A judge ordered the blocking of six buildings owned by the Lopez family and whose total value exceeds $7 million, has learned The Press.
These orders are part of a major investigation currently being carried out by Division C (Quebec) of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) against this family from the northeast of Montreal that the police link to the Montreal mafia.
It was as part of this investigation, called Chrome, that 400 police officers, including investigators from the RCMP’s Joint Organized Crime Investigation Unit (CFSEU), carried out around twenty searches on March 26.
More than a dozen people, including brothers Franco and Pasquale Lopez, were arrested and released.
No one has yet been charged and federal police are continuing their investigation.
Family Trusts
Five of the six blocked buildings are residential or commercial buildings located on Fleury Est, Drolet, Lacordaire streets and on the 9e Avenue, as well as a country house located in Labelle, in the Laurentians.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
An SPVM dog handler and his animal assisted RCMP investigators during the search carried out on the premises of the construction company Frajo, on 9e Avenue.
One of the commercial buildings, on the 9e Avenue, is home to a construction company, Les Entreprises Frajo inc.
With these orders, a judge prohibits Little Italy 2018 Inc., the Melgaf Family Trust, the Magfel Family Trust (both are run by family members) and specific family members “from disposing of the property building [visé par l’ordonnance]to carry out operations on the rights they hold thereon, to exercise any guarantee or recourse, whether of a civil or criminal nature, in relation to said immovable property”, we can read in one between them.
Since the filing of the orders, it is the Minister of Public Works and Government Services of Canada, through the Seized Property Management Directorate, who has become the administrator of the blocked properties.
A proven clan
The federal police investigation focuses on trafficking in illegal substances, illegal gambling and money laundering.
Police suspect the Lopez family of importing cocaine from the Dominican Republic, where they have properties.
The clan owns several buildings and businesses in Montreal whose total value would be several tens of millions of dollars, according to the police.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Ciro’s is another bar visited by RCMP officers on March 26.
They believe that the money generated by criminal activities would be laundered through their businesses and through the rental of their buildings, while their drinking establishments would be used to facilitate drug trafficking.
Franco and Pasquale Lopez had a third brother, Giuseppe, who was shot and killed last year in the Dominican Republic. According to our information, Giuseppe was also a target of the RCMP investigation.
Giuseppe, Franco and Pasquale were arrested for cocaine trafficking in November 2015, following the Magot-Mastiff investigation through which the Sûreté du Québec decapitated a mafia-biker-gang alliance that led Montreal organized crime at that time. era. The brothers, however, benefited from a halt to the legal process in October 2019.
The Lopezes, who have been present in the northeast of Montreal for several years, were fairly discreet until police investigations took an interest in them.
Buildings, businesses and vehicles belonging to family members or their loved ones have been targeted by arsonists in recent years.
Police believe these events are linked to a conflict with a neighboring clan.
The Lopez brothers’ uncle and family patriarch, Serafino Oliverio, was the target of a spectacular attempted shooting outside his home in November 2021.
The latter would not be targeted by the RCMP investigation.
To contact Daniel Renaud, call 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.