These hi-tech mugshots help police track down Canada’s most wanted

Six months ago, we told you about the latest list of Canada's 25 most-wanted fugitives.

The hi-tech mugshots are released annually by Canada’s Bolo program — “Be on the Lookout” — which is dedicated to helping police forces track down notorious murderers, drug traffickers and gang members.

In the last month alone, three of those high-profile fugitives have been located and arrested — including the number one person on the list: accused murderer Bryan Fuentes Gramajo.

On tonight’s episode of Village Media's Closer Look podcast, we revisit our eyeopening interview with Max Langlois, executive director of the Bolo program.

You can find all the mugshots HERE.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

These suspects, these accused, they're among us right now. And they will remain this afternoon, tonight, tomorrow, next week if we don't do something.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

Zach back in the room at the controls again this evening. First of all, a tip of the hat and kudos to you. Thoroughly enjoyed your editorial piece on the FOI.

SPEAKER_03 0:51

Well, thank you. Yeah, that did drop it. Very well, right? Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah, this is an issue we've talked a lot about on the show, and it's a lot it's an issue that we're talking a lot about as journalists. It's you know, I I it's Jessica Smith Cross, our editor at the Trillium. She's I've been on so many different podcasts and different networks talking about it. It's it's an issue that people are certainly passionate about. And I think you know there's this sense that and I always ask Jess the same thing every time she comes on, but there's this sense that the average person, average, you know, the you know, the regular people like all of us in Ontario, a lot of them don't even think about FY, they don't care about it, it's not on their mind. It's true, they don't wake up in the morning, they're thinking about their own bills and their own things they have to do. But if when you ask them how important government transparency is and how important transparency is to democracy, they believe in that too, right? Absolutely. The polls show that over and over. And what the Ford government is doing is very concerning. And it's not because it's the Ford government or it's a conservative government or a liberal government. These laws have been in place for decades. This law's been in place for decades to ensure that taxpayers have a window into the world of where their tax dollars are going. And not just where you can request things that are from senior bureaucrats. You're able to request things that are from the offices of cabinet ministers, from the premier, for their political staffers. And you know, what's interesting is I really dove deep, like it's obviously an issue I know, Scott, but it's not I'm not a professional on it. But I read tons about it. And then like one of the things that struck me was you know, people think, oh, it's just journalists and opposition politicians that are using this tool, but that's actually a small one, it's like 4% of the key of the requests are done by journalists. There's businesses that do these requests all the time, individuals do these requests all the time. And so they're not just uh to unearth scandal, which they do sometimes. We've seen with the Green Belt that's the Skills Development Fund, the work that our team at the Trillium did, for sure that happens. But it also doubles as a deterrent, right? It's like governments would be uh theoretically be more careful not to do something stupid because they know that these documents are FOIA. That threat always exists, right? Trevor Burrus, Jr. It always exists. And every government has to put up with it. Even Kathleen Wynn, whether you loved or hated or had an opportunity. She wrote yesterday saying the same thing. This is part of the business, this is part of being the premier, is you put up with this among so many other things, that your your documents are uh are FOIA. I think it is very concerning because sunlight disinfects, right? And you know, what's the old other saying democracy dies in darkness? We need to be able to see these things of the understand what's happening. So I think it's a very important thing, and it's it's something we're not just covering as a news story and then moving on. We're really thinking about how we can challenge this, how we can get around this, how we can continue to advocate for this. Uh it is hugely important. And I said in the piece, you know, uh transparency is the oxygen of democracy. And it feels right now like the Ford government has their foot on our throats and we're gasping for air, right? I mean, this is really, really important stuff. And uh you know, again, it's not something that most Ontarians are gonna wake up in the morning thinking about. Um but this is how this is how we get less information about government when they change rules like this. And it's not really it's not, I don't mean to ramble. It's not just about the Ford government, because there's gonna be other governments down the road. One day, you know, who could be a long time from now, that there will be a different premier in Ontario, and they might not be a conservative, they might be a liberal, they might be an NDP. The same rules apply. So we should have access to those things. So I think it is an important issue, and I felt passionate enough to write about it, um, you know, for everyone in the chain, because sort of it's for kind of our official stance on where we're at with these things, you know. And uh I think it's hugely important. And and I think it's something we're gonna continue to talk about. As far as I know, is at the time we're recording right now, the bill hasn't passed yet. There's still some debate over it, but it's gonna pass. I mean, of course it will. The Ford government has a big majority. So it's gonna pass. Then the question becomes what do we do next? Is there something we can do? Yeah. All right, good stuff.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

