Busting telefraud gangsters

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by Patrick Lejtenyi

The murky world of telemarketing was recently dealt another blow to its already shifty public image when a Montreal-area phone-fraud ring was busted for fleecing elderly Americans. But after the RCMP and U.S. authorities broke up the ring in February on conspiracy and fraud counts, they announced last week they were adding further charges of participating in the activities of a criminal organization--something that until now was reserved for the Hells and the Bandidos.

"These people [involved in the fraud] were working together for a long time and everyone was aware of what they were doing," says RCMP Constable Sylvain L'Heureux. "They were working in a gang-like pattern. There was a structure, there was a hierarchy." Which means they can face up to 14 years in prison, to be served after their fraud and conspiracy sentences.

This is the first time the 1997 organized crime law has been used against anyone not related to the motorcycle gangs, although gangsterism wasn't the original charge the RCMP were going to bring against the telethieves. "The main priority [of the operation] was not to charge them under the gang law," L'Heureux says. "It just came up along the way."

The group is not said to be involved with any other criminal activities associated with the bikers, like drug trafficking, extortion or prostitution. But, L'Heureux says, "By its nature, there is always some kind of money-laundering aspect to [telemarketing]."

The trial begins February 5, in Laval.