West End Gang
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The West End Gang (french: Gang de l'ouest) is a Canadian
organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
group in
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, Quebec. An
Irish mob The Irish Mob (also known as the Irish mafia or Irish organized crime) is a collective of organized crime syndicates composed of ethnic Irish members which operate primarily in Ireland, the United States, Canada and Australia, and have been in ...
group originating from the
Irish-Canadian ga, Gael-Cheanadaigh , image = Irish_Canadian_population_by_province.svg , image_caption = Irish Canadians as percent of population by province/territory , population = 4,627,00013.4% of the Canadian population (2016) , po ...
ethnic enclave of
Pointe-Saint-Charles Pointe-Saint-Charles (also known in English as Point Saint Charles, and locally as The Point, or "PSC") is a neighbourhood in the borough of Le Sud-Ouest in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Historically a working-class area, the creation of m ...
in the 1950s, the majority of the gang's earnings were initially derived from truck hijackings, home invasions, kidnapping, protection rackets, extortion, and armed robbery, with its criminal activities focused on, but not restricted to, the west side of Montreal. The West End Gang came to prominence via a series of high-profile bank robberies between the 1950s and the 1970s, a period when Montreal was known as "Bank Robbery capital of North America". Due to the gang's control of illegal activity at the
Port of Montreal The Port of Montreal (french: Port de Montréal) ( ACI Canadian Port Code: 0395, UN/LOCODE: CA MTR) is a cruise and transshipment point located on the St. Lawrence River in Montreal, Québec, Canada. The port operates as an international contain ...
, it moved into drug trafficking and became one of the most influential criminal organizations in Canada.Kings of Coke tells the tale of Montreal's infamous West End Gang
Brendan Kelly, ''
Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...
'' (8 November 2022)
Over the years many members have been murdered or convicted of murder, most notably the 1984 assassination of one time West End Gang boss
Frank "Dunie" Ryan Frank Peter "Dunie" Ryan Jr. (10 June 1942 – 13 November 1984) was a Canadian gangster and the leader of the West End Gang, a Montreal-based criminal organization. Criminal career Hoodlum Ryan was born of Irish descent in a poor neighborhood ...
.Irish Mob Boss Matticks Loses Battle With Cancer In Canada
Scott Burnstein, GangsterReport.com (20 Jnauary 2015)
Subsequent revenge killings weeks later are believed to have been organized by replacement leader Allan "The Weasel" Ross. Under Ross' leadership, the West End Gang formed a partnership with the
Cali Cartel The Cali Cartel ( es, Cartel de Cali) was a drug cartel based in southern Colombia, around the city of Cali and the Valle del Cauca. Its founders were the brothers Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela. They broke away fr ...
, transporting large quantitites of cocaine into Canada from the United States. After Ross was convicted in 1992, leadership of the West End Gang was assumed by Gerald "Big Gerry" Matticks.


