Giordano sentenced to 15 years in jail

Lorenzo Girodano was sentenced Monday to 10 years in jail for charges related to gangsterism and drug trafficking.(Feb. 9, 2009)

Lorenzo Giordano did not flinch as he was sentenced at the Montreal court house Monday to 15 years in jail, minus 57 months wrangled in a plea deal on charges including trafficking, gangsterism and attempted murder.

"He was involved in the importation of cocaine through the airport by containers and in some aspects of the book-making enterprise that was under the control of the organization," said prosecutor Yvan Poulin.

Considered to be the "enforcer" of the Montreal mafia, Giordano was originally sentenced to 15 years in jail. However, the prosecution and defence made a deal to subtract five years from the sentence because of time already served.

Since he pleaded guilty to gangsterism charges, he will have to serve half his sentence before being eligible for parole. Therefore, he will be eligible in five years.

Giordano was the last to be sentenced of six leaders arrested in the Coliseum raid on the Rizzuto family back in November of 2006.

There are still approximately 40 others still awaiting trial who were caught in the raid.

Evasion

Giordano was able to evade police before his capture in the spring of 2007. He was living in Toronto, but had changed his appearance from a silver-haired, clean-shaven senior lawyer-looking type to a dark-haired, goatee-wearing athletic-type.

In court he appeared as a mix of the two.