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Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance #690598
01/14/13 09:47 AM
01/14/13 09:47 AM
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Alliance between Mafia, bikers and cartel fueled NYC's marijuana trade: DEA probe
By MITCHEL MADDUX
Last Updated: 6:31 AM, January 14, 2013
Posted: 2:33 AM, January 14, 2013
EXCLUSIVE
A rogues’-gallery alliance among the Canadian Mafia, outlaw bikers and a Mexican drug cartel supplied New York City with nearly a billion dollars in marijuana until the feds crashed the party, according to authorities and new court documents.

And what a party it was.

French Canadian drug kingpin Jimmy “Cosmo” Cournoyer made enough dough for a jet-set lifestyle, complete with a stunning model girlfriend and parties that drew unwitting stars, including Leonardo DiCaprio, sources told The Post.

A five-year probe by the DEA and police from Laval, Quebec, where Cournoyer once lived, revealed that his network allegedly specialized in growing and distributing potent hydroponic marijuana cultivated in British Columbia.

WireImage
Amelia Racine
Cournoyer, now awaiting trial in Brooklyn federal court, organized the “vast international drug-trafficking enterprise that has been in existence for more than a decade,’’ prosecutor Steven Tiscione wrote in recent court papers.

“The illegal narcotics distributed worldwide by members of the criminal enterprise have a retail value of more than $1 billion, conservatively,” Tiscione wrote to a federal judge.

Until his recent bust, Cournoyer, 33, tried to stay one step ahead of the law in Quebec by garaging his astronomically expensive Bugatti Veyron and instead tooling around town in a Porsche Cayenne to throw off Canadian police surveillance teams, sources said.

The Porsche belonged to the slick drug lord’s catwalk gal pal, Amelia Racine, a willowy Canadian-Brazilian brunette who has modeled in Europe, sources said.

Her jailed brother, Mario Racine, was allegedly the gang’s trusted lieutenant. He is now awaiting extradition to stand trial along with Cournoyer in Brooklyn, officials said.

One of Cournoyer’s biggest customers in New York City was reputed Bonanno crime-family associate John “Big Man” Venizelos, who is currently out on bail in the case, according to sources and the documents.

Looking less like an alleged mobster and more like a day trader with his Ralph Lauren pastels, nautical-flag belts, Polo loafers and horn-rimmed glasses, Venizelos keeps a downtown Manhattan pad and holds a “straight job” managing “Jaguars 3,”a Brooklyn nightspot, sources said.The club is overseen by Vincent “Vinny Green” Faraci, a reputed Bonanno soldier who formerly managed the “Crazy Horse Too” strip club in Las Vegas, the sources added.

Cournoyer was nabbed last spring after stepping off a jet in Mexico as a wanted man.

At the time, he refused to board a US-bound commercial plane to the States, throwing a series of tantrums right out of the Robert De Niro comedy “Midnight Run,” in which the main character fakes a panic attack.

Cornoyer’s antics forced a total of four plane changes over two days before he was eventually flown to New York City to await trial.

The pot supply under his domain was transported in motor homes and trucks across Canada with the help of the Hells Angels, officials said. The motorcycle gang and the Montreal mob then smuggled the pot from Quebec into upstate New York, authorities said. Trucks delivered it to a warehouse in Brooklyn, sources said.

Millions of dollars generated by the marijuana sales were eventually used to buy cocaine from Joaquin Guzmán Loera, the leader of the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel — with the sale of the coke further financing the marijuana operation in Canada, feds say.

That coke was smuggled north into Canada where it was resold — with part of the profits underwriting the massive marijuana pipeline supplying New York City, according to sources and court documents.The enterprise relied on blood relations: Luc Cournoyer, Jimmy’s cousin, is now serving time after he was caught driving a motor home filled with pot, officials and sources said. Jimmy’s brother, Joey Cournoyer — seen in a Facebook photo partying with the unwitting DiCaprio in a bar in Europe — was a crew member who has not been charged yet, although the probe is ongoing, sources said. Also in the photo was Jimmy’s close pal, Ultimate Fighting world champ Georges St-Pierre.

