"Preliminary hearing on alleged loan sharks"
Calgary Sun. May

Amid tight security, a preliminary inquiry to decide whether three Calgary men will stand trial in a loan-sharking ring got underway Friday.

The hearing against Luciano Ferrazzano, Antonio Chiocchio and Michael George Carter is being held in Calgary Court Centre’s high security courtroom.

The courtroom is specially designed to keep members of the public behind thick plexiglass separating the gallery from lawyers, court staff and the judge.

Ferrazzano, 38, and Chiocchio, 55, both face two charges each of extortion and charging criminal interest rates and a single allegation of assault.

Carter 47, faces single counts of all three charges.

At the request of defence lawyers Don MacLeod, Peter Hoare and Greg Dunn, provincial court Judge Brian Stevenson imposed a publication ban on evidence presented at the hearing.

Crown prosecutor Shane Parker said he expects to call about a dozen witnesses over the course of the six-day preliminary.

Parker earlier withdrew similar charges against a fourth man, Marc Stephen Leblanc.

Ferrazzano, who used to go by the name Lukas Ferber, is no stranger to violence.

His mother, Patricia Ferber, was murdered by his father Richard 25 years ago in the family’s Springbank home.

Richard Ferber shot his estranged wife five times during a struggle while he was at the home to visit with his two sons.

The killer later took the boys to McDonald’s for lunch.

He was subsequently convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole for a minimum of 10 years.

Ferrazzano, Chiocchio and Carter are each free on strict bail conditions pending the outcome of their case.