The police arrested, on Sunday, the two right-hand men of Dave “Pic” Turmel, who each have a long criminal record, notably for having taken part together in a home invasion in 2015.
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Rapper James “Frékent” Célestin, 39, faces three charges, including serious assault by injuring, mutilating and disfiguring a victim he allegedly kidnapped on February 4. He also allegedly committed a kidnapping during another event on February 20.
Rapper James “Frékent” Célestin.
“Taken from the “Frekent” Facebook page”
The Quebec City Police Service (SPVQ) also handcuffed Jean-François Dion, 36, who is accused of possession of prohibited ammunition.
According to information obtained by our Bureau of Investigation, the two men are the right-hand men of Dave “Pic” Turmel, the kingpin involved in a violent conflict opposing him and his drug traffickers to the Hells Angels in the region of Quebec.
A rapper still active
Célestin and Dion have each already been convicted several times in recent years, among other things for having both participated in a home robbery aimed at stealing cocaine, in Portneuf, in the summer of 2015.
James Célestin is also known as the artist “Frékent” on the hip-hop scene in the national capital.
James Célestin was active on the national capital’s hip-hop scene until the fall of 2023.
“Screenshot taken from the YouTube channel “Frekent Officiel””
Despite his run-ins with the law, he continued to produce music in recent years, until last fall, when he released his most recent piece, Cut them.
- Listen to the interview with Kathryne Lamontagne, investigative journalist at the Quebecor Bureau of Investigation on Alexandre Dubé via QUB radio :
The height of irony is that this is, in a way, the fate suffered by two Hells sympathizers in recent days, among others by Turmel’s henchmen who notably cut off an ear, a finger and a toe. . However, it is unknown whether Célestin’s words have any link to these crimes.
In 2017, after leaving prison, he complained, in an article in the media Vice, that his halfway house recommended that he not have the right to promote or distribute his music. “It is my freedom of expression that is under attack,” he declared.
In a podcast for the media ONZMTL last fall, Célestin spoke of “interruptions, penalties and red cards” in his musical career, presumably referring to the prison sentences he had to serve.
“It brought me a lot of truth, a lot of wisdom,” he said.
-With Félix Séguin, Bureau of Investigation