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CRAVE ORIGINAL

THIS IS A TRUE STORY

Fuck.

Marie-Josée and Guy are two suburbanites who slowly fell into the clutches of the mafia.

Now they must dispose of all incriminating evidence

for fear of being caught and charged with murder.

It was on that very day that they crossed

the point of no return. SARAH BERNARD, CRIME RESEARCHER

Come on!

- Hold this. - Help me.

At this point, they're far too deeply involved with the mafia to call the police.

That's simply not an option.

- Almost there. - Put him down.

- Put him down. - Hold on.

Once you're involved with the mafia,

you can't exactly go to the police and say, "The mafia killed someone!"

DANIEL RENAUD, JOURNALIST Still, that's what you should do.

The police would protect you. But that's not what they did.

Let's go.

Lift him.

They were ordinary people caught in a downward spiral of crime,

yet they still committed acts that violated the most basic moral standards.

What happened in Saint-Jude was a profound breakdown of human judgment.

We are in Rivière-des-Prairies,

the neighbourhood where brothers Giuseppe and Vincenzo Falduto grew up.

Last Thursday, the older brother was supposed to return to his halfway house,

but he never showed up.

The two brothers were the victims of an ambush that day.

They were lured to Marie-Josée Viau and Guy Dion's property under false pretenses.

They received a call from Jonathan Massari

who works for the Scoppa brothers' clan and is dating Marie-Josée Viau's sister.

The brothers were told to go to the Saint-Hyacinthe area.

They were going there to test firearms, as they had done before on the same property.

Marie? Some clients are gonna come by to test-fire some guns.

Make sure they can't be heard.

Within that network, not all roles carry the same weight.

Some people give the orders,

others follow through. CALABRIAN BRANCH

Frenchie falls into the latter category.

In that world, no one is formally designated a hitman.

You become one without it ever being explicitly stated.

It happens one job, one favour, one test at a time,

until you're in too deep and there's no turning back.

2019 FRENCHIE'S SQ INTERVIEW

When I got there...

The tractor, the chainsaw, the music...

Let's just say it was quite the scene.

Frenchie has been involved in organized crime for a long time.

He's seen a lot.

And when he describes the double-murder scene that day...

It was like something out of a low-budget horror movie.

...he reveals the full horror of what happened.

Fuck!

His brother, who was still in the car, realized what was happening.

When I fired through the window, I hit him in the shoulder or the side, I think.

So he opened the door, about to make a run for it.

He got out, and that's when I climbed over the car...

and shot him in the head.

After that, I turned back...

and shot the other guy three or four times in the chest.

Let's get the fuck out of here.

PIERRE SAMSON FORMER SÛRETÉ DU QUÉBEC INVESTIGATOR

I'd say this was one of the worst contract killings of the past decade.

When something like this happens in your home, in your garage...

your level of involvement changes completely.

The motive behind the murder of the Falduto brothers remains unclear.

The hitman said Salvatore Scoppa feared

that the Faldutos had joined the Sicilian faction.

Another possibility is that Scoppa had asked Massari to kill people to prove himself.

The decision was ultimately made to have the Falduto brothers eliminated.

Jonathan Massari was supposed to carry out the killings,

but that's not what happened.

Massari was supposed to be the one to shoot them, but he chickened out.

So I took care of it myself.

After I shot them, he started crying and panicking.

He was having some kind of nervous breakdown.

It really pissed me off.

The bodies, the car, the murder weapons...

Everything was left at the scene.

Jonathan Massari, their friend, promised he'd come back to help clean up the mess.

He said he just needed to drop Frenchie off in Montréal first.

The next day, they were still waiting for his return.

At that point, they had to be asking themselves, "What do we do now?"

Blood everywhere, a damaged bloodstained car...

They now had to get rid

of all the incriminating evidence on their property,

evidence that could certainly lead to their arrest if ever discovered.

We have no choice, Guy.

I'm a firefighter, okay?

I save people from fires, I don't throw them into one!

We have no other choice!

So they decided to burn the bodies to destroy all the evidence.

RE-ENACTMENT BASED ON MARIE-JOSÉE VIAU'S STATEMENTS

IN RECORDINGS ENTERED INTO EVIDENCE

All good!

