St-Léonard business firebombed
A small office building in St‑Léonard was firebombed on Saturday night. None of the reports mention that the building (whose address is visible on the Radio‑Canada photo) contains the riding office of Filomena Rotiroti, Liberal MNA for Jeanne‑Mance‑Viger, although who knows whether this was the reason for the attack.
dhomas 14:15 on 2024-01-28 Permalink
According to Evalweb, the building is owned by Les Placements Port Maurice, whose shareholders are mafia lawyers Vincenzo and Carmine Mercadante as well as former judge Antonio Discepola. Mercadante also have their offices in the building. I would guess they are the likely targets. Then again, why a liberal MNA would share office space with mob connected lawyers is another question.
Ian 19:01 on 2024-01-28 Permalink
“Mob-connected lawyers” is a funny way to say lawyers, some of whose clients are known associates of organized crime. Mentioning that they have Italian last names then to note that a judge who happens to have an Italian last name is a business partner sounds almost like an implication based on a racial slur, and maybe even an implication that the MNA who also has an Italian last name is somehow mobbed up.
I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but you’re making a lot of assumptions based on shared ethnicity. Would you call someone who defended a client that was convicted of murder a “murderer lawyer”?
My nonna had a Sicilian last name. Am I a mafia professor?
Joey 19:19 on 2024-01-28 Permalink
In the time it took you to imply that dhomas is a bigot, you probably could have googled the lawyers’ names and seen how long they have been defending mobsters and their families.
Ian 19:29 on 2024-01-28 Permalink
That makes them lawyers, not mobsters. I stand by my initial statement.
It also doesn’t expalin away grouping the judge in there and by extension the MNA.
Crazy news, Italian people often go to Italian lawyers, especially if they have worked with their families.
Would you call someone who defended a client that was convicted of murder a “murderer lawyer”?
dhomas 20:42 on 2024-01-28 Permalink
So, full disclosure, I am 100% Italian by blood. I have Italian citizenship. I specifically chose language to not implicate anyone who has not already been named as being connected. Mercadante HAS been named. I suppose I should have provided sources for my claims, so here is one:
https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/justice-et-affaires-criminelles/affaires-criminelles/201403/19/01-4749442-michel-bissonnet-a-ete-lassocie-dun-avocat-proche-de-la-mafia.php
I would have thought that Ms Rotiroti would have the good judgment to avoid being around these types of people specifically to avoid the types of implications Ian made reference to. I know I would.
Kate 20:48 on 2024-01-28 Permalink
This La Presse piece from almost ten years ago explains dhomas’s statement. The headline is about Michel Bissonnet, but most of the text describes the involvement of the Mercadante law practice with known mobsters.
Kate 21:20 on 2024-01-28 Permalink
Jinx, dhomas.
Jeanne-Mance-Viger was created for the 2003 election and so far has had two MNAs – Michel Bissonnet then Filomena Rotiroti. She may simply have taken over his office space.
dhomas 21:44 on 2024-01-28 Permalink
You are absolutely correct, Kate. Some online sleuthing shows that that office was indeed occupied by M. Bissonnet while he was MNA for that riding:
https://www.encyclopedia.com/international/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/bissonnet-hon-michel-lld-jeanne-mance-viger-speaker-national-assembly
Ian 21:52 on 2024-01-28 Permalink
So, are we to assume then that Discepola is a “mob judge” by association? That’s certainly what you all are implying here. Is Rotiroti a “mob MNA”?
Kate 22:00 on 2024-01-28 Permalink
Ian, who do you think is more likely to be attacked by arsonists? The MNA? Or the law practice?
dhomas 07:25 on 2024-01-29 Permalink
I said no such thing, Ian. Those assumptions are your own.
Ian 20:45 on 2024-01-29 Permalink
So you didn’t say “the building is owned by Les Placements Port Maurice, whose shareholders are mafia lawyers Vincenzo and Carmine Mercadante as well as former judge Antonio Discepola”? That sure sounds like you are tarring the judge with the same brush as your so-called “mob lawyers”. As an Italian I am frankly surprised that you are not more sensitive to this, but maybe you haven’t experienced the racism against Italians in the same way that the older Calabrese and Sicilian populations have. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and accept that this is not your intention, but imagine if you were talking about Jews, for instance. Minchia.
@Kate, I don’t know, and I don’t plan to make any assumptions, certainly not based on the last names of the people involved.
dhomas 21:50 on 2024-01-29 Permalink
I have most definitely felt some discrimination in my life based on my last name, though not nearly as much as my parents’ generation did. That said, I don’t think my statement implicated the judge in any way. The two lawyers are seemingly involved with the Mafia; a quick Google search corroborates this (their clients are people like the Rizzutos and the late Paolo Renda). The other shareholder is indeed a former judge. These are statements of fact. Anyone reading anything else into this is showing their own bias. The only “error” I made in my initial post was not giving sources for my statement that they are “mafia lawyers”; I didn’t make this up based on their last names, they have been reported on by the media.
I didn’t even know Ms Rotiroti was Italian before looking into it; it is not a very common Italian last name. In any case, my point was that she was probably NOT being targeted. Though, being Italian myself, I would probably distance myself from that office location to avoid being “tarred with the same brush”, if I were in her position.
Also, I don’t understand what parallels can be made with Jewish people in this situation. It’s a very odd thing to bring up.
walkerp 08:05 on 2024-01-30 Permalink
Oh please, they are so obviously mobbed up.