Peter Edwards (Toronto Star) Talks "Fess" Plouffe Disappearance, Walter Stadnick, and More

Original Gangsters News with Scott Burnstein. Welcome to the Original Gangsters News Network and Podcast. Huge news >> [clears throat] >> out in Canada, the Great White North. We're bringing in the sage, the the goat when it comes to organized crime reporting in Ontario and other parts of Canada, Peter Edwards. One of our correspondents and somebody that we always pay a debt to because we couldn't do what we do here at the OG if people before us like Peter hadn't laid the foundation. So, Peter, thank you so much for joining us to discuss the disappearance and most likely the murder of Hells Angels Montreal street boss Stephane "Fess" Plouffe. >> Great to be here. Thanks for having me. >> It's been a pretty chaotic week or two since this news started to break. We're learning more, you know, kind of day by day here. Peter and I are recording this less than 24 hours after news broke that Plouffe's house was torched on Wednesday early hours of of Wednesday, Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. And that just kind of you know, it's kind of beyond the pale in my opinion and it's and it's it's pretty unfortunate and and just kind of depraved frankly that maybe kill a guy or kidnap a guy and then go after his family. His his son was in the house but survived the the fire and so Peter, just kind of give me what you're what you're hearing. I hear and you're in Ontario. Obviously, this happened in Quebec, but uh you have sources everywhere and you are probably the the uh preeminent expert on Canadian Hells Angels Godfather Walter Stadnick, who according to my reporting, uh played a role in some of this. >> Okay, what I what I've heard and I just spoke to a guy about an hour ago who really knows this stuff um and is fascinated by this one. He talked about a lot of tension between the old guys in the Hells Angels and the younger ones and Stadnick is 74 and a while ago I was wondering, how do you ever get out of this life? But, Stadnick doesn't want out and he's been in it since he was in a little kid gang called um the Cossacks when he had um the little little tuft of hair coming out of their their helmets. Um so, he's been in this stuff for more than 60 years and um this person's theory, and he really knows his stuff, is that um Stadnick helped him go away somewhere south that this guy's on a beach right now and they don't mind people thinking he's murdered. And um we have to remember that um Plouffe did go in into hiding for a couple of years in the early 2000s, like after um springtime that operation. He he was like the last one caught and then he turned himself in and nobody knows exactly where he was. So, my feeling is that um Stadnick went to Windsor to the the big get-together at the start of July, canvass people that he um went to to Montreal for a face-to-face and then he suggested um that he just get out of town till things cool down. Um Hey, it's all it's all speculation, but that's what I'd be betting on right now. >> Uh is there any way and I I did a podcast last night where I threw this out as a possibility and you know, again, this is all kind of a lot of moving [clears throat] parts and uh a lot more questions and answers and this is a very fluid situation. But it Do you think it's possible that he's in hiding, but he's not in hiding with the Hells Angels, he's in hiding with the police. That >> No, I don't think they're because with um Stadnick, he uh he won't even tell police why he's nicknamed Nerko. I mean, he um I I know one cop who said, "You know, I've sort of given up and everything else. Just tell me why you're called Nerko." And And he just laughed and he wouldn't give him that. So, some [snorts] some police almost get Stockholm syndrome with him, where they get they get sort of pulled in and they think it's cool to talk to him. I just don't give If that was happening, I think there'd be a body and I think it they'd they'd want a body to be out there as a reminder. Remember um uh Tarek Khan MacQualter was was murdered in late April of last year, and that could that couldn't have been more public. I mean, that was, you know, buffet restaurant at the And they made it really clear that he had done something to really aggravate them. They wouldn't put anything on his online um messaging board. They didn't go to the funeral. There was no um no remorse shown. And so, when they obviously, he had a falling out, and they wanted everybody to know that this is what happens. And I think the feeling was towards online gambling that he'd done something, and something in the disclosure for a police operation went against him. Some of the stuff is really um next-level spy versus spy, too. Like, some guys are faking court documents with AI, and so and people are accusing people of faking court documents. There's a lot of um And Stadnick, I think um he's been doing this for 60 years. I I think that I I could see him wanting things leaked just so that we're saying things. He's got pretty good police contacts. He um uh for 200 bucks a name, he was getting um addresses of uh people. Um the 13 murders he was originally charged with um those were at the homes. They weren't catching them at a bar. Uh they they knew where these guys lived. And um I I just think um I I think if Stadnick wanted him dead, he'd he'd make a show of it. >> But you don't think there's any possibility that Plouffe is in police custody? >> No. I My That my gut feeling is no, but what do I know? Um like I wouldn't I wouldn't bet on my gut feeling. I I think I think Stadnick's radar would be pretty good, and I think he would have picked up on it if this guy was turning. Um I don't think um I mean, this guy was a big deal at Robare's wedding. He a real insider. I I don't see what leverage they had on him, and I think he knows what would happen to him if he got caught. >> Okay, so let's back up for a second. Uh Stéphane Plouffe is the best friend and right-hand man, street boss for Montreal Hells Angels boss Martin Robare. Uh you did a great in-depth uh investigated piece on on Marty uh a few months ago. And you know, Marty and and Nurgit right now are, you know, according to my sources, the two most powerful Hells Angels uh shot callers in the world. Um that the uh all of the 81 empire all 7,000 patches and I would say, you know, probably tens of thousands of of affiliate club patches. Um you know, the the the power in that group right now is running through Canada. So, a lot of eyes are on these guys. Plouffe is the you know, the closest person on a personal and professional level to Marty Robaire. If if Plouffe was going to be killed Marty Robaire, I'm I'm assuming would have had to sign off on it. As as you just mentioned Plouffe was his best man in his wedding and I think he might have actually officiated it. >> Yeah, I heard he officiated. >> Um he disappears on August 3rd, I believe. There's some reporting that uh Journal de Montréal did about him uh attending a meeting at a hotel. We reported at the OG Pod that there was some meeting with with Nergis Dadnek who had come uh from Hamilton to Quebec to at least on surface resolve some type of issue between Hells Angels in the Toronto area and Hells Angels on the south side of Montreal. Now, this could play into what you're saying about internal divide between Hells Angels uh older generation and younger generation. But uh he was I guess last seen on August 2nd. They found his car abandoned on August 3rd. And then on August 12th or 11th, I think August 11th, the house is uh a victim of an arson attack. 