History


Origin

The West End Gang originated as a network of loosely affiliated
Irish-Canadian ga, Gael-Cheanadaigh , image = Irish_Canadian_population_by_province.svg , image_caption = Irish Canadians as percent of population by province/territory , population = 4,627,00013.4% of the Canadian population (2016) , po ...
gangsters in
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
.Montreal mobster Alan Ross called for a bloody reckoning
Tu Thanh Ha, ''
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' (30 August 2018)
The gang, which emerged in the 1950s, was known at first as the Irish Gang, and the name West End Gang seems to have been adopted in the late 1970s. A disproportionate number of the gang's members come from the predominantly Irish working-class
Pointe-Saint-Charles Pointe-Saint-Charles (also known in English as Point Saint Charles, and locally as The Point, or "PSC") is a neighbourhood in the borough of Le Sud-Ouest in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Historically a working-class area, the creation of m ...
district of Montreal. Other West End Gang members are from the
Goose Village Goose Village (French: "Village-aux-Oies") was a neighbourhood in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its official but less commonly used name was Victoriatown, after the adjacent Victoria Bridge. The neighbourhood was built on an area formerly known ...
and
Griffintown Griffintown is a historic neighbourhood of Montreal, Quebec, southwest of downtown. The area existed as a functional neighbourhood from the 1820s until the 1960s, and was mainly populated by Irish immigrants and their descendants. Mostly depopulate ...
neighbourhoods. Additionally, bars and motels in the
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Notre-Dame-de-Grâce ( en, Our Lady of Grace), also nicknamed NDG, is a residential neighbourhood of Montreal in the city's West End, with a population of 166,520 (2016). An independent municipality until annexed by the City of Montreal in 1910, ...
district have served as headquarters and meeting places for members of the gang. Describing the origins of the West End Gang and how it differs from the other prominent crime groups in Montreal, the journalist
Julian Sher Julian Sher is a Canadian investigative journalist, filmmaker, author and newsroom trainer based in Montreal, Quebec. He was an investigative producer for ten years then a senior producer for five years with the CBC's '' The Fifth Estate''. He has ...
said: "The thing about the
Hells Angels The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide outlaw motorcycle club whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporatio ...
and the
Mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...
is those are global organizations... The West End Gang could only be born and thrive in this city and in a particular neighbourhood of this city. They had no desire to take over
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
or even the north of the city. This was such an English-Montreal product. It's like
Fairmount Bagel Fairmount Bagel is a Montreal-style bagel bakery in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in the Mile End neighbourhood of the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough. The first location opened on September 7, 1919 on Saint-Laurent Boulevard by Isadore Shlafman. The curren ...
s". On the significance of the gang's ethnic makeup and the location from which it merged, Julian explained: "One of the reasons the West End Gang was able to thrive is that they were able to some degree to fly under the radar, in a largely French city with a largely French police force. The West End Gang came out of a community that was doubly marginalized. They're an English minority in a French city, but they're also poor and they're Irish in English Montreal. They're poor in a largely middle-class anglophone community. The
Lachine Canal The Lachine Canal ( in French (language), French) is a canal passing through the southwestern part of the Island of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, running 14.5 kilometres (9 miles) from the Old Port of Montreal to Lake Saint-Louis, through the boroug ...
and the Ville-Marie Expressway could've been a fortress wall".


