04/19/24
June 18, 2003
No way Jose!: With his dad stung by a year-long investigation, dubbed 'Operation Arbitre', there is little doubt of his guilt and that of his four sons. In addition, the list of allegations includes making death threats, which makes this one of the better scandals in recent memory.
The article is pretty light on information. I wonder if this has anything in common with some of the "Russian Mafia" stories that use to circulate a few years ago, how players in the NHL from the old Soviet Bloc were somehow blackmailed into turning over funds, etc. I'm sure there will be plenty more news in the upcoming days.
posted by vito90 at 02:44 PM on June 18, 2003
Woah! Hold on here! there is little doubt of his guilt and that of his four sons I'm not sure where you're getting that information, but from the article you linked there is no supporting evidence that says there is "little doubt of [...] guilt" for anyone involved. They just say they've been arrested. If we knew more about what evidence they had against them, maybe we could make that leap. I remember officials arresting this guy, once upon a time, and how sure the media was about his guilt. Whoops. wfrazerjr: The line in the article is "Ted Nicolas Theodore and four of his sons", which implies there are more than four sons. If Theodore was implicated, I'm positive THAT would have been in the headline.
posted by grum@work at 03:21 PM on June 18, 2003
"Arbitre" means "referee" in French. That's pretty clever. I'm sure here in The States we would have called it "Operation Shark Bait" or some such.
posted by Samsonov14 at 03:44 PM on June 18, 2003
A little shock value never hurt anyone (well, thats not true, but hey) and usually sparks some lively commentary. I made the leap based on the fact that a sting operation, which this would seem to be, usually is a long (investigation of over a year) process and is only successful if the police gain the trust of the perps or if some surveillance turns up some pretty juicy evidence. Otherwise, I doubt arrests would've been made and the story would've been made public. Am I giving too much credit to Montreal's finest?
posted by garfield at 03:47 PM on June 18, 2003
It was his dad, but according to other internet nerds from the Montreal area, it was Jose's half-brothers that are in trouble here. Jose is apparently nowhere near this business.
posted by Samsonov14 at 04:00 PM on June 18, 2003
Well, now the damn link has changed and only TWO of the sons were arrested. I swear I thought the original link said "and his four sons," but thanks, Grum. At least now we know two things — Jose's in the clear, and someone in Montreal can't count.
posted by wfrazerjr at 04:22 PM on June 18, 2003
Is this worse than, say, the recent coaching scandals or Beckham's cornrows?
posted by billsaysthis at 05:22 PM on June 18, 2003
I'm in Montreal and, according to the latest reports -- most of which are en francais -- Ted Theodore (Jose's dad), four of Jose's half-brothers and Jose's uncle were among about a dozen (there's conflicting reports on the total number) of people picked up on suspicion of being loan sharks. The coppers say the ring was operating near -- because of the casino's layout, that means the parking lot -- of the local casino, taking advantage of people who were broke but had to keep hitting the slots, etc. Accusations include usury and threatening death. The investigation reportedly followed a tip from someone in the Casino (which is a government-run operation.) Jose's agent says the goalie will make a statement when he feels it's the right time. If you want to read the French accounts, the best ones are from La Presse (a broadsheet daily) and Radio-Canada, sorta Canada's NPR. In a report in the Gazette, Montreal's english-language daily: "Theodore, who won the National Hockey League's Vezina and Hart trophies in 2002, is not considered a suspect in this case, although investigators probably will want to meet with him" although they don't give a source for that statement. (I'm also following the whole mess on my blog, thenewforum.ca)
posted by Cap'n Swing at 08:36 AM on June 19, 2003
The article doesn't make it clear — is Jose actually a suspect in this investigation? Saying the father "and his four sons" were targets means there are only four sons, and Jose is therefore implicated. Am I right?