Could the murder of a man that occurred on the night of Thursday to Friday in a strip bar in Terrebonne have a link with everything that is currently revolving around Jean-Philippe Célestin, a Montreal gang leader whose brother was recently murdered and who was seen wearing the colors of a Hells Angels school club?
This is a question that the Sûreté du Québec’s Crimes against the Person investigators will probably ask themselves, who, for the moment, are not ruling out any hypothesis.
Around 2:30 a.m. on the night of Thursday to Friday, a bloody fight broke out in a bar of naked dancers on Boulevard Gascon. Customers left in panic and several calls were made to 911.
When Terrebonne police officers arrived on scene, they found a 32-year-old man who was pronounced dead inside the establishment and another 25-year-old, seriously injured, in the bar parking lot.
At the time of writing, Crimes against the Person investigators were still trying to understand the sequence of events.
The victims were allegedly killed and injured by a knife. It is currently unknown whether they knew each other. One thing is certain, one did not try to attack the other.
According to our information, the victim who was killed is Jessy Furtado-Bénard, 32, an individual known to the police.
Furtado-Bénard had a history of possession of weapons, drugs, assault, threats and failure to comply with orders.
He was notably sentenced to almost two years of imprisonment for possession of a firearm in 2012 and to 19 months – he had nine and a half months left to serve – for a similar offense in 2023.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
One of the two victims was found injured in the bar parking lot when police arrived.
The other victim, aged 25, is also known to police for a similar history. She is still in hospital.
Célestin among the bikers
According to our sources, Furtado-Bénard would have been a relation of Jean-Philippe Célestin, an important player in Montreal organized crime and leader of a gang which, according to the police, would be involved in drug trafficking in downtown Montreal. Montreal and in violent crimes.
Célestin’s younger brother, Brandon Jean, 28, was murdered after a family event in mid-February, near Bellechasse and Saint-Denis streets, and according to our information, this murder could be linked to a conflict with another gang.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Jean-Philippe Célestin, left, during the exhibition of Gregory Woolley’s body at the Loreto Funeral Complex, in Montreal, last fall
According to our information, Jean-Philippe Célestin, former right-hand man of gang leader Gregory Woolley, was seen wearing a Marauders jacket in a Montreal bar on Thursday evening by the SPVM’s Eclipse squad, which specializes in surveillance of bars and the collection of intelligence on organized crime, which would support information received at The Press and coming from the criminal world.
Created towards the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021, the Marauders are a school club of the Hells Angels and would mainly have links with the Hells Angels of the Montreal section, according to court testimony from the bikers’ expert of the SQ Alain Belleau.
Some of their members allegedly carried out surveillance during the funeral of Brandon Jean Célestin, celebrated on March 5 in a church in Plateau Mont-Royal.
However, the police do not yet officially consider Jean-Philippe Célestin as a member of the Marauders.
There has never been a black person in the Hells Angels since their arrival in Quebec in 1977, but there have been some in their subordinate clubs, notably Gregory Woolley – killed last November -, former member of the Montreal Rockers, late school club of the Hells Angels, very active during the biker war.
Bodyguards
According to the police, the Marauders notably played the role of bodyguards for members of the Hells Angels.
In May 2021, during a biker’s party dinner attended by members of the Hells Angels and the mafia, a member of the Marauders was seen by the police standing guard near the restaurant where the event took place.
PHOTO PROVIDED
The Montreal Marauders logo
In the spring of 2023, Hells Angels from the Montreal section arrived with members of the Marauders during the first motorcycle ride of the year, which took place in the Eastern Townships.
In September 2022, the police intercepted members of the Hells Angels from the Montreal section and the Marauders on Highway 20, near Drummondville, in an operation carried out as part of the Quebec Centaure anti-weapons strategy. fire.
The Marauders were also present during the 45e anniversary of the presence of the Hells Angels in Canada celebrated in December 2022 in Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu.
They had also taken part, two months earlier, in a procession of bikers which circulated along the American border to mark the death of the founder of the Hells Angels, Sonny Barger.
To contact Daniel Renaud, call 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.