Mimico road-builder James Franceschini arrived in Canada at the age of 15 in 1906 with no money, could not speak English and had no place to stay.

He was helped by a Toronto cop who found the teen a place to sleep that first night in this city. The young man found a job the very next day.

Franceschini, who would work hard and overcome many struggles, became a self-made millionaire in less than 10-years in Canada.

The entrepreneur in 1912 founded and built Dufferin Construction, Canada’s largest road construction company, which celebrated its 100^th anniversary in 2012.

As soon as he made his first millions, he lost the fortune due to a bad contract and a decline in construction due to World War 1. He had his steam shovel, horses and equipment repossessed.

No one to be kept down. He embarked on a series of small contracts with the City of Toronto, which included clearing snow and repairing roads. He also worked excavating the foundation for General Motors Canada assembly plant in Oshawa.

By 1917, Dufferin Construction won the first provincial highway construction tender to grade the Rouge Hill portion of Kingston Road, known as Highway 2.

Franceschini, and his wife, Annie, had a daughter Myrtle in 1921, and a few years later went shopping for a mansion to join their friends on the prime Mimico lakefront.

They purchased a grand manor home named ‘Ormscliffe,’ described as a California-style bungalow and renamed the estate “Myrtle Villa” after their daughter.

He made headlines in the 1930’s when a gang of extortioners threatened to kidnap his daughter and fired a shot through the window of his home.

Their Lake Shore Blvd. and Royal York Rd. area mansion stood on five-acres of prime lakefront property. A house was built for his brother Leonard and row housing for staff. Franceschini purchased land and constructed an equestrian centre for his prized Hackney horses.

The couple were devoted to charitable work, and in 1930 they hosted the Shiners’ North American Convention in Toronto, with a reception at Myrtle Villa.

In the 1930s, Dufferin was flying high. The company was building major highways for all levels of the Ontario government. Then suddenly the boss was thrown in jail.

In the 1940s, Franceschini’s company was building minesweepers for the Canadian Navy, when he was arrested on suspicion of engaging in “Fascist activities.”

He was detained for a year in an internment camp and was released to receive medical treatment. A public inquiry determined his complete innocence. Now in ill health and semi-retired, the businessman moved into a new home in Mount Tremblant, where he lived until his death in September 1960.

Myrtle Villa was sold in 1959 to Amedeo and Lawrence Longo, brothers who developed the Amedeo Garden Court Apartments on the property. They retained and repurposed most of the existing buildings and garden features, while new apartments were constructed among the estate buildings.

 

Toronto Police say the attempted abduction of an eight-year-old Etobicoke girl was much more serious than many first believed.

Officers are asking the parents and teachers of young children to remain vigilant.

Police from 23 Division said the incident occurred last March 19 at around 12:27 p.m. when officers responded to a call for unknown trouble at St. John Vianney Catholic School, in the Albion Rd. and Islington Ave. area.

Duty Insp. Michael Williams said children were playing outside at lunchtime at the south end of the school, when a man approached the girl and attempted to put her over his shoulder and flee.

Williams said other children in the playground noticed what was going on and approached the man, which seemingly scared him off. Police say he left the girl and appeared to flee toward the Humber River ravine.

Police said the child didn’t sustain any injuries and it is unclear if she was targeted.

The man is described as white, six-feet-tall, with a heavy build. Officers are concerned that the suspect was dressed in all black, police said.

He was wearing a black ski mask, black baseball hat, black sweater, black gloves, black pants, black shoes and carrying a black backpack, police said in a release.

The principal put the school in lockdown immediately, and students were brought inside, police said. All children were accounted for.

The Toronto Catholic District School Board said in a statement that it is “deeply troubled” by the incident and urged anyone with information to contact police.

Several other schools in the area were also put on hold and secure. All alerts have been lifted.
Police continue to look into the reports and urge anyone who was in the area, that may have dashcam or security camera video, to contact police.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-7474, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.222tips.com.

A search for a new Toronto Police Chief is being held in Etobicoke on March 30 and those interested are invited to check out the virtual recruitment.

The search by Environics Research, on behalf of the Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB), will also hear from candidates at meetings in downtown Toronto on March 31, Scarborough on April 7 and North York on April 13, according to information released.

The two-hour virtual meeting in Etobicoke will take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and is open to 100 registrants.

“The sessions will help TPSB prioritize qualities and characteristics for the job description for the next Chief of Police,” Environics wrote. “Sessions will include a mix of small group discussions and polling exercises.”

