine worth CA$750,000 via Air Canada per week into Toronto. On the same day, Nero received forty-five kilograms of cocaine from Mexico and discovered much to his surprise that 13 kilograms of the shipment were in baking soda and white flour with a minuscule amount of cocaine mixed in. Nero discovered that the Sinaloa Cartel often shipped white bricks designed to look like cocaine as a way to test the competence of the smugglers and much to his fury learned that Sinaloa Cartel would not refund him for the 13 kilograms he paid for that were in fact baking soda. When Inclima indicated that it was possible to smuggle cocaine into Argentina, Nero exploded in rage at him, texting him: "Bro!!! U are suppose to resolve things and get answers and confirm dates. I'm more confused now!!!!!" When Inclima failed to respond, Nero texted him: "What the fuck is the answer bro? Now! What the fuck are you doing there!!! I am still owed pieces. When am I getting them?"
Later on the same day, Nero–after having calmed down–texted Inclima : "Do they have british airways We get 4000 pds in uk per". The profit from selling cocaine in the United Kingdom were US$64,000 per kilogram, which were double the profits from selling cocaine in Toronto, which made Nero very keen on his British expansion plans. Inclima texted back: "U can move in UK". Inclima reported that some of the crews of British Airways were corrupt and were willing to smuggle cocaine on flights from Toronto to London for Nero while the Sinaloa Cartel had given Nero permission to sell in Great Britain. Nero also wanted to smuggle cocaine into Shanghai and asked Inclima to find some corrupt aircrews flying to Shanghai who were willing to work for him. Nero was in contact via texting with someone who called themselves "Brazil lover" to smuggle cocaine into Rio de Janeiro. However, "Brazil lover" warned him that it would difficult to smuggle cocaine into Rio de Janeiro because of the extra security measures due to the 2016 Summer Olympics, which "Brazil lover" stated had also been the case with Vancouver before and during the 2010 Winter Olympics. Nero was also texting his friend, Mohammed Reza Amin Torabi of Vancouver, a bodybuilder who won the Mr. Canada title twice, about bringing in a shipment of cocaine from Peru via the Port of Vancouver, with 25% of the profits to go to Torabi.
Nero via his texts attacked Inclima for taking his time for having to learn while on the job how to test the purity of the cocaine. Nero planned to sell the more impure cocaine he imported in Toronto, as he stated that most Torontonian drug dealers were lax about testing the cocaine he sold them while he insisted that only the purest cocaine go to Montreal as drug dealers there always tested the quality of the cocaine before buying it. Finally, Nero texted Caputo to ask him to teach how to test the purity of cocaine he was buying. Notably, Nero tended to be submissive in his texts to the Hells Angel Larry Amero and Shane "Wheels" Maloney, the boss of the West End Gang as the Hells Angels control the port of Vancouver while the West End Gang controls the port of Montreal. After Inclima just arrived back from Mexico, Nero immediately ordered him to return to test the cocaine using the knowledge that he acquired from Caputo, leading for Inclima to refuse under the grounds that accusing the Sinaloa Cartel to their faces of fraud was very dangerous, and the authorities would be suspicious if he made too many trips to Mexico over the course of the spring.
Nero had low opinion of Inclima and was recorded by a police bug telling Fletcher: "Al's a fuckin idiot too though. He's just not that cut out for this, he's stupid. He doesn't get anything". Nero told Fletcher that he was going to dispose of Inclima and appoint a new agent for dealing with the Sinaloa Cartel. Fletcher objected to his plans not on moral grounds, but rather on the grounds that would be difficult to find someone with the necessary knowledge of Spanish who could be trusted and was willing to go to Mexico to negotiate with the Sinaloa Cartel. Nero ignored her objections and insisted that Inclima had failed him and needed to go, saying: "He can't go there and speak on my behalf. He's fuckin' retard. I'm more confused now than before he got there". Fletcher told Nero he should trying to speak with his Sinola Cartel contact "Carnalito" directly on the phone, advice that he took. Carnalito sent Nero a text in Spanish, which he had Fletcher translate for him, but he still failed to understand the text. Much to his vexation, Fletcher kept calling him "Piggy" despite his clear dislike of that nickname. By 9 May 2012, Nero was boasting to Alkhalil in his texts he was at the northern end of a vast smuggling nexus running north from Tijuana into Los Angeles and on to Buffalo. Nero also claimed in his texts to have purchased the services of the crew of an Air Canada passenger jet to smuggle cocaine from Mexico into Toronto.