Benoit Nantel-Gagnon, considered by the police for several years as a drug trafficker linked to the Hells Angels, was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Wednesday at the Montreal courthouse.
Posted at 11:41 a.m.
Nantel-Gagnon, 36, was arrested as part of an investigation by the Organized Crime and Major Crimes Division of the City of Montreal Police Service dubbed Maculé aimed at solving a murder committed in Montreal, and also targeting a drug trafficking network that operated in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district and in Abitibi.
During the search carried out in October 2021, Nantel-Gagnon failed the police, and it was not until last spring that he reappeared and pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy for receiving criminal property. obtained.
The convict benefited from a stay of proceedings on other counts of conspiracy and cocaine trafficking.
The Maculé investigation was triggered after the murder of Bardia Gorji committed in Montreal in July 2020. It required the establishment of hundreds of hotlines and led to the arrest of several individuals, including Gaétan Bradette and two of his sons.
Bradette, a veteran drug trafficker in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district, was close to the late warrior leader of the Hells Angels, Maurice Boucher.
Compromising conversations
According to a summary of the facts filed in court, one of the suspects, who was returning from Abitibi, was intercepted by the police on April 4, 2021. While searching his vehicle, the sleuths found $56,000 which was seized. On listening, Nantel-Gagnon then asked members of the organization that this sum be reimbursed the next day before 1 p.m.
Two other individuals arrested in the Maculé project pleaded guilty to the charges filed against them on Wednesday.
Simon Saint-Germain-Montpetit, 30, and Kevin Crousset-Tremblay, 33, pleaded guilty to counts of conspiracy for drug trafficking, possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking, and drug trafficking.
According to the lawsuit’s theory, Saint-Germain-Montpetit was transporting drugs and money between Montreal and Abitibi, and was betrayed by his conversations.
On March 4, 2021, he told an accomplice that he had $23,500 in his possession and that his pay for this trip would be $1,250. A week later, he announced to an accomplice that he had brought in more than $150,000 from Abitibi.
On April 7, 2021, investigators searched the home of an Abitibi narcotics trafficker and found accounting sheets indicating that Saint-Germain-Montpetit allegedly delivered more than 8 kilograms of cocaine to him, for an amount of nearly half a million dollars.
As for Crousset-Tremblay, the evidence reveals in particular that on May 19, 2021, during the search, he was in a rented chalet in Rivière-Héva, where the investigators found two kilograms of cocaine, more than $111,000 and eight telephones. cellular.
The two men will receive their sentence later.
The Bradette father and son cases are also continuing in court.
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