The RCMP carried out a major raid on Tuesday in Montreal in the underworld following a vast investigation requiring numerous undercover agents, with individuals allegedly involved in drug trafficking, money laundering and sports betting. illegal.
This was a “mega strike” against organized crime in Quebec, according to our police sources. Moreover, more than 400 police officers participated in the operation.
More than a dozen undercover agents as well as a multitude of informants would have been necessary, we are told, to complete this investigation.
This concluded with 13 arrests early Tuesday morning.
Photo Agence QMI, Maxime Deland
“Very powerful”
It is mainly the Oliverio-Lopez clan, an important player in the Italian mafia in Montreal, who would have been targeted by this large-scale operation.
“You don’t hear much about them, but they are very powerful,” confides a police source to the QMI Agency.
16 residences, four businesses and two vehicles, including several in the Montreal-North sector, were searched.
The businesses searched by the authorities were Café Da Ciro, on rue Fleury Est, as well as the bar located directly opposite, Lily’s.
Photo Agence QMI, Maxime Deland
Then, the Bar Café Brandy, on Saint-Michel Boulevard, also received a visit from the bloodhounds, as did Les Entreprises Frajo inc., on the 9e avenue.
Photo Agence QMI, Maxime Deland
Police officers everywhere
The authorities particularly suspect these businesses of having accepted the sale of cocaine, illegal card rooms and illegal sports betting within their walls.
Some residences searched are located in Sainte-Julienne, Blainville and Labelle.
Photo Agence QMI, Maxime Deland
Furthermore, the tactical intervention groups of the RCMP from Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and even British Columbia were called to carry out the series of searches, according to our information.
All apprehended suspects were to be met by investigators during the day.
Brothers Franco and Pasquale Lopez as they leave RCMP headquarters late Tuesday evening. PHOTO AGENCY QMI
QMI Agency
Who are the Lopez brothers?
- Franco, Giuseppe and Pasquale, of Sicilian allegiance;
- Accused of importing cocaine during the Magot-Mastiff drug investigation, between 2014 and 2015;
- Released in 2019 after a stay of proceedings;
- Considered drug traffickers involved in supplying cocaine for various local organizations;
- According to our sources, they control a sales network with the approval of senior figures in the mafia and the Hells Angels;
- Their links with these organizations, however, are said to have crumbled due to quantities of poor quality drugs a few years ago;
- Bars connected to them were targeted by arson attacks in spring 2020;
- Giuseppe (Joe) Lopez was shot and killed in a seaside resort in the Dominican Republic last September;
- Nephew of Serafino Oliverio, known under the pseudonym Sergio Lopez, considered an independent clan leader, ex-associate of Vito Rizzuto, major player in money laundering in Montreal and victim of a resounding murder attempt in November 2021.