Former NHL hockey star Guy Lafleur (R) leaves court with his son Mark and wife Lise in Montreal, January 13, 2015. Lafleur is seeking more than $2 million from the Crown and Montreal police regarding an arrest.Christinne Muschi/The Globe and Mail
Guy Lafleur's onetime criminal defence lawyer believes Quebec justice authorities arranged to have the FBI quiz the hockey legend about an infamous Boston gangster to press the former Montreal Canadien into giving evidence against his son.
Jean-Pierre Rancourt, who represented Guy Lafleur when he was charged with giving contradictory evidence in court, testified Wednesday in the Quebec icon's civil suit. Mr. Lafleur is suing Quebec prosecutors and the Montreal police for $2.16-million, claiming wrongful arrest and conviction.
In the fall of 2007, Mr. Rancourt was representing Mr. Lafleur's son Mark on a host of serious criminal offences for an attack on a 16-year-old girl. Mr. Lafleur had testified at a bail hearing to try to keep his son out of jail while he awaited trial. Prosecutors had spotted holes in his testimony and were demanding Guy Lafleur, his wife, Lise, and son Martin give sworn statements to police.
The Lafleurs resisted and as pressure mounted, the FBI came calling.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation summoned Mr. Lafleur to the Montreal police department's headquarters where he was grilled for an hour on whether knew the location of American gangster James (Whitey) Bulger, who had been on the lam for 12 years.
Mr. Bulger was the father-in-law of Mr. Lafleur's former teammate, Chris Nilan, and had once bought dinner for Mr. Lafleur and his teammates in the 1980s. Mr. Lafleur told the FBI agents that was the extent of his dealings with the crime figure, who was finally arrested in California in 2011.
Mr. Rancourt described how Mr. Lafleur was "in quite a state" after the encounter. "And for good reason," Mr. Rancourt added. "Being under investigation from the FBI is not being under investigation from the Coaticook municipal police." Mr. Rancourt said he later spoke to one of the FBI agents who reassured him nothing more would come of it. "There was a lot of animosity [among Quebec justice officials] that he would not co-operate or give a statement," the defence lawyer said. "I took it for granted the FBI questioning was a pressure tactic to get him to make a statement in his son's case." A few days later, Mr. Lafleur testified at his son's bail hearing, where he gave the alleged inconsistent testimony about whether Mark obeyed his curfew. Guy Lafleur was convicted for changing his story, but the Quebec Court of Appeal later acquitted him, citing insufficient evidence.
In testimony earlier Wednesday, the Quebec folk hero described how contracts disappeared as his reputation became tattered. Mr. Lafleur's accountant has pegged losses at $750,000 over 2 1/2 years, figures contested by the lawsuit defendants. Mr. Lafleur is also seeking about $1.3-million in punitive damages and compensation for suffering.
Mr. Lafleur described how within weeks of his arrest he lost a $100,000-contract endorsing a battery recycling company. It was just one example, he said. "Over all, there were fewer commitments, fewer commercials, and less revenue."
Pierre-Yves Boisvert, the lawyer for the Montreal police, demanded Mr. Lafleur's legal team provide first-hand evidence the contract losses were due to Mr. Lafleur's court troubles. "We have to keep in mind the context. There was a grave economic crisis in 2008. Who knows if that was the reason his contracts dried up," the lawyer said.
The losses weren't just about the money, Mr. Lafleur said. "We were demolished." Mr. Lafleur, an avid pilot, used to deliver new Bell Helicopters to buyers in the United States. He wasn't paid for the flights but amassed precious time, up to 60 flying hours per year, at the control stick. That dried up. Charity tours he flew for Bell Helicopter also stopped. "These flights were a total joy for me, and they disappeared," he said.
But Mr. Lafleur was not destitute or outcast. The public was still supportive, and not all sponsors dropped him. Mr. Lafleur, an ambassador for the Montreal Canadiens since the 1990s, credited the organization for sticking by his side and continuing to pay him.
Mr. Lafleur also noted then-premier Jean Charest jumped to squelch rumours Mr. Lafleur could be stripped of his National Order of Quebec.
Mr. Charest submitted an affidavit testifying to his intervention.
Mr. Lafleur is expected to be cross-examined Thursday.