TENANTS HAIL CRACK BUST

'Dealers Felt They Owned The Place'. Surveillance Of Downtown
Housing-Project Area Leads To 21 Arrests, Big Seizure Of Cocaine Derivative

The tenants of Habitations Jeanne Mance lived in such terror of drug
dealers that Danielle Juteau could see them shake when they came to her
office to complain.

"The drug dealers felt they owned the place," Juteau said in an interview
yesterday in her office on Ontario St.

"Now there is a sense of a cleanup."

Juteau is director of the corporation that manages Habitations Jeanne Mance
for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. and the city of Montreal.

Outside her office window, she could see the net result of a Montreal
police investigation that took months to carry out.

The probe targeted dealers who pushed crack cocaine, primarily in a small
park surrounded by the 28 buildings that provide low-cost housing to 1,750
residents in 788 units.

Within the public-housing project is a well-tended community vegetable
garden, basketball courts and a wading pool.

Juteau said the sight of alleged dealers being yanked from their apartments
in handcuffs does not tell the true story of the housing project, where
residents hold an intercultural festival every August.

"In the latest census, they noted there were 67 different cultural groups
in Montreal," she said.

"As of May 1, we had 70.

"All of Montreal is represented here.

"There is a real community that lives here.

"Unfortunately, they were terrified of this gang. We are really content
that it was hit (yesterday).

"We've been waiting for this for a while.

"The dealers had the attitude, 'This is our land and we tolerate you here.'

"It should be the reverse, where the renters can push them out."

Juteau said the corporation that manages the housing project, the largest
in Montreal, learned of the problem about a year ago. A security company
was hired and an anonymous tip line was set up where people could report
suspicious activity.

The information gathered indicated there was a serious problem, and it was
passed on to the Montreal police, who agreed to invest time in a lengthy
investigation.

"The goal of the operation was to dismantle a criminal organization that
sold drugs in the area, principally crack," said Montreal police Commander
Pierre Cadieux.

"The sales were being done in the park and on the streets. Some of the
dealers lived (there).

"It was a criminal organization that formed in recent months. They are not
tied to the biker gangs or the street gangs. They were well organized but
isolated."

The police have scheduled a press conference for today during which they
are expected to release more details on the operation.

By late yesterday afternoon, 21 people had been arrested in the bust. More
than 1,000 rocks of crack cocaine were seized as investigators executed
search warrants at addresses throughout Montreal and at a residence in
Longueuil. About two-thirds of the cocaine was found in the housing project.

According to police sources, the alleged head of the network was Kevin
White, a 28-year-old resident of Habitations Jeanne Mance.

He is expected to be charged today with nine Criminal Code violations,
including conspiracy to traffic, obstructing justice and gangsterism. Court
documents indicate White has been under investigation since Jan. 17.

The police believe the drug dealers decided to set up shop in the area
because of its proximity to two major metro stations and the bars that line
such streets as Ste. Catherine and St. Denis.

Juteau said the drug dealers terrorized several residents of the housing
project. During the past few months, the residents met with Juteau and
demanded to know why nothing was being done to rectify a situation where
the dealers would operate brazenly in the park.

Juteau said she had to keep the police investigation a secret.

"It takes a while to build proof and evidence. The police didn't want to
just arrest dealers and have them return the next day," she said.

"People would come to our offices literally shaking and crying. They would
say things like, 'I know you're with them. You're doing nothing because
you've been paid off.' We could not say anything because it would have
compromised the investigation."

Juteau said evicting drug dealers is a complicated process and that the
provincial rental board will issue an eviction notice only if it is based
on first-hand testimony from neighbours.

Some residents interviewed yesterday agreed that the dealers acted like
they owned the neighbourhood.

"It's been getting progressively worse. People here, I've noticed, are
afraid to sit in the park," said a man who has lived in the project for 10
years. "(The drug dealers) are so blatant and I hear gunshots fired all the
time. You could have a bullet end up in your balcony, but the police don't
do anything about it."

Another man who lives in a building on de Maisonneuve Blvd. watched the
police operation with a cynical eye. He said he believes drug dealers will
return to the park by the weekend.

"They were a real gang. They seemed really organized," said the man, who
asked not to be named because he fears reprisals.

"Did they call themselves anything? Did they go by a name?" the man was asked.

"No. But we called them the gang des sales."

Andre-Guy Lariviere said he has seen people using needles to shoot heroin
on benches along the walkway that leads to his apartment. "In the park, it
is very serious. You see people taking drugs, drinking, all sorts of things."

Prabir Dhar, a McGill law student who moved to Canada from Bangladesh a few
years ago, agreed with Lariviere on the extent of the problem. "Sometimes
you see people who are of doubtful character hanging around here. You often
see people drinking in the park. We want it to be a crime-free zone around
here because many adult people live here who want to live a peaceful life."