Terror and extortion in downtown Montreal: “They will have us behind their backs,” warns the SPVM

Montreal police wanted to send a clear message to thugs who extort money and sow terror among restaurateurs by recently making a series of arrests, including three this week.

• Also read: Targeted restaurants: five suspects arrested by police

• Also read: [VIDÉO] Terror in the city center: a series of restaurateurs victims of violent acts of extortion

“It is certain and certain that the people who commit these crimes, they will have us behind their backs and we will be on their trail,” he said. Journal Francis Renaud, head of the organized crime section of the Montreal City Police Service (SPVM).

Taevon Nesfield and Avianna Thompson were taken out of action on Thursday, on the sidelines of this offensive by the authorities to counter a wave of intimidation against traders.

Three young people aged just 14 were also recently arrested for similar crimes since the end of the summer, including one last Wednesday.

“I can guarantee you that there will be other arrests,” warns Francis Renaud, calling the recent dragnet a “great show of force.”

Nesfield and Thompson appeared at the Montreal courthouse on Friday. They remain in custody and will return to court soon.

Attack filmed

The 30-year-old man is accused of trying to extort money from the owners of two restaurants in recent months.

Nesfield would also be at the origin of a disturbing attack dating back to September 12, at the MAÜ restaurant, on rue de la Montagne, we learned.

He is suspected of being the masked individual wearing a hooded sweater who appears on the surveillance camera images obtained by our Bureau of Investigation.

Armed with a hammer, the suspect hits everything in his path. The tables, the glasses, the equipment behind the bar.

His message: the owner had to pay $100,000 to a criminal network.

A few days later, the restaurateur received another threatening message, an envelope containing gun bullets.

The indictment against Taevon Nesfield reveals that the latter also attacked Hidden Fish during the summer, from which, according to our information, a sum of $100,000 was also demanded. Its storefront had also been smashed.

In this case, it was a neighboring establishment that received the envelope containing the bullets, probably by mistake.

It was also the owner of this establishment who called the police, which led to the launch of a criminal investigation.

Avianna Thompson, 20, was allegedly present during two firearm discharges in the direction of the Hidden Fish restaurant.

Fatal fire

These various arrests occur at a time when police are studying the hypothesis that this wave of attacks against merchants is the cause of a fatal fire in Old Montreal.

A French tourist and her daughter died there while staying in a youth hostel located above a restaurant targeted by an arson attack.

Justin Fortier Trahan, 20, and Juventino Hernandez Pelaez, 18, were arrested in this case.

– With Jean-Louis Fortin, Investigation Office