Bank robbery

From the 1950s to the 1970s, Montreal was known as the "Bank Robbery capital of North America" as Montreal had more bank robberies than any other city in North America. The journalist D'Arcy O'Connor used as an example that in the six months between January-June 1969, Montreal had 51 bank robberies with only a quarter with the thieves being arrested, while the city of Los Angeles had 36 bank robberies in the period January-June 1969 with 60% of the thieves being arrested. The West End Gang were some of the most successful bank robbers in Montreal in this period. Montreal's status as the "Bank Robbery capital of North America" was largely due to the light sentences handed by Quebec courts, which normally gave only 5 years in prison for convicted thieves as compared to the 20 years in prison normally handed down by American courts, which allowed the gangs of Montreal to build up a cadre of experienced thieves. The largest bank robbery ever in Canadian history adjusted for inflation, namely the theft of some $20, 000 in cash from the vault of the Brockville Trust & Saving Company in
Brockville Brockville, formerly Elizabethtown, is a city in Eastern Ontario, Canada, in the Thousand Islands region. Although it is the seat of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, it is politically Independent city, independent of the county. It i ...
on 4 May 1958 was a joint operation of the West End Gang and the Cotroni family. Commander André Bouchard of the Montreal police stated about the West End Gang that they: "...weren't thugs selling drugs on the street like the French and the Italians...They had the best safecrackers and the best hijackers. Some of those guys were sixteen years old and today they're still at it". Typical of the West End Gang members were William "Billy" Morgan who was born in poverty to Irish-Canadian parents in Montreal in 1935 and grew up in a broken home, leading him to boast in a 2008 interview: "I was a thief by the age of seven". Being placed "in care" in various foster homes, Morgan joined the West End Gang as a teenager and boasted: "Back then, I could open any lock or crack any safe and I did a lot of that. I had a knack for it". In the 1960s, West End Gang hitman
Richard Blass Richard Blass (October 24, 1945 – January 24, 1975) was an infamous Canadian gangster and a multiple murderer. Born in Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, seco ...
was involved in minor fights with many ''Mafiosi'', particularly those related to
Frank Cotroni Frank Cotroni (born Francesco Cotrone; ; 1931 – 17 August 2004) was an Italian-Canadian crime boss of the Cotroni crime family in Montreal, Quebec. Cotroni was born in 1931, in Montreal. His family, including his brother Vincenzo, had immigra ...
and brothers
Joe Joe or JOE may refer to: Arts Film and television * ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle * ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage * ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971 * ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...
and Vincenzo Di Maulo, all of whom received
death threat A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a deat ...
s from Blass.Schneider, ''Iced: The Story of Organized Crime in Canada'', pp. 270 Several of the West End Gang robberies lead to deaths. In an attempted robber of a branch of the Bank of Montreal on the Beaver Hall Hill on 30 April 1971 led to a shoot-out with Raymond Lynch of the West End Gang being shot dead by the bank security guards together with an innocent by-stander Corrado Festa who was killed when he was caught in the cross-fire. On 12 September 1973, a group of West End Gang thieves led by William "Billy" MacAllister attempted to rob a Brinks armored car that again led to a shoot-out that led one of the Brinks guards, Claude Vienneau being shot and bleeding to death on the street as the robbers fled with some $278, 000 in cash from the armored car. The most successful robbery committed by the West End Gang in Montreal was the theft of some $2, 275, 884 in cash together with golden Olympic coins worth $5, 000 dollars from a Brinks armored car took on 30 March 1976. In April 1976, the Montreal police formed a special squad known as the "Rubber Duck Squad" led by detective André Savard whose solo task was to hunt down those involved in the Brinks robbery of 30 March 1976. On 14 May 1976, a West End Gang member involved in the Brinks robbery, John Slawvey, was killed in a shoot-out with Savard who was attempting to arrest him on charges of robbery. On the night after Slawvey's killing, Savard was phoned by the lawyer
Sidney Leithman Sidney Leithman (14 October 1936 – 13 May 1991), better known as "Sid", was a Canadian lawyer known for representing numerous reputed organized crime figures in Montreal. Leithman was shot dead in a murder that remains unsolved. Mob lawyer Lei ...
who told him: "There's a lot of talk going and I think you should be careful, André. There's a lot of people not happy and you can push only so much...call this a warning if you want, but be careful and take care". Savard heard rumors that the West End Gang leader Frank Ryan had placed a $50, 000 contract on his life, which caused to live under armed guard for some time afterwards.


Move into drug trafficking

Under Frank Ryan's leadership, the West End Gang moved from local rackets, bank heists and truck robberies into cross-border drug smuggling. In the 1970s, the gang took control of the
Port of Montreal The Port of Montreal (french: Port de Montréal) ( ACI Canadian Port Code: 0395, UN/LOCODE: CA MTR) is a cruise and transshipment point located on the St. Lawrence River in Montreal, Québec, Canada. The port operates as an international contain ...
, which allowed them to import narcotics. The West End Gang initially began to import significant quantities of
marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...
and
hashish Hashish ( ar, حشيش, ()), also known as hash, "dry herb, hay" is a drug made by compressing and processing parts of the cannabis plant, typically focusing on flowering buds (female flowers) containing the most trichomes. European Monitorin ...
before Ryan and Allan Ross started smuggling large shipments of
cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...
into Canada from Florida as the drug's popularity increased in the early 1980s.Notorious West End Gang leader Allan (The Weasel) Ross has died
Paul Cherry, ''
Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...
'' (24 August 2018)
The West End gang developed important contacts in the United States, South America and Europe, with some members working out of Florida. In 1980, Allan Ross was convicted of possession of a narcotic for the purposes of trafficking and sentenced to a 23-month prison term. Since that time, the gang has formulated ties to the
Montreal Mafia The Rizzuto crime family () is an organized crime family based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, whose criminal activity covers most of southern Quebec and Ontario. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) considers the family a facti ...
, the ''
Cosa Nostra The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily a ...
,'' the
Hells Angels The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide outlaw motorcycle club whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporatio ...
, and Colombian cartels. The three Montreal organizations (West End Gang, Montreal Mafia, Hells Angels) make up the "Consortium" (similar to New York City's " Commission") and, together, the three groups' leaders fix the price of drugs for the wholesale and retail markets. The majority of the drugs smuggled through Montreal are ultimately retailed in the United States, with the small remainder being distributed across Canada. Police estimate that over a 15-year span from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, the gang trafficked more than 40 tons of cocaine and 300 tons of hashish, with an estimated street value of $150 billion. In 1997, the federal government disbanded the National Ports Police as a cost-saving measure, which has greatly aided the work of the West End Gang.