10 Molotov cocktails are are launched into the house with his son and his son's girlfriend there. Luckily, they survived it. And everybody is running around, you know, us included, everybody is running around like with chickens with their heads cut off trying to make sense of all this. >> Yeah, and I think you can have multiple things. Like you can have something that has you really angry and then something else pushes it over the top or you also see that now is the time to go after this guy because people are looking in a different direction. I I think with Robare, this was the guy who was basically in town while Robare was globetrotting and he the big thing about him is he doesn't sleep in the same bed twice and he nobody knows what time zone he's in. My feeling about Stadnick is that Robare has that position because Stadnick wants him in that position and Stadnick had ridiculously or not ridiculous but the extremely tight um parole conditions when he got out and so it wasn't until 2019 that he he could even ride a motorcycle or have more than one cell phone. Like he was really tight on him and so I think he he's normally a really quiet guy and he came up under the Musitano's in Hamilton. So he was well schooled from a young age. He a normally quiet guy became way more quiet and way better at um handing things off and keeping an eye from a distance. And so I think um I think it's like a tandem Robare and Stadnick and I think that um I I there's sort of that feeling that things what happens what is because Stadnick allows it to happen. Like there's a general feeling that um I had one Ontario Hells Angels say if it's me and you, we can talk. If it's me and you and Ontario guys, watch your mouth. If it's me and you and Quebec guys, don't even look at me. And that's and with Stadnick, it's even a higher level than that. I I've tried for a long time to get people to give me any little thing about him and they um they'll talk about other stuff but Stadnick's is Stadnick is the one topic that people won't go near. >> They're both very mysterious. Uh Nergie is, you know, he's like the Wizard of Oz, you know, behind the curtain doing all, you know, pulling all the strings. He's very shadowy, very stealth, um but also, you know, kind of a man of the people. I mean, he he he isn't a uh he doesn't snub his nose at at the rank and file. They all from at least from, you know, my reporting and my sourcing. Um and that's true of Marty as well. And I guess that's the you know, that's the the the secret sauce that makes them these larger-than-life superpowers in in the world of 1% bikers in the the global criminal economy. Um What What do you sense is You You You've You've talked a little bit about what you're hearing from your sources about a divide in Hells Angels right now in Canada, the young and the old. What What What's your sense that How How would Steph Plouffe play into that? >> Um I think he'd be third and grateful to be third. I think he'd be he'd be a fool to challenge to try and get above that with um Stadnick, what you said about sort of um relating to the average person, that's that really nails it there because his his bodyguard or um sidekick um uh Bob Stadnick, he lived in a way better part of town than Stadnick. Even when Stadnick and he handled in 1 year, according to his trial, um he had an account called Gertrude. His code name was Gertrude for a while. He had a 111 million went through that in a year. Like, he had access to big big money and he um when cops uh Joe Crow, they'd they'd go to places where the wine was 200 um or 2,000 a bottle just because they knew police couldn't go there. Like, they went to the expensive places so the cops couldn't go in. >> They priced the They priced the cops out of the surveillance. >> Yeah, and the cops out of the cops out of the funny cuz they're sort of hoping to get into these places and they they're they were told no budget doesn't cover that. Um Uh Stank does relate to people. He doesn't need He doesn't need a lot of approval. He but he doesn't want any disrespect at all. Um And and he a lot of these guys that I've talked to one-on-one have real issues with their father. I know a a couple of them have told me that beat their mother and they wanted to join a group that would stop their father from doing that. I've I I've heard that from um uh you know, couple of you know, where they really get into with Stank. He took He walked his parents to church when he was a big Hells Angel. Like he actually took him to church and he was proud of his dad. He um lived in the same area. His dad was a tree cutter for the city of Hamilton and he um seemed proud of his parents and it it's not something you get from a lot of these guys. A lot of these guys are close to their mother and resentful about the father. >> I was actually just in Hamilton a couple weeks ago. My first uh time that I really, you know, spent time in Hamilton. I've been through it a couple, you know, over the years driving around uh but I never actually spent a week there. I had to go there for uh uh a new television series that Crave, which is you guys have the It's like a streaming service in Canada. We don't have We don't have it in the US, but I was kind of hired by Crave to um help them with with something related to Ryan Wedding. And um so they put me in Hamilton for a week. This was uh the end of July. So uh I I I was I was looking for Nerg. I didn't find uh but but I I was uh I enjoyed his hometown and I got I got some great Italian food. And [snorts] uh reminded me a lot of Detroit actually. Uh just the vibe there. That's where I'm from. But what what uh what do you think just I know we don't we don't have any concrete answers here, but where do you think potentially Plouffe uh stands in