In the province of Quebec, there once was a time where the Montreal mafia and the HAMC, including many of its support clubs and street gangs formed an alliance. Things have changed, this is not the case anymore. In the 2000’s, more specially in 2004, notorious biker, Gregory ‘Picasso’ Woolley, right hand man for Maurice ‘Mom’ Boucher, had formed an alliance while incarcerated with infamous mob boss, Vito Rizzuto.
Vito Rizzuto was facing an extradition request to the United States, and was serving time in the Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines penitentiary for a triple homicide committed in New York City two decades prior. Coincidently, Woolley was also being housed at the same penitentiary while awaiting trial for drug trafficking conspiracy and the murder of Rock Machine member Pierre Beauchamp which occurred in 1996. Their friendship formed an alliance between the mob, the biker clubs and certain street gangs.
Though, in the criminal underworld, alliances and certain situations can change at the snap of your fingers. Today, almost two decades later. The two factions seem to be targeting each other. Close to a year before the attempted murder of Antonio ‘Tony Suzuki’ Pietrantonio, a suspected associate of the Rizzuto mob, Marco Pizzi’s business had been targeted with a hail of bullets. Tensions seem to be ramping up in the region, and we believe, it’ll only get dirtier.
The kerfuffle had started only a few days before September 4th, 2023. September 4th being the day when 4 individuals had unloaded a fresh outburst of bullets on an automobile dealership named Gestion Automobile Plus, which is owned by mob associate Marco Pizzi. The business is located on Notre Dame Street East in the Pointe-aux-Trembles borough of Montreal. This isn’t the first time the business has been through hell, being targeted multiple times throughout the span of 2022 to 2023. Thankfully, no one was in the business when it was targeted in September.
2 days before the shooting, our first 2 suspects came into play, when Matthieu Scott-Dumont and Benjamyn Paquette had met with the four individuals who would eventually execute the shooting on September 4th, 2023. Scott-Dumont and Paquette would meet these men in Lachine, south west of Montreal, equipping them with an AR-15 and briefing them on their task, noting them to take a video to prove it had been done. Scott-Dumont’s cellphone records would later display in court that he had been around Gestion Automobile Plus, scoping the scene, a couple days before.
Low and behold, when the night of September 4th, 2023 rolled around, the four suspects all got into two SUVs, equipped with the AR-15 that Scott-Dumont and Paquette had gave them. They pulled up to the dealership on Notre Dame East in Pointe-aux-Trembles and fired ten shots in the windows of the establishment at exactly 10:39pm. All of the 4 suspects hailed from Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, located in the Monteregie region of the province.
We won’t spare you anymore time in knowing why this event is so critical in the current playground of the Montreal underworld. Louis-Alexandre Guerault, on of the suspects had mentioned in court that this was an order from the Hells Angels. The HAMC has been quietly fighting a war against the Montreal mafia in recent years, and Scott-Dumont’s testimony clarifies this. Where he stood in front of judge Dennis Galiatsatos on the verge of tears, begging the judge for freedom, stating that he is determined to change the course of his life at 27-years-old.
This doesn’t change the fact that two days after the shooting, Scott-Dumont confronted the 4 individuals, on how they would not be paid the promised 15,000$ they were promised. Not only did he confront them with a pistol, but had only paid 1,000$ to one suspect while the other three were left dry. Though, the firearm being fake, possibly a pellet gun. Scott-Dumont also faces charges in a different case where he was apprehended with 18 methamphetamine, or ‘Pinotte’ tablets.
The 4 individuals who took part in the shooting consist of, 31-year-old Alexandre Lemondre, 25-year-old Gabriel Michaud-Remillard, 27-year-old Sebastien Allard and 24-year-old Louis-Alexandre Guerault. These 4 individuals were apprehended 2 months after the shooting on November 1st of 2023. Matthieu Scott-Dumont and Benjamyn Paquette were later apprehended on the 8th of February in a Lachine apartment.
During the raid on the 8th of February, authorities found a 9mm pistol, a bulletproof vest, brass knuckles as well as detailed schematics for a marijuana growing operation. In court, prosecutors believed the schematics might have served as a tool for a robbery, the only thing that made them the prosecutors think this, is a note written on the schematic that read “There could be more in stock here. Coke. Cash”. The smoking gun that incriminated Scott-Dumont and Paquette is 29 bullets found in a room which matched the 10 shell casings found at the scene of the crime.
So who is the target; Marco Pizzi? Pizzi is a close associate to the Ruzzuto clan and has been targeted multiple times within the recent years. Whether it be Molotov cocktails or bullets, you name it, he has been through it. One notable attack was the one on August 2nd, 2023 at midnight, on the same business, Gestion Automobile Plus in the east end of Montreal. Where close to a dozen bullets were shot towards the entrance of the business. Pizzi seems to be living a life of ‘Deja Vu’.
Through the years of 2016 and 2017, Pizzi’s same used vehicle dealership was targeted twice by Molotov cocktails. He later saw his vehicle torched near his Rivieres-des-Prairies home, followed by two of the vehicles parked in the parking lot of his dealership torched. Pizzi had employed a security guard after the onslaught of fire and bullets to guard the dealership when a 16-year-old attempted to set fire to the enterprise and was surprised by the guards. The suspect was then put in the trunk of a car which was driven to the indoor parking lot before police arrived on the scene. 5 suspects had been arrested that night.
This might explain the low-profile war between the two biggest criminal organizations that roam in Quebec. When this strife started is still a mystery, but we can say for certain that it is gaining momentum. It is most probably the most confusing war that the province has ever had.
The facts that make this strife confusing is the fact that certain Rizzuto family members appeared at Gregory ‘Picasso’ Woolley’s funeral. Was it just to pay respects to Woolley and their father’s friendship? Or were there underlying issues? There is also the fact that Jean-Philippe Celestin was still conducting his business affairs at the Italian restaurant, Ennio’s in the St-Leonard borough of the island, the very place where his brother Brandon-Jean Celestin was murdered in a fury of bullets earlier on this year.
