Pubdate: Thu, 10 Feb 2005
Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU)
Copyright: 2005 The Gazette, a division of Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274
Author: Allison Hanes

WANT TO IMPORT DRUGS INTO MONTREAL? OPEN A FRUIT STORE

Lawyer Charged In Smuggling Conspiracy; Details Of Plan Caught On Tape In 
St. Laurent Social Club By Informant Wearing A Wire

They needed to set up a company to lend legitimacy to their plan to import 
drugs from Colombia and sell them in Montreal.

At Gallego, a Spanish social club on St. Laurent Blvd., the parties in on 
the transaction had a meeting on Dec. 11, 2001.

Rodolfo Rojas, the main contact in Montreal of a Colombian drug supplier 
named Abraham Nasser, insisted they establish a fruit company instead of a 
textile company as first proposed.

Also attending the meeting was Ramon Fernandez, a Toronto drug distributor 
and a close confidante of reputed Montreal mafia godfather Vito Rizzuto.

Nasser - aka the Turk - was looking for new outlets for his merchandise in 
Montreal after $2 million worth of drugs were seized from usual distributor 
Steve (Bull) Bertrand.

Fernandez and the Turk - via Rojas - were doing business for the very first 
time.

They'd been brought together by two men who were also sitting at the table: 
a trusty Montreal drug runner who carried narcotics and cash for the Turk; 
and criminal lawyer Jose Guede.

The informant and Guede were longtime friends.

Guede knew Rizzuto - working in the same law office as his children and 
playing cards with him from time to time.

Guede had earlier told the informant to bring as much as he wanted back 
from Colombia - his "contacts" would help unload it.

Unbeknown to the others, the drug runner was secretly recording the 
discussion at Gallego.

He had turned informant for the RCMP some months before.

That conversation was played yesterday at the trial of Guede, who faces 
three counts of conspiracy to import drugs.

On the stand for the third straight day, the informant - who cannot be 
named - explained why they needed a business.

One fruit company would be registered in Toronto, he said, and another in 
Venezuela or Paraguay so that the arrival of drug-laden shipping containers 
would look legal.

"If the first container arrives, sure the customs guy will check," the 
informant told Quebec Court Judge Jean-Pierre Dumais. "But if the 
containers go through all the time, after a couple of months they'll still 
check, but not as much. If we imported fruit 10 times, on the 11th time you 
put in coke and the chances of them checking would be much less."

The rest of December, the informant had almost daily meetings with Rojas, 
Fernandez or Guede, with Nasser undecided about whether to set up a 
textile, fruit or fish importing company.

Finally, a decision was made and the informant relayed the news to 
Fernandez on Dec. 30.

"OK man, good news. Our friend says it's a fruit store. ... Yeah. He has 
mangos to sell and everything," he said in a phone conversation played for 
the court.

"Beautiful!" was the reply.

The informant told Fernandez they now needed a name and some letterhead 
with a logo.

Meanwhile, he set up a fax line at his home that he told the others was at 
his wife's work.

"So they wouldn't think I was working for the police."

The trial continues today.
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MAP posted-by: Beth