| Ernest Pitt |
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| Ernest Pitt, born in the late 1940s, has been referred to as one of Canada’s major hashish brokers. He got his start in the drug business over 25 years ago, police suspect. Over the years, he established contacts with drug exporters in the Middle East. His main supplier was the “Mountain Man” Abdul Majid Sulaymankhil of Afghanistan. Pitt lived modestly in a quadruplex in Lennoxville, east of Montreal, where he did little to attract attention to himself. When he travelled into the city, he went by bus. Few would have suspected Pitt of being the head of an international hashish importing operation. He also travelled extensively. In March 2000, Pitt visited the United Arab Emirates, where he allegedly met with hashish suppliers. Shortly thereafter, he spent a month in South Africa. Other countries Pitt visited included India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Thailand. |
On May 15, 2001, police broke up the Pitt network, arresting 22 people in Montreal, Toronto, France, Portugal, and India. Pitt was arrested in Paris, France, while his wife, Suzan Renaud, was picked up in Sherbrooke. The police investigation against Pitt began in 1999, when two people with links to the alleged hashish broker were arrested at the U.S. border with approximately $130,000 in undeclared U.S. funds. The following operation would dismantle the criminal network and resulted in the seizures of 4,168 kilograms of hashish, 175 kilograms of cocaine, $500,000 in cash, and weapons. The hash imported was supposedly distributed across Quebec, Ontario, and the Maritimes. Pitt’s reputed right-hand man, Nicolas Brizzi, was also arrested, as well as Pitt’s alleged main hashish supplier, Abdul Majid Sulamankhil, known as the “Mountain Man”. Police said Pitt’s group supplied large amounts of hashish to three criminal organizations. Two of the three alleged leaders of those organizations, Louis Nagy and Barrie Swartz, were among those arrested. Nagy and Swartz have been described in a news article as being close to the West End Gang. The reputed leader of the third criminal organization was none other than Hells Angel Louis “Mélou” Roy. Roy’s gang was allegedly received 5,200 kilograms of hashish from J amaica, India, South Africa, Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland. But Roy could not be charged since he was nowhere to be found. He had disappeared on June 24, 2000 and is thought to have been murdered. On November 14, 2001, Nicolas Brizzi, Pitt’s reputed right-hand man, was sentenced to seven years in prison. He also had a vehicle seized in which police found $244,920. The money was to be used to pay for part of a hashish shipment, authorities alleged. A few months later, it was Abdul Majid Sulaymankhil’s turn. He was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison. After spending seven months in a French prison cell, Ernest Pitt was extradited to Montreal in December, 2001. He pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to import at least 5.5 tons of hashish and laundering $1.5 million. On May 13, 2002, he was sentenced to nine years in prison. |