Source: Montreal Gazette
Contact: letters@thegazette.southam.ca

Crime ring broken

by William Marsden, The Gazette

Police yesterday arrested 30 people and smashed what they say was a
vast criminal organization responsible for the sale across Canada of
anywhere from $100 million to $1 billion in stolen property,
bootlegged alcohol, smuggled tobacco and cocaine.

Police claim the organization, based on the Kahnawake reserve, was
also involved in counterfeiting, moneylaundering, bribery of a
customs officer, fraud, and hijacking.

Among the 30 arrested was a Canadian customs officer at a U.S. border
crossing in Quebec. He has been charged with taking thousands of
dollars in bribes from the smugglers.

Jean Campbell of Canada Customs said the officer is a 22year veteran
with an "impeccable record."

He refused to release the officer's name because he had not been
arraigned.

Police allege the customs agent worked with four other people who were
not customs agents. Together, they helped organized the passage of
contraband through customs.

The group charged $4,500 per shipment. Police do not know how many
shipments they allowed across the border.

The main target of the investigation was Kahnawake resident Matthew
(Watio) Lazare, 35, who operated a warehouse on Highway 132 east of
the Mercier Bridge.

Police said the contraband and stolen goods were fenced through the
warehouse for delivery primarily in Quebec and Ontario but also as far
west as Vancouver and as far east as Nova Scotia.

In Kahnawake, Lazare's warehouse, which he called the South Texas
Ranch, supplied contraband tobacco and alcohol to 170 dépanneurs.

Police have documented 1.25 million cartons of cigarettes sold at
these stores in the last 18 months depriving the provincial treasury
of more than $20 million in tobacco and sales tax.

The RCMP have turned over their records to Revenue Quebec which will
be pursuing these stores, police said.

Police arrested Lazare yesterday at 7 a.m. in front of a Dunkin Donuts
in LaSalle. His righthand man Bryan (BJ) Jacobs, 36, also a resident
of Kahnawake, was arrested three hours later in front of the Montreal
General Hospital.

They are charged with 18 counts of violating the customs and excise
law and nine criminal charges arising from the hijacking and theft of
various containers of 8,000 winter boots, nine John Deere lawn
tractors, Sanelli knives from Italy, SAQ liquor shipments, seafood and
French wine.

He is also charged with possession of $74,000 in stolen $2 coins, part
of a $3million shipment of coins stolen last year out of a Canadian
National container yard in southwestern Montreal. Police said Lazare
often used the stolen coins to pay undercover police officers for
transporting his contraband.

Charges against the 28 other accused include fraud, counterfeiting,
bribery and drug importation.

RCMP Inspector Antoine Couture said Lazare alone is facing more than
$10 million in fines. But it's a price he could easily afford. Couture
said police believe he has laundered more than $60 million in profits
during the last about three years. They don't know the location of the
money.

Despite the arrests, police received a major setback to their
investigation when the Kahnawake Peacekeepers and band council
suddenly refused yesterday to give them support for a raid on Lazare's
warehouse, his large Kahnawake home complete with indoor swimming pool
and an adjacent fourcar garage.

Couture said police had planned the raid weeks in advance and had all
the officers in place as of Tuesday.

"What (the peacekeepers) told us was that they could not any longer
give us their blessing," Couture said. "They could not sanction it."

He said the peacekeepers claimed that the raid could lead to violence.
The RCMP had infiltrated the warehouse with an agent who told them
exactly what was there. Police also knew that Lazare kept precise
records of his transactions and his many properties. These records,
police believe, are in the warehouse and his home.

"There's a very good chance that the merchandise and the records are
no longer there," Couture said.

Peacekeepers were unavailable for comment yesterday. The dispatcher
said that Warren Lahache, who is chief of the Peacekeepers, was away
until Monday.

One source told The Gazette that the band council and the Peacekeepers
sent faxes to Ottawa and Quebec City complaining about the planned
raid and trying to garner political support against it.

Gérald Rivé of Montreal Urban Community police said the Quebec public
security minister was told about the raid but he does not know of any
political interference.

"This definitely affected the outcome of the investigation," Couture
said, referring to the Peacekeepers' lack of cooperation.

He noted that the Peacekeepers had been kept aware of the
investigation since January 1996 when the RCMP began targeting
Lazare's contraband operations in an operation they called Cavale. The
operation broadened into a joint investigation with the MUC police
into hijacking and stolen goods and also into cocaine smuggling.

A cocaine sting operation resulted in the arrests of two Hell's Angels
plus 10 other people for conspiring to import 600 kilos of cocaine.
The RCMP also seized more than $1 million in Canadian and U.S. bills,
jewelry, guns and a new Harley Davidson motorcycle.

Police said 19 people are still at large and they expect to seek
arrest warrants for 40 to 50 more.