DRUGLORD RELEASED ON PAROLE

One of three brothers who headed a major international
drug-trafficking ring with Mafia ties is expected to return to
Montreal after being granted day parole.

As part of his release, Gerlando Caruana, 63, will have to report to a
halfway house north of Montreal. He is currently serving a combined
sentence of nearly 31 years at a medium-security institution near
Kingston, Ont.

On July 15, 1998, Caruana was arrested in Montreal while at the same
time his brothers Alphonso and Pasquale were being rounded up in
Toronto. They were among more than a dozen people arrested as a
special police unit ended Project Omerta, a lengthy investigation into
the Caruana brothers' drug trafficking.

The brothers, in particular Alphonso, have long been described as the
heads of one of the largest organized crime families in the world.

Pasquale Caruana was paroled in 2003 and Alphonso is being held in
custody while he continues to challenge an extradition request from
Italy.

When he was arrested nine years ago, Gerlando Caruana was on parole
while serving a 20-year sentence he had received on March 7, 1986.

He had been linked to a $55-million shipment of heroin that was stored
at a warehouse in St. Laurent. The 18-year sentence Gerlando Caruana
received in 2000 - after pleading guilty to conspiracy to import and
traffic in cocaine - was combined with his previous sentence.