Obviously, you can't just burn bodies and call it a day.

The smell, the smoke, the ashes... it's a very demanding process.

MARIE-PIERRE HOUDE, CRIMINOLOGIST Human beings are capable

of unimaginable things

when survival is on the line.

TWO MEN MISSING

Two days after the Falduto brothers went missing,

their parents, desperate for answers, turned to the media.

VOICE OF THE FALDUTO BROTHERS' FATHER I just want my children's

bodies back.

If something happened to them, they need to give me their bodies.

At first, it was treated as a missing-persons case,

and a major search effort was launched to find the Falduto brothers.

The Montréal police mobilized significant resources

to find out what had happened to them.

Based on the information gathered by the investigative team,

we have serious concerns for the safety of these two men,

which is why we are asking the public for help.

VOICE OF THE FALDUTO BROTHERS' MOTHER We need to find them,

I need them home.

The family was in a state of panic.

They were ready to do whatever it took to find them.

$10,000 REWARD

At one point, they even offered a $10,000 reward from their own savings

to anyone who could provide information that might help locate the brothers.

BROTHERS MISSING IN RIVIÈRE-DES-PRAIRIES: FAMILY FEARS THE WORST

When people with ties to the mafia vanish like that,

it's very likely they've met a tragic end.

DECEMBER 2018

In December 2018, the hitman, Frenchie, was angry with the Scoppas

because they had not paid him in full for the murders.

He had also been the target of several murder attempts.

Not only did he fear for his safety, but he also was in a precarious position.

At one point, he ended up homeless.

So, with nothing left to lose,

he saw cooperating with the police as something that could work in his favour.

2019 START OF THE INTERVIEW

Frenchie contacted the Sûreté du Québec himself

and was quickly put in touch with SQ investigators.

By January 2019, Frenchie was cooperating

with the Sûreté du Québec.

In this investigation, the police had the ultimate insider:

the shooter himself.

The hitman...

who murdered the Falduto brothers had switched sides.

He was not only ready to confess everything to the police,

but also to work with them to set up the others involved in the conspiracy

and help build a case against them.

The investigators couldn't have asked for more.

Do you still see Marie-Josée?

I haven't seen her in three years.

JULY 2016

We need plastic sheeting to wrap the bodies in.

We'll be back.

Do you think she'd trust you?

Maybe. Yeah.

Because we need to hear her side of the story.

We're going to wire you up...

then you're going to go see her.

In organized-crime investigations,

undercover officers are often part of the operation,

but there are limits to how involved they can get because they can't commit crimes.

That's when police may recruit someone from within the organization

and offer them a civilian undercover contract.

These murders had taken place three years earlier.

By then, any trace of the crime in the Viau-Dion couple's garage

had been wiped away.

That made the civilian undercover agent essential

to the Sûreté du Québec's investigation.

Investigators sat down with him

and began working out ways to confront the accomplices from back then

and get them to incriminate themselves.

The investigators tasked Frenchie with getting Marie-Josée Viau to talk.

Ok.

Buckle up, because once she starts...

she doesn't stop.

The undercover operation really got underway in the summer of 2019.

SUMMER 2019

THREE YEARS AFTER THE MURDERS OF THE FALDUTO BROTHERS

He staged a chance encounter with Marie-Josée Viau at a restaurant.

Hey...

Recognize me?

THREE YEARS EARLIER

No way!

THE DIALOGUE IS DRAWN FROM THEIR WIRETAPPED CONVERSATIONS.

I forgot you worked at a restaurant.

It's been a couple of years.

- Really? - I'm the weekend manager.

What are you doing around here?

A friend of mine bought a plot of land in the area.

To grow weed.

Legally, though. He's got a permit.

You haven't changed, huh?

Gosh, we haven't seen in each other in... what? Two years?

No, three years!

Yeah, last time was that day, and after that... I kept a low profile.

I didn't want anything to do with those crooks anymore.

Very understandable.

- What about you, though? - Me?

- Yeah. - Jesus Christ... you haven't heard?

No, I cut all ties with them.

I have no clue what happened after that day.

- You have no idea, I... - Really?

