CBC News: the fifth estate

Note: You are viewing the unstyled version of CBC.ca because you can not see our css files, or because you do not have a standards-compliant browser or you are a mobile user.

Aired October 11,
2006 at 9pm
on CBC-TV
& October 13, 2006
at 10pm ET
on CBC Newsworld

CRIME PAYS

Although it's impossible to verify the breadth and wealth of organized crime in Canada, one estimate suggests that the underground commerce in this country generates $20 billion a year.

From drug smuggling and illegal gambling to counterfeiting and extortion and more, crime is big business here and, for some leaders of Canada's crime families and gangs, Crime Pays. Bob McKeown and a fifth estate crew set out to investigate this murky world and identify some of its wealthiest bosses.

They focused on five individuals, ranging from an established Mafia family to the working class of Montreal and Halifax's ports and to a chapter of Vancouver's Hell's Angels. What they found was a sea-to-shining-sea rogue's gallery, a catalogue of smart, organized and ruthless businessmen.

Vito Rizzuto Vito Rizzuto: Montreal's "Teflon Don" is a true Mafia kingpin. He took over the family business and controlled the drug trade into Canada for more than 25 years.

Gerald Matticks Gerald Matticks: The closest thing Canadian organized crime has to Robin Hood. The leader of Montreal's Irish mob was known as "the kind of the ports", moving millions of dollars of illegal drugs through that city's docks. But, he never forgot his roots and every Christmas dispensed money and gifts to people of his working class west-end neighbourhood.

Paul Arthur Paul Arthur: He's a stevedore who likes to rub shoulders with the rich and famous at Nascar events as well as restore vintage cars and who ended up controlling a multi-million dollar drug smuggling operation through Halifax's container port.

John Bryce John Bryce: When not racing nitro-powered motorcycles, Bryce runs the east-end chapter of the Hell's Angels in Vancouver and while he's avoided the long arm of the law, its members (including his own son) have been charged or convicted with drug dealing, extortion, on-line gambling and linked to numerous murders and beatings.

Brain O'Dea Brian O'Dea: Although now out of the criminal world, O'Dea went from a life of privilege in St. John's, Newfoundland to be a major drug dealer, importing shipments of cocaine and marijuana from Colombia.

As Crime Pays found, a life of crime can be lucrative. It can also be precarious; three of the men we've profiled have done, or are doing, time in prison and a fourth has been extradicted to face charges in the United States.

^TOP

	Vito Rizzuto: Montreal's "Teflon Don" is a true Mafia kingpin. He took over the family business and controlled the drug trade into Canada for more than 25 years.
	Gerald Matticks: The closest thing Canadian organized crime has to Robin Hood. The leader of Montreal's Irish mob was known as "the kind of the ports", moving millions of dollars of illegal drugs through that city's docks. But, he never forgot his roots and every Christmas dispensed money and gifts to people of his working class west-end neighbourhood.
	Paul Arthur: He's a stevedore who likes to rub shoulders with the rich and famous at Nascar events as well as restore vintage cars and who ended up controlling a multi-million dollar drug smuggling operation through Halifax's container port.
	John Bryce: When not racing nitro-powered motorcycles, Bryce runs the east-end chapter of the Hell's Angels in Vancouver and while he's avoided the long arm of the law, its members (including his own son) have been charged or convicted with drug dealing, extortion, on-line gambling and linked to numerous murders and beatings.
	Brian O'Dea: Although now out of the criminal world, O'Dea went from a life of privilege in St. John's, Newfoundland to be a major drug dealer, importing shipments of cocaine and marijuana from Colombia.