Laval police seek 3 suspects in connection with murder
CBC News | Posted: December 19, 2013 3:22 PM | Last Updated: December 19, 2013
Laval police say three people were inside a silver Pontiac Montana at the time of the shooting
Police are looking for three suspects in connection with a Laval fatal shooting tied to organized crime.
The Sûreté du Québec says at least three people were inside a silver Pontiac Montana minivan that was spotted leaving a restaurant parking lot — where 54-year-old Roger Valiquette was gunned down.
Valiquette had known links to the Mafia and organized crime.
He was a business associate of Tonino Callocchia, a construction entrepreneur who was also shot in the parking lot of a Laval restaurant earlier this year but survived.
Callocchia is also believed to have strong ties to Montreal's Italian Mafia.
Police are waiting to speak with other witnesses to Valiquette's shooting.
Police received numerous calls yesterday just before 4 p.m. Wednesday from people reporting gunshots. Police found Valiquette in the parking lot of a St-Hubert restaurant on Dagenais Boulevard, in the district of Fabreville.
Montreal mafia expert André Cédilot, co-author of Mafia Inc.: The Long, Bloody Reign of Canada's Sicilian Clan, told CBC News that Valiquette's homicide is part of a struggle for power in the Montreal Mafia sparked by mob boss Vito Rizzuto's release from prison in 2012.
"[Valiquette's murder] is linked of the reorganization of the Mafia in Montreal," he said. "Vito Rizzuto is back and he's trying to regain power."