I'll tell you all about it. Go sit back down, I'll come join you in a minute.

I'm not in a rush.

Before someone can be selected as a civilian undercover agent,

investigators take several detailed statements

covering everything the person has to tell them.

Those statements are then assessed by an experienced Crown prosecutor,

who meets with the person to evaluate how they come across,

whether they would make a good witness, and whether they appear credible.

They will then undergo a polygraph test, commonly known as a lie-detector test.

If they pass all those steps,

they have to come clean about every crime they can remember committing.

If they stole a chocolate bar from a convenience store when they were 12,

they have to disclose it.

Sal Scoppa paid for both brothers to be killed.

He gave us $30,000 each.

I gave Massari $10,000 to pass on to you.

- We weren't paid anything. - What?

Not a single fucking cent!

I'm broke as hell!

I maxed out all my credit cards.

I'm always juggling jobs!

I work here on weekends,

and on top of that, I take on building-inspection contracts

and do the bookkeeping for a few small businesses.

Massari kept the money for himself.

The civilian undercover agent begins to gain her trust

by complaining about their former employers,

particularly Jonathan Massari and the Scoppa brothers.

He also brings up Rocco Sollecito. MAY 2016

What unfolded in the hours after Sollecito's murder

marked a turning point for Marie-Josée,

a decisive step deeper into the world of organized crime.

Shit, I mean... we burned the helmets!

And he didn't want to! I had to rip it out of his hands!

- I know! - He didn't want to!

That helmet was used during Rocco Sollecito's murder.

"But it's my favourite helmet!"

He's so fucking dumb.

I did everything they asked me to.

Like a good soldier.

I know.

I killed, I cleaned...

Marie-Josée Viau is very talkative.

- I did everything. - She's incriminating herself.

I did everything they asked me to, from start to finish.

That's the first time she opens up to someone connected to the police

about what happened after the brothers' murders.

That's why the police and Sal Scoppa never caught us.

The real bombshell in this case is the recordings.

When you hear Marie-Josée...

her tone, the detached way she talks about what happened...

Maybe she isn't who we thought she was.

I'm happy to be alive despite everything.

And that's because I'm resourceful.

Let's be honest, I'm fucking resourceful!

Mm-hmm.

It's important to the investigation to have

someone from within the organization on our side,

because that's the only way to get to the top of the pyramid.

In return, they may receive certain benefits:

partial immunity for some crimes,

a reduced sentence, or other concessions.

In the past, that has included protective measures

for their own safety or their family's.

That's what happened with the hitman.

Under the terms of his deal, he received $450,000 and immunity,

even though he had committed three murders.

The only way he could have been charged with those murders

would have been if another police force

had independently obtained enough evidence to charge him.

But that wasn't the case.

He's an interested witness: he stands to gain from cooperating.

That's why safeguards are put in place to assess the reliability of what he tells investigators.

When he testifies, he will be subject to cross-examination

about the benefits he received and his reasons for testifying.

How's your husband?

He's an average Joe.

He plays the part very well.

She goes into detail about everything that happened,

he goes along with it, and together, they revisit all those memories.

He comes home from work and goes to sleep.

They provide an exceptionally vivid and detailed description of the events.

At that point, he proves to be the best ally the police could have hoped for.

Let's put them next to each other.

Okay, hold on, he's slipping.

According to wiretap evidence submitted in court,

the couple decided to burn the bodies in the open air.

To dispose of bodies and handle them, you need a cool head.

Not everyone could do it.

We're not all cut from the same cloth; some people are more sensitive, others less so.

It seems the Dion-Viau couple fell into the latter category.

They used up all their firewood, then started cutting down trees on the property.

She confessed that they had cut down nearly every tree available to them.

We had six cords of wood.

She described how it took hours using the fire pit on their property.

Not everyone would have the stomach for that.

It takes a certain nerve, a certain detachment...

a certain callousness.

In situations of trauma or survival,

the brain can shut down certain functions

and flood the body with adrenaline and cortisol.

That allows us to keep going and do what needs to be done,

despite everything that's happening.

She describes a scene straight out of a horror movie.

- They wouldn't burn! - What?

I'm telling you, it took us all day.