Murders

Patrick "Hughie" McGurnaghan, a cocaine dealer who sourced the drug from Frank Ryan, accrued a $100,000 debt to Ryan, partly because he used much of the cocaine he was supposed to be selling. When McGurnaghan cheated Ryan on a drug deal, Ryan contracted the Hells Angels hitman Yves "Apache" Trudeau to kill him. On 27 October 1981, McGurnaghan was driving his
Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
along Melville Avenue in Westmount with two male passengers when Trudeau detonated a
car bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roughly divided ...
planted underneath the hood, killing McGurnaghan and seriously a passenger.The perks of the biker
Dan Burke, ''
Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian perspe ...
'' (21 April 1986)
How Canada's Most Prolific Hit Man Turned Informant on the Hells Angels
Patrick Lejtenyi, ''
Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...
'' (26 September 2017)
On 13 November 1984, Frank Ryan was in his office at the Nittolo's Jardin Motel in
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Notre-Dame-de-Grâce ( en, Our Lady of Grace), also nicknamed NDG, is a residential neighbourhood of Montreal in the city's West End, with a population of 166,520 (2016). An independent municipality until annexed by the City of Montreal in 1910, ...
, a motel and restaurant he owned which was a regular meeting place for West End Gang members.Frank Peter ("Dunie") Ryan, Leader of Montreal's West End Gang
AmericanMafia.com (October 1999)
Gangs of Montreal, Episode 3: The West End Gang and the robbery of the century
Monique Beaudin, ''
Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...
'' (18 November 2019)
He was lured into an adjoining motel room by Paul April, a French-Canadian associate who told Ryan that an attractive young woman waiting to have sex with him there. April and an associate of his, Robert Lelièvre, who was armed with a shotgun, planned to tie Ryan to a chair and force him to reveal where he had hidden his fortune before killing him. Ryan resisted and threw a chair at Lelièvre, who then shot him in the chest. As Ryan lay dying on the floor, he was shot again in the head with a .45 handgun. By killing Ryan, April and Lelièvre erased a $200,000 drug debt they owed him. Allan Ross took control of the West End Gang after Ryan's death. Ross' first action as leader was to hire Yves Trudeau to track down and kill those responsible for Ryan's murder. Paul April was boasting that, with Ryan dead, he was now ''roi de Montréal'' ("king of Montreal"). On 19 November 1984, Trudeau visited April's highrise apartment on
De Maisonneuve Boulevard De Maisonneuve Boulevard (officially in french: boulevard De Maisonneuve) is a major westbound boulevard located in Downtown Montreal, downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is named after the founder of Montreal, Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve. It ...
under the pretence of paying his respects to the self-proclaimed ''roi de Montréal'' on behalf of the Hells Angels. During the visit, Trudeau noticed that April did not have a functioning television, and he promised him that he would bring him one along with a videocassette recorder. On 25 November 1984, Trudeau and his occasional accomplice Michel Blass dropped off a TV set with fifteen kilograms of C-4 plastic explosive hidden inside, along with a VCR and a video tape of ''Hells Angels Forever'' to the apartment where April and Robert Lelièvre were hiding. Also in the apartment that day were Gilles Paquette, a petty criminal, and Louis Charles, a professional bank robber who had met April while they were imprisoned together at
Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Saint-Vincent-de-Paul (named after Saint Vincent de Paul) may refer to: * Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Gironde, France *Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Landes, France *Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Paris, 10th arrondissement of Paris, France *Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Quebe ...
penitentiary. After leaving the apartment, Trudeau used a remote control to detonate the bomb. The explosion killed both April and Lelièvre along with Paquette and Charles. Eight bystanders were also injured. Ross paid for the murders by erasing a large drug debt owed to the West End Gang by the
Laval Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxem ...
chapter of the Hells Angels. The third conspirator in the murder of Frank Ryan was Eddie Phillips, who was suspected by Allan Ross of renting the motel room where Ryan was killed. Phillips was invited to drink with West End Gang member Billy McAllister at the Victoria Station bar on ''rue de Jean Talon'' in
Mount Royal Mount Royal (french: link=no, Mont Royal, ) is a large intrusive rock hill or small mountain in the city of Montreal, immediately west of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The best-known hypothesis for the origin of the name Montreal is the hi ...
on 25 March 1985. As Phillips was walking towards the bar in the parking lot, a motorcycle rode up to him while another member of the West End Gang, David Singer, who was in the passenger seat, stepped off and shot Phillips five times in the back. The driver of the motorcycle has never been conclusively identified. Singer subsequently went into hiding in Florida, but Ross had doubts whether he could handle a police interrogation, leading him to order Singer's murder.


