A partner in a cut-rate coffin business was killed Tuesday evening when someone pulled alongside his Cadillac and fired a semi-automatic pistol just after he left his Etobicoke home.
Gaetano Panepinto, 41, was no stranger to gangland settling of scores. A friend and partner, Frank Roda, was the target of a bungled contract-murder plot in 1989.
In 1991, Mr. Roda lost his left arm and nearly died in a St. Clair Avenue alley, the victim of his own pipe bomb, which exploded prematurely.
Mr. Panepinto was one of several men who pleaded guilty to explosives charges along with him.
Police said his killer or killers drove a silver or grey van. Some of the shots penetrated the door of the Cadillac. The car rolled across Bloor Street West, just east of the East Mall, and came to a stop on the front lawn of a house.
"Based on my experience, there's no doubt that this was a hit," said Detective-Sergeant Mike Davis.
In 1997, Mr. Panepinto co-launched Casket Royale, the first discount funeral-casket outlet in Canada. Casket Royale's first Canadian showroom was a 375-square-metre affair on St. Clair Avenue West that resembled a car dealership.
One of his partners in the funeral venture was Mr. Roda who, along with an associate [not Mr. Panepinto] were in a car in a St. Clair Avenue West lane in 1991, when the bomb they were carrying detonated accidently.
Mr. Roda pleaded guilty of possessing the explosives that nearly killed him, of possessing other explosives found in a vacant warehouse in York Region, and of possessing a .38-calibre revolver.
Mr. Panepinto pleaded guilty to possessing explosives in the warehouse.
At the time, police said that the bomb was intended as retaliation for a foiled 1989 murder conspiracy against Mr. Roda and former boxer Eddie Melo.
The two were taken into protective custody after a police informer told authorities of an underworld murder plot against them. Five men subsequently pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and weapons charges. The plot allegedly arose out of a dispute over drug profits.
Det. Davis would say only that Mr. Panepinto was well known to the police. According to records, he was also charged in 1989 with possession of stolen property in connection with the theft of six tractor-trailer loads of stereos, clothing, video cameras and televisions. The next year, he was charged with being found in a common betting house.
Mr. Roda, his brother, Joe, and Mr. Panepinto bought the exclusive rights to Casket Royale's Canadian sales territory. Neither of the Rodas could be reached for comment.
At one point, their company, Casket Royale (Ontario) Ltd., had half a dozen outlets in Ontario and further ambitious marketing plans.
But Larry Ginsberg, whose family owns Casket Royale coffin maker in Hampton Falls, N.H., said the company has not bought anything from the U.S. head office for a long time.
"We have no affiliation with them at all any more. We haven't for maybe a year," he said. "They came to us and bought a distributorship. We didn't know who they were. [They]always paid their bills and did the right thing."
All numbers for Casket Royale stores listed in Canada are out of service except Montreal, which doesn't answer.
One of Mr. Panepinto's Sherwood Road neighbours said that he had the physique of a body-builder.
"He was a muscular man."
The neighbour also said: "He was a regular father. You'd see him playing with his kids."
He said that Mr. Panepinto and his wife, Anita, lived on the biggest house on the street. According to assessment records, it is valued at about $500,000.
An iron gate blocks off the front door of the two-storey brick home, which has a two-car garage. Visitors have to use an intercom system instead of a doorbell.
Behind the iron gate lie many pairs of children's shoes and on the interlocking brick walkway there is a basketball net. A ring of mid-sized evergreen trees forms a perimeter along the street.