MONTREAL — A Quebec police force is cracking down on organized crime after this month's brazen organized crime-linked slaying inside a popular hotel.
Laval police say they, along with Quebec provincial police and the RCMP, will be stepping up presence at establishments known to be frequented by organized crime groups on their territory.
Pierre Brochet, Laval's police chief, says the May 5 slaying of Salvatore Scoppa, which took place with hundreds of people present and with a blatant disregard for their safety, harkens back to Quebec's biker gang wars in the 1990s.
Scoppa, 49, a man with links to organized crime, was declared dead in hospital. Remarkably, no one else was injured in the attack.
Brochet says "Projet Repercussion" is in response to that event, which he called unacceptable.
Scoppa's was one of two fatal shootings in crowded public places in the span of a week.
On Friday night, a 25-year-old man was killed in a restaurant in busy shopping district in Brossard, Que., just south of Montreal.