Uh you can read uh Frisco's piece on any one of our 27 uh local news sites across Ontario or at thetrillium.ca. Good stuff. Okay, uh to tonight's program. A few months back, uh, we did a program on the uh Bolo program, which highlighted was it the top 25 fugitives in the country? Be on the lookout, it stands for beyond the lookout. And and what was interesting was uh the list of fugitives on their website almost came to life so that you could get a real uh modern day feel for what they looked like, their mannerisms, how they moved, how they moved, how they looked, uh, and now there's uh a little bit of an update.

SPEAKER_03 5:14

Yeah, and it's it was great. And what and that interview really stuck out to me. Max Langlois is the executive director of the Bolo program, and it's not a police run operation, it's a private thing. Um and it's and the he was just so passionate about what it was. It was a wonder. I think we ended up talking to him for like 30 minutes, but it was just such a great conversation and and and the the the the how rewarding it is for him to be part of this and the difference it makes. And you know, just we were talking today, uh like it like you said, in October they released this list of 25 and we'll flash it on the screen so we will understand what it looks like. But just in the last four weeks, they've arrested three of these guys, including the number one most wanted guy. Amazing. I'm just looking through my notes here. Uh this guy was wanted in Toronto. He was the uh he was the number one fugitive on the list. He was wanted by Toronto police for a murder allegedly committed in 2025, and he was busted on March 5th. Another uh top fugitive, the number 14 on the list was arrested in Oxford, Mississippi in March. And the third was arrested uh earlier in the month by the OPP. Uh uh he was uh serving an eight-year sentence for armed robbery when he breached his parole and he got out of there. So this this site does make a difference. It does have an impact. And I just thought on a day like this, it's great to go back and revisit that interview because A, a lot of people don't know about this program. Like they may have seen it here and there, um, uh, but they don't know anything about it. And and just because Max was such a great interview and so passionate about what they do, I think it was super interesting. So we're gonna spend some time listening to him again.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

On today's episode, we're going to be shining a bright light on Canada's most wanted fugitives and the latest push to try to put them behind bars. Our guest is Max Langwa, executive director of the uh Bolo program, which stands for Be on the Lookout. Max, uh, thanks for joining us uh tonight. We appreciate your time.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

All right, uh, can we start with a bit of a history lesson here, Max? Bolo was launched back in 2018. What is it? Who oversees it, and what's the goal?

SPEAKER_01 7:11

So the Bolo program, um uh our mission is to encourage citizens to be on the lookout for Canada's Most Wanted. Uh so we indeed launched in uh uh May of 2018 uh in Toronto with a pilot project uh with the Toronto Police Service. Um very uh humble uh beginning. You know, obviously we need to start somewhere. You need to walk before uh running. Uh I think now we're more in jogging. I think now we're running. Um, but in 2018 we had to start somewhere. Uh Bolo is the main activity of a Canadian charitable organization called uh Stefan Cressier Foundation. Stefan Cressier is the founder, president, and CEO of a private security company uh called Garda World that you may have heard of. Uh Garda World is uh you know started with uh a second mortgage of$25,000 on Stefan's home in 1995, and now he's got 140,000 employees in uh 40 countries around the world. So it's a success story. And uh Stefan, through his foundation, wanted to give back the community through public safety, and uh the Bodo program is the main activity of his foundation. So it's a not-for-profit, basically, then yes, there's a difference between not-for-profits and uh charities. Uh we're a charity, uh, but yes, in the same, you know, we're doing like there's there's no profits uh coming out of this. Um, we're doing this for the well-being of the community. Uh, if you're a charity in Canada, uh, you have to spend money. You have to spend 5% of your assets every year. That's you know a role of the Kenny uh Canada Revenue Agency. And uh that's what we do. We do it through the BOL program.

