TV MOBSTER NABBED IN BUST

Cocaine Ring. Played Enforcer In 1990s Series Omerta

More than 50 people, including a former actor who played the role of a
mobster in a popular television series about the Mafia, were arrested
or sought on warrants in connection with a major cocaine trafficking
ring with alleged links to the Hells Angels.

Bruno Diquinzio, 42, was named yesterday as remaining at large
following the arrests in Project Croisiere, a joint police
investigation into a cocaine trafficking ring that stretched from
Vancouver to Montreal.

Diquinzio, a Montrealer, played an enforcer for a mafioso in Omerta, a
popular fictional account of the Montreal Mafia that aired on Radio
Canada during the late 1990s. The series title was borrowed from the
Sicilian expression for the Mafia's code of silence.

Besides charges filed against him in Montreal court yesterday,
Diquinzio is being sought since June 1 on drug trafficking charges
filed in Vancouver.

In 2000, he was sentenced to a 3-year prison term after police in
Montreal linked him to a large stash of drugs, cash and weapons
uncovered in the St. Michel district. Police initially linked him to
the Montreal Mafia, but during a Dec. 2000 parole hearing, his
classification was modified to a "large-scale drug trafficker" with
extensive contacts in the drug milieu.

At least one of the people arrested yesterday is known to have links
to the Montreal Mafia through the Rizzuto clan. Antonino Milioto, 62,
was arrested in 1999 in connection with another cocaine smuggling ring
along with people connected to the Montreal Mafia. In 2003, he was
sentenced to 31/2 years for playing a limited role in the plot to
smuggle hundreds of kilos of cocaine from Miami to Montreal.

S=FBrete du Quebec Sgt. Martine Isabelle described Project Croisiere
as a joint investigation by the SQ, the RCMP and Revenue Quebec.

"A part of the investigation leads us to believe it can be tied to
(the Hells Angels)," she said.

None of those arrested yesterday appears to be full-patch members of
the biker gang.

Nine people were arrested in Montreal. Another five were arrested in
Ottawa and two others were apprehended in Vancouver. Arrests were also
made in the Laurentians, Eastern Townships and western Quebec.

"The investigation began in September 2006, and it showed that the
drugs were imported from Mexico to Canada," Isabelle said. "On an
annual basis this organization was importing several hundred kilos of
cocaine."

The drugs were smuggled via the western U.S. into British Columbia in
vehicles. From Vancouver, the cocaine was driven to Montreal, then
distributed to various part of Quebec.

Isabelle said two large seizures were already made in Montreal and in
western Quebec in April and May during the investigation. Police
seized cocaine, ecstacy and cars at the time.