Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
Inside the Mind of a Global Con Artist | Germano Tomassetti
20 Dec 2025
Chapter 1: What does comfort mean to Germano Tomassetti?
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The reason why I never got caught for anything that I did is because I didn't have a digital trace. I'm on my way out. I'm a couple of months away from being completely clean. I'm not doing identity theft anymore. I'm not doing any collections. I have a little bit more money coming in from the embezzlement. I didn't make too many big mistakes, right? This is the time I did.
You know when you're desperate, that's when you make the most foolish decisions. So my name is Germano Tomasetti. I was born in Winnipeg, Canada. My childhood was relatively normal. I grew up in a household up until I was about 10 years old. I grew up with two sisters, my mom and my dad, and it was relatively normal.
I dealt with a lot of bullying when I was in elementary school, partially because of me just being a little bit different, being one of the ADD kids. And then also because my sister was kind of popular in junior high and the younger siblings of the people that didn't like her would pick on me and all that kind of stuff. So I didn't have a great time in school. I couldn't concentrate.
I wasn't interested. I excelled in certain areas like math. I was really good at, which would come in handy later on. And I was also good with English, language arts, that kind of stuff. But if you put like science in front of me or physics or anything like that, like I would just be, you know, turn into the class clown and just ignore work.
Because of the bullying, eventually I started, you know, fighting back quite literally. I got into a lot of fights when I was in elementary school, junior high, even going into high school. But the big... The big change for me is when I got into junior high, I started hanging around with, you could say, the bad kids.
At that time, the bad kids weren't that bad, but they're smoking weed, they're skipping school, they're getting in trouble in class all the time. I started hanging out with these guys because I had spent so much time on my own. I had friends, but I was bullied a lot, like I said, and now I'm hanging out with guys that don't get bullied, if anything happens. Some of them do the bullying.
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Chapter 2: How did Germano's childhood experiences shape his future?
I think the biggest thing that we did when I was in my teenage years was probably, and I'm talking 13, 14 years old. We broke into a school one night and they were doing fundraising for, I don't know, it was like Girl Scouts or whatever it was. And we stole an envelope and it had a lot of money in it. I can't remember exactly, but thousands of dollars.
And at that time to be that age and to see that kind of money, it was a big deal for us. So Other than that, nothing was really going on. Once I get into high school, I'm dealing with the same thing. Now it's on a larger scale. Now I'm getting in a fight every two weeks and I'm getting expelled constantly. And I was just, I was just a problem at the end of the day.
I had a lot of anger built up because as I told you, I grew up in the household that I did, but around 10 years old, my dad left. He was in and out of jail constantly. And my mother just, I guess she had enough and they got divorced and I didn't really see him much after that.
in in jail what i mean fights or drinking or no so his his his thing was armed robbery so from from about yeah it was serious stuff so when he was 17 years old he robbed a chain out here called safeway with a couple of his friends uh they got away with like sixty thousand dollars which is a lot of money back then we're talking about 45 50 years ago
And he was so successful at it that he started doing it consistently. So between I'm told between 17 and 19 years old, he did about five or six really big armed robberies, including like a McDonald's for like eight grand or 10 grand or whatever. And a couple of other places. But he took off to Montreal for whatever reason. I don't know if he was feeling the heat or whatever it was.
But the police or the RCMP ended up catching up with him in Montreal when he was 19 years old or 20 years old. And they arrested him and he ended up doing six years his first stint.
so like i said from a young age he was into that it's unfortunate too because he was also very he was a very hard worker in within the construction world he was a great singer i was told when he was like 16 years old that he was offered a million dollar contract in nashville to sing because he could sing like elvis presley so he had a bunch of things going for him and apparently he always blamed this is what i'm told
He blamed his mom for not giving him the opportunity because she was the one at the end of the day that said, no, you're not going. She didn't want her son to go to the U.S. and get into trouble and whatever else. Right. So but yeah, he basically moved on from armed robberies in his later teens and early 20s to doing that time in jail. He gets out. And as far as I know.
Up until he was about 30, he was always against drugs. So he didn't, he didn't even smoke weed or anything like that. He was very anti drugs. And then at one point, I guess, uh, his cousin introduces him into cocaine. He starts partying and stuff like that. And somehow, I don't know how it connects here, but he gets into heroin eventually. And once he got into heroin. That was it.
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Chapter 3: What led Germano to start engaging in crime during his teenage years?
Cause I'm like, you left me in the shit hole to fend for myself. And now I'm fighting these kids that are like, you know, hardened, you know what I mean? Cause getting in a fight at school with like just the kid that gets in a fight once a year is, is nothing, but the kid that fights like every day in his hood, like that, that guy's going to be tough. You know what I mean?
