19 Facts About Sidney Leithman

Sidney "Sid" Leithman was a Canadian lawyer known for representing numerous reputed organized crime figures in Montreal, Quebec.

Sidney Leithman was born in Montreal, Quebec, into a poor Jewish family, the son of Jack Leithman, a tailor and schmatta merchant, and Ethel Greenstein.

Sidney Leithman graduated with a law degree from McGill University in 1960 and, in 1961, joined the Quebec Bar Association.

Sidney Leithman had a reputation as an intelligent and aggressive lawyer known for winning his cases, or at least greatly reducing the sentences imposed on the accused even if they were convicted.

On 18 February 1971, Sidney Leithman hosted a press conference where his client, crime boss Frank Cotroni, spoke about his arrest in Mexico the previous month.

At the press conference, Sidney Leithman poured drinks for the assembled journalists.

In 1983, Sidney Leithman was hired as the defense lawyer for Jair "El Mocho" Garcia, the Montreal agent for the Cali Cartel, and an associate of Ross'.

At Garcia's trial in 1985, Sidney Leithman won an acquittal and Garcia returned to Colombia.

Sidney Leithman served as the lawyer for Ines Cecila Barbosa, known as La Madrina, an agent of the Cali Cartel who served as their money launderer in Montreal.

Sidney Leithman represented Cotroni and maintained that the US Department of Justice had provided transcripts of Cotroni's telephone conversations and not the original tapes, which violated the rules about "best evidence" for extradition hearings.

Sidney Leithman argued the extradition request should be rejected because the Department of Justice had alleged that Cotroni's references in his phone calls to buying diapers were to heroin, but Sidney Leithman noted that Cotroni really was buying diapers in bulk in the US.

On this basis, Sidney Leithman argued that the extradition requests violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and should be rejected.

In 1985, Sidney Leithman told Ross via information he had learned from Savoie that one of Ross' men hiding in Florida, David Singer, was considering becoming an informer.

Sidney Leithman served as the conduit, taking briefcases full of CA$200,000 in cash to Savoie in exchange for information about what the RCMP knew about the West End Gang.

On Monday, 13 May 1991, Sidney Leithman was driving in his black Saab from his house in Mount Royal to his office.

Sidney Leithman liked to work early and that day he was preparing to make his final arguments in a case concerned several Colombian men accused of drug smuggling.

Sidney Leithman was laid to rest at Baron de Hirsch Cemetery in Montreal.

Morton wrote that although it remains a mystery as to who had Sidney Leithman killed, it was likely that Sidney Leithman was killed because one of his clients had learned of his work as an informer.

Knuckle has argued that Barbosa ordered Sidney Leithman's murder from learning from Savoie that he was an RCMP informer.