August 18, 2009

John (Boxer) Muscedere had a gunshot wound that went from one ear to the other.

George (Crash) Kriarakis was shot seven times.

Frank (Bam Bam) Salerno was shot between the eyes.

The bullet that killed Michael (Little Mikey) Trotta was shot into the top of his skull.

This morning the Superior Court jury at the Bandidos trial heard more autopsy results through Dr. Michael Pollanen, who came to court with an extraordinary resume and reputation.

Ontario's chief forensic pathologist was instrumental in overturning the autopsy results completed by Dr. Charles Smith involving child deaths that had sent some to prison.

It was that "excellent work" that defence lawyer Clay Powell commented on, before Elgin County Crown attorney Kevin Gowdey asked Pollanen to relate his findings in four of the eight autopsies of the Toronto Bandido bikers who were found shot to death on April 8, 2006.

The jury has already heard about the other four autopsies on George Jessome, 52; Luis Raposo, 41; Paul Sinopoli, 30; and Jamie Flanz, 37, from Dr. Toby Rose.

Pollanen reviewed each case with photographs and analysis.

Muscedere, 48, the Bandidos Canada president, was shot twice in the head and once in the torso.

One bullet was shot into his right ear, through the brain and recovered under his left ear. A second head wound was shot into the right cheek and was also found near the left ear.

Muscedere was also shot in the belly, the bullet grazing his liver, then perforating his heart and left lung. The shot was at close range and the bullet was recovered in the muscle of his shoulder blade.

There were also injuries to his lower lip and inside his mouth where his teeth were broken. He also had abrasions to his knees. Pollanen said the injuries were consistent with "terminal collapse," when after an incapacitating injury, a person falls to their knees and falls forward.

Salerno, 43, the president of the Toronto chapter, had been shot nine times, with six of the wounds superficial grazes and flesh wounds to his right hand and right leg.

The others were devastating. One shot between the eyes, shot at close range ricocheted inside his skull and broke apart.

Another, into the right cheek, was found lodged in his sinus. A third bullet travelled essentially the same route as in Muscedere's head, from ear to ear.

Pollanen also pointed out an unusual finding of "stipling" on Salerno's face, a pattern of injury caused by fired gunpowder.

Pollanen said while Salerno had suffered the injuries, there was no bullet entrance wound associated with the marks, indicating a gun was fired near, but not into Salerno's head.

The hair was shaved from the top of Trotta's head to show the gun wound, Pollanen said, that was made with the gun barrel pressed against the scalp.

The bullet travelled through the brain and out the left cheek. The bullet was found loose in the body bag.

Trotta, 31, was also shot in the right chest, but the bullet only entered muscle and soft tissue.

But a third wound on the right side of his head was unusual, the pathologist said. While there was blackening and burning on the skin, the bullet never entered the head. Small fragments were recovered from under the skin.

Pollanen said he called in firearms experts to look at the wound because it was "a particular type of ammunition I hadn't seen before.

Kriarakis, 28, had two gun shots to the temple that travelled an identical route. One passed through the brain and through the skull but stopped just under the scalp.

Another bullet to the face was found in his forehead.

Another close-range gunshot wound to the head just under the ear entered the brain.

Kriarakis also had a wound under his right armpit, shot into his shoulder.

A chest wound was likely fired after death, Pollanen said, because there was little bleeding even after it had grazed his liver.

A final wound to his abdomen, under the belly button perforated some intestines and there was bleeding, he said, indicating Kriarakis was alive at the time of the shot.

The x-ray showing of Kriarakis's head showed multiple bullet fragments lodged in his brain.

Six men have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first degree murder — Wayne Kellestine, 60 and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 25, of no fixed address; Michael Sandham, 39, Dwight Mushey, 41, and Marcelo Aravena, 33, of Winnipeg.

The jury has heard of conflicts that rose between the Toronto chapter — also considered the national chapter — and its American leaders. There was also friction between the Toronto chapter and the fledgling Manitoba probationary chapter it had sponsored.

The men were shot after they had come to Kellestine's farm to have their "patches pulled" and be kicked out of the organization.

Pollanen is to be cross-examined by the defence this afternoon.

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Jane Sims is a Free Press justice reporter.