GANGSTERISM LAW PASSES COURT TEST

5 Convicted in Canadian First: Drug Traffickers Hijacked Montreal Neighbourhood

MONTREAL - Five drug traffickers who held a street in Montreal
hostage while their gang dealt crack cocaine on sidewalks and out of
a high school parking lot have been convicted of gangsterism in a
case described as a first in Canada.

Bernard Mathieu, 35, his two top lieutenants and two other men were
convicted of at least four charges each in a trial heard at the
special courthouse built years ago to handle the Hells Angels megatrials.

In delivering his verdict yesterday, Quebec Court Judge Jean-Pierre
Bonin said there wasn't enough evidence to convict five other men who
were also charged with gangsterism, or committing a crime for the
benefit of a criminal organization. In total, 15 men were convicted
of drug trafficking and 14 of those were found guilty of conspiracy
to traffic drugs.

The unique trial targeted street gang members, alleging they were
part of a large-scale conspiracy similar to the Hells Angels or the
Mafia. It also put to test a section of the Criminal Code amended in
2001 to broaden the definition of a criminal organization.
Prosecutors are no longer required to prove an accused knew the
identity of any of the people who were part of the criminal organization.

The investigation into Mathieu's gang began in 2004. Dubbed Project
Abat, it targeted drug trafficking on Montreal's Pelletier Avenue
after two men delivering drugs were shot to death in November, 2003.
They were killed in front of an apartment building often used by
Mathieu's dealers. An innocent victim was left paralyzed as a result
of the shooting.

Detective Sergeant Jean-Claude Gauthier, a Montreal police expert on
street gangs, testified during the trial that Mathieu was suspected
of controlling the street for a decade. His dealers were a constant
presence there, drinking rum, playing cards and dealing crack, even
out of the parking lot of the Calixa-Lavallee high school.

Undercover officers bought several rocks of crack from Mathieu's
dealers during the course of the investigation. They also recorded
several incriminating conversations that proved Mathieu was the leader.

In April 2005, Montreal police arrested Mathieu and more than 25
people tied to his network.

Valter Fernandes, a member of Mathieu's gang, smiled as he was
acquitted of all the major charges the co-accused faced, including
the gangsterism charge, which carries a maximum 14-year sentence.

He was convicted of trafficking in marijuana, but Mr. Bonin said
there was not enough evidence to convict him of gangsterism or
trafficking in either cocaine or crack. It was Fernandes who learned
Mathieu and his dealers were under investigation. His girlfriend
noticed surveillance photos of Mathieu's dealers posted on the walls
of a neighbourhood police station. When Fernandes warned Mathieu, the
dealers suddenly packed up and moved to a parallel street.

Wilson Longin, one of several dealers convicted of drug trafficking
and conspiracy, said he planned to appeal.

"I am ready to accept what I have done," Longin said outside the
courtroom while admitting he sold crack to undercover officers. But
Longin added he felt he was convicted of the more serious conspiracy
charge simply because he was present while Mathieu and his associates
were under police surveillance.

During the trial, defence lawyers generally accepted that their
clients were guilty of drug trafficking but argued the accused were
working individually and for their own profit.

"Obviously, we think it raises questions about gangsterism, questions
that will probably be addressed to the Quebec Court of Appeal in
order to determine what is a criminal organization in Quebec," said
Marie-Helene Giroux, the lead defence lawyer in the case. "We wonder
what the difference is between a conspiracy involving three people or
more and a criminal organization."

Sentencing arguments in the case of the minor figures in the trial
begin today. In Mathieu's case, they begin in February.

Mathieu is currently fighting a deportation order that would see him
be sent to Haiti. He moved to Canada with his family when he was
eight and is a permanent resident.