Witness named biker as killer in home Invasion 28 Yrs Ago

Witness named biker as killer


04-15-2007


Accused Bandidos killer Wayne Kellestine was once named in court as the man who gunned down a Toronto clothier during a brazen home invasion 28 years ago.

But in spite of the dramatic courtroom accusation, Kellestine was never charged in the Toronto murder.

A senior Toronto police officer said at the time that the man's testimony was the only evidence against Kellestine.

Kellestine, one of five people charged after eight dead bikers were found 20 km from his farm on the weekend, was accused during a 1982 trial of fatally shooting John DeFilippo, 31, and wounding his father-in-law Vito Fortunato, then 53, in a 1978, North York home invasion.


BULLETS MISSED WIFE

Bullets just missed DeFilippo's wife and their infant son.

A one-time Kellestine associate -- a former London man whose role was to lure DeFilippo to the door by posing as a pizza delivery man -- was convicted of second-degree murder in the slaying and spent 10 years in prison.

The man, known as John Goodwin, testified that he came to Toronto with his drug supplier boss Kellestine for fun and had no idea the trip would end in murder.

He told his first-degree murder trial he was struggling with DeFilippo inside the door when Kellestine burst in and pumped bullets into DeFilippo and then into Fortunato.

He also testified that he had kept quiet in the four years prior to the trial because Kellestine had threatened him and his family.

"All my life I've grown up knowing that you don't squeal ... because squealers get killed," the man told a jury, which ultimately agreed with prosecutors that he was part of the killing anyway and should be convicted of second-degree murder.

"I didn't want to get killed and end up in a cornfield somewhere ... I had nothing to do with it. I'm innocent."

Kellestine, 56, himself a Bandidos bike gang member, and four friends -- Eric Niessen, 45, Brett Gardner, 21, Frank Mather, 32, and a woman, Kerry Morris, 56 -- face eight first-degree murder charges in the executions of six full-patch Bandidos, a prospect member and an associate.

Autopsy findings have still to be released in what OPP have said are the shooting deaths of John "Boxer" Muscedere, 48, Frank "Bam Bam" Salerno, 43, Luis Manny "Porkchop" Raposo, 41, George (Gus) "Crash" Kriarakis, 28, Paul Sinopoli, 30, George "Pony" Jesso, 52, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31.

Their bodies were found, along with four vehicles, near the small Ontario hamlet of Shedden, about 20 km from Kellestine's Iona Station farm.
Contacted last night, the former London man who was convicted and imprisoned in DeFilippo's slaying said he still fears for his safety.

The man, who has moved elsewhere in Canada and keeps a low profile, maintained his innocence in the DeFilippo murder.

Library files show the man was 23 when he said he and his construction company boss Kellestine came to Toronto to collect a drug debt.

He testified he and Kellestine, then-owner of Triple-K Construction in London, met up with a man named "Mike" in Toronto and drove to Fortunato's home. DeFilippo and Fortunato were watching a hockey game when a man, posing as a pizza man, knocked on the rear door.


WRESTLED WITH HIM

The man testified at two trials - the first was declared a mistrial - that when he told DeFilippo "Mike" wanted to see him in the car outside, DeFilippo wrestled with him.

"He grabbed hold of me, knocked the pizza out of my hand and we sort of struggled ... I heard a bang, a gun, and he let go off me and fell down."

The man testified that "Mr. Kellestine came in shooting."


http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Law/200...533068-sun.html