Gargantua bar attack

{{Short description|1975 shooting and arson in Montreal, Canada}}

{{Infobox civilian attack

|title = Gargantua bar attack

|image =

|caption =

|location = Montreal, Quebec, Canada

|coordinates = {{Coord|45.5411595|-73.5988091|display=inline,title}}

|target =

|date = January 21, 1975

|time =

|timezone =

|type = Arson, shooting

|fatalities = 13

|injuries = 0

|perps = Richard Blass

}}

The Gargantua bar attack was a shooting and arson-attack that occurred at the Gargantua, a nightclub bar located on 1369 rue Beaubien Est in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on January 21, 1975, killing 13 individuals, including the manager. The Gargantua, which had been known for being a meeting place for underworld figures, was previously the scene of a double-shooting killing of two criminals in October 1974.

During the attack, the Gargantua's manager, believed to having been a witness to the preceding shooting, was shot and killed. The remaining 12 individuals succumbed to asphyxiation after being herded into a padlocked closet shortly before the establishment was set on fire. Three days following the attack, criminal Richard Blass, the primary suspect, was shot and killed by police.

Background

Located on 1369 rue Beaubien Est in Montreal, Quebec, Canada,{{cite web |title=Ce 21 janvier 1975 |url=https://depoussiereuse.com/2019/05/25/ce-21-janvier-1975/ |website=Dépoussiéreuse de crimes |access-date=30 March 2024 |language=fr-FR |date=25 May 2019}}{{cite web |title=Incendie au bar Gargantua |url=https://ville.montreal.qc.ca/sim/histoire/incendie-au-bar-gargantua |website=Service de sécurité incendie de Montréal |date=21 January 1975 |access-date=6 February 2024 |language=fr}} the Gargantua was a second-floor nightclub bar located above a dry cleaning establishment,{{cite news |title=Gargantua massacre: A Canadian horror story |url=https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist19750122/mode/2up |access-date=6 February 2024 |work=The Daily Colonist |date=22 January 1975}} and had been well known as a meeting place for underworld figures.{{cite news |title=Canadian Convict Slain |url=https://archive.org/details/TheNewYorkTimes1975USAEnglish/Jan%2026%201975%2C%20The%20New%20York%20Times%2C%20%2342736%2C%20USA%20%28en%29/page/n221/mode/2up?q=%22Richard+Blass%22 |access-date=6 February 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=26 January 1975}}

On October 30, 1974, two armed men entered the Gargantua and fatally shot 30-year-old Raymond Laurin and 28-year-old Roger Levesque. One week prior to the shooting, suspects Richard Blass and his accomplice Roger Roussel had escaped from{{cite news |title=POLICE IN MONTREAL THEORIZE ON DEATHS |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/01/23/archives/police-in-montreal-theorize-on-deaths.html |access-date=6 February 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=23 January 1975}} the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul penitentiary,{{cite news |last1=Venne |first1=Jean-François |title=Le côté sombre de la métropole |url=https://plus.lapresse.ca/screens/daff8bf9-7f4d-4a6a-bba2-b48c609950f5%7C_0.html |access-date=10 February 2024 |work=La Presse+ |date=1 January 2018 |language=fr}} which Blass had been serving a 15-year sentence for attempted murder and armed robbery.{{cite book |last1=Lavigne |first1=Yves |title=Hell's Angels |date=1994 |publisher=Carol Pub. Group |isbn=978-0-8184-0514-3 |page=249 |url=https://archive.org/details/hellsangelsthree00lavi/page/248/mode/2up |access-date=6 February 2024}} The victims, Laurin and Levesque, had a prior criminal association with the suspects,{{cite book |last1=Auger |first1=Michel |title=The biker who shot me : recollections of a crime reporter |date=2002 |isbn=0771008775 |page=72 |url=https://archive.org/details/bikerwhoshotmere0000auge/page/72/mode/2up |access-date=6 February 2024}} and were implicated in a crime together in 1969. Roussel would later be recaptured.{{cite news |title="Weasel" killed by police trying to reach arsenal |url=https://archive.org/details/dixon-evening-telegraph-1975-01-24/mode/2up |access-date=6 February 2024 |work=Dixon Evening Telegraph |date=24 January 1975}}

Attack

On January 21, 1975, two individuals entered the Gargantua and held 13 individuals, ten men and three women,{{cite news |last1=Borders |first1=William |title=13 Killed in Montreal Bar, Apparently Gang Victims |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/01/22/archives/13-killed-in-montreal-bar-apparently-gang-victims.html |access-date=6 February 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=22 January 1975}} at gunpoint. According to a police reconstruction conducted shortly after the attack, the perpetrators fatally shot 43-year-old Rejean Fortin, the Gargantua's manager and a former Montreal police officer. Additionally, 29-year-old customer Pierre Lamarche was shot in the stomach, wounding him. The remaining victims, along with Fortin's body and the injured Lamarche, were herded into a storage closet measuring 6 by 8 feet.{{cite news |title=High-profile cases of mass or multiple murders in Canada |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/high-profile-cases-of-mass-or-multiple-murders-in-canada/article1097312/ |access-date=6 February 2024 |work=The Globe and Mail |date=9 April 2006 |language=en-CA}} The closet door was padlocked and barricaded by pushing a jukebox against it, and the perpetrators set fire to the establishment.

