Who needs The Wire? Or the latest blockbuster featuring organized crime? You can be forgiven for thinking you're watching the plot of an epic movie unfolding in Montreal these days as the televised hearings of the Charbonneau Commission hear about kickbacks, meetings with crime bosses and wads of money stuffed in socks.

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Allegations of corruption in the Quebec construction industry

We started this segment with a clip from Lino Zambito. He has a history of dropping political bombshells.

Earlier this week, at the Charbonneau Commission into allegations of corruption in the Quebec construction industry, Mr. Zambito -- a former construction mogul -- testified that three per cent of the value of every contract he got was funneled back to Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay's political party Union Montreal.

It's the first time allegations have gone right to Mayor Tremblay and his party and Mayor Tremblay wasted no time in fighting back. But opposition councillors Chantal Rouleau and Richard Bergeron weren't ready to let the Mayor off the hook. We aired some clips.

Alain Gravel has been investigating this story from the very beginning. He is the host of Enquete, the flagship investigative current affairs program for Radio Canada. The Enquete team broke and documented the original stories on corruption that led to this inquiry. Alain Gravel was in Montreal.

Allegations of corruption in the Quebec construction industry

As the Charbonneau Commission continues to capture headlines, many in Montreal demand to know how this could happen.

Martin Patriquin is the Quebec Bureau Chief for Macleans magazine. He was in our Montreal studio.

This segment was produced by The Current's Gord Westmacott and Ben Edwards.

Other segments from today's show:

Voices for Sale or Rent: Election Ads

E-coli outbreak in Alberta: Remembering Walkerton