Officers allegedly paid to protect clubs from the law. Provided mobsters with safe place to stash drugs, money.
By JOHN DUNCANSON AND TRACY HUFFMAN, The Toronto Star
Two downtown bars and another on the Danforth were allegedly used as “drug depots” and protected by Toronto police officers while mobsters used the venues to stash drugs and count their money, sources say.
Behind the scheme, operating over the past year, were several people who have been banned from owning or operating bars in Ontario, but who hired people to put their names on documents to fool agencies such as the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, sources say.
The police role, it is alleged, was to ensure that the bars used by organized crime weren’t bothered by police patrols or nosy liquor licence inspectors.
In one transaction, police officers were allegedly paid $50,000 to help a downtown bar with a long history of licence infractions. A few years ago, police reported repeated problems with drunkenness, unruly behavior resulting in injuries and patrons passed out in and outside of the bar, leading to the revocation of its liquor licence.
Since the bar’s reopening last year, its record is unblemished.
These allegations are the latest in what is becoming one of the largest corruption probes in the history of the Toronto force.
The Star has also learned that the internal affairs investigation was launched about 14 months ago, after the force was notified by the RCMP that it had come across information related to officers working in the downtown 52 Division while conducting a probe of organized crime.
A source said the Mounties monitored conversations of organized crime figures talking to police officers about loans and money. At the time, the RCMP was monitoring a reputed organized crime family as it tried to buy a bar in the entertainment district.
Toronto investigators are said to be focusing on several officers, although it is not yet clear which Toronto officers may face charges.
But fallout from the scandal has caused the head of the police union, Rick McIntosh, to step down temporarily.
Two names that have surfaced so far in reports on the probe are sons of former police chief William McCormack.
Last Friday, police announced that Detective Constable Bill McCormack had been suspended from his job from the plainclothes unit at 52 Division. Michael McCormack has also been named as a subject of the probe, but remains a director of the 7,000-member police association.
The Star has learned a fourth officer from 54 Division, east of the Don River, is also under investigation by internal affairs officers looking into allegations of illegal gambling, money laundering and connections to organized crime.
According to sources, officers are alleged to have run a protection racket in order to help pay off gambling debts they incurred in Woodbridge. They are also looking into allegations that at least three bars were being used to stash drugs and that the people behind the establishments are linked to organized crime.
Investigators are also looking into businesses in Richmond Hill that were used to launder money.
Several bars in the theatre district have complained to police that they were subjected to shakedowns by police.
While the force is not saying how long the probe will last, Chief Julian Fantino has said there will be criminal and Police Act charges laid. A source said this week that as many as six officers could be charged.
Police have already gathered thousands of “intercepts” between officers and others as part of their investigation.
They have also relied on surveillance and interviews with bar owners, transvestites and others who had dealings with the officers under investigation. According to police, one officer received sexual favours from prostitutes.
Police have also raided the lockers of plainclothes officers at 52 Division. Their unit, which patrols the downtown bars, was disbanded last week when the scandal broke.
There have been calls for a public inquiry into a force that is dealing with its second round of corruption allegations in less than two years. In January, an RCMP-led task force announced charges against six former drug squad officers following a 2 1/2-year investigation into allegations of theft, perjury and fabricated evidence. That case is still before the courts.