MISSING COCAINE DEALER TURNS UP DEAD IN QUEBEC

A three-time convicted Winnipeg cocaine trafficker who negotiated an
eyebrow-raising deal to drive himself to Montreal for sentencing has
been found dead in the Laurentian Mountains.

Franco Sebastion Nucci, 45, missing since April 29, was discovered by
a hunter along with 33-year-old Martin Dubreuil, Surete du Quebec
spokesperson Chantal Mackets said yesterday. They were in a GMC Yukon
parked in an isolated spot outside Saint-Adolphe-d'Howard, a
community north of Montreal in the Laurentians.

"There were traces of violence on both bodies," said Chantal Mackets
of Surete du Quebec, "but we're not saying what. The autopsies will
determine the cause of death."

Police sources said it's believed Nucci and Dubreuil were shot to death.

Mackets said the autopsies will also pinpoint the time of death. No
arrests have been made. Nucci has made headlines in Winnipeg over the
past decade for his involvement in the city's cocaine trade.

Last June, RCMP in Manitoba issued Nucci's picture in the hope of
tracking him down after he failed to show up in a Montreal court April 29.

He was supposed to be sentenced to seven-and-a-half years behind bars
on a 2001 charge of selling one pound of cocaine to an undercover
police officer in Winnipeg. At the time of the release, RCMP said
they believed Nucci was trying to flee the country and should be
considered dangerous.

How Nucci got his case moved to Montreal is a matter of debate in the
city's law enforcement community and criminal underworld. At the
time, Nucci had been convicted twice of selling cocaine, once behind
the walls of Stony Mountain Institution.

"Who the... gets convicted in one town and then is allowed to be
sentenced in another, especially a three-time loser like Nucci?
Three-time losers don't get bail," a source said. "He cut a deal."

Court documents show Nucci was allowed to drive from Winnipeg to
Montreal in a 2003 black Dodge Durango on the understanding he'd
appear in a Montreal courtroom Feb. 25.

Court documents say he did show up on that date, but not for his
sentencing at the end of April.

The documents also say Nucci wanted to move to Montreal so he could
serve his time in an institution close to his ailing wife, who was
ill with cancer.

But the source said most believe Nucci never intended to spend
another minute of his life in jail and agreed to become an informant
to avoid it.

But the source said most believe Nucci never intended to spend
another minute of his life in jail and agreed to become an informant
to avoid it.

Nucci's bail conditions included a $150,000 surety posted by his
father, which was to be voided if he breached any conditions. It's
not known if the Crown has seized that money.

Nucci was first arrested in 1996 during a city police-RCMP drug sweep
of known biker gang members and associates. He was sentenced to 30 months.

He next pleaded guilty in 1998 to conspiring to traffic cocaine
inside Stony Mountain Institution. According to the Crown, Stony
Mountain inmates would place calls to outside dealers to order their
drugs. The drugs would be smuggled into the prison in milk cartons by
a garbage collector who worked there.

Also in 1998, Nucci complained to the Free Press that two RCMP
officers took him out of prison on a phoney warrant and pressured him
into giving up more than $50,000 in a Winnipeg hotel room.

"They also tried to convince me to become an informant," Nucci said
at the time. "They didn't physically intimidate me, but they used my
family against me. It was an emotional threat."

Nucci launched an internal grievance against the prison officials who
let him go with the RCMP officer on the basis of the warrant, but it
was denied after prison officials determined nothing illegal took place.

RCMP sources said at the time Nucci knew the warrant was bogus
because he set up the hotel meeting in the first place so other
inmates wouldn't know he was going willingly with police to offer
information or make a deal. Sources also said Nucci was an
independent drug trafficker who did not get his supply from outlaw
motorcycle gang members.

In fact, there's evidence Nucci was trying to get out of the drug
trade at the time of his third arrest in 2001. Nucci is quoted as
saying he wanted to call it quits because the Hells Angels had moved
into the city and were solidifying their hold on the city's cocaine trade.

Nucci's family was unavailable.