Gang leaders Gregory Woolley, Lou Sprinces Cadet plead guilty to cocaine trafficking charges

Gregory Woolley admitted he was a leader in a group that controlled the supply of cocaine in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve

Mourners, including Gregory Woolley , centre in wool cap, leave the funeral Monday, December 30, 2013, for Montreal Mafia leader, Vito Rizzuto, at Notre-Dame-de-la-Defense Church, in Montreal's Little Italy district. Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette files

Share Adjust Comment Print

Two men, including one who is alleged to be one of the more influential gangsters in Montreal, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges as the case brought against them was about to go before a jury.

Gregory Woolley, 46, of St-Hubert, and his longtime associate Dany (Lou) Sprinces Cadet, 48, of Mirabel, were both sentenced to overall prison terms of eight years Friday evening at the Gouin courthouse after they pleaded guilty to a series of charges filed against them in Project Magot. With time served factored into their sentences they were left with thee-year prison terms to serve.

An agreement was reached between both sides of the case late in the day Friday and the two men ended up pleading guilty well beyond regular courthouse hours on Friday. The Crown was represented by prosecutors Matthew Ferguson and Marie-Christie Godbout while Woolley and Sprinces were represented by defence attorneys Danielle Roy and Carole Beaucage.

Project Magot, an investigation that also produced the arrests of alleged Mafia leaders Leonardo Rizzuto and Stefano Sollecito in November 2015, revealed that Woolley had become a very influential figure among Montreal’s criminal organizations. In 2013, he was seen attending the funeral for Vito Rizzuto, held at a church in Little Italy after the longtime leader of the Montreal Mafia died of cancer.

Woolley and Cadet were leaders among a group of drug traffickers who were referred to as the “Bronzés” among people who purchased cocaine from them.

According to a joint statement of facts read into the court record, Woolley’s group controlled the supply of cocaine trafficking in Hochelaga Maisonneuve. A major drug trafficker who was operating in that part of Montreal later became a collaborating witness for the Crown and revealed his organization had to pay “taxes” or “rent” to sell on the territory. He also had to make “deposits” while purchasing kilos of cocaine from the group. He estimated he purchased 90 kilograms of cocaine from the Bronzés over a four-year period.

During the same hearing held on Friday, the Crown announced it would not offer any more evidence in a case where Woolley was charged with plotting to kill Montreal Mafia leader Raynald Desjardins. The plot was hatched by former Hells Angel Maurice (Mom) Boucher, after he learned that Desjardins was expected to be transferred to a federal penitentiary where Boucher was already serving life sentences for murder. Boucher used his daughter Alexandra Mongeau to allegedly transmit messages to Woolley on the outside. The police believed that it was up to Woolley to find out if a hit on Desjardins could proceed.

In July 2015, Mongeau visited Boucher inside the penitentiary and appeared to have transmitted the message from Woolley.

“Yes. Euh, he said yes, do it,” Mongeau was recorded telling Boucher.

Despite the evidence, the case against Mongeau was also stayed, in May, when her father admitted he orchestrated the plot. Boucher was sentenced to a 10-year prison term.

Woolley’s ties to Boucher date back to Quebec’s biker gang war, a conflict between the Hells Angels in Quebec and rival criminal organizations who called themselves The Alliance that stretched from 1994 and 2002.

Woolley started out in a Montreal street gang called the Master B, but he eventually joined Boucher’s vast drug trafficking network in August 1997, when he became part of a Hells Angels support club Boucher had created called the Rockers. Woolley was often seen at Boucher’s side during the biker war.

Woolley’s criminal record as an adult began in 1995, when he and a group of accomplices tried to extort $100,000 from a man who was involved in bitter divorce. The men pointed a gun at the man’s 12-year-old son while they tried to collect the money.

In 2005, he pleaded guilty to being part of a general conspiracy to kill rival gang members during the biker war and was sentenced to a 54-month prison term. According to Parole Board of Canada records, while he was serving that sentence Woolley was captured on video, in January 2007, assaulting a fellow inmate. Minutes later, two other inmates stabbed the same man with shivs. The inmate survived the attack but had to be treated at a hospital.

When he appeared before the parole board in 2008, Woolley admitted that he “enjoyed a certain prestige” among other inmates and that he was considered an influential person because of his reputation.


This Week's Flyers

