The best way to bribe city officials

Noted: Selling coffee is apparently a good way to amass bribery money. Photo via Flicker

So Lino Zambito, a guy who did a bunch of testifying in the Charbonneau Commission, has filed for bankruptcy. Zambito, you’ll recall, was the president of Infrabec, one of the construction companies that got all those cushy city of Montreal contracts, has been reduced to a guy with whom — gasp — not even the banks will transact business. Late last year, the government took something like $38,000 in property and, more sadly, the pizzeria he once ran in Blainville to square up on unpaid taxes. Now, Zambito owes $1.1-million to insurance companies, along with a cool $40,000 to his mom, who took out another mortgage on his house. He doesn’t live with her yet, though.

Speaking of Charbonneau (which unfortunately goes on summer hiatus pretty soon), here’s some Sopranos-level shit: CIMA+, an engineering firm that delivered kickbacks to Gilles Vaillancourt and his guys, was collecting said money via coffee machines in its offices. Or so said one guy: “You had coffee machines on each floor, maybe three, four or five, at CIMA. The coffee was $0.50. Say 100 or 150 workers cents, who take two coffees a day, that’s $100 a day, $500 a week, $25,000 a year.”

Earl Jones, the West Island’s WASPy answer to Bernie Madoff, has decided to forego a parole hearing this September. Jones, you may recall, is doing 11 years for bilking 150 people, his brother among them, out of $50-billion by way of a Ponzi scheme. He’ll next be eligible to face the judge in 2015. Unlike Madoff, who gets out in 2139, he’s probably not hanging with Mafia heavyweights and Israeli spies.

Finally, at the end of yet another embarrassing week for Quebec, FIFA has declared turbans welcome on the soccer field. What’s up, Pauline? ■