More dramatic electronic surveillance audio of FTQ union brass was aired out at the Charbonneau Commission hearings Thursday, with new evidence pointing to a turning point in 2009.
“The party is over,” said Denis Vincent in an audio excerpt from May 2009, referring the decline of the influence that organized crime had long enjoyed after President Yvon Bolduc cleaned up the organization by removing a pair of directors, including Guy Gionest.
Bolduc eventually fired Gionest for suspected corruption.
Vincent, believed to be a go-between for organized crime and the FTQ real estate arm SOLIM, was heard bitterly complaining of Bolduc’s changes and describing him as a "traitor."
Vincent was also heard declaring that controversial developer Tony Accurso’s influence was so significant at the FTQ that he could be considered one of the founders of the organization.
The commission hearings dealings with the FTQ have dragged on longer than expected due to various delays, including resistance from Louis-Pierre Lafortune, a witness who is believed to have some ties with the Hells Angels.
Lafortune had temporarily persuaded the commission to allow him to testify under a publication ban.
