A member of a Montreal mafia clan murdered in the Dominican Republic
Giuseppe Lopez, a member of the Lopez-Oliverio family clan, linked to the Montreal mafia, was murdered Monday evening in the Dominican Republic, La Presse learned from several police and criminal sources.
Giuseppe Lopez, 59, was shot dead according to our information. We do not know the exact circumstances of the crime, and the place where it was committed.
Through its network of international liaison officers, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is able to confirm that a man known to the police was shot dead in the Dominican Republic," Corporal Anick Fournier told La Presse . of C Division (Quebec) of the RCMP, without however confirming the identity of the victim. A discreet clan
The Lopez clan has always conducted its business discreetly before the spotlight of investigators from the defunct Regional Mixed Squad (ERM) of Montreal and the Proceeds of Crime Division of the Sûreté du Québec are trained on him during the investigation Magot- Mastiff, between 2013 and 2015. During the investigation, the sleuths listened to and followed several suspects, including Giuseppe Lopez and his brothers, and used a civilian undercover agent thanks to which the police were able to ascertain that the clan had supplied a dozen kilograms of cocaine to a trafficker in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district when it was out of stock. In a 400-page summary of the Magot-Mastiff investigation filed in court, ACI was allegedly involved in a nearly $700,000 transaction with the Lopez brothers in the summer of 2014.
On August 2, 2014, CREA went to a restaurant owned by the Lopez family to deposit $140,000. One of the brothers had previously explained to him that he had to wear bigger pants because he didn't want him entering the establishment with a bag, that he had to order a meal and then go to the bathroom to drop off. the money in a cupboard, "near Ajax", and that after he left, someone would go and take the tickets to prevent them from crossing paths. ACI followed these instructions and subsequently investigators observed one of the Lopez brothers retrieve the bag. Nickname Espresso
Also during the Magot-Mastiff investigation, on March 25, 2015, the police intercepted a conversation between former criminal lawyer Loris Cavaliere, Giuseppe Lopez, his twin brother and two other individuals linked to organized crime.
During the conversation, one of the Lopez brothers asked Cavalière if the "machines" (encrypted communication devices) were secure, to which the former lawyer replied that before, BlackBerrys were the most secure, but that the police (RCMP) were able to decrypt them during the investigation which led to the arrest of Raynald Desjardins. According to the evidence filed in court, Giuseppe Lopez would have used the nickname Espresso for his communications on PGP. Giuseppe and his two brothers were charged with cocaine trafficking at the end of the Magot-Mastiff investigation, but they benefited from a stay of proceedings in October 2019. Giuseppe Lopez had no criminal history, just like his brothers. At the heart of a conflict
In recent years, the Lopez clan has presumably been embroiled in a conflict with another clan which is unclear whether it is over or not.
In November 2021, the clan's patriarch and Lopez brothers' uncle, Serafino Oliverio, was shot and wounded as he left his residence on Gouin Boulevard in northeast Montreal. The clan owns several cafes, restaurants and buildings, especially in the northeast of the metropolis. As of 2019, some of their cafes and other establishments, including a restaurant on Boulevard Gouin in the Rivière-des-Prairies district considered the headquarters of Serafino Oliverio, were the targets of arsonists. Vehicles belonging to family members were also damaged in arson attacks.
In 2018, a building that houses a business owned by the Oliverio-Lopez family in northern Montreal caught fire when a fire – presumably accidental – broke out in cryptocurrency servers installed in the basement.
