According to testimony presented during the ongoing first-degree murder and conspiracy trial in Montreal of a man and woman accused of acting as a “cleanup” team for the mafia following a murder in the Montérégie, a massive cache of weapons was discovered in 2016 in a warehouse in Laval located on the edge of Autoroute 13.
A raid was conducted by the Sûreté du Québec on the warehouse over a period of two days, an SQ officer testified at the trial of Marie-Josée Viau and Guy Dion at the Gouin Blvd. courthouse which is often used for gangsterism-related cases.
The officer said the cache included pump-action rifles, sawed-off or not, as well as automatic and semi-automatic rifles, silencers, sighting scopes and 200 boxes of munitions of various caliber.
While the exact purpose of the raid wasn’t explained to the jury, it was understood to be related to the murder of brothers Vincenzo and Giussepe Falduto in June 2016 at the rural residence of the accused in Saint-Jude near Saint-Hyacinthe.
The prosecution in the case contended that the two brothers were tricked into turning up at the couple’s property by a hired mafia killer in order to slay them in the garage. According to the allegations, Viau and Dion were instructed to keep a watch while the murder was being carried out, after which they were responsible for burning the bodies in a fire set up outdoors.
The crown contends that the couple dumped the ashes into a river, as well as a firearm used for the murder and the victims’ vehicle. According to the testimony, police investigators were in the dark as to the identity of the suspect for three years, that is until he gave himself up and confessed.
This in turn led police to execute a search warrant at the home of the Dion and Viau in 2019, which was a month after the arms cache was discovered. In as much as a search for the remains of the victims was fruitless, the investigators did manage to come up with a handwritten list of weapons and other materials.
The list included the name of a type of firearm that is rarely seen, which also turned out to be among the weapons seized at the Laval warehouse near Autoroute 13. However, the investigators weren’t able to determine whether one of the seized firearms was used to kill the Falduto brothers. An expert is expected to testify at the ongoing trial.
According to testimony also presented during the trial, the day the SQ raided the farm property in Saint Jude in October 2019 saw a large convoy of police vehicles turning up at the suspects’ home to arrest them, to conduct forensic investigation at the site and to extensively photograph the area.
The man who actually killed the brothers decided to become an informant in 2019 and provided police with details on how he killed the brothers. The prosecutor said the informant told investigators that Dion and Viau helped by incinerating the bodies on their property and by dumping the ashes in a small river that runs across Salvail St. S. in front of their home. The jury was also told that wood and gasoline were used to burn the bodies.
Two drivers suffer injuries in three-car collision on A-440
A three-vehicle collision on Autoroute 440 near the intersection with Autoroute 15 around 1 pm on June 18 illustrated why the intersection is still regarded as one of the most dangerous in Quebec, even though the transport ministry is working on a permanent solution.
While the exact cause of the accident isn’t known, two of the drivers suffered minor injuries that were serious enough to warrant being transported to hospital by Urgences-Santé.
A detachment of 13 Laval Fire Department firefighters responded to the scene to rescue one of the drivers who was trapped inside a vehicle.
Another driver managed to get out of her vehicle without assistance, but was immediately taken under care by ambulance attendants. The third driver wasn’t seriously injured and did not require intense attention from paramedics.
