FRUITS OF CRIME WILL HELP TO PAY POLICE

Menard announces windfall of more than $5 million from seizures will
go to crime-fighters

Giant claws swoop down on motorcycle confiscated from a gang member that
will be fed into a crusher.

More than $5 million seized from criminals as the proceeds of organized
crime will be reinvested in the police forces that help fight the gangs,
says Justice Minister Serge Menard.

Yesterday, the minister announced that more than $20 million in assets have
been seized since 1996. That's when the National Assembly voted to utilize
a 1993 Criminal Code amendment allowing provinces to redirect the funds
into crime prevention.

With more than $11 million worth of property, vehicles and other costly
items already auctioned off, half the proceeds will go back to the police
forces that participated in investigations, raids and seizures, Menard
said. He called the new source of funds a motivator for police forces.

"We're a bit like miners that know there is a mine there, but still haven't
evaluated how much steel there is," Menard said. "Crime pays less and less
for the criminals."

The minister played down suggestions from reporters that his announcement
was timed for the election campaign. He said the law is complicated and
took time to apply.

However, police forces that might benefit from the funds, like the Montreal
Urban Community, Laval and Quebec City, seemed surprised by Menard's
announcement and wouldn't comment. One investigator said he hoped "it's
more than just a campaign promise."

Police units that investigate organized crime are finding it tough to keep
up with the expensive technology used by criminals to avoid surveillance.
RC MP Commissioner Philip Murray said last summer the force had only enough
money to watch biker gangs, not other crime syndicates.

Menard acknowledged that manpower for police surveillance is expensive.

"You have to filter out the telephone calls for pizza, Chinese food and the
calls to girlfriends before finding something significant," he said.

The minister noted that Quebec is the only province to apply the
criminal-code amendment with success. He said British Columbia has enacted
similar legislation, but with little results so far. Since April, a
permanent staff of 20 has been handling the legal details of liquidating
the goods seized in Quebec.

"There are, sometimes, some things that we do better in Quebec than is done
elsewhere," Menard said. "This is one aspect of the fight that we are doing
differently from everyone else and that is producing good results."

The other half of the funds will be split evenly between organizations that
help the victims of crimes and crime-prevention community groups.

Included among the more than $9 million in items not yet liquidated is a
$1-million mansion - complete with a bungalow for servants - on Laval's Ile
aux Pruches that was the former residence of Scott Steinert, a high-ranking
member of the Hell's Angels Montreal chapter. Steinert disappeared after
his wedding last year and some police investigators believe he is dead. A
Quebec Court judge ruled in October that his properties could be sold.

Also up for sale is the 13-room house formerly owned by Michel
Lajoie-Smith, a leader of Laval's Death Riders - a gang affiliated with the
Montreal chapter of the Hell's Angels. He is serving time for assault.

Menard said it was unfortunate that some of the items seized at
Lajoie-Smith's home couldn't be sold, including his prized motorcycle,
which had Hell's Angels markings stamped on the parts.

Menard said it would have been dangerous for the next owner to be driving
around on such a vehicle, "so we sent it to be recycled." For the same
reason, Hell's Angels jewelry gets melted down if there is any gold in it.

"Criminals are people who are very shortsighted and can be very arrogant in
the way they spend," Menard said.

But biker gangs are learning how to get around the new laws. Last year, the
Hell's Angels opened its chapter on the South Shore and filled it with
members who have had no criminal records for five years, which prevents
them from being considered an organized gang under Bill C-95, the anti-gang
legislation. The chapter's bunker in Saint-Basil-le-Grane was recently raided.

Menard said if gangs are finding ways to sidestep the new laws, amendments
can be made.

"The fight against organized crime is something that has to be renewed
continuously. We catch what we can catch and the fittest or the luckiest
survive. They are the hard ones to catch.

"I don't think the fight against organized crime will ever stop. But I'm
sure that by cutting their money supply, we hurt them and make it more
difficult, and I think we have an effect on the number of crimes that are
committed."

Checked-by: Pat Dolan