A former B.C. mortgage broker who sought to import huge amounts of cocaine and was convicted on five counts of drug trafficking and conspiracy is appealing his case, his lawyer says.
Lawyer Joven Narwal told Lodestar Media Mario Calabretti’s appeal could have implications on constitutional rights around transnational criminal enforcement.
Vancouver Provincial Court Judge James Sutherland convicted Calabretti on Dec. 3, 2024.
The Lower Mainland resident was one of four men charged in an RCMP investigation.
Calabretti pleaded not guilty to the charges but was convicted by Sutherland after hearing an agreed statement of facts from Crown prosecutor Sarah Paulson.
The convictions were for the cocaine conspiracy, much of which involved work by undercover officers, and four counts of trafficking in MDMA (ecstasy).
“This was high-quality MDMA,” she said, noting there are serious dangers associated with MDMA.
"This is a staggering amount of cocaine," she told the court.
Paulson suggested seven years for the cocaine conspiracy. For the MDMA convictions, she proposed three years for a 10-kilo amount, two years each for one-kilo convictions and six months for a 12-gram MDMA amount.
That’s what Sutherland sentenced Calabretti to on Jan. 22 in addition to a 10-year firearms prohibition, according to court documents.
Calabretti, Daniel Alexander and Zlatko Gavric faced charges of conspiracy to import cocaine. Calabretti and Vincenzo James Sansalone faced charges of trafficking in MDMA and MDA, a synthetic amphetamine.
Sansalone, a member of the Hells Angels Haney chapter, was sentenced in December 2023 to four years in prison after being convicted in Vancouver Provincial Court.
Alexander was sentenced on March 9, 2023, to five years in prison.
On April 27, 2023, Garvic was handed a four-year prison sentence.
Court documents indicate offences occurred in Vancouver, Surrey, Langley, San Diego, Calif., and Seattle, Wash.
Calabretti’s appeal
Narwal said B.C. Court of Appeal Justice Peter Edelmann released his client on bail July 5 pending appeal.
“Given the matter is still before the court, I’m not able to comment on the merits of the case itself, both out of respect for the process and, admittedly, out of my own personal and professional superstition,” Narwal said, noting “the issues raised in this appeal are of profound importance.”
Those issues, Narwal said, engage the scope of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms extraterritorial application and the potential limits on foreign cooperation with Canadian law enforcement.
“These are issues that go to the heart of how we protect and give effect to constitutional rights in the context of transnational criminal enforcement into the second quarter of the 21st century,” Narwal said.
“While I won’t speculate on the outcome, I can foreshadow that the court’s decision will become an extremely important precedent on these critical issues,” he added.
Publication ban
A publication ban was put on the case under Criminal Code section 486.5 which says, according to provincial court documents,
“Unless an order has been made under s (section) 486.4, an order made under this section bans publication, broadcast or transmission of any information that could identify a victim, witness or justice system participant.”
Those sections make no mention of protecting the name of an accused.
However, Calabretti’s file information cannot be found in the provincial Court Services Online (CSO) system, which is viewable by the public.
None of the information covered by the 486.5 ban can be found by the public in CSO.
