The “right arm” of kingpin Gregory Woolley, who was murdered last fall, was arrested at his home on Friday morning with two guns.
Jean Winsing Barthelus, 45, was charged at the Montreal courthouse Saturday morning with possessing two firearms, a Glock 26 and a Khar CW9, while possession was prohibited.
“The two prohibited weapons were loaded,” Crown prosecutor Me Simon Lacoste said during the appearance.
According to the denunciation, the seized weapons were found in a GMC Yukon SUV and at his residence in Sainte-Julie on Montreal's south shore.
The serial numbers of the two weapons were also allegedly changed, obscured or deleted.
The search was conducted as part of an investigation by the Montreal police multi-sector firearms team.
The defendant, represented by Me Anthony El-Haddad, remains in custody for the time being. He will return to the Longueuil courthouse in a few days for further proceedings.
Near Woolley
Barthelus, nicknamed Zing, was considered Woolley's “right arm,” according to a Quebec Criminal Intelligence Service analysis report obtained by the Bureau of Investigation in 2021.
Remember that Gregory Woolley was murdered last November in front of his wife and their newborn baby in the crowded parking lot of a CLSC in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. There have been no arrests so far in this case.
Gregory Woolley was close to both the leaders of the Italian Mafia and the Hells Angels. According to our information, he has ordered or committed several murders on Quebec soil over the years.
Multiple backgrounds
Barthelus was arrested in 2015 as part of Operation Magot-Mastiff, which helped undermine an alliance between mafia, bikers and gangs in the Montreal region.
He had pleaded guilty to racketeering, conspiracy to traffic cocaine and cocaine trafficking. He was sentenced to 57 months in prison in 2019, but was released in the following days due to the preventive detention he had already served.
His boss, Gregory Woolley, who was also charged in this case, was sentenced to five years in prison.
Barthelus was sentenced to 30 days in prison in 2012 for possessing a weapon even though he was prohibited from doing so.
He was previously sentenced to 17 months in prison in 2010 and 30 months in prison in 2006 for, among other things, gangsterism.
With Valérie Gonthier