Alfonso Gagliano and the Mob

In the Macleans spotlight on the Italian mafia in Montreal and how it encompasses the construction industry as well as politicians, they asked Michael Ignatieff about how far this mafia reaches into federal politics.

Why on earth would they ask Iggy anything. Aside from being an idiot, his party was the ones steeped in the sponsorship scandal and one of their politicians was listed in an FBI document as a made member of the mafia in Montreal with connections to crime families in New York.

The Tories had Maxime Bernier. He dated Juilie Couillard who had ties to the Hells Angels. He resigned after leaving confidential documents with her. Nevertheless, I don't think that was nearly as big as scam as Alfonso.

The Montreal Gazette claims Julie Couillard had previously been married to a former Hells Angels associate Stephen Sirois. They claim Sirois sold drugs for the Rockers, a puppet gang of the Hells Angels. Not to be confused with the Rock Machine who were a rival gang not a puppet club. http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/story.html?id=de14a181-2738-48b1-93d6-303b815a2dfe

The article claims Mom Boucher gave Sirois an ultimatum. Sirois had to choose between marrying Julie Couillard or his life selling drugs for the Hells Angels. Seemingly Julie Couillard had previously dated someone Mom Boucher thought was an informant. Thus the ultimatum. Choose between marrying the woman who dated an informant or your job selling drugs for the Hells Angels.

Sirois chose to marry Couillard but the marriage only lasted two years. After the divorce Sirois became a police informant and has been living under witness protection. Julie Couillard was not directly connected to the Hells Angels and the "sex scandal" was in my opinion blown out of proportion. When she contacted the media and told them Bernier had left confidential documents with her it sounded like she was trying to get him in trouble.

The documents weren't information about the Hells Angels or their rivals, it was about the war in Afghanistan. Interesting to note Couillard claimed Bernier said the war in Afghanistan had nothing to do with liberation but controlling the opium trade. Interesting indeed.

However, the Alfonso Gagliano scandal was real. He was the scape goat for the sponsorship scandal. Given. He was convicted of wrongdoing. His best defense was the same as Oliver North, I didn't do anything I wasn't authorized to do. The initial Gomery report found him guilty of deliberate dishonesty not just negligence. Yet the sponsorship scandal was the tip of the iceberg. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_Gagliano

The New York Times quoted an FBI document wherein FBI informant Frank Lino claims he was introduced to Gagliano at a mob meeting in Montreal where he was told Gagliano was a politician and a made member of the mafia in Montreal connected to the Bonno and Gambinno crime families in New York. I didn't even realize what the term made member of the mafia meant until a recent documentary on the Chicago mob.

Gagliano, the one found guilty of dishonesty not just negligence, cried fowl and sued for defamation. He lost: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/minister+Alfonso+Gagliano+loses+fight+clear+name/1765246/story.html

He claimed that it was because the government had seven lawyers and he only had one and that the court said you can't sue the crown. Personally I think that is untrue. I think you can sue the crown. I think the overwhelming evidence of his connections to the mob was the reason he lost his court case.

In 1994, La Presse reported that Gagliano was the book keeper of Agostino Cuntrera, cousin of cocaine baron Alfonso Caruana. Caruana was involved in the gangland slaying of Paul Violi in Montreal and was found guilty of murder. According to Wikipedia, in the /80's Caruana was involved in heroine trafficking. The funds were deposited in Canadian banks and channelled through Swiss bank accounts. From his mansion n London, he supervised a heroine pipeline from Thailand through England to Canada.

After the pipeline was dismantled he escaped and moved to Montreal where he set up a cocaine ring with the Colombian cartel. In 1994 the police seized 5497 kilograms of cocaine and Carauana was sentenced in absentina on July 30 1997 to 21 years and 10 months for mafia association as well as for heroine and cocaine trafficking. In July 1998 he was arrested in Woodbridge, Ontario for trafficking cocaine from Columbia to Canada. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_Caruana

Alfonso Galiano was Caruana's cousin's book keeper. Now, according to Frank Lino the made member of the mafia lives on a vineyard in Quebec paid for by a recent loan from the Canadian Government: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2008/08/30/gagliano-farm.html

Alfonso Gagliano is from the same small village in Sicily that the Cuntrera-Caruana mafia clan is from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuntrera-Caruana_Mafia_clan