"Kings of Coke"

Under the leadership of Allan Ross, the West End Gang became involved in even more ambitious international drug schemes. While the West End Gang trafficked primarily in hashish and marijuana under Frank Ryan's regime, the gang moved more heavily into cocaine after Ross took control. The gang forged a partnership with a Florida-based
cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life Cell may also refer to: Locations * Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery w ...
of the
Cali Cartel The Cali Cartel ( es, Cartel de Cali) was a drug cartel based in southern Colombia, around the city of Cali and the Valle del Cauca. Its founders were the brothers Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela. They broke away fr ...
, transporting kilograms of cocaine into Canada via
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
. Ross also formed contacts in the "
Golden Triangle Golden Triangle may refer to: Places Asia * Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia), named for its opium production * Golden Triangle (Yangtze), China, named for its rapid economic development * Golden Triangle (India), comprising the popular tourist ...
" in Southeast Asian and in the "
Golden Crescent The Golden Crescent is the name given to one of Asia's two principal areas of illicit opium production (with the other being the Golden Triangle). Located at the crossroads of Central, South, and Western Asia, this space covers the mountainous ...
" nations of Afghanistan, Turkey and Pakistan. According to informants, by 1986, cocaine shipments of between 20 and 40 kilograms were being delivered to Montreal every two weeks. By 1987, Ross' deals with the Cali Cartel included shipments of up to 200 kilograms being sent to the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. On 15 May 1992, Allan Ross was convicted in
Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...
of conspiring to import and traffic in at least 10,000 kilograms of cocaine and more than 300 tonnes of marijuana between 1975 and 1989, for which he was sentenced to life in prison. The following year, he was sentenced to an additional 30 years' imprisonment when he was found guilty in
Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...
of conspiring to traffic in cocaine and conspiracy to commit murder. After Ross was imprisoned, leadership of the West End Gang was assumed by Gerald "Big Gerry" Matticks.


