Pietro Scarcella

Pietro "Peter" Scarcella (; born 12 July 1950) is an Italian-Canadian mobster based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, linked to the Sicilian Rizzuto crime family of Montreal, Quebec.

In the 1970s, Scarcella became the driver of Toronto mobster, Paul Volpe. In the 1980s, Cosimo Commisso planned to murder him along with Volpe, but the plot was later foiled. In 1983, Volpe was found dead in the trunk of his car, and Scarcella is said to be the last one to see Volpe alive before his unsolved murder. In the early to mid 2000s, hostilities developed between Scarcella and rival mob figure Michele Modica. In April 2004, Scarcella devised an assassination attempt of Modica in a North York California Sandwiches shop, but only left an innocent victim, Louise Russo, paralyzed. An associate of Scarcella's, Raffaele Delle Donne, became an informant, which led to Scarcella's 2005 arrest and 2006 sentencing to nine years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder. In 2012, Scarcella was released on a statutory release program.

Early years with Volpe Scarcella was born on 12 July 1950 in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily. He immigrated to Canada with his family at the age of nine, and obtained Canadian citizenship in 1971. In the early 1970s, Scarcella worked at a parking lot in downtown Toronto where Paul Volpe, the caporegime of the Buffalo crime family's Toronto-area crew, and his brothers used to park his car. This allowed him to establish a connection with Volpe, as Scarcella became his personal driver.

In 1980, Scarcella was charged in connection with a commissions scam at a disposal company and was found guilty of writing phony invoices. During a conversation on 31 March 1981, Commisso told Kirby that he needed the approval of an unnamed higher authority before he could give the orders to kill Volpe. When Kirby asked "What about Volpe?", Commisso replied: "I'm waiting for an answer, OK?" Scarcella's nephew Antonio Borrelli had sprayed bullets with an AR-15 assault rifle from a van including Hells Angels bikers Paris Christoforou and Mark Peretz as the driver. Modica was later deported to Sicily.

Prison time and later release

An associate of Scarcella's Raffaele Delle Donne, who had arranged the meeting to unsuspectingly double cross Modica under Scarcella's orders, was also in the shop at the time of the attempted hit. In April 2006, in a plea bargain, Scarcella was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, and sentenced to nine years in prison along with Peretz and Christoforou, while the shooter Borrelli received 10 years in prison. During the 2006 sentencing, Russo was paid $2 million in restitution from the mobsters to cover costs of rehabilitation and increased living expenses. He moved to Beaver Creek Institution in 2009. In 2009, Scarcella recommended that Martino Caputo should start working with Nick Nero when the latter was released on parole. On 11 April 2012, Scarcella was released on a statutory release program.

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