Title: The Canadian connection
First published: 1976
Description: Its hard enough to fight in the dark, but its almost impossible to fight enemies you don't know exist. In America, in Canada, in Quebec, the phenomenon of organized crime is accepted by the public as a necessary evil. People resign themselves to it, as to a plague that cannot be contained. But we all suffer the ravages of these men who build fabulous fortunes for themselves through exploitation, not only of wealthy, but of those small means as well. Special police teams have been formed to counter the activities of the underworld. In spite of this work the hoped-for results have not always been achieved. The enemy sometimes seems untouchable as it spreads invisible but murderous tentacles over all its surroundings. The ingenuity and determination of certain police forces are often rewarded however, and drug traffickers put out of harm's way, as Jean Pierre Charbonneau's book reveals. But it has now become necessary for the ordinary citizen, the man in the street, to come to the aid of the police. For this fight he must understand what a gangster is and be able to recognize the world of crime. As the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy wrote: The racketeer is not someone dressed in a black shirt, white tie, and diamond sick pin, whose activities affect only a remote underworld circle. He is more likely to be outfitted in a gray flannel suit and his influence is more likely to be as far reaching as that of an important industrialist, The American public may not see him, but that makes the racketeer's power for evil in our society even greater , Lacking the direct confrontation with the racketeer, the American citizen fails to see the reason for alarm, The reason, decidedly, exists. The financial cost of organized crime is not limited to the vast illicit profits of gambling or narcotics. When the racketeers bore their way into legitimate business, the cost is borne by the public. When the infiltration is into labor relations, the racketeer's cut is paid by higher wages and higher prices-in other words, by the public. When the racketeer bribes local officials and secures immunity from the police action, the price exacted by corrupt law enforcement-incalculable in dollars- is paid, again by the public. In short, organized crime affects everyone. It cannot be the concern only of law enforcement officers it must be the urgent and active concern of every citizen. One underlying reason for flourishing criminality we must admit is lack of knowledge and interest on the part of the general public. Thus the most honest citizen becomes the involuntary accomplice of the biggest criminals even of drug traffickers. The efforts of police , of courts, of all organizations dedicated to fighting crime will come to nothing if the public is not aware of the dimensions of organized crime and its methods. Well directed publicity and honest exposure of illegal activities are certainly the surest ways of drying up the revenue sources of crime magnets. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has described the difficulties encountered in efforts to control organized crime The fundamental problem facing our criminal courts at the national level is the empathy of citizens towards these questions, Why not in fact leave the problem of criminality to the professionals who are paid to combat it. Because professionals themselves fully realize and openly admit that without citizen cooperation they would be left without sufficient resources to accomplish the monumental task of fighting crime, It is precisely this need for information which is met by a book like the Canadian Connection The author a  skilled and experienced journalist is one of those who have undertaken the mission of informing people in the world around them In that respect his book is a valuable instrument in the fight against the underworld of crime. Specifically Jean Pierre Charbonneau has chosen to attack one of the most profitable of underworld operations the traffic in narcotics. In our time drugs which many describe  as living death are at the root of an incredible number of major criminal acts in the manner of Luck Luciano and his like traffickers use narcotics to enslave our innocent youth and their own henchmen as well The  family and gangs of the underworld wage merciless wars for the control and traffic and distribution of drugs. A person who never wished to be involved in organized crime may pay with their lives for allegiance to narcotics. The trade I'm narcotics pours tens of millions of dollars into the offers of traffickers financing their operations In other fields and permitting them to spread their criminal activities over a much larger surface. If Charbonneau's book succeeds even in a small way to unmasking these shameless exploiters it will be a truly useful work.  Judge Jean-l-Ditil Chairman of the Quebec Police Commission Inquiry into Organized Crime.
Subjects: Drug control, Organized crime, Control of Narcotics
Places: Quebec (Province), Montreal
LC classification: HV5840.C32 M65313