THE DIALOGUE IS DRAWN FROM THEIR WIRETAPPED CONVERSATIONS.

Dissociation is the ability to shut off all emotion in the face of horror.

A person can witness the most horrific scenes and disconnect from their emotional response.

Their usual sense of self, their judgment, their values...

no longer come into play.

Fear takes over, and it can lead people to commit some very...

reprehensible acts.

We used four cans of gas.

Marie-Josée explains that burning the bodies was not an easy task.

She laughs as she talks about it,

as she's describing spending hours burning bodies.

The couple didn't go from ordinary life to disposing of bodies overnight.

Fucking hell...

Little by little, they became more entangled.

We have no other choice, Guy!

And maybe they got caught in some sort of tunnel vision,

unable to see any option

but to avoid the consequences by whatever means necessary.

Marie-Josée said the flames rose so high

that she worried they would melt the power lines above their house.

That gives you an idea of how intense the fire was.

How did these ordinary people end up entangled with the mafia

to the point of being involved in a double murder?

It was unprecedented.

They were complicit in criminal acts for the sake of financial gain.

Bones burn away.

They crumble under extreme heat.

I'm a civil engineer. I know how this works.

And Guy? How was he?

He's seen people burning before. He's a firefighter.

But... he'd never burned anyone himself.

I save people from fires, I don't throw them into one!

Slowly, we get a clearer picture of the couple's dynamic.

She portrays him as a simple man, not particularly bright.

No, Guy...

it traumatized him.

Hmm.

In her version of events, she's the brains, the strategist, the ambitious one.

She isn't interested in a quiet, ordinary life. She wants more.

I came up with everything.

- Really? - Yeah.

He's the muscle, I'm the brains.

"HE'S THE MUSCLE, I'M THE BRAINS"

By late afternoon, the bodies had finally been reduced to ashes.

All that was left was to erase any trace of the cremation,

so they went to work with picks and shovels.

We dug it all out. About 30 centimetres.

Yeah.

They loaded the contaminated soil and ashes into a trailer attached to the lawn tractor,

and Guy then drove to the nearby Salvail River to dump

the trailer's contents into the water.

Guy Dion allegedly used an angle grinder

to reduce the firearms to dust.

Just to destroy the guns, we went through three grinding discs.

We did it with the angle grinder.

Just to destroy the guns, we went through three grinding discs.

But of course, they still had to remove all traces of the murders from the garage.

Marie-Josée Viau explained that she picked up every shell casing from the ground,

counting them as she went.

Eight, she would remember it years later.

At one point, Frenchie told us

Marie-Josée and Guy should have laid down plastic sheeting to cover the floor.

However, when he and Massari arrived at the garage,

there was nothing of the sort.

Before Massari and I left, I went over to Marie-Josée and Guy.

We need plastic sheeting to wrap the bodies in.

I told them they had to clean up all the blood on the garage floor.

Clean up all the bloodstains, DNA traces, and any other evidence

that could have allowed the police to identify anyone who had been there.

I told them not to wipe it up,

because it would drive it into the concrete and leave stains behind.

I suggested they use a sponge and something corrosive to clean it up instead.

I think they used bleach.

That's exactly what they did, and they were meticulous about it, too.

I bought so many bottles, the cashier was shocked.

Big cleaning day?

Exactly.

- I had nothing but bottles of bleach in my cart. - No way.

Yep. Eight bottles.

Eight two-litre bottles of bleach.

- The smell was so strong! My eyes were burning. - I can imagine.

"WE KNEW HOW TO CLEAN UP"

We knew how to clean up.

Once the bodies were taken care of, they had to dispose of the victims' vehicle.

The couple's mafia friends suggested that Guy take the car

to a man named Guy Veillette, known as Guidou,

a scrapyard operator from Drummondville who could destroy it.

They drove up to Drummondville,

then returned home and tried to get back to some kind of normal life.

Eventually, Marie-Josée and Guy had no choice but to put this behind them.

They never discussed that traumatic episode again,

not with each other, nor with the other people involved.

From that point on, Frenchie, Massari, Scoppa...

all those people disappeared from their lives.

It was hard on Marie-Josée and Guy.

