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Salloum “Sal” Jassem was a nice kid from a good family who, according to court testimony, grew up in Brantford to become a major drug dealer with ties to multiple homicides and other criminals.

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Over the past five years, Jassem has been charged in four deaths: Coby “Kareem” Carter in 2019, a man believed to be a drug dealer; the infamous botched contract killing that claimed the lives of Larry Reynolds and Lynn Van every two weeks later, and a 2018 killing considered part of Toronto’s notorious tow truck wars.

Jassem died at the age of 36 on August 9 at the Maplehurst Correctional Center in circumstances that his lawyer, Jaime Stephenson, called “concerning.”

“It is very concerning that so many deaths are occurring in this particular detention center,” Stephenson said in an interview.

Although no specific cause of death was provided, the lawyer said it has been suggested that Sal committed suicide, which she finds suspicious.

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Stephenson met Jassem in Kitchener court the day before he died. She said he was in very good spirits and looking forward to starting his last of three trials on extremely serious charges.

“I don’t know Sal as someone with addiction issues. This seems suspicious to me because it is completely out of character and so inconsistent with everything I saw the day before in court.

Sal’s disappearance was the second prison death in the Jassem family: his brother, Seif Jassem, died in the same prison two and a half years earlier while facing charges in a “vehicular murder.” a tow truck” in Toronto.

Seif had a criminal record for drug trafficking and assault with a weapon in 2008 in British Columbia and successfully fought his deportation there.

And a man co-accused with Sal in the 2019 Carter homicide in Brantford – Abdelaziz Ibrahim – also died in prison in 2022.

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The three Jassem brothers – Seif, Sal and Jazzy – were accused of running a major drug operation in Brantford.

Neighbors around their house complained of obvious drug activity and it was noted that Paramount tow trucks from Toronto were sometimes parked in front of Sal’s house and once came to tow his white Lamborghini.

Paramount owner and friend of Jassem, Alexander Vinogradsky, was shot and killed on March 28 in Toronto, allegedly as part of the ongoing tow truck turf war there.

Long after Soheil Rafipour was shot multiple times while leaving a Christmas Eve party in 2018, Sal and Seif were each arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder, as well as numerous felony charges. drugs and guns as part of a police investigation known as Project Platinum.

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Those charges were suddenly dropped against the Jassems and others after evidence from the search warrant and wiretap was challenged at a preliminary hearing.

A friend of Jassem’s also with ties to Brantford – Thomas Sliwinski – was convicted of manslaughter in the Rafipour case and of pointing a loaded firearm at a lawyer. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

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The Jassem family moved around Brantford – Walnut Street, Yeoman Drive, Pinehill Drive, Trillium Way – over the years and their homes received a lot of police attention, with York Regional Police raiding the house family on Pinehill Drive twice in the space of five weeks. .

When Jazzy lived on Jerseyville Road, his home was raided in 2018 and police found a large amount of fentanyl — as well as Roger VanEvery, whose parents were later murdered as part of the botched murder deal.

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Jazzy was allegedly the head of the family business and, according to court testimony, Sal asked VanEvery, who was “much lower in the hierarchy” according to a judge, to take responsibility for Jerseyville’s drugs in exchange for $40,000.

Instead, Jazzy, 28, was convicted in a Brampton court on fentanyl and other Niagara charges that involved hundreds of thousands of drugs and drug money.

It was Jazzy’s incarceration – according to the Crown – which deteriorated the working relationship between the Jassems and VanEvery.

In court, VanEvery testified that he continued to sell for the Jassems, even though he was out on bail and living with his parents, who were his sureties. He thought Sal was still his “good friend.”

But on July 9, 2019, another drug-dealing friend was killed.

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Coby Carter was shot and VanEvery worried that the Jassems thought he “knew too much.”

Two weeks later, a group of men from Toronto circled his house several times and eventually one of them ran up and shot VanEvery’s parents, as Roger of the interior of the house.

Sal was accused of being the mastermind behind the shocking deaths with testimony presented in court that he offered Kareem Zedan a contract to kill Roger VanEvery. Zedan and a crew came to town and he “subcontracted” the filming to Malik Mbuyi.

But, in court, a judge was troubled by Zedan’s dishonesty and lack of explanation as to why Sal would want to murder Roger VanEvery a year after he didn’t agree to a deal to go in prison for the Jassems.

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Sal was acquitted and cried out in joy or relief as he was led from the court.

But he still faced another set of charges: first-degree murder in Carter’s death.

He was in the middle of a preliminary hearing when he died.

Stephenson, Sal’s longtime attorney, said that despite the numerous charges against him, Jassem had a “very limited criminal record.”

“I don’t think it’s fair to assume that because these allegations have been made against him that they necessarily ring true, but I’m not necessarily saying it rings false.

“There was a lot of positive history in his journey and I always knew he was an outgoing, kind and caring person.”

On the other hand, a relative of murdered Larry Reynolds and Lynn VanEvery says their family remains convinced that Sal was the mastermind behind the couple’s deaths.

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“Maybe it’s karma,” said one relative who is afraid to be named.

“I really don’t believe we would have gotten complete justice from the courts.”

Another said she would “shed as many tears for Sal as she would for Lynn and Larry.”

A lawyer who does not work for the Jassems said the family has “a terrible reputation” in the local criminal justice system.

“People are dying around them and they are dying. I don’t even want them to know my name.

Jeremy Morton, president of the Brantford police union, said it was unfortunate Sal did not have his final day in court.

“Our members worked tirelessly to build a strong case against him and attempted to hold him accountable for his actions that destroyed many families and relationships.

“I would say many families are relieved that he could not harm another person through his actions.”

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@EXPSGamble

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