A relationship of the mafia to be able to settle in The Great Wheel

Photo Chantal Poirier
The Great Wheel of Montreal Inc. has given the contract for catering to Steve Vogl, police officers overview with executives of the mafia.

Hugo Joncas and Félix Séguin

Monday, 23 October 2017 21:09

UPDATE
Monday, 23 October 2017 21:09

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The federal Corporation of the Old Port of Montreal has no intention of doing anything to chase away the relationship of the mafia that has won contract caterer of the new ferris Wheel, on its website.

The Company (OPMC) to say that nothing allows him to do so. “It is beyond our prerogative, says Jimmy Laforge, a spokesperson for the federal agency. However, we have communicated our requirements to The Great Wheel of Montreal in terms of quality of service and respect for the law. And the latter has assured us, in writing, of its intention to comply with it. “

Encounters with the underworld

Our Bureau of investigation revealed on Monday that the contractor who won the catering contract at the foot of the star attraction of the Old Port was photographed by the police in 2015 in meetings with leaders of the mafia in montreal, including the lawyer Leonardo Rizzuto, the son of the former godfather Vito Rizzuto.

Steve Vogl was also involved in a heavy criminal past : of the courts of New York and Montreal were sentenced for drug trafficking and armed robbery in the 1980s and 1990s.

In 2004, the board of the alcohol and gaming commission denied a permit for the bar because of his history.

Bistro and coffee

Vogl, however, must open the Bistro of The ferris Wheel and the Coffee of The Great Wheel, which will offer pizza, salads, poutines and sandwiches to the visitors of the attraction. The website of the attraction indicates that these institutions will open ” soon “.

For the specialists of organized crime, the OPMC should, however, pay particular attention to the contacts of the active contractors on its website.

The presence of Vogl, ” it illustrates very well the strength of organized crime : its network, both in the criminal environment that in the business community “, said André Cédilot. With the former investigator for the Charbonneau commission André Christmas, he has just signed a new book on the underworld : Gangsters and mafiosi, one hundred years of organized crime in Quebec.

For them, the OPMC would have had to redouble their attention, after the revelations of recent years about the infiltration of the mafia in the construction and public works.

“When I see that they do not care about the identity of the suppliers… Even the ministry of Transport of Québec, which is, however, far from being a model, does this work !” laments André Christmas.

The minister of public Services and the Supply of Canada, Carla Qualtrough, head of the OPMC, did not want to comment on the situation.