MONTREAL – Montreal Police are searching for a new location for an anti-gang squad after news surfaced that the building was owned by a trust that included a convicted drug dealer.
“We learned that one person had a very bad reputation, and so we decided to finish the lease,” said Ian Lafrenière, a spokesperson for the Montreal police department.
That person is Vincenzo Armeni, who is started serving a 19-year prison sentence on drug charges in 2007. Armeni is part of a family trust that currently owns the building.
The Montreal Gazette broke this story in Thursday’s paper.
Police started renting the site in 1997, using it as a basic neighbourhood precinct.
It eventually became an administrative building for the Groupe Éclipse, an anti-gang squad.
Police renewed the lease for five years in 2008, but officials didn’t learn of Armeni’s role until 2010, Lafrenière said.
This put police in the unsavoury situation of either walking away from the building, breaking the lease and paying out the difference, or seeing the contract through and finding another site when it’s finished.
Police chose the latter, but are facing criticism for the decision.
“In this situation, they need to make an exception,” said Gregory Thomas, a spokesperson for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
“They need to get out of there. I mean you can’t have the police doing business with the mob.”
The lease is scheduled to end in October and police officials are hoping to find a new location before then.
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