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A Canadian businessman has been charged with attempting to murder an attorney in the Dominican Republic. The Lawyer, Fernando Arturo Baez Guerrero, had been hired by Antonio Carbone to run his troubled casinos on the Caribbean island.
Carbone, 40, of Woodbridge, was arrested by Dominican police in late January while attempting to board a flight to Canada and is currently facing one year of pretrial detention. The casino owner is accused along with his brother Francesco and two other men of blowing up the attorney’s Jaguar by throwing an incendiary device into this vehicle. Guerrero, who was still in the driver’s seat at the time, survived the blast.
Canadian media reports that the Carbone brothers have been embroiled in a series of lawsuits with wealthy philanthropist Michael DeGroote, who loaned the pair $112 million to purchase and operate casinos in the Dominican Republic capital of Santo Domingo. The brothers are accused of defrauding DeGroote out of $107.3 million, or 96 percent, of the original loan.
The pair fired back, calling DeGroote “a predatory lender and allege he had mafia ties and was involved in death threats, influence-peddling and murder conspiracies”.
A CBC investigation claims that Montreal mafia boss Vito Rizzuto had immersed himself into the feud between DeGroot and Carbone. Rizzuto is believed to have links to a Canadian sports betting syndicate.
In 2013, Toronto police charged Antonio Carbone with counseling to commit murder and threatening death. He was ordered to stay away from the Dream Casino’s headquarters.
The Carbone brothers are also said to have operated online poker rooms.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