Jimmy Cournoyer’s lawyer, Gerald McMahon, promises a vigorous court battle. Venizelos’ lawyer, John Meringolo insisted that $100,000-plus found in his house by DEA agents isn’t drug cash.

Re: Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance [Re: Scorsese] #690600
01/14/13 10:08 AM
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Sure its not.I can't explain this duffel bag of cash but its def NOT drug money!!


One thing about wiseguys...the hustle never ends.-tony soprano
Re: Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance [Re: Scorsese] #690603
01/14/13 11:02 AM
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Interesting.....drugs flowing south from Canada to the US. Ivy, I can't help but to say it.....I told ya so!


Best way to catch the smart ones? Get an idiot working for them.
Re: Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance [Re: TonyG] #690605
01/14/13 11:13 AM
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Originally Posted By: TonyG
Interesting.....drugs flowing south from Canada to the US. Ivy, I can't help but to say it.....I told ya so!


Tony who do you work for the DOJ?


Random Poster:"I'm sorry I didn't go to an Ivy-league school like you"

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Re: Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance [Re: TonyG] #690618
01/14/13 01:16 PM
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Originally Posted By: TonyG
Interesting.....drugs flowing south from Canada to the US. Ivy, I can't help but to say it.....I told ya so!


well sure drugs do come from canada into the states. BC is pretty much a massive drug hub with the HAs, Vietnamese, Triads and Indo Canadian gangs all based theres pretty much drug coming from all over the place. In this case it was BC bud coming in from the westcoast to montreal then down to the states. You also get ecstacy, ketamine, drug manufacturing chemicals and even afghan heroin coming in through canada.

Re: Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance [Re: TonyG] #690684
01/14/13 08:31 PM
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Originally Posted By: TonyG
Interesting.....drugs flowing south from Canada to the US. Ivy, I can't help but to say it.....I told ya so!


Hold on now. I said that marijuana was the main exception about drugs coming south across the border. Bikers, Asians, Albanians, etc. have all been involved. And, considering Basciano's big Canadian marijuana operation, it's not unheard of for the Mafia either. But the fact that there are so few cases, even including this latest one, proves my point. It's the exception that proves the rule. Drugs coming south are a fraction of what is flowing north.


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Re: Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance [Re: IvyLeague] #690685
01/14/13 08:37 PM
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Originally Posted By: IvyLeague
Hold on now. I said that marijuana was the main exception about drugs coming south across the border. Bikers, Asians, Albanians, etc. have all been involved. And, considering Basciano's big Canadian marijuana operation, it's not unheard of for the Mafia either. But the fact that there are so few cases, even including this latest one, proves my point. It's the exception that proves the rule. Drugs coming south are a fraction of what is flowing north.
this is true, but i might include MDMA as well. as far as the other drugs, i don't think that anybody would argue that some drugs don't make their way south, but that seems like the exception rather than the rule.


It's either blue cheese with wings or go fuck yer mudda!
Re: Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance [Re: Scorsese] #690687
01/14/13 08:43 PM
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Originally Posted By: Scorsese
well sure drugs do come from canada into the states. BC is pretty much a massive drug hub with the HAs, Vietnamese, Triads and Indo Canadian gangs all based theres pretty much drug coming from all over the place. In this case it was BC bud coming in from the westcoast to montreal then down to the states. You also get ecstacy, ketamine, drug manufacturing chemicals and even afghan heroin coming in through canada.
BC sure is a hub for drugs, and a good deal of nice smoke does make its way south into the us, but every year more and more high quality cannabis is produced domestically, and that trend seems likely to continue. as far as heroin, the BC market is mostly dominated by higher quality southeast asian powder heroin trafficked by the asians that you mentioned. the pacific northwest market is dominated by lower quality mexican produced black tar heroin, although there are without a doubt some exceptions.

Last edited by Five_Felonies; 01/14/13 09:06 PM.