Those interested are required to go to the Environics Research site and fill out a survey to be “assigned to the right discussion group.”

Once you are confirmed to attend, someone from Environics will contact you directly with further details.

These consultations are said to be the most extensive for a Chief selection process that the Board has organized to date. It will provide opportunities for people across the city to share input on this topic, ensuring that a diverse range of voices are heard.

The TPSB last summer agreed to 81 measures aimed at boosting police accountability and transparency. The board acted at a time when the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer sparked demonstrations worldwide and added new momentum to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Closer to home, the death last May of 29-year-old Regis Korchinski-Paquet, who fell to her death from her balcony after Toronto police officers were called to her west-end apartment, prompted renewed criticism of how police handle mental health calls.

The measures include commitments to build better relationships with marginalized communities, improve ways police deal with mentally ill people, implement new use of force guidelines and to be transparent about how the next chief, who’ll be expected to usher in many of the changes, will be selected.

It will cost the board about $150,000 to find a new chief.

Interim Chief James Ramer was tapped for the position after former chief Mark Saunders unexpectedly announced he was stepping down last June, with eight months still left on his term.

Transitions are often announced months in advance giving the board plenty of time to prepare.

More information can be accessed at https://tpsb.ca/consultations-and-publications/chief

 

This woman was saved by heroes as witnesses say it wasn’t her time to go.

RCMP Border Integrity officers in Kingston were on boat patrol in the St. Lawrence River on March 4 about 5:30 p.m. when out of the blue a woman, who appeared to be in distress, exited her vehicle and ran to a boat launch ramp and jumped into the icy St. Lawrence River.

Const. Steffan Manuel was driving the vessel and realizing the danger was prepared to jump into the freezing water to save the woman.

Instead, he pulled into the Rockport boat launch and radioed for help.

“From the ice edge, which was about 30-feet from the shore, he comforted the woman, according to a RCMP release.

“He talked the woman into swimming back to him and then pulled her back on to the ice,” the Mounties said.

By then Const. Jason Greene and two officers had arrived and helped the woman off the ice and into a warm police vehicle, where they administered first aid for hypothermia.

“The woman was in the water for about five minutes and was struggling to swim by the time she reached the ice,” police said.

Within minutes, she was taken to Brockville General Hospital by the OPP and Emergency Medical Services.

“The RCMP is proud of its members who put themselves on harm’s way to help their fellow citizens,’ said Cpl. Dmitri Malakhov.

It just so happened that a course on ice rescue techniques is planned to take place at the same spot this month.

 

 

Police from five GTA jurisdictions arrested three Brampton men and a fourth is sought in a fake taxi fraud scheme that scammed more than $37,000 from ‘well intending’ victims.

The motor vehicle involved in these incidents was a decommissioned taxi cab and was not actively owned or operated by any GTA taxi companies, according to police.

Officers from Peel, Toronto, Halton, Hamilton and York were involved in a joint operation that investigated in excess of 35 cases of debit card theft and frauds targeting well-intended citizens, Peel Regional Police said in a release on March 19.

“Despite these challenges, people from our community agreed to help someone else and were victimized for their kindness” said Nick Milinovich, Deputy Chief of Investigative and Emergency Services. “Our police service will continue to work diligently to hold offenders accountable for their actions.”

In most cases, the suspects would pose as the driver of a taxi and a rear seat passenger, and approach the victims at which point the passenger would offer cash in exchange for the victim using their debit card to pay the fare, as the taxi driver would not accept cash due to Covid-19 contact limitations.

The victims would insert their debit card into a point of sale terminal that was modified to capture the victims personal identification number (PIN) number, which was then followed by the taxi driver secretly swapping the victims card with a previously exploited debit card. The suspects would then use the stolen card and PIN to make large cash withdrawals and purchases.

Police said a 17-year-old young offender was charged on March 16 with 44 offences, including fraud and theft under $5,000.

Two other men, aged 20 and 22, were charged with 16 offences. And a warrant has been issued for a fourth man, described as 28-years-old from Brampton.

Investigators believe that there may be more victims as the suspects are believed to have operated the replica taxi across various areas in the GTA, and are encouraging potential victims to contact their local police service.

Anyone with information on this investigation is asked to contact the Fraud Bureau at 905-453–2121, ext. 3335.  Information may also be left anonymously by calling Peel Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), or by visiting peelcrimestoppers.ca.