They'd have nightmares about it.

They almost got divorced.

Guy and I drifted apart.

We were more distant with each other.

We stopped talking about anything personal.

No.

It was just the house, the bills...

I see.

Guilt can become unbearable.

To keep moving forward,

people may develop coping mechanisms such as avoidance:

never speaking about it again, pretending it never happened...

We promised each other that, no matter what happened,

we'd take this to the grave, that...

...neither of us would ever say a word.

They wanted to get back to their normal lives as quickly as possible,

hoping it would all fade away and they could forget anything had ever happened.

But it doesn't work that way.

You know, we should stay in touch.

I'll give you my phone number.

But obviously, let's not talk about this over the phone or by text.

Don't worry about that.

While Marie-Josée and Guy are quietly rebuilding

their emotional and psychological well-being in Saint-Jude,

the Montréal underworld remains in turmoil.

The Sicilian and Calabrian clans continue to kill one another,

and Frenchie knows a great deal about it.

Salvatore put the hit out through Massari.

He spoke about the unforgivable mistake made by the hitman Massari had hired

to carry out the hit ordered by his boss, Salvatore Scoppa.

In the end, the guy got the wrong target and executed the father.

He told us so much about the organization.

Who did what, how everyone was connected, who was in charge...

Sal was pissed.

He still had to pay the hitman $20,000.

So he took it out on Massari.

Massari got the beating of a lifetime.

He ended up in the hospital.

Meanwhile, investigators kept the pressure on the mafia leaders.

INFLUENTIAL MAFIA CLAN LEADER ANDREW SCOPPA ARRESTED

Andrew Scoppa was arrested in 2017

as part of a major investigation into the importation of 100 kilograms of cocaine.

JANUARY 17, 2017

As part of that investigation, police also searched Salvatore Scoppa's home.

Fuck...

Did you see this?

The couple closely followed media coverage.

- What? - There was a raid at Scoppa's!

Isn't mayonnaise so good?

What does it even taste like?

SALVATORE SCOPPA'S HOME RAIDED

Being involved in a crime doesn't mean you're immune to the trauma

of what happened or the circumstances surrounding it.

With the commotion surrounding Salvatore Scoppa

and the police still searching for the Falduto brothers,

Marie-Josée and Guy struggle to maintain any semblance of normalcy.

They kept a close eye on every new detail

investigators released to the public.

Those details, once reported in the media,

put added pressure on anyone who knew anything about the case.

They must have been on edge every time they heard the news or read the headlines.

Massari was badly beaten by his own clan

because the hitman he had hired killed the wrong person.

REAL SURVEILLANCE FOOTAGE The whole ordeal left him bitter,

prompting him to seek revenge by ordering a hit on his own boss, Salvatore Scoppa.

VICTIM BELIEVED TO BE A KEY MAFIA FIGURE

But Sal wasn't stupid.

He put two and two together: he'd just run into Massari at the restaurant,

and not long after, a hitman was waiting for him in the parking lot.

Ok.

The following year, I ran into Sal at the Casino de Montréal.

He asked me to pick up Massari, wrap him in a rug, and bring him to him.

I think he wanted to torture him.

He was willing to pay me between $100,000 and $200,000 for Massari.

Frenchie knew a great deal about the attacks that took place back then,

and much of what he said could be independently corroborated,

which was crucial.

By that point, the lines had become completely blurred.

Massari had just faced Scoppa's wrath after a serious miscalculation,

Scoppa was convinced Massari had put a hit out on him,

and in the middle of it all, Frenchie realized he could very well be next.

I acted like nothing was wrong, but I was watching my back.

I was wary of Sal, too.

I didn't trust him at all.

Plus, he'd promised us more money

for the hits on Sollecito and the Falduto brothers,

but the cash never came, so...

Anyway, I distanced myself from the mafia and disappeared.

Getting out of a criminal organization isn't easy.

If you only know minor details, you may be able to walk away.

But if you know too much and you're still active or still useful to the mafia,

it's much harder.

You may not get out alive.

The undercover operation is moving forward.

Frenchie calls Marie-Josée, and they arrange to meet in Saint-Jude.

He has a business proposal for her.

- Cheers. - Cheers.