It's either blue cheese with wings or go fuck yer mudda!
Re: Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance [Re: Five_Felonies] #690689
01/14/13 08:45 PM
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Originally Posted By: Five_Felonies
Originally Posted By: IvyLeague
Hold on now. I said that marijuana was the main exception about drugs coming south across the border. Bikers, Asians, Albanians, etc. have all been involved. And, considering Basciano's big Canadian marijuana operation, it's not unheard of for the Mafia either. But the fact that there are so few cases, even including this latest one, proves my point. It's the exception that proves the rule. Drugs coming south are a fraction of what is flowing north.
this is true, but i might include MDMA as well. as far as the other drugs, i don't think that anybody would argue that some drugs don't make their way south, but that seems like the exception rather than the rule.


Yes, MDMA is the other one. Which is why I said "mainly" marijuana. The Asians have been particularly big in both, including trafficking them south across the border. They're two drugs that don't put them in direct competition with other groups the way cocaine or heroin would.


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Re: Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance [Re: Scorsese] #690690
01/14/13 08:49 PM
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Staten Island man charged with conspiracy in a Canada-U.S. pot-smuggling scheme
By Frank Donnelly/Staten Island Advance
January 11, 2013


STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- He goes by the names "John V," "John from Staten Island" and "Big Man" -- and "big" could also describe the volume of marijuana prosecutors allege John Venizelos and accomplices smuggled into the country through Canada.

Over the course of 10 years, between January 2002 and February 2012, the suspects moved more than a ton of pot through a Native American reservation on the New York border, allege authorities.

Although not the main player in the scheme, Venizelos, 33, was active locally, authorities say.

Between January 2007 and February 2011, the Grasmere resident supplied five to 10 pounds of marijuana a month to a cooperating witness, said court documents. The pot's street value ranged from $1,500 to $4,000 per pound, said court records.

Venizelos was among six defendants, most of whom are Canadians, charged in the case.

Venizelos is accused of conspiracy to import marijuana, use of firearms and money-laundering conspiracy, said a spokesman for Loretta E. Lynch, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

He has denied guilt and is free on $1.5 million bond.

"He intends to fight the case at this time," said his lawyer, John C. Meringolo of Manhattan.

Court papers don't specify how the pot was brought into the country.

However, contraband is often concealed in secret compartments in vehicles entering the U.S. from Canada. The drugs can also be smuggled on boats and even in private jets.

Several other Islanders have been charged in similar schemes over the years.

Authorities gleaned significant information about Venizelos' Staten Island operation through an informant.

The witness, who has an "extensive" criminal history, is cooperating with authorities in the hope of getting a lighter sentence in a weapon case, said court papers.

The informant said he bought five to 10 pounds of pot a month from Venizelos for four years, said court documents.

On one occasion in February 2011, the informant allegedly stashed marijuana purchased from the suspect in a friend's Eltingville home. Federal agents raided the residence six weeks later and recovered 7.7 pounds of pot under the sink, court records state.

Afterward, the witness and Venizelos met, and in a tape-recorded conversation, Venizelos said, "Now, we have to watch it, though," said court papers.

In a subsequent meeting, the witness repaid Venizelos with $1,000 in cash provided by authorities, court documents state. The two are heard on tape discussing a payment plan.

"Thanks for meeting me. I don't want to talk on the phone," court documents quote Venizelos as saying. "Hopefully, we can get the stash back and all that."

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/01/staten_island_man_charged_with_16.html


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Re: Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance [Re: Scorsese] #690691
01/14/13 08:56 PM
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is anybody here old enough to remember thai stick ? all the old time hippies rave about it, but itlooks like nothing more than shitty brick weed lol


Last edited by Five_Felonies; 01/14/13 09:08 PM.

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Re: Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance [Re: Five_Felonies] #690692
01/14/13 09:31 PM
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Originally Posted By: Five_Felonies
is anybody here old enough to remember thai stick ? all the old time hippies rave about it, but itlooks like nothing more than shitty brick weed


It was the rave back in the day and some of the best stuff around. It was more expensive than any local regular grass but a much better high. Back then, in college, I'd smoke it if I could afford it but would usually just "settle" for sinsemilla.


.
Re: Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance [Re: Scorsese] #690695
01/14/13 09:50 PM
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Here's an article they did on Faraci when he opened the club...


