GANGSTER GETS FULL PAROLE AFTER SERVING 9 MONTHS IN PRISON

Part Of Mafia Empire: Early Release Automatic Because Drug Crimes Are Not
Considered Violent

A Montreal man sentenced to four years in prison nine months ago for his
role in a Mafia-led drug empire was fast-tracked for early release despite
"very disturbing" findings by the National Parole Board.

Antonio "Anthony" LaRosa, 23, was sentenced in May for his role in a gang
that imported 1,500 kilograms of cocaine, with a wholesale value of about
$30-million, into Canada from Colombia.

The Toronto-based Mafia group, led by Alfonso Caruana, who was described by
police as the world's richest and most powerful gangster, was dismantled in
1998 after one of the most expensive criminal investigations in Canadian
history.

Last month, the Quebec office of the parole board approved LaRosa for full
parole.

"Your active role in this high level drug trafficking scheme and your links
to organized crime are very disturbing," a board member wrote of LaRosa in
the board's decision registry.

"The operation was international in scope and involved significant amounts
of drugs and money.

"The board notes that you do not appear to have had viable employment for
some years."

LaRosa's parole was approved, however, under the automatic parole review
process because he was a first-time offender and not charged with a violent
crime.

The board noted that LaRosa was a good parole candidate because there "is
no indication of aggressive behaviour or involvement."

Critics said Canada's parole regulations are inadequate if large-scale,
organized drug trafficking is not considered a violent offence.

"The parole board should remember that drug traffickers are merchants of
death," said Antonio Nicaso, an organized crime specialist who is
co-authoring a book about the Caruana clan.

"I think that Parliament should change that concept because drug
trafficking should be considered a dangerous offence. People don't realize,
or don't want to realize, that behind the drugs there are many stories of
addiction and death."

LaRosa is the second member of the Caruana organization to be released
recently on fast-tracked parole. Giuseppe Caruana, Alfonso's 30-year-old
nephew, was released under the same provision in October.

Canada's parole allowances make the country attractive to international
drug lords, said Mr. Nicaso. "This is one of the other reasons that explain
the high concentration of drug traffickers and criminal organizations in
this country."

Vic Toews, justice critic for the Canadian Alliance, said the government
should make gangsters ineligible for fast-tracked parole if it is serious
about wanting to tackle organized crime.

"These organizations thrive on violence, so it seems the reasoning of the
parole board is somewhat suspect," said Mr. Toews.

"Knowing the type of organization this individual was involved in, why
would they put him on that kind of accelerated program? I think they are
treating a person who is a member of an organized gang in the same way they
would treat an ordinary, street-level criminal with no gang association."

LaRosa was arrested in September, 1998, and was free on bail until he
pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiring to traffic in narcotics.

The Caruana organization was importing massive shipments of cocaine into
Canada from Colombia through Venezuela and the United States.

As part of the group's organization, LaRosa helped organize the shipment of
200 kilograms of cocaine in the spring of 1998.

The drugs, 70% pure, were tightly wrapped into bricks and hidden in a
pickup truck to be driven by couriers from Houston into Canada. The truck
was intercepted by police in Texas, and the cocaine was seized.

Court documents say LaRosa's father, Nunzio LaRosa, 50, of Montreal was
responsible for delivering payments for drug shipments to suppliers in the
United States. Nunzio LaRosa made close to a dozen trips south delivering
between $1-million and $2-million at a time.

Antonio LaRosa relayed information between the group's couriers and his
father using a pager and cellular phone. He helped to make travel
arrangements for the couriers, purchasing airline tickets for two couriers
who flew to the United States in order to drive a load of cocaine back into
Canada.

The police probe of the Caruana organization, which was called Project
Omerta after the Mafia's code of silence, lasted two years and involved
agencies on three continents.

Caruana was sentenced to 18 years in prison and his two brothers, Gerlando
and Pasquale, were also convicted in the case.