Outlaw biker Francesco Lenti showed little emotion today as a judge sentenced him to six years in penitentiary for shooting dead a member of the West Toronto Hells Angels in a Vaughan strip club.Lenti, 61, who goes by the nicknames Frank and Cisco, nodded and waved his handcuffed hands to a half dozen family members in Newmarket Court today before he was led away after hearing the sentence handed down by Mr. Justice Michael Brown.The judge noted that Lenti opened fire on four bikers connected with the Hells Angels early in the morning of Dec. 2, 2006, after he heard from police that the club had taken out a murder contract on his life.Court heard Lenti was targeted for murder because he spurned a membership offer and instead tried to revive the rival Bandidos gang."It (shooting) did involve a measure of provocation," the judge told court.The judge noted that Lenti turned himself in to police and pleaded guilty to manslaughter and two counts of aggravated assault.
However, Brown added that the courts must strongly denounce the use of guns in public places. "The use of guns to settle disputes is a scourge in our community," the judge said.No members of the Hells Angels were present in the courtroom, guarded by members of the York Regional Police paramilitary tactical unit.David (Dred) Buchanan was fatally shot in the lobby of the strip club, while Dana (Boomer) Carnegie and Carlo Verrilli were seriously wounded.
Court heard that Buchanan held the senior position of sergeant at arms of the West Toronto Hells Angels, meaning he was in charge of enforcing club discipline.
Court also heard that Verrilli was promoted to full membership in the Hells Angels within a week of the shooting.The judge noted that a surveillance video inside the club captured Buchanan and other Hells Angels aggressively confronting Lenti in the lobby of the club, where he was in charge of security.
"Mr. Buchanan was yelling and swearing at Mr. Lenti," Brown said. "... Mr. Lenti appeared to be trying to calm the situation down."Brown said that the original sentence for the shooting was 10 years, but he deducted four years for time already served in jail.Lenti has already served 19 months in custody. Prisoners routinely receive two days credit for every day spent in pre-trial custody, but the judge said that he was giving Lenti enhanced credit because he served his jail time in a segregation cell, away from other prisoners.Court earlier heard that Lenti was segregated from other inmates in Lindsay jail because of concerns that a prisoner with ties to the Hells Angels might try to carry out the murder contract.Two Hells Angels were in custody in Lindsay on charges of conspiracy to murder Lenti at the same time that Lenti was in the same jail, awaiting trial.Mark Cephes Stephenson of the Hells Angels' Oshawa chapter remains in custody in the Lindsay jail, awaiting trial for the alleged murder conspiracy plot.
Remond Akleh of the elite Hells Angels Nomads chapter, was also locked up in Lindsay on the murder conspiracy charges, but has since been freed on bail.It took Lenti just six seconds to fire seven shots in the confrontation, the judge noted.
Lenti's pistol has never been recovered.