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From co-author Brian Fitzpatrick:
I first heard of Michael Costa in 2019, while reporting on a group of alleged drug traffickers who had been trying to move cocaine from Latin America to Canada. The RCMP infiltration of this ring, a case dubbed Operation Harrington, was a roller coaster of murder and unlikely characters. Among these was ex-Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, who would later go on to greater infamy.
Another person caught up in Harrington was Michael Costa, who was, in a plot twist, the brother of Toronto police officer Daniel Costa. When it emerged that Michael was being pursued across the GTA by would-be assassins, my interest heightened. Then, in early 2021, the Costas’ father was killed in his home in what appeared to have been another bungled attempt on Michael’s life.
While working at the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a global investigative reporting group, I spoke to The Walrus about collaborating on the Costa family story. In a huge stroke of luck, the indefatigable Rachel Browne was also interested. It was her long-running refusal to take “no” for an answer that unearthed many hidden court records and helped to really untangle this story.
As the work progressed, we got a window into the interpersonal conflict between one brother who had chosen to devote his career to the law and another seemingly devoted to going against it. We also got a deep, at times unnerving, sense of how people from all walks of life can be dragged into the spider web of organized crime.
Sure, it’s a tale stranger than fiction. But it’s also a deeply tragic, painful one of destruction, regret, and much remaining mystery.
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