Richard Blass
Richard Blass (October 24, 1945 – January 24, 1975) was an infamous Canadian gangster and a multiple murderer. Born in Montreal, he was nicknamed Le Chat, French for The Cat, because of his luck in evading death after surviving at least three assassination attempts and a police shootout, and escaping from custody twice.
Biography
Born in the Montreal neighbourhood of Rosemont, Blass would turn to amateur boxing as a way to channel his anger when he was a child. It was after a boxing fight that Blass committed one of his first known crimes, attacking fellow boxer Michel Gouin with a knife after losing a fight to him. Blass pleaded guilty to assault and spent one night in jail.
Over time Blass became more obsessed with the Mafia activity going on in New York city, south of Montreal. As obsessed as he was with the Mafia, however, he was also known for his hatred of Mafia families: resenting the fact that the Italian Mafia held a stronghold on Montreal's underworld business during the late 1960s, Blass was involved in violent feuds with many Mafiosi, particularly those related to Frank Cotroni and brothers Joe and Vincenzo Di Maulo. On May 7, 1968, Blass and Robert Allard attempted an ambush of Frank outside his home; two of his bodyguards were killed, but Frank escaped.[1] He had also worked as a hitman for the notorious West End Gang.[2]
By then, Blass had a sizable number of members in his own criminal gang. Blass and his gang then became more violent, committing a number of murders against Italians, some of whom had nothing to do with crime. The first such killing took place on May 27, when Giuseppe Collizza was killed with five shots to the head.
One of the persons that Blass and his group killed, Francesco Grado, however, had connections to the Mafia. Grado was a loan shark for the Mafia. He was murdered with multiple gunshots.
On August 24 of that year (1968), the first Mafia attempt against Blass' life took place, when two hired gunmen entered a bar where Blass was enjoying some drinks. Although shot at multiple times, Blass was able to escape unscathed.
Two weeks later, Blass was tracked by the Mafia to a motel named "Le Manoir de Plaisance", in a Montreal suburb. The motel was set on fire and three people died, but Blass escaped the blaze. Police investigation indicated arson as the fire's cause.
In October 1968, Richard Blass was injured by bullet shots to the head and back after being ambushed, alongside partner Claude Menard, inside a garage. The two were able to save their lives when Menard drove the car they were in through the garage's door, and Blass required hospitalization for his wounds. He refused to identify his attackers, a fact which may have led him to earn respect among Canadian mafia members.
In January 1969, Blass and his gang tried to commit a bank robbery but the attempt failed, and Blass shot a policeman as he was fleeing from the financial institution. He was consequently arrested and sentenced to four consecutive terms of ten years in jail.
On October 16 of that year Blass became a fugitive for the first time, when he and other prisoners overpowered a jail guard and fled the van in which they were being transported to court. Blass was caught after an anonymous caller informed police that he was hiding in his wife's apartment.
Blass waited five years and in 1974 perpetrated his second attempt at escape. An unidentified female friend of his brought in some firearms during a visit, and Blass broke the jail visitor's window. Armed with various types of guns and rifles, he and other men were able to escape jail, in Blass' case, for the second time.
Blass wanted to kill Raymond Laurin and Roger Lévesque, both of whom had participated in the 1969 bank robbery and testified against him. He found them both at a bar on October 30, 1974 and shot them to their deaths. Convinced that he needed to kill all witnesses of the deaths of Laurin and Lévesque, Blass and gang partner Fernand Beaudet returned to the bar on January 21, 1975. They locked ten men and three women inside a bar locker before killing all 13 of them.
What followed that act was one of the largest manhunts in Canadian history. On January 24, 1975, police located the chalet where Blass was hiding. At 1:30 AM EST, three officers, led by Albert Lisacek, broke the windows of the chalet door and entered. As Blass approached them, the officers opened fire, and Blass was hit by 27 bullets, dying within seconds. Police reports and testimony stated that Blass had shot first; however, in May 2012, Lisacek told journalist Warren Perley that Blass had been unarmed, and had only been 'wielding' a sock.[3] He was entombed at the Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery in Montreal.[4]
Depictions
The 1992 film Requiem for a Handsome Bastard (Requiem pour un beau sans-coeur) is loosely based on Blass' career.[5] The film centers around the last three days of a fictionalized, pseudonymous version of Blass.[6] A book about Blass was published in 1983[7] by famous criminal attorney Frank Shoofey, who previously represented him.
References
- D'Arcy O'Connor (2011). Montreal's Irish Mafia: The True Story of the Infamous West End Gang. ISBN 9780470159248.
- Schneider, Iced: The Story of Organized Crime in Canada, pp. 270
- Solyom, Catherine (December 1, 2012). "Canada's toughest cop wrestled with a big secret". Montreal Gazette. Archived from the original on March 3, 2013. Retrieved December 2, 2012.
- Répertoire des personnages inhumés au cimetière ayant marqué l'histoire de notre société (in French). Montreal: Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery.
- L'Actualité. 18: 56. 1993. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - McIntosh, Andrew. "Requiem pour un beau sans-coeur". Canadian Film Encyclopedia. Toronto International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
- Frank Shoofey, Nom: Blass, prénom: Richard, alias: "le chat", profession: criminel (English translation: Name: Blass, first name: Richard, aka "the cat", occupation: criminal), Québécor, 1983, ISBN 2-89089-204-2.