SPEAKER_03 9:02

It's a fascinating program. Is it something where the list changes over every year? Do some people carry over to the next year?

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Yes, precisely. So we have a top 25 of Canada's Most Wanted that we update periodically in cooperation with our police partners. Um, usually there's one update every calendar year. So uh there was one update earlier this week in Vancouver. Uh cases that are outstanding can be reconducted. So about half of the top 25 we unveiled this week was not actually new. You know, there's still there were nine arrests out of the previous top 25, and uh 13 cases were that weren't outstanding were reconducted to the new top 25.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

Max, how many of these uh fugitives uh have been uh caught since the program first launched?

SPEAKER_01 9:56

So I'm gonna give you statistics that were uh up to date Wednesday morning before we updated a top 25 because now we just added a bunch of new cases, so stats are distorted. But uh Wednesday morning, 9 a.m., we had featured 78 fugitives and 42 of them had been located.

SPEAKER_03 10:16

Do you know how many were caught specifically because of the Bolo program?

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Uh yes and no. Uh in reality, I speak with investigators and I often have a good sense of how it happened. So, you know, out of the 42 located suspects we've seen, some were 0% caught because of Bolo, and some were 100% caught because of Bolo and everything in between. Sometimes it's just good police work, sometimes it's like a tipster calling in and saying, I saw the Bolo campaign and I know where he is. Um, so it's not an exact science, you know. And I don't I don't see the tips. They go to the police services and they're taking charge by the investigators. So I'm not already in a position to know. But like I said, I often have conversations with investigators, and generally speaking, the word out there is that Bolo makes a big difference.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

Max, uh, how many rewards have been paid out? Uh, how big are they and who funds them?

SPEAKER_01 11:18

So that's a good question. I can only uh answer it uh in general terms. Uh so since uh 2018, we've offered, I'm gonna say probably like between uh 35 and 45 different rewards. So not all of the 78 cases we featured came with rewards. Uh about half of them did. And out of these, uh I'm gonna say about 40 rewards that we've funded, uh it's about like 35% that I've seen uh full or partial payments. Uh and in in like no, obviously, in all these cases, there was a direct correlation between the Bolo campaign and the end result, the arrest. If the payment is made, well, it's because someone deserved the money. And these rewards, well, they're part of the Bolo program. So they're funded by Bolo, uh, they're managed by Bolo, and uh they're paid out by our uh uh police partners or in certain cities by Crime Stoppers programs.

SPEAKER_03 12:29

All right, let's get to this year's list. Uh there's some pretty serious crimes attached to these 25 fugitives, uh, some for murder, conspiracy, sexual interference. Of the 25, is there kind of a number one target?

SPEAKER_01 12:41

Yes, sir. His name is Brian Fuentes Bramau, is wanted by the Toronto Police Service for Murder.

SPEAKER_03 12:47

What makes him stand out from the other 24?

SPEAKER_01 12:50

You know, we're a national program. So when we look at these cases, uh, we have a committee uh doing that, and on that committee uh uh sit investigators from different police services across the country. So when we look at cases, uh we assess them based on our requirements, and then we need to prioritize them. Uh and that that case uh you know was very particular uh because uh here was uh Quebec, an alleged Quebec gang member, uh Montreal-based gang, who went to Toronto to uh allegedly kill someone, but his gang also has very strong links to Vancouver, to the over mainland of British Columbia. So when you talk of a Canadian quote-unquote case that deserves national attention and uh, you know, for every Canadian to be on the lookout because it could put potentially be anywhere. Uh, well, that for us, that uh was taking a lot of boxes.

