MONTREAL, Que. - Three men were arraigned Thursday afternoon in connection with a suspicious fire early Thursday morning at the city funeral home owned and operated by members of Montreal's Rizzuto family.
The three men are all in their 30s and all have criminal records, Montreal police Const. Yannick Paradis said. They face four charges in all, including possession of molotov cocktails and conspiracy.
One of the three, Sounthone Chareunsouk, 30, also faces charges of cocaine possession related to his arrest. The other two men are Julien Bourassa-Richer, 27, and Alexandre Toualy, 27.
The men were ordered to be held in custody for a bail hearing on Monday.
The Loreto Funeral Complex was the site of two recent visitations for slain Rizzuto family members, including one for reputed mob leader Nicolo Rizzuto Sr., 86, in November.
A passerby saw two men running away after the minor fire started around 1 a.m. at the funeral home. They then got into a car and, because of the witness's detailed description, police caught up with the getaway vehicle nearby.
Jean Leblanc, a Montreal fire department chief of operations, said firefighters arrived to see flames inside an entrance at the rear of the building.
Firefighters found a plastic container inside that may have been used as part of a Molotov cocktail, Leblanc said.
The funeral home was the site of Nicolo Rizzuto Sr.'s visitation in November after he was shot dead through the window of his home on Nov. 10.
It was also the location of the visitation for his grandson Nicolo (Nick) Rizzuto Jr., who was killed in a gangland-style shooting on Upper Lachine Rd. in Notre Dame de Grace on Dec. 28, 2009.
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