Operation Dead Hand

Guramrit Sidhu, 63, of Brampton was sentenced in July to 240 months in federal prison. He led a criminal organization that, in a single month, trafficked from the United States into Canada hundreds of kilograms of meth and cocaine worth up to $17m. Sidhu pleaded guilty on March 26 to one count of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise. He has been in federal custody since October 2024. Sidhu is the eighth to plead guilty in the case. Others have pleaded guilty to criminal charges and have been sentenced to federal prison terms ranging from more than two years to nine years. Roberto Scoppa, 55, remains before the courts. He has been caged since his arrest.

Roberto Scoppa

Since the start of Operation Dead Hand in 2022, cops have seized 845 kilograms of meth, 951 kilograms of cocaine, 20 kilograms of fentanyl and four kilograms of heroin. The haul is worth something between $16m to $28m. Leader was Canadian Guramrit Sidhu, 60, of Brampton, who used a network of drug suppliers connected to Mexican cartels to ship drugs from LA to Canada in long haul transport trucks. Drug distributors and brokers in Los Angeles worked with a team of truck drivers who were tasked with taking the contraband to Canada. Cops seized $940k in cash, 70 kg of cocaine and four kg of heroin in Canada.

Ayush Sharma

10 Canadians were arrested, including Roberto Scoppa, 55, Ayush Sharma, 25, of Brampton, Subham Kumar, 29, of Calgary and Ivan Gravel Gonzalez, 32, of Trois-Rivières. Guramrit Sidhu, also known as "King," is charged with one count of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise and is the kingpin.

Ivan Gravel Gonzalez

Montreal mafioso Roberto Scoppa nailed - update

Roberto Scoppa is the brother of Andrew and Salvatore Scoppa, two leaders of a Calabrian clan of the Montreal mafia whacked in October and May 2019. Scoppa is facing extradition to the United States, where he is accused of distributing heroin and cocaine. The mobster's lawyers argue that the evidence against their client is mostly hearsay, and the rest wouldn't result in a jury finding him guilty in Canada.

The case against Scoppa rests in large part on a rat whose text messages were spied on by cops, whose phone was tapped, and who wore a wire during a meeting with Scoppa in Mexico. Cops lassoed 4 kilograms of heroin and 15 kilograms of cocaine in Operation Dead Hand.

When the drug delivery was late the conspirators fretted. “Bro clam down please.” Roberto Scoppa is said to have texted. 19 were busted. The boss was someone else in Canada, a man known as 'King', and identified as Guramrit Sidhu, 60.

Before their assassinations in 2019, cops placed Roberto Scoppa alongside his brothers in the organizational chart of the Montreal mafia. The latest bust shows Roberto Scoppa was always a major player with his brothers.

In January 2019, Roberto Scoppa traveled with Hells Angels boss Martin Robert to Colombia. He pleaded guilty to 12 charges in the 1990s and 2000s, in six different cases.

Salvatore Scoppa was gunned down in May 2019 in the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel in Laval. Andrew Scoppa was killed October 21, 2019. Cops believe the Scoppa’s were involved in the murders of key Sicilian Rizzuto family mobsters including Rocco Sollecito and Lorenzo Giordano. Its thought the remains of the Rizzuto crime family led by Stefano Sollecito got their revenge.