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'Project Machine' investigation. 46 people arrested in crackdown against racketeering linked to Hells Angels

It stood like a fortress in Kahnawake for the past four years and left many people on the Mohawk reserve wondering what was going on inside.

Montreal police shed some light yesterday on the mysterious warehouse that is alleged to have served as the transit point for Salvatore Cazzetta's activities both as a Hells Angel and as a legitimate businessman.

The facility was targeted as a small part of Project Machine - a major investigation into drug trafficking in downtown Montreal that began in 2007 - but the building also proved to be the focal point.

Montreal police arrested 46 people yesterday in an operation that involved more than 600 officers from the Montreal force, the Sûreté du Québec, the RCMP and Kahnawake Mohawk Peacekeepers.

According to Montreal police, contraband tobacco and such drugs as crack cocaine flowed out past the three-metre-high fence surrounding the warehouse while money flowed in. Police found 11 safes when they raided the facility before dawn yesterday. By noon, they had opened three and found cash in all of them.

In the past four years, the grounds around the warehouse have been equipped with a high fence, a sophisticated alarm system and surveillance cameras. Two guards were hired to watch the site seven days a week.

Cazzetta, 54, who was arrested and charged with drug trafficking in April in another major police operation targeting the Hells Angels, was in a cell at the Montreal Detention Centre when he learned he faces new charges of fraud against the provincial government, conspiracy and participation in a criminal organization, all related to the sale of contraband tobacco.

Also arrested and charged at the Longueuil courthouse in the same fraud case were Peter Rice, 52, of Kahnawake, and his sons, Peter Francis Rice, 31, and Burton Rice, 34. The Rice family operates businesses on the property where the warehouse was raided yesterday.

Peter Rice is president of Mustang Distribution Ltd. Before his arrest in April, Cazzetta was listed as the firm's vice-president. The company's products include an energy drink called Citron.

Daniel Leclerc, 40, of Candiac, was the only other full-patch member of the Hells Angels arrested yesterday. According to police, he is a member of an Ontario-based chapter of the Hells and, like Cazzetta, was once part of the Rock Machine. The investigation was dubbed Project Machine as a wink to Cazzetta's previous gang affiliation.

Two other former high-ranking members of the now-defunct Rock Machine - Serge (Merlin) Cyr, 51, and Alain Brunette, 45 - were also targeted in the investigation.

"The criminal organization was led by full-fledged members of the Hells Angels and involved about 60 people," said Chief Inspector Bernard Lamothe of the Montreal police organized crime division.

"Their principal criminal activity was the sale of crack. We estimate 2,000 rocks of crack were sold per week."

Leclerc is alleged to have handled the drug trafficking end of the business. He was among 27 people named in an indictment filed at the Montreal courthouse yesterday.

The Hells Angels started a business relationship with Kahnawake residents and began using the warehouse as their base of operations, Lamothe said.