(Val-des-Lacs) A company affiliated with the Mafia would have sent a tree during the holidays to residents of Val-des-Lacs in Laurence. According to the municipality, despite the formal ban, the company used the night to carry out a wild clearing in the small town that defines itself as “the best place in its purest form for nature lovers”.
“It’s disgusting, so sad. We have to replant all these trees. We have a lot of work ahead of us. It will cost a lot. We will repair all this damage,” Mayor Paul Kushner said with a sigh, pointing to the old wood.
Photo by Robert Skinner, La Press
Paul Kushner, mayor of Wall-des-Lox
Very close to Lac à Carl, in the corner of Montee Lajeunesse and Chemin de Val-des-Lacs, the strong smell of freshly cut wood still lingers on the ground. Trees were thrown over a stream to form a bridge and tracks of caterpillars deep in the ground testify to the passing of heavy machinery. An excavation is stopped in front of the stacked trees.
According to the municipality, the owners applied for permission to cut down a few trees in December and signed a by-law banning felling near wetlands and streams that are part of the property. “They only need to cut down dead trees, reforest, but they cut down! All the animals are gone,” the mayor protested.
Infographic Press
Citizens protest
Work began on the evening of December 17, the day the municipal offices were announced to be closed. According to several neighbors, massive logging continued for at least two nights. At Le Saint-Agricole grocery store, the co-op, which is the only food store in Val-des-Lacs, customers only talked about it.
“They were out in the woods for three days, so that was the only topic of conversation. We went to the demonstration,” said Co-ordinator Jeanette Lynch.
The demonstration did not shake the workers working in the forest. “They were filming our cars. They said they had all the necessary permits, but I said it was not possible.Me Lynch.
“When the police arrived, they stopped, but as soon as the officers left, they did it again before they could turn the corner,” he says.
Everyone is angry at the situation. We are in a small municipality centered on the environment, nature and rivers.
Ginette Lynch, Le Saint-Agricole grocery store coordinator
On Dec. 19, the city says it was ordered to stop immediately because it was not done under art rules. The municipality said the order was repeated during a meeting with the owners at the town hall on December 20.
But will immediately resume work.
We told them to stop and they came back two hours later.
Paul Kushner, mayor of Wall-des-Lox
The permit was therefore revoked. On the evening of December 23, the City High Court issued a restraining order to compel the strike. Presented by a neighbor who did not want to be named Press Video of workers continuing to remove large quantities of trees until the afternoon of December 23rd.
Close to the Mafia Godfather
In the summer of 2020, a company from outside the region acquired approximately 16 hectares of forest and beet swamp.
The new buyer is a numbered company registered under the name of Frank Mordorana’s spouse, Johan Bryan, who has a long criminal background and was a side aide to the late Mafia Godfather Vito Risso. In two recent civil lawsuits, Frank Martorana overseeed the business, negotiated on his behalf, and the couple agreed that he could be financially involved, although his name is not on the official documents.
Photo Documents Magazine
Frank Martorana, 2005
The 63-year-old Mr. Martorana was previously convicted of car theft, concealment conspiracy, tax evasion and intimidation. He was twice indicted for smuggling autometers into a used vehicle business. His last sentence in 2012, according to an investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), was three years in prison for moving hundreds of odometers, an average of 100,000 km. When Canada’s Parole Board was released in 2014, it exposed the man’s connection with the Mafia, which he denied.
Press In 2001, according to the RCMP, it was already revealed how Godfather Vito Rissudo, an Ontario businessman who owed Mortorana money, was called to meet with his son Nick and another mafia heavyweight to resolve the situation. In the same year, two men were arrested and charged with plotting to assassinate Vito Rissudo and at the same time kidnapping Frank Martorona.
Four years later, in 2005, Frank Martorana was abducted from a barber shop. When police arrived at the scene, he was bleeding to the point of believing he had been shot and wounded. A wanted notice was given to the public, but Martorana finally reappeared a few days later, his face swollen. He refused to file a complaint.
Photo by Robert Skinner, La Press
A company affiliated with the Mafia is carrying out a wildfire in a wooded area called Wall-des-Lox.
The couple are now offering a large waterfront garden in Oka as their address, for sale for $ 10.8 million. This ad talks about “private estate worthy of big Hollywood movies”.
Mr. Neither Martorano nor his wife responded to an interview request sent by their lawyer. They did not want to say what the purpose of cutting down the trees was.
Mayor Kushner now wants to change municipal rules to avoid such a situation. But it was too late for Frank Martorana’s field.
“The damage is done,” he began in a message to citizens.
