The 110 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of $30 million made it the largest drug bust in the history of Ontario's Niagara Regional Police (NRP). Authorities tasked with bringing down the now-infamous drug trafficking ring in the's Niagara Falls region have also seized $1 million in cash, a Ferrari, a Maserati, two homes worth a combined $2 million and a gleaming diamond ring worth $890,000—and they've also arrested two wood flooring contractors.
The 110 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of $30 million made it the largest drug bust in the history of Ontario's Niagara Regional Police (NRP). Authorities tasked with bringing down the now-infamous drug trafficking ring in the's Niagara Falls region have also seized $1 million in cash, a Ferrari, a Maserati, two homes worth a combined $2 million and a gleaming diamond ring worth $890,000—and they've also arrested two wood flooring contractors.
The wood flooring contractors are brothers Frank Alessio, 34, and Angelo Alessio, 36. Frank Alessio owns Artwood Flooring Inc. (St. Catharines, Ontario) and Angelo Alessio works as an installer there. The brothers' arrests were part of a larger operation on Feb. 10 that involved three search warrants at residences and Artwood. The 110 kilograms of cocaine was seized about 1.5 miles west of Artwood in St. Catharines. Today, according to Constable Derek Watson, the brothers are in custody.
Since they were arrested in February, the Alessios have had several court dates for procedural purposes, and their next one is scheduled for Sept. 25. They were each charged with one count each of drug possession for the purpose of trafficking, and Frank Alessio was additionally charged with one count of conspiracy to possess for the purpose of trafficking. In the wake of the bust, Frank Alessio was ousted as a member of the Niagara Home Builders' Association's board of directors, according to the Niagara Falls Review.
Shortly after the Alessio brothers were arrested, the NRP held a press conference with the 110 kilograms of cocaine on display. NRP Staff Sergeant Joe Maggiolo said during the press conference that, if cut to sell on the streets, the 110 kilograms of seized material "could provide 1 gram of coke to everybody with in the Niagara region"-an area with a population of over 400,000. In the press conference, Maggiolo said that the trafficking operation had ties to organized crime.
But there was more to come. On May 23, several months into what the NRP dubbed "Project INK," they brought down the drug ring's kingpin, Nicola "Nick" Nero, 35, who has ties to drug traffickers in Mexico and the U.S. It was during this second raid that authorities seized the $1 million in cash, cars, homes and diamond ring.
In May, the NRP disclosed that it had been carrying out Project INK since March 2011. More than 150 officers from NRP, York Regional Police Service, Ontario Provincial Police, Canadian Border Services Agency, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had been involved in the drug bust. In total, Project INK helped bring down Nero, the Alessios and three other individuals.
