DRUG KINGPIN SLAIN

Two men found dead in truck in Valleyfield; 7 killings in a week seem
tied to dope, gangs.

A high-profile drug dealer was one of the victims in a gangland-style
double slaying in this town southwest of Montreal, police say.

The Surete du Quebec confirmed last night the two men found dead early
yesterday morning in Valleyfield, about 50 kilometres from Montreal,
had both been shot.

There have been seven homicides in the Montreal area in the past week
that appear to be drug-related or possibly tied to organized crime.

One of the two men found dead yesterday in a pickup truck idling by a
busy road was Michel Meunier, a convicted drug dealer from St.
Colomban, a town that's just south of St. Jerome.

In 1999, the federal government seized a hotel and apartment building
worth an estimated $1 million that Meunier owned in Montebello. He was
accused of using the real estate to launder drug money.

Meunier had been arrested earlier with 14 people in a RCMP drug bust
tied to a Colombian crime gang in Montreal. He pleaded guilty to
trafficking in hashish and cocaine, was sentenced to two years in jail
and fined more than $100,000 for undeclared income.

Meunier, 46, was scheduled to appear in court in St. Jerome next month
on recent drug-trafficking charges.

Meunier was behind the wheel of a Chevrolet Silverado found idling in
the parking lot of a boat-repair business on Larocque Rd., according
to police.

Next to him was the body of Marc emond, 47, of Aylmer. He had recently
finished serving a three-year sentence for discharging a firearm
during a robbery.

The bodies were discovered early yesterday; investigators suspect the
double homicide took place around 8 p.m. Monday.

"Someone noticed the parked vehicle with its lights on. He passed by
again sometime later and still saw the vehicle. He called the police
because he found it suspicious," said Constable Chantal Mackels, an SQ
spokesperson.

Hours after the SQ began its investigation, the truck - with the
bodies still inside - was moved to a garage in an abandoned building
on Larocque.

Mackels would not say whether investigators recovered a weapon. No
arrests have been made so far, she said.

The SQ are investigating four of the seven homicides reported in and
around Montreal in the past week that appear to have possible ties to
organized crime.

On Saturday, the body of Bruno Jacques, 49, was found near his home in
Laval. He had been shot to death, and local police turned over their
investigation to the SQ because he had clear ties to organized crime.

On the same day, a logger in Mercier found the body of a man in the
South Shore town. The victim had been decapitated, his hands cut off,
and even the tattoos on his arms removed, making identification difficult.

Mackels said the four homicides being probed by the SQ appear to be
unrelated. "It's just a coincidence that they happened in the same
week."

Mikail Germain, 22, and Calixte Thierry, 23, were gunned down Friday
outside an apartment building on Pelletier Ave., near Henri Bourassa
Blvd.

Investigators have determined both homicides were linked to narcotics
trafficking.

The battered body of Luc Vanier, 51, of Ste. Julienne was found behind
a Chomedey gas station Thursday morning.