this in this 81 divide? Like and if that did play a role in any of this, whether it's him being murdered or him being whisked in you know whisked away into hiding. Uh what's your sense of of where he stood? Not necessarily in the pecking order cuz we know he's like number three. He He's the guy on the street uh in Quebec for for Marty over all these years. But where do you think he potentially played in in that situation? >> Um I think it'd be suicidal for him to to go out to uh betray Robert Stadnick. I mean I think he he might as well go hang gliding without a shoot. You know, like I just don't think that would work. Um the ones I know who've wanted to get out, they'll do something stupid so they kicked out in bad standing. I've had a guy talk to me because that got him kicked out. Um so there are ways of getting out. That's something I was curious about about Stadnick is how does this guy ever get out of it? And then the conclusion I came to is that he doesn't want out. And so why am I looking at this? End of yet you think about Robert? I mean he's got the Kremlin tattooed on him. He's got world tattooed on him. Where do you hide from a guy like this? And they're up to what? 7,000 members now? So A long time ago one um one guy told me um help I'm being chased by paranoids. And I've seen that, you know, where like how how do you call it paranoid when they will do this? The um I did a book with Michelle Auger. Michelle got shot eight times because they got >> Yeah, Bouchard was a lunatic. >> And they also had a cop who for 200 bucks or someone in the motor vehicle department who for 200 bucks would give them an address and so for for basically coffee money they were getting addresses of people that they could shoot and the in the worst of the 13 murders that Stadnick was charged with those those were at people's homes. They went to the house and um they didn't wait around or lure them to a bar or restaurant. They they knew where the guy was and they could wait outside when they were going to get into the car. So um I I just absolutely would not want Stadnick and Robare um searching for me. I don't I don't think there's any amount the police could offer that would um would flip me over to that. >> It it uh there's some of the uh modus operandi here that has me scratching my head. I'm kind of piggybacking off of what you're saying or at least I think you're saying so correct me if I'm wrong. Um and I said this on the podcast I did uh the other day and I'm sure people have watched before they've seen this interview. Um that the Hells Angels have no problem laying out a body on a street. Um and and that's not to say that the Hells Angels haven't made people disappear before but they're you know they're pretty uh you know they embrace you know cowboy antics and doing things publicly and sending messages by doing those things publicly. Why if if he was murdered why make the body disappear? I I I question. And then in regards to this arson fire and again please correct me if I'm wrong here. I I don't I can't think back to times where the Hells Angels have intentionally uh targeted family members that had nothing to do with the internal business. It and I and I'm saying this it it and I'm going to finish off with with a observation or um thought and then I want to get your thoughts on it. This this smells a little bit like cartel behavior. from me. >> Yeah, one thing that I um I've been looking a lot at a group called the Wolfpack and the other one called the United Nations and these guys came up and they're quite quite young because um uh someone from Mexico told me there's something called cartelitos now. You just need the cocaine. You don't need to get it from you know, one of the big five cartels. You just need someone to get you the cocaine and then you you juice it up and you're in business and um so as soon as you can connect with someone on the internet, all of a sudden you don't really need the boss like in the old Nicolo Rizzuto days, you know, way back the boss would control when you moved up and he'd have real power over you. Now you can bypass that person and you can be so we're talking about people under 40. Um Vito Rizzuto's dad didn't get the top job until he was past retirement age. >> Right. >> Like he had to sit around until he was I think 68 or something and Vito I think was 66 before he really hit his stride and now um you know, the Ryan Weddings, people like that, they're um you know, 20s and they they barely got their acne out of the way and they're running the >> It's like micro microwave dynasties. >> Yeah, and then they you know, have a change of life and everything's different when they're 35 and then they're dead by 40. Like it doesn't it's it's almost odd in our jobs because we have to pick who we think's going to stick around so that when we learn about them, they actually still still count. I think Rabih Al Khalili um of the Wolfpack is someone to watch, but even there, I think four of his family members were killed before he really got up there. Um the um It's just they're a lot more disposable now. One thing the pandemic um taught me was that these guys are really good at getting the drugs across the border. I thought that that was going to tighten it and it didn't really even affect prices all that much and so um there are a lot of ways to smuggle drugs and there are a lot of trucks with little compartments in them and um as long as you have the mar- the market, you're going to you can have the supply. So anyway, I think the Hells Angels are sort of hanging hanging on and I don't think um uh I they're not the tight unit that you'd think. Like I mean, when Frank Lanti killed a Hells Angel, I thought that's it for Frank and it wasn't. Um You know, you can you can hang in there. Harley Guidon, he's he's a very smart guy. He set a pass. I mean, he's expanding into the Maritimes now. He's been been around for a year. I thought he was >> That's a Satan's Choice, the relaunch of Satan's Choice and >> Yeah, and I thought >> Sonny the Frog son. >> Yeah, and I thought he was in on really really thin ice, like a former Hells Angel um restarting a club. I thought um And I mean, I like the guy, so I I was kind of worried for him and I he's done it. I mean, he's he's out there. He's um you go on Facebook and there he is and these guys know it. Um >> He's building it brick by brick, man, and and it's uh it's moving and it's moving fast. He's he's picking up uh you know, uh you know, patch overs and and recruiting uh across multiple borders and uh he's really out there, you know, winning hearts and minds, as they say. >> But the Stanics and the Raber's, they're they're allowing it to happen. Like they