Anthony Di Cenzo, a Hamilton landlord, portraying himself as a totally innocent patsy in his role in a sophisticated criminal operation after a massive marijuana grow operation was discovered in his east end apartments is totally unbelievable.
On Wednesday, Hamilton police found 11,000 plants worth about $11 million in 48 units in three high-rise apartment buildings owned by Di Cenzo Management Inc., one of the Steel City's biggest residential landlords.
This was the biggest story to come out of this troublesome apartment complex, but not the first. A stabbing and a shooting had brought unwanted attention to residences in the area before.
Councillor Chad Collins shed light on the history on the buildings when he said "they have been problem spots for years and suggested the landlord should be more vigilant in screening tenants." Mr. Di Cenzo, immediately took a familiar posture amongst area landlords who have been caught with their pants down, and accused Mr. Collins of "pandering to the media".
If Mr. Di Cenzo feels he's being unfairly villanized and made part of a witch hunt by the media than he needs to do his own exorcism. Find a media outlet he feels comfortable with and set the media straight and quell the fire of the citizens. If as he says, his apartments where safe for his tenants and he had never heard of any complaints of illegal activity, he has nothing to worry about.
I have strong reservations about Mr. Di Cenzo's pleas of innocence. The smell of pot is unmistakable even for a novice, and on this scale the stench of his buildings inside or out would have been horrible. Plus, Di Cenzo states that he never saw any suspicious activity on the hydro bills or any signs of tampering. That ones tough to swallow if you saw the pictures of the re-wiring that went on.
Being fair to Mr. Di Cenzo, yes many of the tenants where probably scared to come forth to complain, in fear of retribution, but I'm sure many did, what happened to those complaints? More absurd, Di Cenzo states that he saw no commonality amongst the 48 individuals who rented the apartments, but yet the cops where able to connect the dots and go from apartment to apartment. Di Cenzo says he runs credit checks on each renter, maybe he should try a police background check instead.
This drug bust was an accident waiting to happen and it's up to Mr. Di Cenzo to come up with a better excuse than the deplorably it wasn't my fault stance.
Later,
Kenaz