Shit, Frenchie, I can't believe you're here!

THE DIALOGUE IS DRAWN FROM THEIR WIRETAPPED CONVERSATIONS.

- Yeah. - By the way, Marie...

I think I've got something you might be interested in.

You know my friend who's in the legal outdoor pot business?

He's going to grow a crop not far from here.

Usually, his mother handles the administrative side.

The bookkeeping and all that.

But she got cancer and started treatment, so she can't work anymore.

I'm just putting it out there, but... would you be interested in filling in for her?

It pays well.

Aye aye. Hey...

Your timing couldn't be better.

- I'm completely broke. - Really?

I'm in.

Well, shit!

Good thing we ran into you!

In July and August 2019, Frenchie visits the Viau-Dions four times.

During those visits, the couple continues to build a rapport with him.

Got any work for me?

Just putting it out there...

From time to time, the Falduto brothers come up.

Marie-Josée brings up the moment they were executed.

She says it all happened very quickly.

As soon as the victims pulled their car into the garage,

it happened.

She also describes how she and Guy disposed of the bodies.

It was remarkable to watch the undercover civilian agent at work

and see how he managed to gain Marie-Josée Viau's trust.

We spent the whole day on it.

It was 40 degrees out.

We had no other choice.

People like to brag about their crimes, especially in organized crime.

"We didn't leave any evidence behind." Unfortunately, you did.

There were two of you, and you're both still alive.

- We really thought of everything. - Yeah.

Marie-Josée says she has a good relationship with people like the Scoppas and the Massaris.

She attributes it to the Italian blood running through her veins.

My grandmother was Italian.

Really?

She believes that's why she fits in so well with them.

- Guy's not used to being around Italians. - Yeah.

He didn't grow up in an Italian family.

He doesn't know how things work.

- He doesn't understand their ways. - Yeah. I don't.

Marie-Josée reveals that she was also in contact with Salvatore's brother,

Andrea Scoppa, also known as Andrew.

At the time, he led the Calabrian branch of the Montréal mafia.

You know Andrew?

He'd told me.

About those two guys.

She also says she received Andrea Scoppa's personal approval

for the execution of the Falduto brothers.

I went to see Andrew in Laval, to drop something off.

It was just before it happened.

I'm telling you, he told me himself. He confirmed it.

What she says suggests that the Falduto brothers' murders

were ordered by the man at the top of the pyramid.

He told me it was all arranged, and everything was good.

The way Marie-Josée talks,

you'd almost think she sees herself as a character in a mafia movie.

In reality, though, it's more of a low-budget gangster flick.

She has no real control over what's happening or what's coming her way.

As an undercover civilian agent,

you have two police handlers you report to.

Frenchie is a handful, to say the least.

His volatile personality makes his relationship with his SQ handlers extremely difficult.

He's impulsive.

He has mood swings.

He even goes so far as to make threats that eventually land him back in prison

for a little while.

In the end, the police are willing to overlook a lot of his misconduct

simply because he helped them set up an operation

that could allow them to solve four mafia-related murders at once.

Things get so tense between him and the investigators

that, for a month, in April 2019, his SQ handlers lose track of him.

MAFIA MEMBER SALVATORE SCOPPA KILLED IN LAVAL

Salvatore Scoppa is murdered in the lobby of a hotel in Laval.

The police, including Frenchie's handlers,

suspect their hitman may have been responsible for the murder.

He eventually resurfaces. As it turns out, it wasn't him.

According to Frenchie, Massari ultimately succeeded

in having his former boss killed,

the very man who had ordered that he be beaten up.

Massari hired someone to take Salvatore out.

He told me the guy was cool and collected, like me,

and never missed his target.

SAINT-JUDE OCTOBER 2019

What the fuck is this?

On October 16, 2019, at around 10 a.m.,

Marie-Josée and Guy are in for the surprise of their lives...

We're fucked.

...when a police convoy pulls up outside their home.

COMING UP

They're planning to dig up the property. It's a full-scale operation.

- We recorded... everything. - Is it going to be used against me?

Now he's really worried.

We're talking about extremely serious charges.

It feels deeply wrong to have to testify at my sister's trial.

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