The murder trial of a Montreal hair salon owner, Claudia Iacono, who was fatally shot in broad daylight outside her business in 2023, commenced at the Montreal courthouse on Wednesday.
Joel Richard Clarke is facing charges of first-degree murder in the killing of Iacono, who was the daughter-in-law of a reputed late mobster.
Iacono, aged 39, was exiting her salon’s parking lot on Jean-Talon Street in Côte-des-Neiges on May 16, 2023, when an individual clad in all black approached her, fired multiple shots through her driver-side window, and fled the scene.
During the trial, prosecutors revealed that Clarke had traveled from Brampton, Ont., to Montreal before the murder, and immediately returned to Brampton afterward, as evidenced by GPS data from his cell phone and surveillance footage.
In an unexpected turn, two other individuals, Tyranne Andre Greenidge and Kalial Nesfield, who were convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in connection with Iacono’s death, confessed that the actual target was Iacono’s husband, Anthony Gallo. Gallo, the son of the late alleged mobster Moreno Gallo, has consistently denied any links to the Mafia.
The tragic event involving Iacono occurred amidst a wave of Mafia-related violence in the Montreal region in 2023. Leonardo Rizzuto, son of former Montreal Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in March that year when his vehicle was fired upon while driving on Highway 440 in Laval. Subsequently, on June 5, Francesco Del Balso, an organized crime figure, was fatally shot in Montreal’s West Island, with speculations suggesting a connection to the earlier attack on Rizzuto.
