Rosemere is a suburban town, located on the north shore of Montreal. Many people commute to work from the town to the city everyday, in order to make ends meet. Including 44-year-old, Jean-Philippe Celestin, which many media outlets are claiming to be a successor to Gregory ‘Picasso’ Wooley. A man best known for building a bridge between bikers, street gangs and believe it or not, the mafia. But why was Celestin’s humble abode targeted?
Authorities believe Celestin may have played some sort of role in the homicide of Marc Issa El Khoury in December of 2023. Authorities were also reluctant to denounce the findings from this operation. Was Celestin actually involved in this kerfuffle? Letting his grass grow at the mercy of other underworld figures climbing ranks in the same fashion? Or was this a total crapshoot for authorities?
Police had barged their entry into Jean-Philippe Celestin’s home on Monday (12/05/2025) morning; a luxurious household on Rue de l’Ermitage in Rosemere. The operation started towards 5am. Funnily enough, Celestin’s father also lived in this residence as well as his sister. A sort of family home. Take note; Celestin’s mother’s home, located near the intersection of Henri-Julien Boulevard and Rue Boucher, was targeted twice, most likely by drive-by shootings. This isn’t the first time the Rosemere residence was raided, with the first raid taking place last year.
Being the alleged successor to Gregory ‘Picasso’ Woolley, you’d think Celestin would have ties to a number of the several 1%er motorcycle clubs in Quebec. Low and behold, Celestin would be patched into the Marauders MC, a HAMC support club. Solidifying the bond between certain street gangs and motorcycle clubs. He was seen a couple weeks ago attending the annual ‘First Run’ motorcycle circuit with the Marauders MC in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. Solidifying the bond between certain street gangs and motorcycle clubs.
Not all street gangs are onboard though. In the past decade, we have seen a surge of street gangs, with their actions bordering the line between sane and insane. With events such as kidnapping and torture entering the conversation.
Jean-Philippe Celestin’s brother was also murdered in a violent shooting. It happened in February of last year. Brandon Jean ‘Pouchy’ Celestin was exiting Elio’s, an Italian restaurant in Little Italy, heading towards his Mercedes when a gunman unloaded somewhere in the range of 30 shots, with 20 of those shots hitting Brandon Celestin. The alleged gunman was a 35-year-old man by the name of Nestor Miguel Pintos Chew.
The search warrant in question, targeted at Jean-Philippe Celestin, was served in regards to the murder of Marc Issa El Khoury. El Khoury had been shot attending a celebration on the 2nd of December in 2023 in the Duvernay borough of Laval. The homicide occurred at a reception hall towards 11pm. A masked gunman had crawled out of the bushes after awaiting El Khoury’s exit from the celebration. Once that moment occurred the perpetrator crawled out of his hiding spot only to pepper El Khoury with a hail of bullets. Police would litter the neighboring streets of Saint-Martin East with sirens and lights in the next following hours.
A couple hours later, towards 1:20am, a call would be placed to 911 concerning a Honda Civic that had been set aflame on Rue Dufresne, near the Avenue Lalonde intersection in the Ville-Marie borough of Montreal. Two suspects were recently arrested and charged with the El Khoury murder. Last Wednesday, on May 7th, 20-year-old Meweal Tesfit Betsuamlak and 23-year-old Hamza Hamud Ali were charged with first degree murder. Betsuamlak was arrested in Kitchener, Ontario, while Ali was arrested while already serving time in Donnacona, a federal penitentiary in eastern Quebec.
Marc Issa El Khoury had been snatched up and arrested by police in March of 2019. He was charged with the murder of a Hells Angels MC Niagara chapter member which occurred on March 11th, 2019. Michael ‘Diaz’ Deabaitua-Schulde was exiting a Mississauga gym which is when El Khoury and 3 other individuals partook in the 32-year-old biker’s murder. The 3 other individuals he was with at the time of the murder had been found guilty of the charge. While El Khoury was acquitted of the charge. Note that Marckens Vilme, a major player in Montreal’s underworld, was alongside Joseph Pallotta and Brandon Reyes, receiving a similar kind of sentencing.
Mainstream media have been hesitant to point out and connect the dots to these series of events unfolding in front of our very eyes. But it’s clear as day, that two separate factions seem to be bumping heads. First off, a member of the Niagara chapter of the Hells Angel MC is murdered exiting a Mississauga gym. Four years later, the only man that hasn’t been charged with the murder is gunned down exiting a celebration in the Duvernay borough of Laval.
Two people are arrested with the SQ publicly stating that the investigation is far from over and Jean-Philippe Celestin’s Rosemere home was ultimately searched a few days ago. We wouldn’t bat an eye if Jean-Philippe Celestin hadn’t teamed-up and embraced the 1%er biker culture, but with his membership being public, there is no denying that something odd and certain changes are happening in Quebec’s underworld.