So yeah, I was, I was not happy with it. And when I did go back home and going into those early teenage years, I was just more upset with her and I just wouldn't listen to anything. By probably grade 10, halfway in, I dropped out because I was getting expelled all the time. And a lot of the fights that I was getting into at that point were for other people. I always stuck up for other people.
You know what I mean? And when I was in high school, I was the guy that was friends with everybody. So I'd be friends with jocks. I'd be friends with metalheads. I'd be friends with nerds, like anime geeks, all kinds of stuff. So some of these guys were regularly picked on by the cool kids or whatever, and I'd end up fighting for them.
So I got tired of being blamed all the time and the teachers looking at me like I was the problem. In a way, I was sometimes in the classroom, not concentrating and stuff. But when it came to those fights, like I really I wasn't looking for them. I just felt like it was my responsibility to stick up for, you know, weaker people. So I drop out around that time and then.
I basically spend a year or so working just that, you know, regular jobs. I think I probably worked at McDonald's and, you know, whatever crap jobs you work when you're 16 years old. And then I eventually get into, there was an underage party. It was called feel the heat in Winnipeg. It was a really popular thing.
So like 3000, 4000 kids would show up once a month for these underage parties, obviously no alcohol or anything like that. But that is where I got introduced to the street life.
so keep in mind I'm coming from Transcona white picket fence whatever else like you know what I mean like there's fights and stuff but it's not a dangerous place so now I'm starting to go downtown and I'm going to these parties and I'm being friends with people that are friends with other people and you know etc and I get introduced to this kid that's basically locally famous for rapping he was actually really good if he stuck to it he would have he would have been successful he would have made money he would have been a star I think so he
but he was too involved in the street stuff. So at this time, I'm like 17 years old, 18 years old, and he's probably a year or two younger than me, but he was deep into the game. He was selling probably... I don't know, over the weekend, he'd sell like four ounces. You know what I mean? Because that's what it started with.
And then eventually, just because it was more money and it was more prevalent in the streets. But keep in mind, this is like a 16, 17-year-old kid making thousands or tens of thousands of dollars while trying to maintain this kind of this rap career as well.
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Chapter 4: How did Germano's family background influence his criminal activities?
Yeah.
So pretend to be a thug.
No, I'm not, you know, and like sometimes I might look like it because I've I got hand tattoos and all this other stuff. But like if you hear the way I talk, you understand how I carried myself throughout most of my life. So, yeah, eventually I leave that social circle and I become friends with another drug dealer and he's more of he's a white boy.
He grew up in a nice area and he was the other type of drug dealer. So there's the type that are in the streets that are on the hula gang thing. That's what we call it. And then there's the guys that are the businessmen and the ones that are quiet and dress nicely and don't hang out at clubs and just keep to their business. So I met this guy around, let's say, 20 years old.
He ended up living like a block or two away from me. And in the middle of us was this place called The Circle. And that's where Osborne meets with a river. And they call it The Circle because that's the spot. That's where everybody kind of hangs out. That's where you go to get drugs. That's where the homeless would hang out, the skaters, everything.
so he used to sell at the circle and i live two blocks away down river and he lives two blocks away on osborne so we just naturally you know clicked up and became friends and i saw the other side of drug dealing right i saw that quiet side he lives in a penthouse two two blocks away he's very quiet he doesn't have any beef with anybody
And I was like, you know, that was the only time I thought about getting into it. Cause he's doing well for himself too. He's probably doing around that time, probably like 10 K a month and he's living well. And he's also two years younger than me. He's like 18 years old and he's living like this. I'm like, damn man, I'm making like maybe $1,500 a month from my full-time job right now.
And I've seen you make 10 grand, like it's nothing, you know what I mean? And the addicts were different too. That's important to quickly, quickly talk about. Right. So when you got In the hood, and then you got like rich white folks with, you know, buying money, you're dealing with a different clientele that headache is not as intense.
And you know, your phone can be running at three o'clock in the morning, five o'clock in the morning, 3pm, whatever. And it was more of like a nighttime thing. People do it at the clubs, whatever. So I hang out with him and this brings me into the next stage of my life. So I'm hanging out with him one night. We're out there late. We're at the circle late. We're there till like,
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Chapter 5: What challenges did Germano face during the COVID lockdown?
And I'm just living in a hotel at this point for about a month. January 2020, I go back home. Again, everything is pretty much on autopilot. Nothing's really going on. Around March, April, COVID hits. And man, it was miserable. Because keep in mind, I had just come from this breakup and I still kind of felt a little shitty.