SPEAKER_03 14:00

It kind of leads to my next kind of dumb question, but how do these guys evade authorities and evade the public so well if they're there's so much publicity? I mean, your your your website and your program, but also just what the police have put out, how do they do it?

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Yeah, that's a very good question. And I get it often. Uh, you know, how much time do you have? We have about three hours. Uh it's uh so listen, first of all, uh police services do catch the vast majority of the suspects, the accused they're looking for. So that has to be acknowledged. Now, for the uh small percentage of accused uh who are not located, it's because they actively evade arrest. And when you actively evade arrest, that means you go out of your way to make sure that you don't get caught. What does that mean? That means uh severing ties with family members, friends and associates. Uh, well, it can also mean that these family members, friends uh, and associates actually assist you. Uh it means like usually, you know, not using your bank accounts, uh using what we call a burner phone. Uh sometimes it may mean uh leaving the country, changing uh, you know, uh residences as often as possible, being very transient, or just like hiding somewhere, you know, as simple as that, like in a basement somewhere. So it's uh not you know, not everyone is is good at that. It requires a level of attention that uh a lot of people don't have. Uh you know, in the end, everybody gets caught.

SPEAKER_02 15:55

Yeah, Max, we talked about the uh the number one most wanted guy. There must be some other highlights uh from the list.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Yes, if you take the number two, who's been on number two for uh quite quite a while already, Al Bohvain. So uh he's wanted for charges that may seem more superficial um at the first look, but he's wanted for drug trafficking. But there's uh what I will call a gang war happening in Quebec right now. There's some new gangs who are contesting uh the sort of monopoly that uh the health angels have gotten over the drug trade in the province for a while, and uh it's led to a lot, but a lot of criminal activities uh being uh committed in our communities, including collateral victims, innocent collateral victims. So it's a high-profile case for the Quebec provincial police, and so it is for us as well. If you look at uh the number three, uh we're also uh Tamar McTlain is also wanted for murder by the Toronto Police Service. Uh number four, Trezor O'Rimbear is wanted for murder by the Winnipeg Police Service. And the number five, Dylan Denise is wanted for murder by the Montreal Police Service. So it's very typical for the top five to be made of you know people accused of murder. Uh so Al Bois or number two is a bit of an exception, but you know, I like to say that the Bolo program has more judgment than policies. You know, if you just look at the if we were to rank these cases just by the charges, Al Boave wouldn't be there. But there's a lot of stuff, obviously, you know, you know, below below these these charges. There are a lot of ramifications and a lot of impact for the safety of our communities. So he deserves that spot.

SPEAKER_03 17:43

If any of those guys are watching this podcast right now, would you have a message for them? Is it even more are they beyond the point where you would say to someone, hey, it's time to turn yourself in?

SPEAKER_01 17:51

My message is always the same to them. You know, call a lawyer and make arrangements to turn yourself in. You know, everybody wants this to go well. Um, it's you're in a very difficult position. You need to be right every minute of every hour of every day. You know, like you gotta look over your shoulder 24-7. And, you know, and the police, the community, would just have to be right one minute. So it's a very uncomfortable position. And uh again, uh, we just want this to go well for everyone. So just do like some other fugitives have done over the years. You know, call a lawyer and make arrangements to turn yourself in.

