MOST WANTED: Multiple murderer’s three brothers killed in separate shootings

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Who is Canada’s most wanted criminal?

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The Toronto Sun wrote about Rabih “Robby” Alkhalil, now 35, back in February 2013 when he was wanted for his role in the brazen murder of cocaine dealer Johnnie “Maserati” Raposo in Little Italy the previous summer.

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And we learned through court documents that he and his brothers were well acquainted with gun and gang violence. Two of his five brothers, Khalil and Mahmoud, were shot to death in B.C. in 2001 and 2003 respectively while another brother, Nabil Alkhalil, was gunned down in Mexico in 2018 (after our story ran).

Soon after that story was published, Rabih was nabbed in Greece. He and three other men — Nicola Nero, Martino Caputo and hitman Dean Wiwchar — stood trial for Raposo’s execution in 2017.

All four were convicted of first-degree murder and handed life sentences with no chance of parole for 25 years. They were also sentenced to 20 years for conspiracy to commit murder.

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In 2020, Rabih was sentenced in Quebec to eight years in prison for his role in a major drug trafficking ring after he was convicted of conspiracy to import cocaine, conspiracy to traffic in cocaine and trafficking in cocaine.

Earlier this year, Rabih was convicted in British Columbia of first-degree murder for the 2012 shooting of Sandip Duhre at a restaurant in a downtown Vancouver hotel and conspiracy to commit murder for the 2012 shooting death of Sukhveer “Sukh” Dhak at a Burnaby hotel.

Rabih has yet to be sentenced for the B.C. murders because he escaped from the North Fraser Pretrial Centre in Coquitlam with help from two accomplices in July.

A $250,000 reward has been offered for information that leads to his arrest.

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Here’s what we learned about the Alkhalil brothers in 2013. This story, written by Chris Doucette, was originally published by The Toronto Sun on Feb. 21, 2013:

LITTLE ITALY SUSPECT’S FAMILY HAS HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

There’s been lots of talk about the accused in the alleged hit on Johnnie Raposo having ties to the Rizzuto crime family.

But the lone outstanding suspect in last summer’s Little Italy murder has a crime family of his own that rivals the notorious Montreal crime syndicate.

Rabih “Robby” Alkhalil, 25, who is wanted for first-degree murder, was allegedly one of six men at the helm of a huge drug-trafficking operation in Quebec.

And cops in British Columbia blame him and others for a gang war that has left dozens dead and wounded in recent years.

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But that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to murder and mayhem involving the Alkhalil family.

Two older brothers were shot to death out west and a third was deported while living in the nation’s capital after he was deemed a danger to the Canadian public.

According to court documents, the Alkhalil family came to Canada from Saudi Arabia in 1990 “to escape the Gulf War and the lack of educational resources available to their children.”

The parents claimed refugee status upon landing at an airport in Montreal and later settled in Surrey, B.C.

The first signs of violence surfaced in 2001 when Khalil Alkhalil, 19, was killed in a gun battle with Michael Naud, 23, over a drug debt.

Khalil was shot nine times, six times in the back. Naud, a low-level gangster at the time, was hit in the hand.

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Naud was charged with second-degree murder, but he claimed self defence and was acquitted.

Soon after, Naud’s dad was shot several times in a drive-by but survived. And his lawyer was badly beaten, allegedly by Khalil’s relatives and associates.

Naud himself was gunned down in Kelowna in 2004.

But before that, Mamoud Alkhalil, 19, was killed in a shootout in 2003 at a bar once owned by the Hells Angels in downtown Vancouver. Two others were killed and four wounded.

Mahmoud had a lengthy criminal record and gang ties.

Nabil Alkhalil, now in his mid-30s, moved to Ottawa in 2004 to “start life afresh” after repeated criminal convictions.

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He tried to outrun police while transporting 11 kg of coke from Toronto to Ottawa and was arrested after a high-speed chase.

Canada decided enough was enough and in 2011 Nabil was booted to Lebanon, where his father was originally from.

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As Toronto Police hunt for Rabih in Ottawa, Quebec and B.C. — places he is known to have biker and mob ties — they admit he may have fled Canada and the Middle East is one of the many places he could be hiding out.

“He could virtually be anywhere in the world,” homicide Staff-Insp. Greg McLane said Thursday.

He said with the connections Rabih has made in the criminal underworld and the money he is believed to have raked in from alleged drug trafficking, it wouldn’t be hard for him to disappear.

“Any of his criminal associates could be hiding him,” McLane said. “And he is a man of means, so he could potentially have hopped on a plane and gone anywhere.”

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On Twitter: @sundoucette