Analysis | Which fly stung Frédérick Silva?

How does the hitman Frédérick Silva have an interest in placing himself under the protection of the police and, possibly, turning his jacket against his former employers and accomplices, when he is already sentenced to life imprisonment? without eligibility for parole for 25 years?

Daniel Renaud
The Press

Readers have asked The Press since this news, which has shaken organized crime in Montreal and Quebec, fell on Thursday.

Silva is not the first contract killer in Quebec’s criminal history to turn his back. Yves “Apache” Trudeau, Réal Simard, Donald Lavoie, Gérald Gallant, Stéphane “Godasse” Gagné did it before him.

Most have one thing in common: they once felt abandoned or threatened by their employer. This may be the case for Frédérick Silva, although this remains to be confirmed.

In recent months, two of his relatives have been murdered. One of them, the police believe, had hidden Silva during his long run of two years and would have even constituted a link between the hitman and the donors.

Silva himself was advised in prison that his life was in danger. The man probably judged that “his vein of protection” was dried up, and he made this choice first for his safety and, probably, that of his loved ones.

The informer Stéphane Gagné, whose testimony sent Maurice Boucher to the penitentiary until the end of his days, applied to the Superior Court to obtain a parole before 25 years, backed by letters of support from police officers and other actors in the justice system.

But this provision, which could benefit individuals who had committed murders before 2011, no longer exists.

In exchange for his collaboration, however, Silva could hope to increase his chances of obtaining his parole from the age of 25, because release is never automatic and the offender must demonstrate that he deserves it.

Nothing to lose ?

Extracted from the penitentiary by helicopter, escorted by the Tactical Intervention Group on Thursday, Silva is probably being held in a secret place controlled by the police.

If he collaborates, he should spend months there, first telling his life story before getting to the heart of the matter. During this long stay in this secret place, he could benefit from certain privileges, among others that of seeing more members of his family.

If he ends up signing an agreement with the state, he could benefit from certain other advantages that will somewhat ease his long sentence.

Silva, who is 42, will be 67 when he is eligible for parole. Maybe he just concluded that he had nothing left to lose.

“Highly Involved”

Trudeau, Simard, Lavoie, Gallant and Gagné worked for a single employer or a single organization.

But Silva is a product of contemporary organized crime, a milieu that has changed significantly since the days of the killers named above.

Today, criminal groups no longer operate in silos. They work together, exchange services and contacts and use the same intermediaries and contractors.

The possible revelations of Silva could therefore hurt several organizations and individuals.

It is unclear how well Silva knows the individuals or organizations who ordered the contracts he carried out. We know, however, that the contract killer had accomplices, that he did not act alone or that they did not always act solo. Also, Frédérick Silva may have a lot of information about contracts or situations in which he was not directly involved.

At the trials of Marie-Josée Viau, Guy Dion and Dominico Scarfo, respectively accused of having killed the Falduto brothers and the mafiosos Lorenzo Giordano and Rocco Sollecito in 2016, the former mafia hitman turned civil agent of information for the police – and whose name we must conceal – testified at length.

Of course, he told details about these crimes, but he obviously knew a lot about many other situations affecting organized crime in Montreal.

It should be added that on Thursday, when chief inspectors David Bertrand of the SPVM and Benoit Dubé of the SQ announced that Silva had placed himself under the protection of the police, they were careful to specify that this development affected “all branches of crime organized” and that Silva was an individual “highly involved in Montreal, provincial and even interprovincial organized crime for several years”.

However, it will take months and probably more than a year before the results of this collaboration are known.

A period during which several members of organized crime will certainly be in bad blood.

To reach Daniel Renaud, dial 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.