SPEAKER_03 18:34

The one thing that's very clear is your organization does do a great job of publicizing this every year because I do read about it every year. It gets a lot of attention. You know, I think last year there were some life-size billboards or cardboard cutouts of everybody on stage. This year I think you had a police officer with a hoodie on and a mask of each of the 25 suspects. Sort of some interesting brainstorming going on behind the scenes when you guys come up with these ideas.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Yes, so we took it to the next level this past week. Uh, this was like my one of my object objectives as the executive director of Bolo is to make this as real as possible. Because it is real. You know, these suspects, these accused, they're among us right now, and they will remain this afternoon, tonight, tomorrow, next week if we don't do something. So it's a message to be on the lookout altogether. But if I ask people to be on the lookout, I'm asking you a favor. Well, I want to try to make it as easy as possible for you. So over the years, we've uh perfected the science of making this as real as possible. So the life-size cutouts have been used. Uh, we've also used some uh very uh you know innovative engagement tools like an online contest on a website. Uh, we try to make these events, these top 25 updates, as sexy as possible for the media, because we do acknowledge that you need something good, you know, to talk about. You know, someone asked me on Wednesday in Vancouver, you know, what sort of difference does Bolo make? And I was like, Well, no one will be here today talking about these fugitives if that wasn't of Bolo. So uh, so yeah, so on Wednesday, uh we had uh literally spoof masks uh that were worn by uh police officers, and we had police officers of the right height, uh weight, ethnicity to wear them. So it was quite uh it was a show, literally. It was like a thing. We had like a staging area with 25 tables with like all the masks and and and the little signs, and and you know, it's very difficult to see through these spandex uh spoof masks. So we also had uniformed members to walk in literally uh these these suspects on stage uh as the press conference began. So and then at the end of the press conference, obviously all these guys had to be handcuffed. So uh, you know, we had so it's literally we put on a show, but uh you know, it the media play a vital role in amplifying what we do, and uh you you you do it anyway, you know, when the police service issues are most wanted notice, you will talk about it. So ball is an extra platform that is used for that. And we like to serve you uh good media coverage on a silver platter.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

Well, we we appreciate that, Max. Uh you're also uh harnessing uh AI technology so that the mugshots on the website actually move. And if anybody has ever seen the Harry Potter movies, that's the first thing I thought of was the moving pictures on the walls uh at Hogwarts. Uh Max, how is that technology uh helping you out?

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Yeah, I think it's fabulous. Going back to what I was saying earlier, you know, this shall be as easy as possible for people. So just to have like a static picture is not really user friendly and And uh, you know, and here I'm just not talking about the picture itself, but the quality of the picture. So if someone is wanted for murder and has never been arrested before, police services, they need to find a picture of the suspect. So often they will resort to get a driver's license picture or a passport picture. But often these pictures, although they're taken with$3,000 cameras, uh, they're saved in a very poor format. So you end up with someone was asking me the other day, you know, if you take a picture with your iPhone right now of the wall, it's going to be two megabytes. Sometimes we get pictures that are 20 kilobytes. So that's like, you know, one thousandth of anyway. So the resolution has always been a problem. Sometimes pictures are good, sometimes they're bad. So the first thing we're doing systematically now with all these pictures is that we AI enhance them. So we reconstruct the pixels somehow. And the other layer we put to it is that we animate them. And it's incredibly simple now. So, you know, why having a static picture when you can give people a better idea of like, you know, how the head moves back and forward than you know, the facial expression. And it it's not about uh telling people uh what these suspects look like right now, it's about giving them a better clue of how they may look like.

SPEAKER_03 23:28

I'm not gonna lie, I found myself staring at it for longer than I thought they should have. It's a really well done.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

Good. That's what I want.

SPEAKER_03 23:34

Yeah. So I think if I see one of them, I would actually notice them now.

SPEAKER_02 23:37

Uh Max, so uh let's uh let's speak to that. Bottom line, what should people do if they run into or see one of these suspects?

SPEAKER_01 23:44

First of all, you don't do anything yourself. You know, these uh the vast majority of these suspects that considered aren't and dangerous. So uh we live we live in uh in a country in which we have very competent police services that we can trust. So you don't do anything. As soon as you're out of the way, you call 911 and then you report what you just saw. Now, if you have something to report that is not about you saying something right there, right now, you call the police or you call crime stoppers. If there's a reward offered, more and more, and I'm not gonna go into the detail, but you have to call specifically the police because these steps they have to be actioned right now. If, for example, you call to say, Well, I know where Mr. Johndo uh will be tonight, well, obviously it's very time-sensitive. So that's why the police they want you to talk to an investigator. So, you know, with the Toronto Police Service, with the Winnipeg Police Service, they've they've activated 24-7 uh specific numbers for bolo cases. So you always talk to a police officer and it's confidential.

