Probing city hall ties with the Mob is police work
The allegations are the stuff of TV crime drama. In a lawsuit, a company alleges that a City of Hamilton manager and a bylaw officer conspired with a wellknown mobster, now slain, to dump thousands of loads of contaminated soil at a company property.
The manager’s job was supposed to be to help the city crack down on illegal dumping, but instead, the suit alleges, he profited from illegal dumping on the Highway 5 property.
It has the makings of a movie of the week. But keep in mind the allegations in the lawsuit have not been tested in court. The police have not investigated. The city has launched its own investigation.
In keeping with the dramatic theme, Coun. Sam Merulla calls for a full-fledged police investigation, not by Hamilton police, but rather by an outside force such as the OPP or even the RCMP.
That, in a nutshell, is the story so far, brought to you by veteran Spectator investigative journalist Steve Buist.
The questions now are several: Is Merulla right? If there is a police investigation, couldn’t Hamilton Police Service do it? Shouldn’t any further action on involving police wait until the city finishes its investigation?
Our view is that Merulla may be a little ahead of the curve here, but he is more right than wrong. Here is why.
What sets this city hall controversy apart from many others — Sewergate, the missing Red Hill Valley Parkway safety report, the city staffer with close ties to far-right groups — is the alleged involvement of organized crime.
The late Pat Musitano is the organized crime figure in question. Aside from allegedly conspiring with city staff to dump contaminated fill and make money while doing so, he is also alleged to have threatened people who raised concerns about the dumping. Again, this has not been proven in court.
Allegations and folklore about Hamilton municipal government having ties to the Mob are not new. They go back nearly as far as Hamilton’s storied Mob history. If these claims turn out to be true, many will conclude all the stories are true, at least to a point.
Other controversies and scandals are more about competence, or the lack of it, secrecy and questionable judgment. Throw the Mob and a senior city manager into the mix, and you have something quite different.
If city council joins Merulla’s call for a police probe, does it need to be done by an outside force? That is less clear to us.
There is no reason to believe Hamilton’s police service does not have the investigative ability, but it is fair to ask whether the local force investigating the same city hall that funnels taxpayer money into the police budget is appropriate. At minimum, it presents challenging optics, especially if the police investigation doesn’t find adequate evidence to charge anyone.
What about the city’s own investigation? It has retained an independent third party, and if that investigation finds any evidence of criminality it will pass it along to the city and Hamilton police. Isn’t that enough?
Maybe. Maybe the third party will conduct a rigorous investigation worthy of the seriousness of the allegations. But it’s still not the same as a police investigation. And what if the investigation isn’t as thorough as what police would conduct?
Bottom line: The lawsuit alleges illegal activity took place involving Hamilton officials and organized crime. If there is any evidence to that effect, we would argue this matter belongs in the hands of trained police investigators, sooner rather than later.