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MONTREAL — For Quebec police it was an incredible catch — three of the biggest fish in the sea — as officers announced the arrest of suspected leaders of the three most significant criminal entities in the province: the Mafia, the Hells Angels and a coalition of street gangs.

Each arrest would be significant as a singular event, but Thursday’s allegations of the syndicates working together — variously controlling Montreal’s drug trade and plotting murder — make the probe of national significance, suggesting how Montreal filled the void after the death of Vito Rizzuto, who reigned as the most powerful and influential gangster Canada has seen.

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Police announcements like numbers, and this one has its share: 48 people arrested and $1.2 million in cash, seven kilos of cocaine, 41 weapons and one Harley Davidson motorcycle seized by 200 officers after three years of investigation.

But it is the names not the numbers that matter.

Each name brings a pedigree and each charge a stunning accusation of underworld intrigue.

The pattern of co-operation between the organizations signified “an alliance,” said Sûreté du Québec Chief Inspector Patrick Belanger, “born out of a desire to control territory, particularly drug trafficking … and to share revenues.”