he's smart enough um he he doesn't do anything in Quebec. He works around them. He um He He don't see him in downtown Montreal. Um >> Harley G, we're talking about Harley G. >> Yeah, I mean you like like I think most people in Canada kind of know where you can move and where you can't move and you can work the fringes and um So to getting back to the disappearance, I just don't think there's it's a big enough country to to hide if you get the Hells Angels mad at you. I mean they had I heard 7 or 800 people that they get together there in Windsor. Um they'd all have contacts. That That's a lot of people to hide from. >> Do you think that what happened in Windsor um was some type of foreshadowing or do you think there was some uh something that happened at the run in Windsor that led to uh what we're talking about with Steph Bluf right now? Is that possible? >> I think for Stahli to go there and to um uh for it to be a big deal for him, um I think I think he was canvassing the room. I think he was getting a feeling of um sort of the who's who in the zoo sort of thing like who who's on which side, who's on the other side, who's in the middle. I I think that he that gave him stuff to weigh. I I think he um I I think it was important for him making a big decision. I I think um And a lot of times these guys have multiple grievances and it's when they all add up then they're in trouble. You can handle one at a time. You know, you can battle with a bunch of them, but when um when they're all um all come together at the same time then then it's really bad. So I think I think Stahli was was checking the room. >> I think that's a great observation and I I talk about that um a lot with uh some of the people I take counsel with in in regards to what caused whatever situation and what what Why did this guy get killed? Why did this guy disappear? And a lot of times it's not one thing. It's kind of a a collection >> Yeah. >> of um of situations or a collection of uh behaviors a collection of incidents that all kind of coalesce and result in that person's murder. It's not uh oh, he did this one thing and he and and he ended up paying with his life. It's that he did five things or 10 things and upset multiple people, multiple factions, multiple groups and and that results in in the violence. So, I I I I guess the thing I keep on coming back to here is how close he is or was with Marty Robear and how powerful Marty Robear is. So, it's like if the decision was made to clip Fest Plouffe I I just have to believe it it would have it would have to be the cardinal sin of all cardinal sins to have Marty sign off on that. >> Yeah, I think um a lot of people are loyal until they feel the heat right against them and if it's only one spot on the lifeboat, they're going to choose it for themselves. I think um that said, I just don't see um I can't I can't see a universe where we're getting Stadnyk and Robear mad at you and Plouffe wasn't a dumb guy. I can't see a universe where that makes sense. I mean, I'd I'd rather skydive without a parachute. >> Yeah. There's no I mean, would you say >> [clears throat] >> it's accurate that there's no way this gets done if it is a murder there's no way this gets done without Marty explicitly either signing off or being involved in the murder conspiracy. Nobody's doing Nobody's trying to send a message to Marty by killing his right-hand man. >> Yeah, I mean the 13 murders that Stan was charged with pulling the trigger on any of them. It was just he was the one who sent the message that he wants this done. So um I I don't know it's just it's such a huge huge step and I mean if if you did something to um to Bloof, then you're sort of saying that Marty blew it, too. I mean, if those two are if they're if they're two sides of the same coin and you you can't really peel it off and blame one side over the other. I And then we're talking about someone in his late 50s, so there's not you assume there isn't some youthful stupid thing at 2:00 in the morning at the bar, you know, that this is on a higher level than that. Um He did have a temper. I mean, he did get a road rage um conviction, so he did that there was a temper there, but I don't >> about your fat You're talking about Fats? >> Yeah, I mean, he but I can't see him doing something that would would come to this. Um And I think if if um like with the with the truck McQuillican murder, I think that sent a message don't dip your hands into the till. Whatever Whoever did do it, that came um at the end of a gambling investigation when there's a lot of disclosure and I think the message was um um you know, we see what's taken and uh And that was a very very public one. I I mean, it couldn't have been more public, you know, buffet restaurant when he's coming out the door. Um and that one who knows he's in the buffet restaurant? Well, only people that are close to him. Like that that was And then the Facebook >> in front of his family It was in front of his family, just like uh with Greg Woolly. But he >> Yeah. >> That That's what I think. >> they want to send [clears throat] a message. Sorry, go ahead. Oh no, they just that they wanted it seen. Like these guys aren't masters of finesse unless it really works for them. But they're not attacking I mean, they're doing it in front of the family which is pretty cold-blooded, but they're not the family's not getting hit with strays or or or are being collateral damage from this. And that's why I I I wonder what the attack on the property was. And I don't know if the people that attacked it knew that his son was in there, but it it seems pretty extreme to you know, make a guy disappear or he he he disappeared on his own volition and is hiding somewhere and then going in and attacking his family. It just It just seems like it's that that takes it to a whole other level and I I just haven't seen And please tell me if I'm wrong. I mean, have the Hell's Angels ever gone after somebody's wife or kids or mom or dad? >> Um I mean, they went to a guy's house to collect money. The one of the Some of it's just been called like one of the 13 that I was talking about who was killed his daughter was was there when it happened. So my my feeling though about the bombing versus the disappearance is it My feeling is that it's different groups. Like if if I have a beef with him and he's gone hiding, then I'm going to I don't like him pulling a fast one on me and making me look like an idiot. So I'm going to torch his place just so that he if he's lying on the beach, he's not enjoying it that much. So my gut feeling is that that it's a good time to settle other grievances. >> Okay, I want to present another possible scenario that somebody