[NYTr] RCMP Worried Canada's Trudeau Was a "Target for Crazies"

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Toronto Star - Jan 4, 2008
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/290915


Trudeau target for `crazies,' aide says

Ex-PM's close ties with Castro, cavalier approach 
in crowds tested RCMP mettle

by Peter Edwards
Staff Reporter

Former prime minister Pierre Trudeau used to give bodyguards fits
because they worried his flamboyant manner and pro-Cuban policies made
him a target for "crazies," says his former press secretary.

"When we were in crowds, the Mounties went nuts, wondering whether some
crazy would lunge at him or take a shot at him," Patrick Gossage said
yesterday.

His comments came after a Star story in which Mike Craft, a
self-confessed former "degenerate gambler" and former organized
criminal from upstate New York, said he planned to kill Trudeau in the
summer of 1974.

Craft said he was attempting to shoot Trudeau at a public appearance in
Montreal because of his close association with Cuban President Fidel
Castro. Craft said he was working for U.S. mobsters who were upset at
Cuba and hoped Castro would come to Trudeau's funeral so they could get
a shot at him.

He testified during recent New York state hearings into organized crime
and gambling.

Toronto-area author Antonio Nicaso, who has lectured to police
intelligence groups on organized crime, said American mobsters like
Meyer Lansky hated Castro because he shut down their casinos when he
became president in 1959.

Gossage said Trudeau's tight ties with Castro presented heightened
security concerns. "He was so offside with U.S. policy on Cuba. He and
Castro were on hugging terms."

Gossage said Trudeau was tough to guard because he routinely shrugged
off bodyguards and went into crowds alone.

"The Mounties used to go berserk because he'd rush off. He was
well-known for losing them or trying to."

Gossage said Trudeau, a judo black belt, felt he was capable of taking
care of himself. "He did punch one guy out. ... He was in terrific
condition and knew how to defend himself."

"He moved quickly. It was hard to do the `wedge' around him because he
moved so quickly. It was a different time. There was no frisking or
passing through metal detectors. His rallies were totally open."

Craft said he was called off his assassination bid in September 1974.