Strippers and tigers and risotto, oh my!
BY SARAH ZORN for The Brooklyn Paper
March 29, 2011




Brooklynites will no longer have to choose between their adult entertainment and their pasta puttanesca.

Jaguars 3, a nightclub-cum-bikini bar-cum-Italian restaurant, is setting up shop on 47th Street between Second and Third avenues in Sunset Park, in the 20,000-square-foot space formerly occupied by Platinum Café and Billiards.

Expected to open in early April, the club boasts an expansive outdoor area, a cabaret, and a full-service restaurant on a raised platform, surrounded by a dance floor and bar.

Owner Vincent Faraci looks forward to bringing some Sin City-style razzle-dazzle to the mostly industrial stretch of Sunset Park.

Faraci ran a gentleman’s club called Crazy Horse Too in Las Vegas for 21 years. After returning home last February to care for his sick father, he couldn’t help noticing a lack of after-hours entertainment in the area.

“Brooklyn was a real nightlife hotspot when I was a kid. Now there’s nothing to do after you get dinner or drinks,” said Faraci. “I figured Brooklyn needed something fun and affordable.”

In Faraci’s world, “fun” means the ability to sip Appletinis, slurp spaghetti and stuff dollar bills where the sun don’t shine all in the same night, in a multi-level warehouse decorated with palm trees, exotic animals and birds of paradise.

“I like when the theme matches the name,” said Faraci. “Since I went with Jaguars, I had to have a jungle theme.”

Our interest is officially piqued.

Jaguars 3 (225 47th St. between Second and Third avenues in Sunset Park, no phone).

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/34/13/24_jaguars_2011_4_1_bk.html


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Re: Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance [Re: Five_Felonies] #690700
01/14/13 10:18 PM
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Originally Posted By: Five_Felonies
is anybody here old enough to remember thai stick ? all the old time hippies rave about it, but itlooks like nothing more than shitty brick weed lol



Are you sure thats thai stick FF it does look like schwag


Random Poster:"I'm sorry I didn't go to an Ivy-league school like you"

"Ah I actually I didn't. It's a nickname the feds gave the
Genovese Family."
Re: Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance [Re: SC] #690712
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Originally Posted By: SC
Originally Posted By: Five_Felonies
is anybody here old enough to remember thai stick ? all the old time hippies rave about it, but itlooks like nothing more than shitty brick weed


It was the rave back in the day and some of the best stuff around. It was more expensive than any local regular grass but a much better high. Back then, in college, I'd smoke it if I could afford it but would usually just "settle" for sinsemilla.


Sc you ever try acid or shrooms in college? I'm guessing Special K wasn't popular in your era that's great drug hard to find though but is fun to do..


Random Poster:"I'm sorry I didn't go to an Ivy-league school like you"

"Ah I actually I didn't. It's a nickname the feds gave the
Genovese Family."
Re: Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance [Re: IvyLeague] #691752
01/19/13 07:06 AM
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Originally Posted By: IvyLeague
Here's an article they did on Faraci when he opened the club...


Strippers and tigers and risotto, oh my!
BY SARAH ZORN for The Brooklyn Paper
March 29, 2011




Brooklynites will no longer have to choose between their adult entertainment and their pasta puttanesca.

Jaguars 3, a nightclub-cum-bikini bar-cum-Italian restaurant, is setting up shop on 47th Street between Second and Third avenues in Sunset Park, in the 20,000-square-foot space formerly occupied by Platinum Café and Billiards.

Expected to open in early April, the club boasts an expansive outdoor area, a cabaret, and a full-service restaurant on a raised platform, surrounded by a dance floor and bar.

Owner Vincent Faraci looks forward to bringing some Sin City-style razzle-dazzle to the mostly industrial stretch of Sunset Park.

Faraci ran a gentleman’s club called Crazy Horse Too in Las Vegas for 21 years. After returning home last February to care for his sick father, he couldn’t help noticing a lack of after-hours entertainment in the area.

“Brooklyn was a real nightlife hotspot when I was a kid. Now there’s nothing to do after you get dinner or drinks,” said Faraci. “I figured Brooklyn needed something fun and affordable.”

