Car rams café known for Mafia ties
A 44-year-old man is likely to face charges of weapons possession and armed assault after a spectacular incident Sunday in which a car was rammed into a St. Michel café known for its underworld ties.
Amazingly, none of the four people inside Café Niro was seriously injured.
A man was inside the Niro on Pie IX Blvd. near 45th St. about 5: 15 a.m. Sunday with three men and a waitress, Montreal police Constable Danny Richer said. The men were arguing and one threatened the three other men with a knife, he said.
The man with the knife then left, got into his car and drove it through the windows and right inside the café, Richer said.
The man then backed his car out of the café and drove away. The three other men also fled. But all were later found by police and one man was arrested. The three who were threatened with a knife are considered witnesses and victims, Richer said.
"We're trying to figure out why they were there or if they were customers, even at that hour," Richer said. The waitress suffered some scratches from flying glass but was otherwise unharmed, he added.
Richer noted the Café Niro had been reopened for business for an undetermined period of time. It was shut down in April 2009 after a lengthy Montreal police investigation revealed the café, which didn't even have a liquor licence, was being used primarily to move drugs for the Montreal Mafia. Eight people were arrested in the investigation.
Crown prosecutor Marie Josie Thériault said in September 2009 during a sentencing hearing for those arrested that Café Niro didn't even sell coffee. Instead, it had a "notorious reputation" for being a place to buy cocaine in the north end of the city
Amazingly, none of the four people inside Café Niro was seriously injured.
A man was inside the Niro on Pie IX Blvd. near 45th St. about 5: 15 a.m. Sunday with three men and a waitress, Montreal police Constable Danny Richer said. The men were arguing and one threatened the three other men with a knife, he said.
The man with the knife then left, got into his car and drove it through the windows and right inside the café, Richer said.
The man then backed his car out of the café and drove away. The three other men also fled. But all were later found by police and one man was arrested. The three who were threatened with a knife are considered witnesses and victims, Richer said.
"We're trying to figure out why they were there or if they were customers, even at that hour," Richer said. The waitress suffered some scratches from flying glass but was otherwise unharmed, he added.
Richer noted the Café Niro had been reopened for business for an undetermined period of time. It was shut down in April 2009 after a lengthy Montreal police investigation revealed the café, which didn't even have a liquor licence, was being used primarily to move drugs for the Montreal Mafia. Eight people were arrested in the investigation.
Crown prosecutor Marie Josie Thériault said in September 2009 during a sentencing hearing for those arrested that Café Niro didn't even sell coffee. Instead, it had a "notorious reputation" for being a place to buy cocaine in the north end of the city
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