Gangsterism in Laval

If Gilles Vaillancourt was collecting ill-gotten gains, he probably made more than $80. Photo via Flickr

Remember Gilles Vaillancourt? He’s the guy who was mayor of that small town just outside of Montreal, Laval, for 23 years. Well, before the venerable commission known as Charbonneau could hit our neighbours, UPAC swooped down and nabbed Vaillancourt, who was then charged with gangsterism, among other crimes. Basically, Vaillancourt  may have been — or may not have been! — part of a “group that was knowingly enriching itself through criminal actions.” In other news, he’s saying he’s not guilty. But it’s not like he had no inkling of what was coming. We hope to God this doesn’t mean the end of access to Charbonneau.

On another gang-related note, the bodies of two men linked to the Montreal mob were found in the Italian countryside.

Union Montreal, that once-dominant municipal party, is no more. Post-Tremblay resignation, things looked bleak, and now the party has been dissolved. Where will Libman — who remembers the party as a “grand coalition” — and co. eventually land? We heard UPS is hiring.

On an unrelated note, you also probably remember that alleged terror plot, supposedly supported by al-Qaeda, that the RCMP stopped? Well, after Montrealer Chiheb Esseghaier and Torontonian Raed Jaser were arrested, the FBI rounded up another Quebecer — Ahmed Abassi, a student at Laval University, who was apparently missing school with the express purpose of killing Americans. We wonder how well that excuse would have gone over come finals.

Oh, hey, the playoffs are over — for Montreal, anyway. We’d like to thank everyone on Facebook who performed an invaluable service by reminding us that the Habs will be golfing for a few months.

Finally, it may look like a false alarm, but there’s nothing funny about a bomb threat. ■