You are known by the company you keep.
The annals of organized crime are littered with photos of mobsters posing with the rich and powerful as these images are aimed to buy respectability in the legitimate world.
Which brings us to the question, who exactly will be lining up to fork out £180 or about $300 to get their picture taken with former British prime minister Tony Blair, at the Surrey Regional Economic Summit next week.
The London media had a field day with the story with comments like “who would want to?” when the news broke about Blair charging for the photos.
The Daily Mail quoted well known B.C. public relations guru Norman Stowe as saying “It’s a unique souvenir.”
Blair is attending the event for about two hours and will speak for 30 minutes. The photo sessions will be about five seconds each.
Media reports said that appearances on the lecture circuit have made Blair the world’s best paid public speaker, earning an estimated £15million since he left office two years ago.
His Surrey fee has not been disclosed, but many institutions in the U.S. are prepared to fork out more than £150,000 for a speech of around an hour and a half.
The flash for cash maybe a disgusting display of greed for some, but organized crime analysts speaking to The Post group of newspapers in Vancouver, have another worry.
They said it provides a real opportunity for mobsters and criminals to pose with an influential figure.
Are they exaggerating?
Are they over blowing such fears?
Not if you look at an album of such incidents involving some of Canada’s who’s who.
The Encyclopedia of Canadian Organized Crime lists Biker boss Maurice “Mom” Boucher posing for a
photo with an unwitting Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa; a group of Hells Angels posing for photos with Montreal Canadiens’ goalie Jose Theodore and the photo of outlaw biker gang members with Pat Burns, back when Burns coached the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League.
“At times, the Hells Angels’ actions look like a sad effort to push themselves into respectable society,” the Encyclopedia said.
The Hells Angels here in B.C. have also been photographed on the Vancouver docks with union leaders.
The Asian Pacific Post reported a few years ago that former Prime Minister Jean Chretien had his picture taken with Gordon Fu at a private meeting at his Ottawa office to discuss the sale of a hotel in his riding.
Fu and his brothers have been the subject of several major investigations by the RCMP over allegations of abuse of immigrant investor funds, bribery of immigration officers, visa fraud and connections to the Chinese mafia.
None of the cases made the courts.
Here in Vancouver, loan shark Kwok Chung Tam, had his picture taken with former premier Glen Clark.
The picture was found when police raided his Burnaby home and seized a couple of semi-automatic handguns, ammunition, a silencer, a half-pound of raw opium and almost $80,000 in cash.
Clark’s office said the picture was taken in April 1996 when Tam was introduced to the premier at his constituency office. The former premier denies knowing Tam and said Tam was one of hundreds of people pictured with the premier.
It could not be determined if those wanting a snap with Blair in Surrey will be screened.
That is unlikely to happen because it will be difficult for the organizers to say no to $300 for a photo.
Tony Blair should be aware that his flash for cash may end up in a mobster’s stash.
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