| Ted Nicholas Theodore |
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| Ted Nicholas Theodore, the father of Montreal Canadiens goalie Jose Theodore, was born in the 1930s. Working out of his wig shop on Jarry Street, the elder Theodore ran an illegal loansharking operation for nearly 20 years that lent large sums of money to desperate borrowers at high rates of interest.
The loansharking ring operated for almost 20 years, until police cracked down on the group on June 18, 2003. Ted Theodore, his brother and his sons Nick, Rock, Frank and Ted, Jr. were among 16 people arrested and charged with more than 100 counts, including gangsterism, loan sharking and uttering threats. |
| Police alleged that Theodore headed a ring that operated in Montreal and out of the Montreal Casino. The group provided loans of anywhere from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars and charged interest rates ranging from 200 to 600 per cent.
The police investigation, dubbed Operation Arbitre (or "Referee"), lasted more than a year. Authorities say they learned of the illegal operation from tips they received from people at the casino. The group was alleged to have lent up to $3 million to people during the time of the police investigation. Wiretaps later presented in court suggested that the elder Theodore controlled every aspect of the business while his sons acted as collectors. Jose Theodore has no connection to the illegal operation, police quickly pointed out after the bust. Approached by the media, the Vezina-winning goalie refused to discuss the details of the case, but did say that he supports his family. More than 50 charges against Ted Theodore were eventually dropped, and the 71-year-old pleaded guilty to loansharking and possession of a restricted weapon. He was fined $30,000, but was spared prison time. The money was to be deducted from the $525,000 seized from the family when the loansharking ring was dismantled. In his ruling, the judge pointed out that Ted Theodore had no prior criminal record and that there was no proof that physical violence had been dispensed to tardy customers. |