that is is very well connected into 81 Nation that uh presented me this possibility. Is it possible that the Hells Angels have kidnapped him. They didn't kill him. They've kidnapped him. And that they're trying to get money out of him. And they have him tied up in some basement somewhere. Uh fast as somebody that uh based on my reporting has been big in the uh crypto scams. Uh cryptocurrency you know, stuff like that. Uh that that he could have uh uh you know, crypto accounts where there are tens of millions of dollars. And that they're torturing him or or or trying to get this money out of him. He's not doing what they want him to do. So, they're like, "Okay, now we're going to go uh attack your your home with with your kid inside as incentive for him to do what they want." You think that's possible? >> Yeah, and I mean some of the stuff there's a guy talked to a lot who was in the United Nations, but they actually had him in the Hells Angel program. And he was going along and um it considered on his his way to a patch, but it was just as a spy. I mean, some of the stuff gets really um secret squirrely. And and then he got to like the And yeah, and he got to like the the Hells Angels, and he was thinking of going to them. And then the his group did something, and all of a sudden he switched back. But he he told me that for a while there he he almost switched over. So, there's a There are a lot of blurry lines here. I mean, there um And if you're talking about a huge amount of money and and young guys and a lot of resentments and a a of paranoia, I don't think you can take that much off the table. I I just think that um if there's anyone I don't want mad at me, it's Walter Stadnick. Like I I don't at his trial like you could he he didn't seem that upset. I mean, he's facing 13 murder counts and he he'd look around the room when people came in. He'd look at them. If he liked them, he'd nod. If he didn't, he'd glare a little bit. He he wasn't bored, but he wasn't he wasn't afraid. And um uh he's made hard decisions before. I mean, this is a guy who was almost burned to death um in a a bike accident. I mean, he and they they had to have a a group come in from um the Maritimes to stand guard for him and then he actually they had to hire paid duty police to guard him. So, he's guarded >> Wasn't wasn't he wasn't he coming back from Yves Buteau's funeral? >> Um he was he was he had the funeral and the priest had the Pope and they met at the intersection. Like it was heaven and hell coming together. And and the priest was wrong. Like the priest made the mistake. Um and I mean, he when he got when he was national president, the club was really at a low and then he pulled them up. He the story about him in Manitoba is that there was a big dispute between two clubs and he was impatient to to get the Hells Angels in. So, he told the two clubs, work it out or I'll work it out for you and you might not be happy. >> Yeah. Well, then anyway, I I think he he worked it out in the sense of go to war and whoever's the winner of that war gets to be a Hells Angel. >> Yeah. Yeah, it's almost like a father who tells his kids to go to the basement, turns up the volume of the TV and says I just don't care, work it out yourselves. >> Yeah. >> And they they listened. I mean, they really listened. >> Um so what did what does it say to you if my reporting or sourcing is accurate and I'm I'm pretty certain it is, that Nugent traveled from Hamilton to Quebec in the day or two before Fast disappears. And that Fast might have been face-to-face with Nugent at at some point the weekend before he went missing. And based on some other reporting, Marty Robert was in town the previous week. >> See, I don't know the Robert part. The Stahneck part I'm I'm very confident in that side of it, and I I think if Stahneck's there, you don't need Robert. Like I I don't think we have any case of Robert and Stahneck clashing. I think they're a a very smooth mix. Uh um I think they um I think they both allow the other one to carry on. >> The yin and the yang and yang well. >> Yeah, and they sort of freaking frat two sides of the coin and all that stuff. And um Uh you don't see Stahneck getting into stupid disputes that don't have a logical conclusion, but then you don't see him not really trying to win if he does get into a dispute. Like Scott Steiner when he was really challenging for the top spot. I mean, that didn't do him any good. Like he ended up dead and >> I guess he disappeared. I mean, they they found him floating in the river. I don't know how long after the that that him and his guy Bam Bam um went to a meeting and never came home. But I don't think it was that long I mean, please people in the comments correct me. I don't think it was that long after the disappearance that he was that they were found. I think it was in the it was in St. Lawrence uh river, I think. >> Yeah, and I don't think Stahneck cried his eyes out over that. Like I, you know, maybe I'm wrong and someone can correct me, but I um the the my understanding is that he um I overstepped and I with with Quebec, there's a general feeling they don't don't really like outsiders coming in and telling them what to do. Um like they work with people but not work under people. >> So, uh what making it more um not existential, that's the wrong way to say it, but I guess looking at it from uh uh order of operation or or protocol, I mean Ndrangheta doesn't travel like like there's a reason if he's going somewhere, there there's a reason. There's a it's deliberate. He's not someone that is out and about all the time. I mean him coming to Windsor last month was a big deal and I mean I was hearing it over the border in Detroit from the guys that are Outlaws. And you know, with for people that might not know, Windsor is right across the river Detroit Detroit River. So, you can get from downtown Detroit uh to downtown Windsor is a 5-minute trip across a a bridge or a tunnel and there was a lot of talk amongst the Outlaws and the Highwaymen here about Ndrangheta coming basically to town. Even though he wasn't coming across the border, he was, you know, a stone's throw away. So, it's like him his movements um you know, for you know, to make an analogy I guess, you know, to a you know, to the financial his movements move the economy, you know, like move the move the market move the markets. Uh where so, you know, it had to be of paramount importance in my opinion for him to be leaving his home base in Hamilton, coming to Quebec for whatever reason it was, and then within a day or a day or two, fast cloof, it it it vanishes? >> I yeah, I think you're right on the money with the going to Windsor. My only