Drug trafficking | Montreal organized crime decision makers in the crosshairs

Police have been raiding the homes of the province’s most influential organized crime members since early Wednesday morning, it has been learned. The Press.

According to reports, investigators from the National Organized Crime Enforcement Squad (ENRCO) are raiding the residences of half a dozen individuals, including Montreal chapter Hells Angels Martin Robert, Stéphane Plouffe and Michel Lamontagne.

The homes of other individuals, including the former lieutenant of the Rizzuto clan Francesco Del Balso, now considered by the police to be close to the bikers, are also searched.

70 police officers are taking part in the operation, including members of the Sûreté du Québec’s Tactical Intervention Group (GTI) and dog handlers. No arrests are expected.

This is the first wave of searches carried out during the investigation and intended to gather clues, because since the Supreme Court’s Jordan decision, which limits judicial delays, the police and the prosecution want to be ready to release their evidence as soon as a suspect is arrested and charged.

The investigation, started in 2021, “concerns drug trafficking and targets influential members of the Hells Angels”, simply indicated a spokesperson for the SQ to The Press.

The suspects are suspected of being the heads of a network of narcotics traffickers and distributors active in Montreal and in the North and South Crowns.

In total, six individuals are targeted and eight residences are searched in Laval, Westmount, Mirabel, L’Estérel, Sainte-Sophie and Saint-Joseph-du-Lac.

The police also consider Martin Robert and Stéphane Plouffe to be part of a core of “decision makers” within the biker-mafia-gang alliance that has run Montreal organized crime since the natural death of former godfather Vito Rizzuto in December 2013.

The mandate of ENRCO, which is overseen by the Sûreté du Québec, is to attack the heads of organized crime in the province.

Three members of the Hells Angels targeted

Martin Robert, 48 years old

• Ex-member of the Death Riders, defunct school club of the Hells Angels.
• Member of the Montreal Hells Angels chapter and global representative of the international criminal organization.
• Sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to murder in the wake of Operation SharQc, carried out in April 2009.
• According to the police, he has contacts all over the world and links with all criminal organizations in Quebec, including Aboriginal organized crime.
• Her wedding at a lavish downtown Montreal ballroom made headlines in December 2018.

Stephane Plouffe, 54 years old

• He too is a former member of the Death Riders.
• Member of the Hells Angels of the Montreal section.
• Sentenced to more than 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to murder following Operation SharQc.
• He is very close to Martin Robert and officiated at his wedding in December 2018.

Michel Lamontagne, 46 years old

• Member of the Montreal Hells Angels chapter since 2020.
• Sentenced to two years in prison in 2008 for cocaine trafficking and possession of a weapon.
• Sentenced to six months after being arrested in 2006 in an RCMP operation dubbed Cleopatra, which also apprehended the “Queen of Kanesatake”, Sharon Simon, who is also Martin Robert’s stepmother.
• Arrested for possession of a firearm in a restaurant in the Pointe-aux-Trembles district of Montreal in May 2021, Lamontagne saw the charges against him dropped for lack of evidence.

To reach Daniel Renaud, dial 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.