Steven Sarti - 'You wish you had more time to redeem yourself'

Steven Sarti died Oct. 1, 2022.

Steven Sarti was sentenced to 71 months in prison in May 2021 for conspiring to traffic cocaine and meth from Montreal to Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia RCMP arrested Sarti in 2018 as part of what police dubbed 'Operation Hackberry'. The probe mainly concerned Jeffrey Colegrove, 56, a man with ties to Montreal’s West End Gang. The parole board released Sarti early last fall as he had a terminal illness and keeping him behind bars would have constituted undue hardship. Sarti suffered from a clinical condition that paralyzed his lower limbs and made it impossible to use his right hand. He was given 3 months to live and didn't make that. In 2012, Sarti pleaded guilty for smuggling nearly $1b worth of cannabis into America from Quebec. The judge sentenced him to 97 months in prison.

At the time of his parole hearing, Sarti was only expected to live between a few weeks to months. As he contemplated his death, Sarti told the parole board “You wish you had more time to ‘redeem’ yourself … and be able to demonstrate to those around you the ‘good’ person that you are really.” Doctors confirmed his incurable diagnosis. Sarti wasn’t likely to present much of a risk to reoffend in his condition the parole board concluded.