Yorkville condo was stash house used by Hells Angels for $5 million in cash: documents

A condo in the tiny Toronto neighbourhood of Yorkville was used as a stash house for upwards of $5 million in cash by a group of Hells Angels operating an underground gambling ring, and their neighbours may have had no idea, according to documents filed in court and obtained by CTV News.

Photos show multiple people carrying shopping bags of all shapes and sizes accessing the 10th-floor, two-bedroom condo in the luxury building — bags an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer alleges were not full of parcels from nearby elegant shops, but instead full of cash made by the gambling operation, which netted some $160 million in profit before it was shut down in 2019.

 “Cash is king. These are not the kind of people who want an e-transfer,” said former Toronto detective Mark Mendelson in an interview.

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People who are avoiding scrutiny by law enforcement tend to trade in cash because transactions leave no trace, Mendelson said, but a successful operation can create more cash than people know what to do with.

“You end up with this pitfall of cash,” Mendelson said. “You think of Scarface – he had cash in garbage bags. His biggest complaint: what do we do with all this cash? These guys are in the same position.”

The details about the stash house are included in records of police surveillance in Project Hobart that were filed last year in Toronto Superior Court as part of a civil forfeiture application to seize what authorities claim are ill-gotten gains from the sports betting operation.

The documents also detail how officers tracked millions in revenues to purchase several properties around southern Ontario that are now also a target for seizure.

• READ MORE: Millions in Hells Angels cash poured into southern Ontario real estate, court documents show

The sports betting operation was surveilled and infiltrated by undercover officers in what became known as Project Hobart.

The officers discovered a multi-level organization with hundreds of agents at every level assigned code names and arranged bets, passing a percentage of their commissions up the organization.

An affidavit claims at the top were Niagara chapter member Craig McIlquham and Montreal chapter member Robert Barletta.

The court documents revealed the stash house in Yorkville was one of several places around the GTA that the Angels and their operatives used.

But when one of the group’s alleged enforcers, Michael Deabaitua-Schulde, was shot dead by a rival gang outside a Mississauga gym, the chapter may have prompted the group to clear out the cash and send it to Montreal, the documents say.

A Hells Angels group photo.

Barletta and McIlquham were seen meeting with Hansley Joseph, which reports say was a former street gang lieutenant who survived a deadly hit in a mall north of Montreal, and Salvatore Cazzetta, who the affidavit says was a member of the Montreal chapter of the Hells Angels.

The group met “to remove between $3 and $5 million in cash obtained from the illegal gaming operation from the 18 Yorkville Stash house,” the affidavit says.

Some involved in the ring pleaded guilty, many charges were stayed, and charges against Barlett and McIlquham fell apart thanks to delays at the Brampton courthouse.

Lawyers for the group did not respond to questions from CTV News Toronto but have indicated in court documents they intend to contest the seizures.