Suspect to Face Murder Charge in Death of Daughter-in-Law of Late Montreal Mob Boss

The Montreal Police logo is seen on a police car in Montreal on July 8, 2020. The Canadian Press/Paul Chiasson

A suspect in the brazen daytime shooting in Montreal of a 39-year-old woman with alleged ties to organized crime has been arrested in Ontario, police said Wednesday.

The Crown prosecutor’s office confirmed Joel Richard Clarke was charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of Claudia Iacono.

Jean-Sébastien Caron of the Montreal police’s major crimes unit told reporters that the 28-year-old suspect was arrested Tuesday in Milton, Ont., near Toronto, with the help of Ontario Provincial Police. He said Clarke was a person known to Canadian police in relation to “a multitude of events of violence.”

Iacono has been identified as the daughter-in-law of the late Moreno Gallo, a reputed mob boss who was killed in 2013 in Acapulco, Mexico, a few years after he was deported from Canada. Iacono was married to one of Gallo’s sons, Anthony.

Police arrived at a parking lot outside the salon Iacono owned in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges district on May 16 to find the 39-year-old woman in a vehicle that had collided with a building and was still running. She had been shot dead, they said.

Caron declined to give details on the investigation, which is ongoing.

He said police are searching for more suspects and that further arrests are possible.

The Crown prosecutor’s office says the case returns to court on July 13.