statism watch

That’s just how we do business in Toronto. (Justice demands an appeal.)

Flashback: Toronto Police Union picks controversial new president Michael McCormack | Three Toronto cops to stand trial on corruption charges | Police corruption preliminary probe ends

Peter Small, Toronto Star
December 7, 2009

A judge has thrown out corruption charges against retired Detective-Constable William McCormack, son of a former Toronto police chief.

The lead investigator in one of Toronto’s major corruption trials is being blamed for much of the delay that led to charges being tossed Monday against two former high-profile police officers.

After almost six years, Superior Court Justice Bonnie Croll stayed the charges against Det.-Const. William McCormack – son of a former Toronto police chief – and Const. Rick McIntosh, once the popular president of the Toronto police union, ruling that delays had breached their right to a fair trial.

McCormack and McIntosh were accused of shaking down bar owners in the Entertainment District.

Croll ruled that Staff Insp. Bryce Evans sparked time-consuming legal problems by the way he managed his informants, “triggered a lengthy adjournment … delayed the examination of witnesses” and created repeated conflicts with defence lawyers’ schedules.

The case, which led to the officers’ arrests in 2004, involved disturbing allegations and afforded a unique glimpse into the murky world of Toronto’s club scene:

• Police officers being paid off by nightclub owners to obtain liquor licences and avoid liquor and overcrowding charges.
• Secretly recorded conversations of club operators, some with mob ties, describing officers being given free meals and cash payments.
• A police informant, Neil Peluso, alleged to have high-ranking mob ties, out to get corrupt officers.
• Investigators on the case intimidating witnesses to the point where one fled town.

This is the second major Toronto police corruption case in two years thrown off course by Crown delays.

In January 2008, Ontario Superior Court Justice Ian Nordheimer stayed charges against six former members of an elite police drug squad. That decision, however, was overturned on appeal.

In testimony at a preliminary hearing into the Entertainment District case, Evans admitted to telling Peluso, his key source, that he would be a confidential informant, which would protect his anonymity, while actually running him as an agent, which did not. This led to lengthy court battles between defence and Crown over the informant’s true status.

Croll is the second judge on this case to criticize Evans. Preliminary hearing Justice George Beatty said his deception caused “substantial harm to the course of justice.”

Evans could not be reached for comment and Toronto Police Services spokesperson Mark Pugash said police were not ready to comment.

The Ontario Superior Court judge also criticized the Crown for problems in providing timely disclosure of evidence for the defence and the calling of witnesses.

She also stayed charges against Const. George Kouroudis, a co-accused, who ran a bar on the side.

The Crown has not decided whether to appeal.

Monday’s decision may be the end of the road for a contentious investigation that began in 2003 when detectives probing mob activity in Greater Toronto stumbled across allegations that police officers were demanding cash in return for help with liquor licensing issues.

Investigators came to believe that McCormack – son of former chief William McCormack Sr. and brother of the recently elected police union head, Mike McCormack – had money troubles and a heavy gambling habit, according to affidavits to obtain wiretaps filed at the preliminary hearing.

They suspected he was getting paid off by nightclub owners and that he teamed up with McIntosh – then president of the Toronto Police Association – to demand $50,000 from Peel Pub on King St. W. for help in obtaining a liquor licence, according to testimony at the hearing.

The Entertainment District investigation began when detectives with Project ORA, an RCMP-led multi-force probe into drug and organized crime, learned of alleged payouts to officers.

In response, investigators recruited as their chief informant Peluso, one of the bar owners under surveillance and allegedly a high-ranking member of the Commisso crime family.

Evans, then a detective-sergeant with Toronto police’s professional standards branch – which investigates wrongdoing within the force – led the probe, which was dubbed Project Bar District. Peluso told him that club owners were regularly paying off as many as eight officers and that McCormack boasted he was the “new sheriff in town,” according to affidavits to obtain wiretaps.

After a year-long investigation, in May 2004, McCormack, 50, and McIntosh, 55, were charged with several counts, including influence peddling and breach of trust.

Allegations related to the case were subject to a publication ban at the preliminary hearing. With the charges now stayed, evidence at the hearing can be made public. However, none of the allegations has been proven.

Project Bar District involved five sets of allegations, presented by the Crown at the preliminary hearing:

• That Daniel Contogiannis and Jonathan Vrozos, co-owners of Peel Pub, paid McCormack and McIntosh $30,000 to $32,000 for help in obtaining a liquor licence and in dealing with infractions;
• That Joe Gagliano and Vito Barbaro, part-owners of Distrikt club on Peter St., paid McCormack thousands of dollars to speed the issuance of their mysteriously delayed liquor licence, and to avoid charges.
• That McCormack warned fellow constable George Kouroudis of “surprise” liquor inspections he was making at Lotus, a club the officer ran against the wishes of his superiors.
• That McCormack improperly helped Hotel nightclub avoid an overcrowding charge after its doorman, Claudio Schiavi, approached him for help.
• That McCormack used his influence to help his friend, Oliver Geddes, operator of three clubs – Easy and The Fifth, Money and This is London – to avoid liquor licence convictions.

In McCormack’s defence, his lawyer argued in written submissions at the hearing that the Crown was seeking to criminalize conduct that, at most, was administrative fault or “errors in judgment.”

While McCormack borrowed money from some club owners, that may be a police disciplinary issue, not a crime, wrote his counsel, Jay Naster.

In addition, Peluso was out to destroy McCormack, Naster argued. In one wiretap, Peluso was overheard saying: “I’m gonna f—ing rat him out … I’m gonna f—ing set him up.”

McIntosh, through his lawyer, Peter Brauti, denied having any improper influence over the process of obtaining a liquor licence for Peel Pub. Nor did he have any discussions about liquor law enforcement, Brauti said in written arguments at the preliminary hearing.

Jeffrey Manishen, the special prosecutor on the case, said outside court that the issues were complex.

“This prosecution was probably the most complicated case I’ve had involvement in in 30 years of practice,” Manishen said.

Manishen said he wants an opportunity to review the decision and discuss it with senior Crown counsel, who will determine whether to appeal.

Brauti, McIntosh’s lawyer, said he is pleased with the result, but disappointed with the way the accused were treated and the delays they experienced. “You can’t avoid looking at the aftermath and the wake of destruction that this case left.”

McIntosh is pleased, exhausted and angry about what he was put through, Brauti said.

McCormack himself would only say, “I’m fine.”

William McCormack Sr., a former Toronto police chief, said his family was relieved by Monday’s decision. “And, as I’ve always said, in 41 years of policing I have had the pleasure of knowing that justice, the administration of justice will always be there.”

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