In Faraci’s world, “fun” means the ability to sip Appletinis, slurp spaghetti and stuff dollar bills where the sun don’t shine all in the same night, in a multi-level warehouse decorated with palm trees, exotic animals and birds of paradise.

“I like when the theme matches the name,” said Faraci. “Since I went with Jaguars, I had to have a jungle theme.”

Our interest is officially piqued.

Jaguars 3 (225 47th St. between Second and Third avenues in Sunset Park, no phone).

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/34/13/24_jaguars_2011_4_1_bk.html

IVY when your save up some money to make a trip out to NYC you should go that go to his restaurant there's alotta wiseups that hang out in there. I know theres a group of old buzzards that talk extensively about the genovese crime family..They don't have to many chairs and you being a tourist more then likely you'll have to sit on top of that elephant face and big beak the whole time..


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Re: Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance [Re: DickNose_Moltasanti] #691755
01/19/13 07:42 AM
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Originally Posted By: DickNose_Moltasanti
IVY when your save up some money to make a trip out to NYC you should go that go to his restaurant there's alotta wiseups that hang out in there. I know theres a group of old buzzards that talk extensively about the genovese crime family..They don't have to many chairs and you being a tourist more then likely you'll have to sit on top of that elephant face and big beak the whole time..


What is that, comedy?


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Re: Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance [Re: IvyLeague] #691756
01/19/13 07:47 AM
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Originally Posted By: IvyLeague
Originally Posted By: DickNose_Moltasanti
IVY when your save up some money to make a trip out to NYC you should go that go to his restaurant there's alotta wiseups that hang out in there. I know theres a group of old buzzards that talk extensively about the genovese crime family..They don't have to many chairs and you being a tourist more then likely you'll have to sit on top of that elephant face and big beak the whole time..


What is that, comedy?


It's not comedy its the truth


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"Ah I actually I didn't. It's a nickname the feds gave the
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Re: Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance [Re: Scorsese] #694364
02/04/13 11:03 PM
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Bonanno associate and Canadian drug kingpin set up $2M 'hit' fund: feds
By MITCHEL MADDUX
February 4, 2013



When mobsters draw on this account – people get whacked.

A Bonanno associate and a Canadian drug kingpin used a $2 million “hit” fund – so they could quickly hire henchmen to murder snitches, Brooklyn feds said today.

John "Big Man" Venizelos sent encrypted BlackBerry messages to a colleague explaining that French Canadian drug kingpin Jimmy “Cosmo” Cournoyer had bankrolled the special murder fund to underwrite hits against informants in the high-profile international narcotics case against the pair, Brooklyn federal prosecutors revealed.

Venizelos, a Bonanno connected guy charged with teaming up with the Canadian drug lord was arrested again today after ominously warning a witness about the hit fund, officials said.

"Venizelos sent an encrypted message" to a co-conspirator, warning that person "that he/she had better hope that Cournoyer or members of his organization never found out that [the co-conspirator] had spoken with law enforcement agents because Cournoyer has $2 million set aside to pay for the murder of cooperating witnesses," Brooklyn Assistant US Attorney Steven Tiscione wrote to a judge.

The feds included encrypted messages that Venizelos sent out the murder fund that government experts just recently deciphered.

"Seriously bro. I know he has like 2 mil...just to pay guys to handle that once he sentenced," Venizelos wrote in the message, referring to Cournoyer, according to a court transcript.

Cournoyer, 33, who is awaiting trial in Brooklyn federal court, allegedly lies at the center of $1 billion narcotics ring and operated through alliances he created between the Canadian Mafia, the Hells Angels, a Mexican drug cartel, and the Bonanno crime family, The Post first reported last month.

Prosecutors says that Cournoyer was one of the biggest suppliers of marijuana to New York City until his arrest last year.

The feds also seized letters that they believe were written by an unnamed organized crime colleague of Venizelos, which they say clearly establish the nightclub manager's Mafia activities and involvement in bloody crimes.