And now I'm trapped inside by myself all the time and I can't go anywhere. I can't travel anywhere. And I really tried to hold off on the vaccines. I'm not going to lie for like five or six months. I tried to stay away from getting vaccinated. And then I was like, man, I need to get the fuck out of this city. I need to go somewhere. So I start traveling again.
I won't tell you about the whole year because I can already tell. I'm going to put you to sleep right away.
Did you get vaccinated? So you did get vaccinated. I did.
Chapter 6: How did Germano's travels impact his life decisions?
Yeah, I had to. And then you got to look to give you a little card like they gave it here in the U.S.
?
exactly yeah i and you know what i probably in hindsight i probably could have avoided it because i had friends that were making fake ones and they were getting away with it right so at first they didn't have the cards they just had a piece of paper and we had like we had counterfeit guys that could do anything so you know they were making those sheets and people were traveling with them right so
And fast forward, maybe halfway into the year, I start traveling. Mexico opens up first, I believe. So I go to Mexico for a little bit. See my brother out there who had moved there a couple of years early and basically settled down. Spend some time with him. I go to Costa Rica and then I go to Ecuador.
Chapter 7: What led to Germano's relationship struggles?
And I'm getting through all this because there's certain places that are just a little bit more important than others. Ecuador was important because it introduces me to the idea of Colombia. Colombia is probably the most important part of this whole story for me. Anyways, 2020 towards the end of the year, December, I'm in Ecuador. I'm in Quito. I get a phone call from one of my buddies in Canada.
And this is one guy that was really struggling with the pandemic. Like this was the guy that's sending me articles every single day about
covid in the pandemic you know what i mean like he's just watching the news constantly and just going crazy you know he's sending me this shit sending me he's like bro i need to get the out of here do you want to go to colombia he's like where are you right now i'm like i'm in ecuador and i'd never been to colombia and i heard amazing things about it so i said yeah why not so we had a friend in winnipeg that was a colombian national
and she basically says, hey, look, I know you guys are going to Bogota, but why don't you come meet me in Cartagena?
Chapter 8: How did Germano plan to rebuild his life after crime?
And if you know anything about Cartagena and Bogota, Bogota is just the capital city in the middle of the country, kind of cold, lots of shopping, lots of food and clubs and stuff, but like not the best weather. So she's like, come to the coast, come to Cartagena. It's like Cancun on steroids, like this little town in Colombia. So I said, why not? So January 2021, I go down there.
I arrived by myself first in Colombia. I spent a couple of days in Bogota. I go to Medellin, not doing anything, just hanging out, shopping, eating, chilling, getting to know the country. Then I go to Cartagena. I'm there for a day or two. Then my friends start arriving in. So the friend that called me, he arrives first about two days in.
Then I got some other friends from Calgary, a different part of Canada that come in and meet us. And then the Columbia National shows up all over these days. But the second night that I was there or third night that I was there, when when my Cuban friend arrives, this is the guy that was going crazy. We go out because I'm like, you know, let's go check out some spots.
Let's see where we're going to take everybody. So we went to this little bar slash hookah lounge. We had a great time. We got drunk. We're dancing. We're meeting people.
the colombian national her brother shows up we have a good time we start connecting with these people from cali from bogota just just by partying you know nothing serious regular people now the the club or the the lounge whatever you want to call it it closes at midnight because it's covid right so even though places are open everything shuts down the whole town shuts down at midnight so at midnight
We go to leave. We're all drunk. We're all having a good time. Nobody wants to go home. There's some guy standing outside and he's like, hey, you guys looking for somewhere to go? It's like, obviously we are, you know, sketchy as hell. And normally I would be like, no. But these guys were like, you know what? Let's let's keep it going. I said, fine. You know, I don't want to ruin your vacation.
So. We get in a taxi, we head to this place that looks like, you know, absolutely nothing, like almost like a storefront from outside. We walk in and we didn't know this at the time, but those taxis were owned by the club. So we go inside. We go inside. There's a, there's, there's a madam there. She's probably about 60 years old, 55 years old. She greets us.
We pay whatever the entrance fee is or whatever. Then two big guys come and pat us down. And I could already tell this, this, this is an intense place. You know what I mean? Just by the guys that patted us down. I'm like, Hey, this is brothel. Yeah, he jumped ahead there. But yeah, yeah, it's a brothel. So but we didn't know that, man.
We literally thought we're going to a club because that's what he told us. Like, oh, we're going to after hours. OK, let's go. So we walk in, we go through a couple of curtains and down some stairs and through this maze, you know, and then at the end, there's another curtain. We open it and then all of a sudden it's like this outdoor nightclub, like there's no roof to the place.
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