Jean-Winsing Barthelus, a man who once belonged to Gregory Woolley’s ‘Syndicate’ street gang pleaded guilty last Friday (6/12/2024) for a case that had been simmering since January 12th, 2024. The lawyer, Anthony El-Haddad, of the 46-year-old man had attempted to bring the case to a halt by insisting the proof had been obtained by abusive police practices, but this was quickly rejected by the serving judge. It was the SPVM, EMAF (Multisectoral Team Dedicated To Firearms) and help from an informant that had managed to pin Barthelus down in January of last year.
The informant had notified authorities that Barthelus had been commuting with a firearm by his side on the 2nd of January, 2024. Given Barthelus’ heavy criminal past, being arrested and convicted several times, authorities did not take this tip lightly. With the help of the GTI (Tactical Intervention Group), Quebec’s answer to a SWAT task force, authorities managed to arrest him in his SUV on Rue Saint-Sylvestre on the south shore of Montreal, in Longueuil. He would remain incarcerated and awaiting his trial.
When authorities intercepted him in his vehicle, they found a loaded handgun in the center console. Not only was the pistol loaded, but it was also ready to go, with a bullet already chambered. With the newly obtained evidence, police also decided to search his humble abode which led to more evidence. In his home, police found another loaded firearm, along with GPS trafficking devices.
They had also found another device meant to locate microphones and a bookmark, in memory of Andre ‘Frise’ Sauvageau, a recently deceased member of the HAMC. Sauvageau was part of the Rock Machine before switching sides to the HAMC. He was found dead in his prison cell in 2019 while purging a sentence which was handed to him after Operation Magot-Mastiff.
Initially, it was believed that Sauvageau had died of natural causes but recently, other information has come to light in which it might have been an assassination by poisoning of fentanyl and might have been contracted by Gregory Woolley as a ‘gift’ to Maurice ‘Mom’ Boucher since Boucher and Sauvageau did not get along. This information recently was undiscovered through Frederick Silva singing like a canary to authorities. Finding evidence of close ties to the HAMC from Barthelus comes to no surprise as in 2023, authorities believed Barthelus was doing surveillance at a restaurant in Old Montreal for the HAMC.
Barthelus is no stranger to crime and doing time. We’ve previously mentioned how he was a part of Gregory ‘Picasso’ Wooley’s gang formed in the midst of the 1990’s named Syndicate, even being considered Woolley’s right hand man at certain points of time. In 2006 he was convicted of gangsterism, drug trafficking and possession of a firearm where he was sentenced to 30 months. In 2010, he was convicted once again for gangsterism along with being in possession of belongings obtained from crime. He was handed a 17-month sentence. In 2012 he was nicked with a firearm all-the-while being banned for possession. He was sentenced to 30 days.
In 2015, Barthelus was swooped up once again by police, but this time in the frame of Operation Magot-Mastiff; a major police operation which targeted certain biker organizations as well as the mafia and certain street gangs. He didn’t go down alone, but rather with 47 other prominent crime figures in the province of Quebec, Gregory ‘Picasso’ Woolley and Andre ‘Frise’ Sauvageau included.
Operation Magot was targeted towards drug trafficking while Operation Mastiff focused on the money made from it. The head of a drug trafficking ring in the Hochelaga borough of Montreal had turned informant, noting to police on how he contacted Barthelus in order to supply kilograms of cocaine for his operation. In January of 2019, Barthelus faced the music to his Magot-Mastiff charges, pleading guilty to conspiracy to traffic cocaine and gangsterism. He was handed a 57-month sentence.
It’s a wonder what type of newly gained information will come out of Frederick Silva’s mouth with so many secrets at the tip of his tongue. Every month, new information seems to trickle in concerning Silva’s career as a hitman for organized crime. Will more information leak on Barthelus considering he was so close to Woolley for a certain time? Only time will tell.