question about that um national run really was was Stadnick there. Like that's all I wanted to know. And um and and that like I totally agree with you that that's a big big deal. >> He's he's someone who when he was handling a hundred eleven million dollars in a year, which came up in his 2004 trial, um he didn't move to to the rich part of Hamilton. Like he stayed where where he grew up. Like this is someone who doesn't doesn't move around just for the fun of it. >> He's very disciplined, very disciplined. >> Yeah, and his bodyguards lived in in richer looking houses than he did. So, uh he doesn't need to put on a show. He doesn't need to be noticed. He um I mean, he's 5'4" and he's used to finessing things. He he hasn't kicked down the door anywhere, but he's always gotten in. He He's turned away from by a lot of groups um because he's just small. >> Couldn't get in the Satan's Choice, he couldn't get in the Outlaws. >> He came up under Tony Musitano, who's a I got to know him quite well. It's sort of an odd thing, but um uh I had a threat against me and Tony didn't like the person who was threatening me and had a bit of influence, and so he got me sort of off the hot seat, and so I and he showed up at a book launch of mine uninvited, which was a shocker. But but it was interesting. Anyway, Tony Tony brought him up and there would have been he would have learned a lot about finesse and watching, and you don't have to talk over people. You just watch what they're saying. You already know what you think. Watch what they think. >> Does he not speak French? >> Right. >> So, that I mean, I told you >> much English either. That's what they say, right? >> Yeah, yeah, he just doesn't he doesn't speak and uh I mean I I wanted to overhear him get something going when I was at his trial and he moves his hands around a bit and but I heard, you know, not guilty, your honor, and then I heard him critique our our picture of him saying that we made him look tired and that was it and he but he but he still knew the name of our sketch artist which I didn't know and somehow he knew um uh he was sort of letting us know that you know, he knows he knows things. >> So what what >> good good observer. >> I mean, when I when I put out the fact that the observation that he's deliberate in his movements the conventional wisdom would tell you that you don't want to be anywhere in the days or hours preceding somebody disappearing because you're going to be the person that they look to and say, well why were you here? Why were you there? Why were you meeting with this person? And then there's another according to Journal de Montreal and Felix he met with a couple other Hells Angels at this hotel uh in Saint-Eustache and one of these guys that he met with I'm told is a money guy, like a a full patch Hells Angel that's a finance wiz. >> [snorts] >> Wha Wha Wha believing that this was some type of precursor or going going on the theory that these were some kind of precursors to his disappearance why would they want to be seen with him or know that or have people know that they were with him before they disappeared? Was this something they that they It's like they're trying to game the game and it's like, okay, we we want it to be out there or cuz conventional wisdom would say the opposite. >> Yeah, and with with Stanek I don't know when you do learn something you don't know did he just put it in front of me and I finally picked it up? Like did um um I had once a cop um leak me a criminal's um cell phone number. So, I phoned the guy up. The guy blew up um all these sort of angry words and the police were just trying to extend the war. That's why I was leaked the number. The lo- [clears throat] a lot of times when we think we discovered something we really didn't. We just picked up the cheese that they put in front of us and um so with Stanek you're always kind of wondering did I learn that or was that planted for me? Um but he is definitely confident in his own um own opinions. Definitely um well-schooled. Um he had to work his come in a long way. I mean, he was rejected by everybody and gradually came in. Um he had to tolerate being around Mom Boucher who was certifiable. And so, you've got a really rational guy around a guy who um I mean, Mom Boucher is >> On hinged. On hinged. >> Well, he had someone shot cuz he thought he was laughing at him with his picture. >> Yeah. >> Like when uh this is a yeah, and there isn't a lot There aren't a lot of tears about him, but this is someone who um I I've I've wondered a lot about that too where you have the the guy who's really really planning and then the guy who's um you know, talking to a serial sort of thing. Like I you kind of wonder how they they put it together. So, I don't see Stanek becoming un- unhinged though. Like I I think whatever he decided it was something he thought was rational. >> There's definitely a method to the madness here. I just haven't figured out what that method is [laughter] yet. Uh so, I want to uh present to you a part of the story that um I I'm the only one that really has it. I don't know if it's a huge thing, but it's definitely a thing. And that is a murder investigation in the states uh out of the Miami Beach, West Palm Beach area in Florida that involved some Montreal Hells Angels people that are connected to Marty Robert and this murder investigation started to catch fire uh in terms of possibly solving it just in the last couple weeks. And search warrants for DNA swabs went out in Florida and in New York the day that Fest Plouffe disappeared. I I I just I have a hard time believing that that situation in Florida isn't playing some role, if not a primary role, but it's definitely some role in in the disappearance. Um any thoughts? I I haven't been able to um I don't feel comfortable giving out all the information I know about it, but I know that there was a a nightclub that was owned by a Hells Angel who's from Montreal, but is living in the United States, lives in New York City. Has a lot of face time with Marty Robert when Marty Robert comes to the US. I'm told that Marty Robert could be using this Hells Angel as a a front or a partner or was using this Hells Angels as a front or a partner in this nightclub. Uh there were other groups that were represented in this ownership of the nightclub. Uh mob families in New York City, mob families in Philadelphia. And that this nightclub was possibly being used as some type of way station or um uh distribution point for cartel drug activity. The guy that was running the nightclub who possibly could be connected to the cartels. I don't have that locked down, but I have some uh people speculating that. He ends up in the