The bodies of the victims were discovered by firemen at the scene after responding to a report of a fire at the Gargantua shortly past midnight.{{sfn|Lane|Gregg|2004|p=131}} Initially under the impression that the Gargantua was empty, firemen found the bodies of the 13 victims in the closet.{{sfn|Lane|Gregg|2004|p=131}} Lamarche and the remaining 11 victims succumbed to asphyxiation. Both inspectors and firefighters indicated the fire appearing to have been deliberately set near the outside of the closet door.

Investigation and legal proceedings

Immediately following the attack, authorities began investigating its potential connection to the October 30, 1974 shooting of Laurin and Levesque. Despite lacking concrete evidence, investigators suspected the involvement of Blass in the attack,{{cite news |title=Montreal Mass Murderers Sought |url=https://archive.org/details/circleville-herald-1975-01-22/page/n17/mode/2up |access-date=6 February 2024 |work=Circleville Herald |date=22 January 1975}} suspecting his motive being to target Fortin as a witness to the earlier shooting, with the other victims being killed to eliminate witnesses to Fortin's shooting. The search for Blass, who became the prime suspect in the attack, intensified, with a coroner's warrant being issued for his arrest.{{sfn|Lane|Gregg|2004|p=132}}

In the early hours of January 24, 1975, three days after the attack,{{cite news |last1=Library |first1=Toronto Star |title=A history of violence on Canadian soil |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/a-history-of-violence-on-canadian-soil/article_ac5973e1-9d0a-5c30-8bbf-8e6590ef1120.html |access-date=10 February 2024 |work=Toronto Star |date=23 April 2018 |language=en}} authorities shot and killed Blass in Val-David, located in the Laurentian Mountains.{{cite web |title=Albert Lisacek, 1933-2012 |url=https://macleans.ca/society/albert-lisacek-1933-2012/ |website=Macleans.ca |access-date=6 February 2024 |date=19 December 2012}}{{cite news |title=Arson Suspect Killed in Canada |url=https://archive.org/details/InternationalHeraldTribune1975FranceEnglish/Jan%2025%201975%2C%20International%20Herald%20Tribune%2C%20%2328622%2C%20France%20%28en%29/page/n1/mode/2up?q=%22Richard+Blass%22 |access-date=6 February 2024 |work=International Herald Tribune |date=25–26 January 1975 |language=English}} Acting on a tip, they surrounded a chalet around 4:30 am, and Blass was reportedly shot after responding to police orders with gunfire, though this has been disputed several decades later.{{cite news |url=https://montrealgazette.com/news/Canada+toughest+wrestled+with+secret/7639849/story.html |title=Canada's toughest cop wrestled with a big secret |newspaper=Montreal Gazette |first=Catherine |last=Solyom |date=December 1, 2012 |access-date=December 2, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130303192219/http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Canada+toughest+wrestled+with+secret/7639849/story.html |archive-date=March 3, 2013 |url-status=dead}}{{cite news |last1=Hustak |first1=Alan |title=Montreal tough guy Albert Lisacek was a hard-boiled cop from a bygone era |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/montreal-tough-guy-albert-lisacek-was-a-hard-boiled-cop-from-a-bygone-era/article5882859/ |access-date=10 February 2024 |work=The Globe and Mail |date=30 November 2012 |language=en-CA}} Authorities additionally apprehended a man and two women at the scene, and ruled out the suspected motive of eliminating witnesses.

In early February, a reliable source testified and indicated involvement of more than one gunman in the attack.{{cite news |title=Gargantua murders termed an 'error' |url=https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist19750204/page/n17/mode/2up |access-date=6 February 2024 |work=The Daily Colonist |date=4 February 1975}} On February 5, 1975, special coroner Cyrille Delâge{{cite news |last1=Kowch |first1=Steve |last2=Noel |first2=Albert |title=Richard Blass linked to slayings |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/421796618/?clipping_id=21840908&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjQyMTc5NjYxOCwiaWF0IjoxNzA3MjMyOTc1LCJleHAiOjE3MDczMTkzNzV9.IsxvjEFQvSgnvnU8LVztc3ZtSyl8C1-v1PZzhITl7TI |access-date=6 February 2024 |work=The Gazette |date=6 February 1975}} held 28-year-old Fernand Beaudet criminally responsible for the attack.{{cite news |title=Witness cited in club deaths |url=https://archive.org/details/dailycolonist19750206/mode/2up |access-date=6 February 2024 |work=The Daily Colonist |date=6 February 1975}} Beaudet, according to a wiretapped conversation, admitted his involvement to his sister. Blass was also implicated involvement according to additional conversations presented at the inquest, resulting in him also being held responsible for the attack.{{cite news |last1=Collister |first1=Eddie |title='Death warrant' freedom granted Gargantua suspect |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/421742781/?clipping_id=55422648&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjQyMTc0Mjc4MSwiaWF0IjoxNzA3MjI4MzY3LCJleHAiOjE3MDczMTQ3Njd9.QytqRavWtYi-fgHew6eBQ_-8AtuV0yj-TdyS75Avbco |access-date=6 February 2024 |work=The Gazette |date=14 March 1975}} During the inquest, Beaudet was sentenced to 30 days in jail for contempt of court after refusing to testify, shouting "I mourn the death of Richard Blass! Long live Richard Blass!" The proceeding marked the first time wiretraps were accepted as evidence in a Canadian coroner's inquest. On March 13, 1975, murder charges against Beaudet were dropped due to lack of evidence, and he was never being brought to trial.{{sfn|Lane|Gregg|2004|p=132}} During the preliminary hearing, Beaudet's girlfriend testified, admitting to lying during the coroner's inquest and to the police. Additionally, the telephone conversation between Beaudet and his sister, taking place hours after the attack, concluded that he had made no mention of the attack.