Pubdate: Thu, 03 Oct 2002
Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU)
Copyright: 2002 The Gazette, a division of Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274
Author: Paul Cherry

TENANTS HAIL CRACK BUST

'Dealers Felt They Owned The Place'. Surveillance Of Downtown 
Housing-Project Area Leads To 21 Arrests, Big Seizure Of Cocaine Derivative

The tenants of Habitations Jeanne Mance lived in such terror of drug 
dealers that Danielle Juteau could see them shake when they came to her 
office to complain.

"The drug dealers felt they owned the place," Juteau said in an interview 
yesterday in her office on Ontario St.

"Now there is a sense of a cleanup."

Juteau is director of the corporation that manages Habitations Jeanne Mance 
for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. and the city of Montreal.

Outside her office window, she could see the net result of a Montreal 
police investigation that took months to carry out.

The probe targeted dealers who pushed crack cocaine, primarily in a small 
park surrounded by the 28 buildings that provide low-cost housing to 1,750 
residents in 788 units.

Within the public-housing project is a well-tended community vegetable 
garden, basketball courts and a wading pool.

Juteau said the sight of alleged dealers being yanked from their apartments 
in handcuffs does not tell the true story of the housing project, where 
residents hold an intercultural festival every August.

"In the latest census, they noted there were 67 different cultural groups 
in Montreal," she said.

"As of May 1, we had 70.

"All of Montreal is represented here.

"There is a real community that lives here.

"Unfortunately, they were terrified of this gang. We are really content 
that it was hit (yesterday).

"We've been waiting for this for a while.

"The dealers had the attitude, 'This is our land and we tolerate you here.'

"It should be the reverse, where the renters can push them out."

Juteau said the corporation that manages the housing project, the largest 
in Montreal, learned of the problem about a year ago. A security company 
was hired and an anonymous tip line was set up where people could report 
suspicious activity.

The information gathered indicated there was a serious problem, and it was 
passed on to the Montreal police, who agreed to invest time in a lengthy 
investigation.

"The goal of the operation was to dismantle a criminal organization that 
sold drugs in the area, principally crack," said Montreal police Commander 
Pierre Cadieux.

"The sales were being done in the park and on the streets. Some of the 
dealers lived (there).

"It was a criminal organization that formed in recent months. They are not 
tied to the biker gangs or the street gangs. They were well organized but 
isolated."

The police have scheduled a press conference for today during which they 
are expected to release more details on the operation.

By late yesterday afternoon, 21 people had been arrested in the bust. More 
than 1,000 rocks of crack cocaine were seized as investigators executed 
search warrants at addresses throughout Montreal and at a residence in 
Longueuil. About two-thirds of the cocaine was found in the housing project.

According to police sources, the alleged head of the network was Kevin 
White, a 28-year-old resident of Habitations Jeanne Mance.

He is expected to be charged today with nine Criminal Code violations, 
including conspiracy to traffic, obstructing justice and gangsterism. Court 
documents indicate White has been under investigation since Jan. 17.

The police believe the drug dealers decided to set up shop in the area 
because of its proximity to two major metro stations and the bars that line 
such streets as Ste. Catherine and St. Denis.

Juteau said the drug dealers terrorized several residents of the housing 
project. During the past few months, the residents met with Juteau and 
demanded to know why nothing was being done to rectify a situation where 
the dealers would operate brazenly in the park.

Juteau said she had to keep the police investigation a secret.

"It takes a while to build proof and evidence. The police didn't want to 
just arrest dealers and have them return the next day," she said.

"People would come to our offices literally shaking and crying. They would 
say things like, 'I know you're with them. You're doing nothing because 
you've been paid off.' We could not say anything because it would have 
compromised the investigation."

Juteau said evicting drug dealers is a complicated process and that the 
provincial rental board will issue an eviction notice only if it is based 
on first-hand testimony from neighbours.

Some residents interviewed yesterday agreed that the dealers acted like 
they owned the neighbourhood.

"It's been getting progressively worse. People here, I've noticed, are 
afraid to sit in the park," said a man who has lived in the project for 10 
years. "(The drug dealers) are so blatant and I hear gunshots fired all the 
time. You could have a bullet end up in your balcony, but the police don't 
do anything about it."

Another man who lives in a building on de Maisonneuve Blvd. watched the 
police operation with a cynical eye. He said he believes drug dealers will 
return to the park by the weekend.

"They were a real gang. They seemed really organized," said the man, who 
asked not to be named because he fears reprisals.

"Did they call themselves anything? Did they go by a name?" the man was asked.

"No. But we called them the gang des sales."

Andre-Guy Lariviere said he has seen people using needles to shoot heroin 
on benches along the walkway that leads to his apartment. "In the park, it 
is very serious. You see people taking drugs, drinking, all sorts of things."

Prabir Dhar, a McGill law student who moved to Canada from Bangladesh a few 
years ago, agreed with Lariviere on the extent of the problem. "Sometimes 
you see people who are of doubtful character hanging around here. You often 
see people drinking in the park. We want it to be a crime-free zone around 
here because many adult people live here who want to live a peaceful life."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart