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The ex-boxer and bodyguard to Antonio Magi claims cops harassed him because of revelations made during the Charbonneau Commission linking Magi and Vito Rizzuto.
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• Montreal Gazette 
Richard Zarbatany was a professional boxer between 1975 and 1980. His career included at least three bouts at the Montreal Forum. Montreal Gazette
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A former Montreal professional boxer who used his ties to organized crime in an attempt to intimidate police after he was arrested for impaired driving has been denied parole.
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Richard Zarbatany, 59, is serving a 303-day prison term he received last year after having been convicted, in Montreal municipal court, of being in control of a motor vehicle while he was impaired. Zarbatany appealed his conviction but he was ordered to begin serving the sentence in April after Quebec Superior Court Justice Mario Longpré found no reason to overturn the conviction.
The case dates back to Nov. 10, 2011, during a time when Zarbatany was known to have acted as a chauffeur and bodyguard for Antonio (Tony) Magi, 58, the Montreal construction entrepreneur who had business ties to now-deceased Montreal Mafia leader Vito Rizzuto. The Charbonneau Commission revealed several details of Magi and Rizzuto’s relationship and, according to the recent decision made by the Commission québécoise des libérations conditionnelles (CQLC), Zarbatany maintains that his arrest had more to do with allegations made during the inquiry into corruption in Quebec’s construction industry than impaired driving.
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A written summary of the decision notes Zarbatany told the provincial parole board that he was “harassed by police officers between 2010 and 2012 because of the investigations surrounding the Charbonneau (Commission). You say you worked in construction and had the reputation of assuring the protection of a person” with alleged ties to the Montreal Mafia. He also argued he was arrested for impaired driving because the police wanted an excuse to search his vehicle for firearms because an informant told investigators he frequently carried firearms.
Just two days before Zarbatany was arrested, Magi pleaded guilty to the improper storage of a firearm and received an unconditional discharge. That charge came as the result of a Montreal police investigation into claims, made in 2010, that Magi was often accompanied by armed bodyguards because he was involved in a conflict with the Rizzuto organization. On Sept. 21, 2010, Magi and six other men, including two Americans who were working as his bodyguards, were arrested and 24 firearms were seized. Zarbatany was not charged in connection with that investigation.
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During his trial for impaired driving and his appeal, judges were told that two Montreal police officers noticed Zarbatany’s vehicle was poorly parked on Sherbrooke St. W. during rush hour. Half of the vehicle was blocking traffic. One officer testified that they heard shouting as they approached the vehicle. Zarbatany was seated behind the wheel and, according to the decision Longpré delivered in April, one of the officers “immediately recognized (Zarbatany) as the chauffeur and the bodyguard of figure known to organized crime.”
The officers smelled alcohol and noticed that Zarbatany’s eyes were red. When they asked him for his driver’s license he refused to hand it over and placed his wallet in the purse of the passenger seated next to him. Both officers testified that Zarbatany threatened them and mentioned that he was tied to organized crime before and after he was taken into custody. The officers also found a small amount of cocaine inside the vehicle, but Zarbatany was not armed. When he appeared before the parole board he said he knew “protection techniques” that do not require the use of firearms.
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Zarbatany fought professionally, under the name Ricky Zarbatany, between 1975 and 1980. His career included at least three bouts held at the Montreal Forum. According to two websites that keep boxing records, he boxed 38 times as a professional and won 21 matches.
The two CQLC members who heard Zarbatany’s request decided his claims of police harassment had little credibility and that by denying he was impaired when he was arrested in 2011 he has done little to address the risk of reoffending while he continues to serve the sentence.
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