Jorge Alberto Restrepo today pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the targeted hit of Mauricio Castro, 31.
Castro, a Columbian national who was living in Bolton, is alleged by police to have been involved in extensive drug trafficking between Canada and Columbia as well as several other South and Central American countries.
He was shot several times by a lone gunman as he sat behind the wheel of an SUV in front of shoppers at Mississauga's Square One Shopping Centre.
In accepting his guilty plea today in a Brampton courtroom, Justice Bruce Durno gave Restrepo a one year's credit for time already served since his arrest.
Evidence presented in court remains under a publication ban as a trial of three other men, including Restrepo's brother, is scheduled for later this spring.
Jaime Restrepo, 33, aka Jimmy Prado, also of Bolton, Michael Dwight Allen, 34, of Toronto and Zack Deleon, 31, of Barrie have been committed to stand trial for first-degree murder.
The younger Restrepo had also been charged with first-degree murder. In pleading guilty to a lesser charge, he admitted he conspired between Jan. 1, 2005 and July 27, 2005 with his older brother, DeLeon, Allen and Jorge Acosta-Cardenais, an unindicted co-conspirator, to murder Castro.
The convicted man was arrested in London, Eng., following a lengthy investigation by Peel's homicide unit, police previously revealed.
In information already before the public, Jaime Restrepo was arrested on July 17, 2006, during a high-risk take down in downtown San Jose, Costa Rica.
It has previously been reported that the elder Restrepo hired a hitman to kill Castro to avoid paying his share of a $2.4 million debt.
The cash was confisgated by U.S. Customs agent when it was found hidden in a tractor trailer at the Detroit-Windsor border on Aug. 18, 2004.
The money was to be delivered to Columbia as payment for a cocaine sale, according to previous news reports.
Four days after Castro was slain, his father, Humberto Castro-Tirado, 71, was also shot to death in Columbia, police previously said.
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