Accurso details link to Rizzuto

Right after Louis Laberge was elected president of the Fdration des travailleurs et travailleuses du Qubec (FTQ) in 1964, the unions headquarters moved into an office building on Mtropolitain Blvd. E. where, within months, a soon-to-be notorious figure would settle in down the hall.

Nicolo Rizzuto Sr., who became patriarch of the Montreal Mafia a decade later, incorporated Grand Royal Asphalt Paving Inc. in 1965, and listed its headquarters in room 509 of 3333 Mtropolitain E. in St-Michel.

Its unknown whether he ever crossed paths with his neighbour, Laberge, whose FTQ office was in room 500 of the same building during the years that Rizzuto had Grand Royal Asphalt Paving and other companies registered in number 509.

However, the overlapping address is just one of the links uncovered by The Gazette between a cast of characters from Quebecs union, construction and criminal worlds whose names have come up at the Charbonneau Commission this week.

Former construction magnate Tony Accurso, whose father, James, launched the Louisbourg Construction empire in the 1950s, is one of the last and most anticipated witnesses to appear before the commission, which has spent two years wading into collusion, kickbacks and dirty political financing involving Quebecs construction industry and public contracts.

Accurso testified on Tuesday that he didnt think his father had known Laberge, when asked directly by commission lawyer Sonia LeBel.

Testifying on Wednesday, Accurso identified Laberge, his mentor when he took over the family construction business following his fathers death in 1981, as a spiritual father.

And Accurso called Vito Rizzuto, who died of cancer in December, and son Nick Rizzuto Jr., who was gunned down in 2009, minor contacts. He added he never met Nicolo Sr., father of Vito, who was assassinated in 2010.

Yet Laberge, who died in 2002, and most of these individuals intersect in Montreal municipal contracts.

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Accurso details link to Rizzuto