Today, the Star revisits the deal in the launch of an investigative feature series that will examine unanswered questions in big stories of the past. There's an unpaid debt and a plot to kill off the problem borrower, and instead an innocent mother of three is hit and left paralyzed.Īn insider turns police agent - a “rat,” as he called himself - and takes them all down.Īnd then, an extraordinary deal that sees the accused and the attorney general agree to a restitution payment to the victim of $2 million dollars, delivered in cash - mostly $20 bills, and no doubt much of it the fruit of underworld activities. Instead, Runciman, who brought up the deal while it was still being negotiated, was chastised by the Office of the Integrity Commissioner for speaking about a case that was before the courts.
Why must a crime victim turn not to the state, but to criminals, for adequate financial support? What, if anything, did the money buy the guilty men? It was approved by then-attorney general Michael Bryant and endorsed by a judge who used a section of the criminal code that allows for restitution in sentencing.īut there were questions, first raised by Runciman, that have never received a full public airing. The unusual payout was the result of a perfectly legal plea deal, negotiated in private by the Crown and defence lawyers. If anything, in an era when people see awards in the millions for a coffee scald, it seemed wholly inadequate. No one believed Russo - who was left paralyzed from the waist down and has a disabled daughter in need of constant care - deserved anything less. In doing so, it was agreed that the accused who had money or access to it would pay Russo $2 million in restitution. It's been nearly seven years since innocent bystander Louise Russo was shot and paralyzed in a botched underworld hit, and nearly five since the men involved directly and others, in a conspiracy after the fact, pleaded guilty. “It's a red-letter day for victims,” said victims' rights advocate Priscilla de Villiers.
“This is dirty money,” he said, “and this is a horrible, horrible precedent.” Bob Runciman wasn't pulling any punches with reporters, not that the former MPP from Leeds-Grenville was ever one to keep his opinions to himself.
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