trunk of a a car at the Miami Airport. Um or maybe it was the Fort Lauderdale Airport. I I I got to go check my notes, but he ends up in the trunk of his car at the airport. The the the investigation's kind of I don't want to say it was dormant. It just wasn't uh it it it wasn't hot. It it it it went cold pretty quickly, and then at a certain point in late July it got hot. I'm told there's a cooperator. And then this happens. I I any thoughts on that? >> Um I think in general, I mean, if I was a criminal and there were unsolved cases, I'd be really worried about the DNA. I mean, just in the last couple of weeks I've had stories on a 1936 homicide where someone was buried under a building and they still found out who who who it was who did it. Um >> 90 years ago. >> Another one of someone's body was set on fire. and you know, dosed in gasoline sort of thing, and uh there's a a new um strain of DNA um analysis, and Toronto cops are working with um with with with a Texas um firm that's extremely good at this, and so just takes us back, and it can last a long, long time. Um And so if I if I was doing some sort of a sloppy murder that would have uh would have worked 20 years ago, 30 years ago, I'd be You can't do that now without, you know, And so maybe you the idea of leaving the body out there for everybody to see, maybe that's going to be a thing of the past. Um But it it's odd. I mean, the truck shooting, you know, in um Oakville last year, that no DNA there. It's with a gun from a bit of a distance. Um those ones will work, but anything up close. And so if you're trying to ab- abduct somebody um from a meeting, there's going to be DNA somewhere. Um you know, a tiny little speck in your toes. And they're using the fear of that to get people to confess. >> Yeah. And from what I can understand, at least one of the cooperators here, I'm told, and this is going to be the first time I'm saying this, and I'm going to I'm just going to say it. Uh one of the cooperators, I'm told, was in charge of chauffering Marty Robear to meetings, picking him up at the airport, taking him to meetings related to this nightclub endeavor, related to this narcotics trafficking endeavor with the Italian mafia in America. Um I know that and I'm going to do a pod where I color this up a little bit more, but Marty Robear has been observed by law enforcement in the United States running around with Joey Merlino who is the um most infamous Mafia Don of the last 30 years uh in the United States. He comes from Philadelphia. He spends a lot of time in Boca. I'm told that Marty and Joey um had uh houses that were kind of in the same neighborhood. >> [snorts] >> Uh So Marty's activities in the United States are being heavily monitored. I've had people in the mainstream media in Montreal that have called me to kind of push back on my reporting that Marty's been spending time in Florida or the United States saying, you know, how could he get over How could he get across the border uh because of, you know, his own notoriety. And my response to them is again, if you're looking at things from a from conventional wisdom perspective, you'd be right. But from talking to my sources in law enforcement in the United States, they want him over here. They They They They will open the border and and give him a police escort to where he's going because they want him here to make a case. And and no disrespect to the uh judicial system in Canada but a case in the United States could be it's a wrap. It's It's It's over with. Your your career, your reign is is done. It's not uh you're going to jail for 10 years and and you're going to come out and be able to go about doing what you've done in the past. Uh it's you know it's it's it's case closed and and you're you're deactivated because you're sitting behind bars in a federal prison in the US for the next 50 years. So, I I think or I know that the FBI, the DEA, the Department of Justice here, just like Ryan Wedding, where Kash Patel, the head of the FBI in in the US, traveled to Mexico City to negotiate Ryan Wedding's um his his turning himself in and so it could be a big head on the wall of Donald Trump. Believe me, as big of a head as Ryan Wedding is is as is how big of a head Marty Robaire would be. So, you know, my my answer to to some of the journalists in the French-speaking press in in Canada that want to know why I'm reporting that and how that is is is because federal law enforcement in the US wants him in Miami running around with Joey Merlino. And now they have a body. And I'm not saying that Marty's a suspect in that murder, but one of Marty's guys, who's from Montreal, is a suspect in that murder. >> It It makes sense to me what you said. The pandemic changed a lot of what about borders. I thought that that was going to be some sort of a sealing thing around Canada or tighten it up and it really meant that a couple of guys built compartments in a couple trucks and everything went on as usual. Like it it just made them better with what they're already good at and it didn't even affect prices. Um I know in Ontario, like where I am, when I think of the mafia, I think of the 'Ndrangheta in Calabria and that's not the same as what's um dominant in Montreal. Like that's not the Rizzutos and they they don't mix that well and so the Hells Angels north of Toronto their mafia ties don't blend with Montreal mafia ties. Like they they actually don't get along. Um Walter Stadnick, he came up under um Calabrian mafia ties but also ones that were kind of independent and somehow got along with Buffalo. Um But kind of wider thinkers and so um I just think a lot a lot is changing really really quickly. Like there are people who who've risen and fall and fell, you know, just in the last couple years and I almost have to pick the ones I think are going to be around for a while to focus on them because some people are really hot and then they're gone. I mean, I still don't know what to make of Ryan Wedding. Like none of the bad guys I know are breasted and so I don't if he wasn't a snowboarder, I I'm not sure how much we talk about him. He was 24th in the Olympics which is you know, better than me obviously, but but it's not it's nothing you have a parade about and so nobody knew about him until he got caught is what I'm trying to say and he also was convenient when Donald Trump was trying to make Canada look like the place where all the evil grows out of. >> He wants to stick it to Canada. >> Yeah, and I mean it's like we're throwing snowballs and you know, he's he's accusing us of making machine guns. Like it's not it's not quite there. >> But he also wants to say, "Hey, I got Ryan Wedding. You guys didn't get him. I got