"In addition to discussing Venizelos’ ties to organized crime - including references to 'sit-downs' with 'captains' in various New York organized crime families of La Cosa Nostra - the letters also specifically mention a myriad of violent crimes committed by the author with, or on behalf of Venizelos...including the 'torture' of an individual Venizelos suspected of stealing his drugs," prosecutors wrote.

In one of the seized letters, the unnamed colleague recounts that chilling assault.

"Who cared enough to pull a broad daylight kidnapping, then torture the name out of that guy?" the colleague wrote to Venizelos, the feds say.

Venizelos - who sports horn-rimmed glasses and wears Ralph Lauren Polo ensembles - holds a "straight job" managing "Jaguars 3", a Brooklyn nightspot run by Vincent "Vinny Green" Faraci, a Bonanno crime family soldier who formerly managed the "Crazy Horse Too" strip club in Las Vegas.

After the DEA arrested Venizelos two months ago and charged him with being one of Cournoyer's biggest customers, his attorney insisted that the $100,000-plus seized by feds at Venizelos' residence wan't drug money - it was just cash for tipping strippers at the "Jaguars 3" club.

Defense attorney John Meringolo argued that the money belongs to the nightclub and insists that Venizelos - the club's manager - was going to bring the cash to the bank to exchange it for tens of thousands of single dollar bills.

"Every other week he procures up to $50,000 in singles for the business of exotic dancers," Meringolo told The Post.

Greenback singles are an essential element of strip club operations and are coveted by customers who want to give get a rush from up-close and very personal cash tips to gyrating strippers.

"By no means does this money have anything to do with drug proceeds," Meringolo said.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brook...33nvYUPEt5YwV4H


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Re: Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance [Re: IvyLeague] #696194
02/12/13 11:10 PM
02/12/13 11:10 PM
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Link:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/02/12/...prosecutors-say

Excerpts:

Quebec playboy accused of running $1-billion drug empire linked to Montreal Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto, prosecutors say
Adrian Humphreys
National Post
Feb 12, 2013 5:34 PM ET

A personal phone number for Montreal Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto was found saved in the telephone of a man accused in a massive $1-billion drug empire that allegedly flooded the eastern seaboard of the United States with marijuana and funnelled cocaine back into Canada, U.S. prosecutors say.

The alleged contact between Mr. Rizzuto and a man now facing charges in the United States is another link to emerge between the Quebec man and “the highest level of Mafia leadership,” prosecutors said Tuesday.

Jimmy Cournoyer, 33, of Laval, has been named as the central figure in the ring, charged with bringing high-potency marijuana from British Columbia to Quebec and smuggling it into the United States through the Mohawk First Nation’s Akwesasne reserve. Revenue was then used to buy cocaine in Mexico and smuggle it into Canada, prosecutors said.

Six men were charged in the high-profile case, five of them Canadians: Mr. Cournoyer, who is also known by the nicknames Superman and Cosmo; Mario Racine, who has the nickname Diego; Patrick Paisse, who is also known as Pegleg; Jose Alejandro Castillo Medina, also known as Primo; and Alessandro Taloni.

“Alessandro Taloni — Cournoyer’s manager for cocaine operations on the West Coast — was previously arrested in Canada for extorting a business,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Tiscione told court Tuesday.

“At the time of his arrest, Canadian law enforcement seized a telephone from Taloni that contained contact numbers for a number of prominent members of the Montreal Mafia – including Vito Rizzuto, the boss of the Rizzuto crime family, alternatively referred to as ‘The Sixth Family.’

“Members of the Cournoyer enterprise had direct contact with the highest levels of Mafia leadership.

“Multiple witnesses will testify that Cournoyer was backed by the Hells Angels and the Montreal Mafia (specifically, the Rizzuto Crime Family) — two of the most violent organized crime groups in Canada,” Mr. Tiscione wrote in a document submitted in court....

Re: Mafia, bikers and cartel weed alliance [Re: Scorsese] #1003915
01/29/21 10:48 AM
01/29/21 10:48 AM
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Recovered addict sues Quebec man who was 'biggest pot dealer in New York City history' for cost and pain of addiction.

https://nationalpost.com/news/canad...ty-history-for-cost-and-pain-of-addition


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