Ont. man sentenced for 2010 death of longtime friend

Ontario man Tony Lucia was handed a prison sentence for the 2010 killing of his longtime friend Morris Conte.

Warning: Content in this article may be upsetting to readers.

More than a decade after Morris Conte’s dismembered body was found scattered across cottage country, the man who killed him has been sentenced to time in prison.

Tony Lucia pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier this year in connection to the 2010 death of his longtime friend. On Thursday morning, Lucia walked into an Orangeville courthouse with his face hidden from cameras to learn his fate as a judge handed down a five-and-a-half year sentence.

Conte was killed on May 21, 2010, following what court heard was a brutal beating “fueled by alcohol and cocaine, money and paranoia.” Lucia believed Conte was having an affair with his wife, the court learned.

He was arrested in 2022 and initially charged with first-degree murder after Conte’s remains were discovered in various locations in Oro-Medonte, Lake of Bays and Bracebridge. Lucia was released on bail under house arrest on a $1 million pledge.

In an agreed statement of facts presented to the court, Lucia admitted to killing Conte and later telling his son, Sam Lucia, about the events. The court heard Sam then severed and disposed of Conte’s body.

Lucia did not go to trial and instead pleaded guilty in February.

During sentencing, Lucia expressed remorse for his actions, but after 15 years of pain and anguish, Conte‘s family said justice had not been served.

“I don’t think he’d be happy. We’re not all happy but it is what it is. And we’ll move on from here, [a] strong family,” said Morris’ brother, Rob Conte.

“Truly what we wanted was, you know, life in prison, right, for what happened to him. It was so horrible and heinous the crime that was done to him and we miss him very much,” said Morris’ common-law wife, Darlene Stryszak. “It affected our lives tremendously.”

“Fifteen years that man was free. Our friend is dead and buried and today was a joke,” said friend of the family Stephanie Scrivo.

Lucia’s lawyer, Cosmo Galluzzo, said his client accepts responsibility for what happened the night of the killing but insisted he had no role in what happened afterward.

“The gruesome dismembering of the body, it’s crystal clear he had nothing to do with that, and he pleaded guilty for what he did. He accepts the sentence that was given and he just hopes that the family that suffered a lot through this, the Conte family, has some sense of justice, of closure,” Galluzzo said.

As part of his sentence, Lucia is banned from possessing weapons for life and is not permitted to contact any members of the Conte family.

“We urge the justice system to do better,” said Conte’s surviving daughter, Natalia Conte. “When you depart from this earth, one day, you will not be met with the embrace of heaven’s light,” she read in a statement on behalf of her siblings.

“You will feel every inch of pain in the depths of hell. Every second of your afterlife will be met with unbearable pain for your actions on earth,” she said of Lucia. “My father’s face will forever be imprinted in your mind, and you will beg for forgiveness, yet God will show you no mercy.

You will be met with the same compassion you had for my father’s life as he so cowardly took him from this world. The shadows cast upon your face will be a reminder of how dark your soul truly is. My father was, and is, more of a man than you can ever hope to be in another lifetime.”

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