21st century

In 2003 onetime gang associate Peter MacAllister wrote a novel called ''Dexter'' based on real stories from the gang. In 2005, a 300 kilogram shipment of a total 1,300 kilograms of cocaine, co-organized by
Rizzuto crime family The Rizzuto crime family () is an organized crime family based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, whose criminal activity covers most of southern Quebec and Ontario. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) considers the family a facti ...
confidante, Francesco Del Balso and West End Gang member, Richard Griffin, was intercepted in
Boucherville, Quebec Boucherville is a city in the Montérégie region in Quebec, Canada. It is a suburb of Montreal on the South shore of the Saint Lawrence River. Boucherville is part of both the urban agglomeration of Longueuil and Montreal Metropolitan Communi ...
by police. After Griffin invested $1.5 million in the purchase and transportation of the cocaine, he demanded $350,000 from the Rizzutos for not taking preventive measures in transporting the drugs. After arguments about the debts, Griffin was killed by gunfire outside his home in
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Notre-Dame-de-Grâce ( en, Our Lady of Grace), also nicknamed NDG, is a residential neighbourhood of Montreal in the city's West End, with a population of 166,520 (2016). An independent municipality until annexed by the City of Montreal in 1910, ...
on July 12, 2006. A key member of the gang in recent years was Shane Kenneth Maloney, known as "Wheels" as he is confided to a wheelchair. On 27 October 2011, an officer with the ''Service de police de la Ville de Montréal'' on vacation in
Playa del Carmen Playa del Carmen, known colloquially as 'Playa', is a Resort town, resort city located along the Caribbean Sea in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. It is part of the municipality of Solidaridad, Quintana Roo, Solidaridad. As of 2020, the city's ...
in Mexico saw two other officers of ''Service de police de la Ville de Montréal'' socializing with members of the West End Gang and the Montreal Hells Angels at the Blue Parrot nightclub. Unset with the apparent corruption, the officer used his cellphone to take pictures of the officers socializing with the gangsters at the Blue Perrot. Led by Maloney who noticed the policeman taking the photographs, the Hells Angels and the West End Gang members proceed to beat the policeman bloody, who required five hours of surgery in order to make his face resemble what it had been before the beating. The policeman noted that no-one in the management of the Blue Perrot made any attempt to call the police or stop the beating. Maloney became a key member in the
Wolfpack Alliance The Wolfpack Alliance was a Canadian organized crime group. The Canadian journalist Peter Edwards and the Mexican journalist Luis Horacio Nájera wrote that the Wolfpack Alliance were "...a loosely allied and multi-ethnic group of mostly Millennia ...
. On 1 November 2012, Maloney was charged with trafficking in cocaine; gangsterism; and arms smuggling. The police searched Maloney's house and found evidence linking to the theft of dynamite in Sainte-Sophie in August 2011. Found inside of his house were hundreds of guns; 1, 475 sticks of dynamite; two pounds of C-4 explosive and remote controls that could be used for bombs. In December 2013, Maloney was convicted of assault for his role in the Blue Parrot incident of 2011. In April 2017, Maloney was found guilty of the charges relating to his weapons and explosive cache and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Maloney worked as a member of the Wolfpack, but transferred his loyalty towards helping the
Sinaloa Cartel The Sinaloa Cartel ( es, link=no, Cártel de Sinaloa), also known as the CDS, the Guzmán-Loera Organization, the Pacific Cartel, the Federation and the Blood Alliance, is a large, international organized crime syndicate that specializes in il ...
in smuggling cocaine direct into Ontaro. ''Kings of Coke'', a documentary film chronicling the history of the West End Gang directed by Julian Sher, was released in November 2022.
Montreal police Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...
estimate that the West End Gang currently consists of approximately 125 to 150 members and associates. The group often collaborates with the Montreal Mafia and the Hells Angels in enormous drug shipments and remains one of the most powerful and profitable criminal organizations in the country.


References


Bibliography

* * * Carasiti, Jeff (26 May 2011)
''Organization Attributes Sheet: West End Gang''
Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. Retrieved 4 Jun 2017. * * {{Canadian gangs 1950s establishments in Quebec Organizations established in the 1950s Organizations based in Montreal Organized crime groups in Canada Gangs in Montreal Irish-Canadian culture in Montreal Irish-Canadian organized crime