Friday, September 19, 2008

Guilty Pleas Reveal Mob's Thuggish Montreal Ways

From The Globe And Mail:

MONTREAL -- Martin Carrier was a Quebec City tiler who learned one winter night in 2004 that he had crossed a dangerous line.

His phone rang and the caller asked whether Mr. Carrier had recently done a job in Montreal. Yes, Mr. Carrier replied.

"We'd like you to stop coming here for work," the man said. "Because next time, you won't leave from here, okay? You've been warned."

It isn't clear what happened next to Mr. Carrier, but the threatening call was intercepted on a police wiretap and filed in court - part of a shocking picture of mob intimidation that can now be reported after the guilty pleas yesterday of six Montreal underworld bosses.

They pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy to traffic drugs, extort, and run illegal bookmaking, and possession of illegal cash and goods. According to court documents, the men formed a committee of caretaker leaders for Vito Rizzuto.

Mr. Rizzuto, Canada's most powerful Mafia godfather, is serving a racketeering sentence in the United States. Among those who pleaded guilty was Mr. Rizzuto's 84-year-old father, Nicolo (Nick). He is the oldest top mobster in Canada to be convicted on such serious offences, according to author Pierre de Champlain, a former RCMP intelligence analyst.

Read more ....

No comments: