| Paul April |
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| Paul April, born in the early 1940s, was among the West End Gang’s most known members, famous for allegedly gunning down one of the group’s most powerful leaders. He became involved in the gang in the 1960s, first as an armed robber and later supposedly as a drug trafficker. He married the sister of the McAllister brothers, reputed members of the West End Gang who would make headlines numerous times over the years. By the early 1980s, April allegedly ran his own drug crew in Montreal’s east-end. Among his associates was Robert Lélievre, a renowned criminal in his own right. In his younger years, Lélievre and his younger brother Gérard had reportedly been associates of the notorious Monica Proietti, a.k.a. “Machine Gun Molly”, a bank robber killed by police in 1967. |
| April had reportedly run up a large drug debt – perhaps as much as over two hundred thousand dollars - with West End Gang leader Frank Peter “Dunie” Ryan, reputedly to be one Canada’s top drug traffickers. On November 13, 1984, April approached Ryan at a table at Nittolo’s Garden Motel on St. Jacques Street, the latter’s base of operations. He wanted to talk business alone with the gang leader and the two walked off together towards a motel rooms. It would be the last time Ryan would ever be seen alive. According to news reports, police suspected the following likely took place: when Ryan entered the motel room, April’s partner Robert Lélievre was waiting, clutching a shotgun. The two planned to learn where Ryan stashed his drugs and cash, and then kill him. But Ryan fought back and was shot twice – a shotgun blast to the chest followed by a .45 calibre bullet to the head. The West End Gang immediately suspected April was responsible for Ryan’s death and quickly began combing the streets for him. On the day of Ryan’s funeral, Allan “The Weasel” Ross, who took over Ryan’s operations, met with Hells Angels hitman Yves “Apache” Trudeau. Ross, Trudeau would later claim, offered him $200,000 to avenge Ryan’s death. On November 25, only 12 days after Ryan's murder, Trudeau and fellow hitman Michel Blass executed the contract. As Trudeau waited in the car, Blass entered an apartment building on busy Maisonneuve Street in which April and Lelievre were hiding. With them were Gilles Paquette and Louis Charles, two others in April’s crew. Blass delivered a television set, VCR, and a video tape about the Hells Angels, under the pretence they wanted April to see what the club was about. Minutes after Blass left, a blast rocked the building. The explosives, which had been packed into the television, killed all four in the apartment and injured eight others. One of the men had part of his hand torn off, and two of them lost their legs. One of the victims had been hurled over one hundred feet. Police found a small arsenal of firearms and hoods were found in the apartment. Police originally suspected April and his associates died when a bomb they were building exploded their faces. But when both Trudeau and Blass became government witnesses, the truth was revealed. Trudeau admitted to participating in over 40 murders and named April as a murder accomplice. |