Convicted cocaine trafficker Diego Serrano says he’s ashamed that his granddaughters have been bullied at school because of publicity for his crimes.
“I am sorry your honour, to you and to everyone,” Serrano, 69, told Justice John McMahon on Monday before he was sentenced to four years, six months for two counts of drugs conspiracy and one possession of proceeds of crime.
It was the Vaughan restaurateur’s third prison term for cocaine trafficking, but a far cry from the multimillion dollar conspiracies that landed him in prison decades ago.
While the current case is much smaller than his earlier drug busts, reports of it have been shared widely on social media and resulted in bullying against his grandchildren in Canada and Italy, Serrano told University Ave. court in a statement read by his lawyer, Carolyne Kerr.
In that statement, he said he was overwhelmed with guilt on the weekend as he hugged one of his granddaughters.
“At that moment, I felt so guilty I wanted to run away,” said Serrano, who wore a court-approved GPS device on his ankle while awaiting sentencing.
His statement continued that part of the reason he pled guilty was to spare his family the social media notoriety that a trial would have triggered.
His remorse over his “bad decisions” is deep and sincere, he told court.
“It has cost me my future, my family, my friends and my honour,” Serrano said in his statement.
Serrano pleaded guilty in November, admitting to Crown attorney Jeremy Streeter that he attempted to sell two ounces, half a kilo and a kilo of cocaine in three separate drug deals with the undercover agent.
One of the deals netted him just $500 for setting an undercover officer up with a drug supplier, who furnished low purity cocaine. The biggest deal brought him $30,900 but he supplied no drugs, court heard.
The money went for a trip to Italy to visit family and towards his now-defunct fish and chips restaurant in Vaughan, court heard.
It was a far cry from the massive amounts he smuggled a quarter century ago.
Back in 1992, he was described as the mastermind of a drug importation ring that brought some 12,000 kg of cocaine into Canada from Colombia.
Back then, he ran a chic restaurant on Dufferin St. and also pumped funds into a $14-million luxury condo complex in southern Italy.
Serrano told court that he has cut relations with his old drug contacts.
Court heard he now has heart and hip problems and he provide a court officer with a bag of medications.
Ten family members and friends — including his sister who flew in from Italy — waved at him as he was led off into custody.
He nodded back at them as his wrists were handcuffed behind his back.