The Ministry of the Environment has fined Location Tri-Box and Roberto Scoppa – a Montreal mafia insider facing extradition – more than $35,000 for environmental violations on agricultural land in Mirabel.
The alleged facts date back to spring 2021. “Residual materials were deposited or dumped” on agricultural land located on Sir-Wilfrid-Laurier Road in Mirabel.
The company and its main director, Roberto Scoppa, “failed to take the necessary measures to ensure that these materials were stored, treated or disposed of in an authorized location,” the Ministry said.
Location Tri-Box, which was convicted last May, will have to pay a fine totaling more than $21,000 with costs. Roberto Scoppa will have to pay a fine of $15,000.
In 2020, the Ministry sent Tri-Box an administrative monetary penalty – the equivalent of a fine – of $10,000. The authorities accused it of having disposed, in 2019, of “soils containing contaminants […] namely arsenic, zinc, fluoranthene and pyrene” which exceeded the permitted limit.
Close to the Montreal mafia
Roberto Scoppa, 56, is considered by police to be a Montreal mafia and biker connection. The latter, who has no criminal history, is the brother of Andrew and Salvatore, two Calabrian mafia clan leaders assassinated in 2019 and who had tried to overthrow the Sicilian Montreal mafia clan three years earlier.
PHOTO ARCHIVES THE PRESS
Roberto Scoppa
He is currently facing extradition to the United States after being arrested in late January following a major drug investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Los Angeles police and police forces from a dozen other American and Canadian cities.
According to the indictment by the US authorities, Scoppa is accused of having conspired in Los Angeles to import more than 5 kg of cocaine and 1 kg of heroin in March 2023, and of having intended to distribute nearly 15 kg of cocaine and 1 kg of heroin in November 2022. He faces up to 10 years in prison on each of the four counts.
Scoppa and his accomplices were framed by a mole who was part of a criminal organization and who worked for the police. His phone was tapped and the mole was wearing a portable recording device. During a meeting with the mole, Scoppa allegedly said he made $1 million a year from drugs, according to evidence gathered by U.S. authorities.
In early 2019, border agents and Canadian police discovered that Roberto Scoppa had travelled to Colombia and/or France with Martin Robert, a Hells Angel from the Montreal chapter considered by police to be one of the most influential criminals in Quebec.
After his arrest at the request of American authorities last winter, Roberto Scoppa explained to the Quebec Superior Court that he had worked for two Quebec companies over the past ten years.
He first co-owned the G&R recycling centre in Kanesatake from 2013 until 2017, when he sold his shares in the business, he said. Some of his partners at the time had lengthy criminal records.
The sorting center, which became an open-air dump, made headlines several times after Mr. Scoppa’s departure, for the accumulation of waste and the contamination of the surrounding environment.
A report by The Press had revealed that toxic water exceeding 144 times the sulfide concentration deemed safe for fish was polluting waterways near the site.
Before the Superior Court, Roberto Scoppa explained that after leaving G & R, he became the owner of Tri-box, which he presented alternately as a soil depot and a container rental service. He said he devoted his time to the company between 2015 and 2023.
The Mirabel site still in the authorities’ sights
Tri-Box and Roberto Scoppa have not been active in Mirabel for a few years. In December 2022, this agricultural land was sold to a numbered company belonging to the owners of Construction Nexus, the brothers Roméo and Antonio Sacchetti.
However, the site continues to be a concern for environmental and agricultural authorities. Nexus has been fined twice for dumping soil in wetlands. Inspections by the Ministry have found hydrocarbons there.
The Quebec Agricultural Land Protection Commission has opened an investigation and the City of Mirabel has forced the closure of the site in September 2023.
The Press contacted Nexus last week to provide an update on previous activities at the site. In an email response provided by public relations firm Mercure, the company assured that “no contaminated soil was used by Nexus.”
The Laval company is contesting the sanctions issued by the Ministry of the Environment. They “are unfounded and have been vigorously contested by Nexus before the competent administrative authorities,” it maintains, specifying that they “are currently the subject of adversarial debates pending before the administrative authorities and no final decision has been rendered on the alleged breaches.”