OPERATING
Crimebuster retained
Steve Olynyk, who personally
smashed a quarter million dollars'
worth of pinball games in a 28-year
police career as a crimebuster, has
been retained by the Association of
Family
Entertainment
Centers
(AFEC) to serve as its "con-
science. "
Gerard Blanchette, chairman of
the board of AFEC, which groups
ten of Montreal's largest companies
specializing in coin-operated amuse-
ment machines, said Olynyk has
been given an "open mandate to
call the shots as he sees them ."
And Olynyk, 55, who retired from
the Montreal Urban Community
Police Department two years ago,
made clear he has no intention of
" pulling my punches.
" 1 have agreed to act as AFEC's
technical consultant because I know
a number of the men involved and
PLA Y METER, November, 1977
they are honest businessmen. But if
I find any shortcomings in the way
they operate and if they refuse to
remedy them, I'll blow the whistle.
And I'll be available to help the
police prosecute any violation of the
law, whether it involves an AFEC
member or otherwise. "
Blanchette said the former police
lieutenant, who has been called
" the epitome of the tough and
honest cop" by the Montreal Star
and by The Gazette the " chief
nemesis" of gambling , will be free
to investigate each of the 58 centers
of AFEC's members "at the time
and under the circumstances he
chooses, without prior notice.
" After each visit, he will report his
observations to AFEC, and we will
act on his recommendations . In
short, he will serve as our con-
science ."
Blanchette said the hiring of
Olynyk was evidence of AFEC 's
" sincerity in adopting a declaration
of principles and announcing that
we would self-police our operations.
" It would be impossible to find
anyone more severe in regard to
amusement games than Olynyk. In
the days when pinball games were
illegal, he personally smashed a
quarter million dollars worth of
equipment and buried it in what
later was to become the main
parking lot of Expo 67. "
Long one of Montreal's top racket
investigators, Olynyk was second in
command of the Montreal police
social secu rity squad - a special unit
tackling organized crime in all its
facets . It investigated such major
fields of organized crime as gam-
bling, arson , and bankruptcies,
protection , blackmail, pornography,
and fraud .
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