She's Gone is a new podcast that tells the story of four women's lives, deaths and the criminal cases that followed, hosted by Bre McAdam Saskatoon Star Phoenix criminal justice reporter. Subscribe now for free on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

On the morning of October 9, 2015, five full-patch Hells Angels members filed into a heavy-security courtroom at a specially-built courthouse in north-end Montreal. They were among 100 Quebec Hells Angels arrested in sweeping raids in 2009 and accused of conspiring to murder more than 150 people during Quebec's biker war in the 1990s. The five men …

The morning of Nov. 22, 2006 was cold and overcast. Cars were pulling up to the back entrance of the Montreal headquarters of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Westmount, just west of downtown. Inside the cars were some of the most powerful men in Montreal's underworld. Out came Nicolo Rizzuto Sr., the man who had seized control of the Montreal …

Which candidate did the United Conservative Party parachute into the Edmonton-Meadows riding for the spring provincial election? What government bills prompted the NDP to mount filibusters, and how many hours did the longest marathon debate take? Who bragged about laying pipe during the televised leaders' debate? Join legislature columnist Keith Ge…

In this episode we take a closer look at Vito Rizzuto, the man who ran the Montreal mafia for decades. While the New York crime families are more famous, the Montreal mob under Rizzuto had an international reach. Besides drug smuggling, it ran loansharking and bookmaking schemes, and even illegal casinos. But by the early 2000s, Vito Rizzuto’s reig…

Thank goodness that’s over. Hansard scribes, security guards, clerks, press gallery members and, likely, many others are in for some relief after an intense fall sitting of the 30th legislature ended at about 1:30 a.m. Thursday. Join reporter Lisa Johnson, managing editor Dave Breakenridge, legislature columnist Keith Gerein and host Janet French a…

It was summer vacation, and a group of boys was playing in front of the Saint-Nom-de-Jésus school in Montreal's east-end neighbourhood of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. At 12:40 p.m. on Aug. 9, 1995, a man got into his Jeep parked across the tree-lined street from the school. A powerful explosion sent the Jeep flying into the air. The blast was so violent …

Cupcake, anyone? We're celebrating an unbelievable 300th episode of the Press Gallery today, which adds up to at least 6,000 hours of Alberta politics analysis since this podcast began in 2013. Profuse thanks to all the listeners who have stuck with us through these whiplash-inducing six years in the legislature and beyond. This week, join legislat…

Montreal's street gangs have grown from groups of teenagers banding together in the 1980s for protection to, at one point, being the Montreal police department’s top crime-fighting priority. They work with other criminal gangs to traffic drugs, weapons and sex. As he was being extradited to the U.S. on racketeering charges in 2006, Montreal Mafia b…

It had a benign-sounding name: the Reform of Agencies, Boards and Commissions and Government Enterprises Act. But Bill 22 caused a real ruckus this week, including allegations of government corruption and orations about threats to democracy. Among the reforms in this omnibus bill of administrative changes meant to save the government money was the …

It was snowing in Montreal on the night of Nov. 13, 1984. West End Gang leader Frank Ryan, better known by his nickname, "Dunie", was at one of his usual hangouts, Nittolo's Garden Inn, a seedy restaurant and motel in west-end Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. Dunie Ryan, at age 42, was a very rich man. He owned a yacht, and a house on the West Island. He gave …

It may have been constituency week at the legislature, but things didn’t slow down for a moment in politics. Join legislature columnist Keith Gerein, National Post Alberta correspondent Tyler Dawson, managing editor Dave Breakenridge and host Janet French as they dissect Premier Jason Kenney’s announcement of a panel that will test Albertans’ appet…

Montreal's underworld has gotten rich — very rich — from sneaking cocaine into the city by car, by air, by boat, and inside people, packages and shipping containers. In this episode we go back to the 1980s, when cocaine really took off in Montreal. Montreal's main criminal gangs — the Rizzuto-led Montreal Mafia, the Hells Angels biker gang and the …

It was another breakneck week in Alberta provincial politics, and Premier Jason Kenney hit some turbulence on Thursday when the opposition revealed Albertans had paid more than $16,000 to fly him, three other "like-minded premiers," and some of their wives and staff on a charter plane from a Calgary meeting to the Council of the Federation gatherin…

It was pure coincidence but the Hells Angels opened their first Canadian chapter in Quebec just seven weeks before Nicolo Rizzuto took control of the Montreal Mafia. Those events in 1977-78 kickstarted a violent decades-long struggle to control the criminal underworld in Montreal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

It's been a trying week for Alberta's public sector unions. The United Conservative Party government wants to make changes to their pension plans, amend the law to allow replacement workers, and cut 7.7 per cent of the public service by 2023. Then on Tuesday, Finance Minister Travis said public sector employers like Alberta Health Services and the …

There was practically no news in Alberta this week: A little federal election here, a long-awaited provincial budget there. Join legislature columnist Keith Gerein, reporter Moira Wyton, managing editor Dave Breakenridge and host Janet French as they catch their breath from a week of sprinting between political news events. They'll talk about what …

A packed week in Alberta politics culminated with a huge climate protest at the Alberta legislature as international figure and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg came to speak about the science of climate change. Join reporters Anna Junker and Jason Herring, managing editor Dave Breakenridge and host Janet French as they discuss the politics …

The Alberta legislature grounds had a back-to-school feel this week as MLAs returned to the capital for the fall sitting of the government’s first session. As colourful leaves fluttered down, so did a few new pieces of legislation, with House Leader Jason Nixon pledging to introduce between 14 and 17 bills during the next nine weeks. Join reporter …

With Alberta's budget now confirmed for Oct. 24, the government this week floated a couple of snippets at the AUMA convention about what we might see in the UCP's first set of complete fiscal plans. Join Press Gallery host Emma Graney and guests Moira Wyton, Keith Gerein and Dave Breakenridge to talk about what else happened at the Alberta Urban Mu…

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney recently visited New York hoping to sell Alberta to investors. Join Dave Breakenridge, Janet French and Keith Gerein as they talk about Kenney's American travels. The team also talks about rural policing, and news that a lawsuit over gay-straight alliances has been dropped. Regular host Emma Graney was busy chasing elep…

This week, Alberta premier Jason Kenney got into a war of words with Amnesty International. Kenney's colourful letter made full use of his thesaurus. Our regular host Emma Graney is away this week. Join Dave Breakenridge, Janet French, Clare Clancy in Edmonton and Chris Varcoe in Calgary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoic…

The Dark North is a new podcast about crime in Canada. Each season will focus on a different city. Season 1 examines the struggle for control of Montreal's underworld, hosted by Montreal Gazette crime reporter Paul Cherry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesBy Postmedia

The big news out of Alberta politics this week was, of course, the MacKinnon panel report, which is slated to guide the UCP's spending over the party's four-year mandate as government. Join Press Gallery host Emma Graney with guests Clare Clancy, Dave Breakenridge and the Calgary Herald's Chris Varcoe to unpack the 26 recommendations, what it means…