him." This was the man from your neck of the woods and he's he's bringing all these drugs in into the US and into Canada and and you guys couldn't do the job. We did the job. >> Yeah, and it there's one old politician who used to uh box people who were drugged and then it would look like he was a big deal and they were or they weren't allowed to hit him. I mean, I I I just don't know what to make of Ryan Wedding to be honest, but I think he I don't see him in a me a big way and running into the stuff and we're talking about with with Stadnick. I mean the interesting thing is you can go back into stories you did 30 years ago and and it's the same guy. He's just developing. I mean they were Hells Angels in Montreal were killing um webmasters in the early 2000s like when the rest of us were trying to understand what Google was. They were killing off the uh the Rock Machine's webmasters. I think they got two of them. So and they had another guy who actually took a advanced computer programming course like one of their guys and so they they were way ahead of the curve on that stuff. >> So as we wrap up here, what would you say we can reconvene I guess when we learn more in the in the weeks and months to come. What what do you say are the most likely scenarios for what happened to Stephane Poof? >> Uh my feeling and a lot of it's because of the person I talked to earlier today is that he's um somewhere having suntan lotion rubbed on him and um and with an encrypted internet that Stadnick is um getting ready for the hockey season and um that they they're relatively comfortable. I think the young guy old guy split in the Hells Angels is a real thing and I think it's almost everywhere. I mean in you know what business doesn't have that. You know where um older people think they've got the experience. Young people think that older older guys don't know how to sign their computers on and and sort of dismiss them. So I think it's in mainstream business. You know we shouldn't be surprised that it's in criminal business as well. I So my I think it's going to die away and then I think two three years ago he's going to either reappear in Montreal or he doesn't then we can uh draw a conclusion. I think there's about four or five people who really know. Walter Stadnick definitely would be one. Um Robert would be another and then um after that this isn't communism. They don't share um um share secrets with each other. A lot of Hells Angels know a lot less than we do. >> Wow. Wow. Well, that's a great way to to end this interview. You are always just a uh a wealth of knowledge and insight. Thank you so much uh Peter Edwards for joining us to try to break down this still developing, still very fresh story about the disappearance of Montreal Hells Angels street boss uh Stefan "Fats" Pleau and uh how Nergis Stadnick plays into this, how Martin Robert plays into this, how a a possible uh generational divide in the Hells Angels play into this. I appreciate you giving me some um of your thoughts on what I know about what's going down in Florida, which I think plays some role in this if not a major role. Um but and I you know, I'll end with and I'm not giving I'm not giving any definitive answer. You kind of gave a definitive answer, but I'll I'll just say I think there are there really there's three possibilities that he was killed, that uh he has been whisked away by the Hells Angels and has put in some safe house, or kidnapped by Hells Angels to uh uh you know, to extort him or or get money out of him and then the final scenario being he's in police custody somewhere. And I would probably say that's the least uh likely, but And and I guess another thing I'll I'll just say as I'm concluding here, someone mentioned to me that the the arson at his house wasn't it didn't seem professional to them. It seemed like it was a couple kids that went and and did this. So, I guess maybe there could be you know, could there be an Arab power element to this where the the the the real renegades in the Quebec underworld right now, the the Arab power guys that used to work with the Hells Angels, used to work for the Rizzutos, the Sicilian mob, and now have kind of gone off on their own and have become quite formidable in a short period of time. I guess that would be a potential, too. I had said there was three possibilities, I just gave five. >> [laughter] >> Um thank you Peter. Let everyone >> Oh, thank you. I enjoyed it. >> Let let everyone know where they can get your stuff, read your stuff out of the scene of the Toronto Star. You've got over a dozen books. Um let people know where they can find you. >> Um I've got a website too, um peteredwardsauthor.com. So uh that or the Star would be the best place um places. Um and and I really appreciate being on here. And if anyone wants to solve the mystery of Mr. Stadnik, wants to contact me, I'm I'm always open. >> Me, too. >> I'll share it with you. >> I'm I'm sorry I I didn't come visit you in Hamilton when I was there for a week, but again, I enjoyed my time there and my new year knew where you were, I would have come over and said hi, but uh I've I've now been to your city and uh I give it the uh original gangster's sign of approval now that I've spent a week in Hamilton, Ontario. I was uh our our uh uh the studio where we were recording was right across from the uh the football stadium where the Hamilton Tiger-Cats play, so I love myself some CFL football over the years. So that that kind of gave me a I got a kick out of that. Um thank you so much, Peter. >> Oh, thank you. >> Uh we will see you the next time that you you come and bless us with your presence. Hopefully it will be sooner than later. You enjoy the rest of your week. Thank you to Benny Augusta for uh promo uh producing me. He is my MVP producer. He makes everything I do possible uh in regards to getting out the content and making it nice and tight and putting all the bells and whistles on it. Uh Uh, we'll we will keep everybody updated even if even if it's on a daily basis. Whenever we're getting information about this Fest Proulx disappearance, we'll come in and we'll check in even if it's a 10-15 minute report uh, or if it's something more in-depth like this where we're doing hour-long interview with a an expert like Peter. So, everybody in terms of English-speaking reporting, even though I'm in the States, I got my finger on the pulse of of what's going on in Quebec and Ontario. I got lots of great sourcing. I got moles all across both uh, provinces that are feeding me information on a pretty regular basis. So, uh, we appreciate your support. Uh, please like, share, and subscribe. 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