Dead biker’s parents expected police visit

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This article was published 30/04/2009 (6245 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LONDON, Ont. — The knock on the door from police was to tell Paul Sinop­oli’s parents in Jacksons Point, north of Toronto, of their son’s violent death.

His parents already had surmised the tragic truth — his mother had rec­ognized her son in news reports as one of eight men found dead the day before along a rural road in southwestern On­tario on April 8, 2006.

And they were expecting the police.

The couple took Durham Regional po­lice Det. Tom Dingwall, a homicide de­tective who testified Wednesday at the first-degree murder trial of six men, to their son’s basement bedroom.

His parents had gathered up a large bin full of items they believed the po­lice would want to see.

Wayne Kellestine, 59, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich, Ont.; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder.

Sinopoli, 30, was found shot to death along with George Jessome, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, John Muscedere, 48, Luis Manny Raposo, 41, all of Toronto ; Frank Salerno, 43, of Oakville, Ont.; Ja­mie Flanz, 37, of Keswick, Ont.; and Mi­chael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga, Ont.

The Superior Court jury saw some of the evidence Wednesday, much of it re­lated to the Bandidos motorcycle club.

Dingwall said Sinopoli and Flanz were already under police investigation in the murder of Keswic man Shawn Douse.

Sinopoli’s mother handed over the items willingly.

"She wanted to know the truth about what happened to Paul and if he was in­volved in the murder of Shawn Douse," Dingwall said.

He testified he didn’t know how much evidence he had until he looked through the bin back at the office.

Sinopoli’s birth certificate and phone bills were shown to the jury, along with Bandido patches, jewelry and business cards from Bandidos Canada and around the world. Photographs of Sinopoli’s "very large" Bandidos vest were put up on the video screen. Ding­wall said the police gave the vest back to the family after it was processed, so that his final wishes could be met.

"Paul Sinopoli wished to be buried in his vest," he said.

Dingwall presented a large group of documents, some typed and some hand­written. There were Bandidos personal information forms for himself, Camer­on Acorn, Wayne Kellestine, and victim John Muscedere.

— The Canadian Press