Montreal Gazette

Three men assault retired police officer at his home

- PAUL CHERRY pcherry@postmedia.com

A retired Montreal police investigat­or who specialize­d in investigat­ing the Montreal Mafia was assaulted by three men at his home in Lasalle on Friday.

Pietro Poletti said his assailants managed to deliver several blows on him using blunt objects when he answered his front door shortly after 10 a.m. But he was more concerned about his 87-year-old mother, who was slightly injured in the assault but, fortunatel­y, did not require a trip to the hospital.

“If they wanted to take something out on me, take it out on me. But don’t take it out on my mother. They were thugs sent by thugs,” Poletti told the Montreal Gazette hours after the attack. He was at a loss to find a possible motive for what happened. He required several stitches to close a wound next to his left eye, but did not have to be hospitaliz­ed.

The tires on Poletti’s vehicle, parked outside his home, were slashed and one of the men uttered “shoot him, shoot him” during the attack, but Poletti did not see a firearm. The men fled the scene and no one has been arrested.

Montreal police spokespers­on Caroline Chèvrefils said four men, ages 18, 21, 23 and 30, were arrested as suspects in the assault at around 6 p.m. in Longueuil near the intersecti­on of Taschereau and Lafayette Blvds. She said the men have yet to be questioned and, if they are charged, they will appear in court on Saturday.

Poletti was a featured guest on Gangs of Montreal, a podcast series produced by the Montreal Gazette last year. In 2017, Poletti went public about problems that had plagued the Montreal police for years as false allegation­s were made against several investigat­ors who specialize­d in organized crime.

He said he also was the victim of false allegation­s that ruined the last third of his 30-year career with the Montreal police.

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