SPEAKER_03 25:03

Good to know. Good advice. Um, a couple more questions, then we appreciate all your time, Max. What drives you personally to do this? Obviously, it's a it's a big task, it's one that keeps you up at night, I'm sure. And I assume one that carries a little bit of risk as well.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

Yeah, like like all jobs, I believe, but this is special. I will acknowledge it. Uh it's uh it's definitely the most rewarding job I've ever had. You know, we even if I fulfill myself more in future positions, um, you know, I think in terms of doing something that's rewarding and seeing the real impacts, uh, you know, it's I don't think it can anybody or sorry, any other job can can tub this. I'll give you an example. Our previous number one, uh Dave Termel, who was also wanted for drug trafficking in Quebec, similar to Al Bloisin, or current number two, uh, he got arrested, and now it's fully acknowledged publicly that you know that the gang war that I was referring to earlier has actually slowed down in uh in the Metropolitan Quebec City area. So it has like we don't, we don't do like obviously I don't arrest anyone. The police police do. We try to help. We try to give give these cases that little push sometimes that's needed. And uh in in that case, uh, you know, we overall uh contributed to that push. So uh it makes a difference, and more and more it's acknowledged. So um, yeah, I sleep well. I sleep very well.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

All right, there's Max Langwais, the executive director uh of the Bolo program. Uh thanks, Max. Uh happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

Likewise. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

Great chat with uh Max Langwa at the uh Bolo program. If you haven't uh checked out their website, uh strongly encourage you to do so. It is bolo program.org and obviously some fantastic results.

SPEAKER_03 26:58

Yeah, and I think there's about half of them now that have the big arrested. Yeah. Love that. Speaking of fantastic results, we were talking about that editorial at the beginning of the show that we wrote about the FOI program. And one of the one of the argument the the Ford government's making a lot of arguments that are kind of not sticking up very well about why they're doing this. And one of the lines that the business minister said during the press cards was like, you know, this this legislation was written like 10 years before the Spice Girls were even a thing. Basically insinuating, like, you know, come on, the Spice Girls, they were a thing a long time ago, right? Yeah. Which I'm sure they wouldn't be thrilled to hear that. I wouldn't think so. But I actually linked back to that clip and and our team cut it really quickly and put it up. So it's on the closer look YouTube page if you want to check it out. Right. Uh I think it's getting some views and uh Yes, it is. You know, if uh if Scary Spice or Posh Spice Posh, what are the other ones? Uh that's all I think. I don't know. Yeah. If any of them chime in.

SPEAKER_02 27:48

You actually included a lyric to one of their songs, I think. Did you edit on it?

SPEAKER_03 27:51

I had to Google it, but it fit perfect. Fit perfect. That's because you're so yes, I was Googling the Spice Girls. That's why it's on my computer. I was trying to find a song lyric that matched D SHR's tracking. And then just for the record. Yeah, and if the Spice Girls happen to notice that any any of them, there's five of them. You know, they were five. Good power. Uh if any of them want to jump on the show and talk about how they feel about the minister using Spice Girls to make a point of how old this legislation is, they are welcome anytime. We'll make the time change work. They can absolutely jump on from across the pond.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

Uh Posh, you can reach out at closerlook at villagemedia.ca anytime. I think she watches the show anyway. I think I asked this before. That's Beckham's wife, Victoria Beckham. Posh is Posh is Victoria Beckham. All right. Follow us for more Spice Girls Trivia right here. Closerlookpodcast.ca. Uh for Zach Trunzo, executive producer of this evening's program, and uh Michael Friscolani, our editor-in-chief. I'm Scott Sexmith. Thanks for your time. See you tomorrow night, 7 o'clock right here on Closer Look.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

Briscoe in Scott's wardrobe, provided in part by Moore's Clothing for Men.