Care to comment on this one Mr.Nicky
Canadiens players being investigated
February 20, 2009 at 9:35 AM EST
A man arrested this month in a Montreal police investigation focused on organized crime has close ties to Montreal Canadiens players Andrei and Sergei Kos
yn, La Presse reported in Friday's newspaper.
Pasquale Mangiola faces drug trafficking and illegal weapons charges, La Presse reported. According to the newspaper, Mangiola spoke often with the hockey-playing brothers. Montreal defenceman Roman Hamrlik is also an acquaintance of Mangiola's, La Presse reports.
The newspaper also reports that police discovered financial documents belonging to the Kosyns while exercising a search warrant on Mangiola - some embossed with the Canadiens letterhead. The brothers and Hamrlik were frequently seen with Mangiola in tony Montreal nightspots, and police wiretaps reveal nearly daily conversations between the suspected cocaine dealer and one or both of the Belarusian hockey players. None of the players are accused of any criminal involvement with Mangiola, La Presse says.
Montreal police, when contacted by the Montreal Gazette on Friday, refused comment on its anti-gang operation, called Project Axe, as well as the reports on the Canadiens' players ties to Mangiola.
“Concerning the numerous rumours that have been running around last night and this morning, they are still rumours as far as we are concerned,” Constable Yannick Ouimet said. “We do not comment on investigations, like Axe, that are before the courts.''
The report caps an eventful week for the struggling Canadiens, who have lost three straight games and have fallen into sixth place in the NHL Eastern Conference. Sergei Kosyn was sent to the club's AHL affiliate in Hamilton on Tuesday, the same day that general manager Bob Gainey ordered veteran forward Alex Kovalev to take some time off because of indifferent play. Kovalev is expected to rejoin the team Friday.
February 20, 2009 at 9:35 AM EST
A man arrested this month in a Montreal police investigation focused on organized crime has close ties to Montreal Canadiens players Andrei and Sergei Kos
yn, La Presse reported in Friday's newspaper.Pasquale Mangiola faces drug trafficking and illegal weapons charges, La Presse reported. According to the newspaper, Mangiola spoke often with the hockey-playing brothers. Montreal defenceman Roman Hamrlik is also an acquaintance of Mangiola's, La Presse reports.
The newspaper also reports that police discovered financial documents belonging to the Kos
yns while exercising a search warrant on Mangiola - some embossed with the Canadiens letterhead. The brothers and Hamrlik were frequently seen with Mangiola in tony Montreal nightspots, and police wiretaps reveal nearly daily conversations between the suspected cocaine dealer and one or both of the Belarusian hockey players. None of the players are accused of any criminal involvement with Mangiola, La Presse says.Montreal police, when contacted by the Montreal Gazette on Friday, refused comment on its anti-gang operation, called Project Axe, as well as the reports on the Canadiens' players ties to Mangiola.
“Concerning the numerous rumours that have been running around last night and this morning, they are still rumours as far as we are concerned,” Constable Yannick Ouimet said. “We do not comment on investigations, like Axe, that are before the courts.''
The report caps an eventful week for the struggling Canadiens, who have lost three straight games and have fallen into sixth place in the NHL Eastern Conference. Sergei Kos
yn was sent to the club's AHL affiliate in Hamilton on Tuesday, the same day that general manager Bob Gainey ordered veteran forward Alex Kovalev to take some time off because of indifferent play. Kovalev is expected to rejoin the team Friday.
