One of Quebec’s most notorious thugs | Raymond Desfossés, Trois-Rivières cocaine king, is no more

Raymond Desfossés, former leader of the Gang de l’Ouest, large-scale cocaine importer, employer of former hitman Gérard Gallant and one of Quebec’s best-known thugs, died on July 31 of natural causes, it has been learned The Press.

Desfossés, 73, whose criminal career spanned more than 50 years, had been suffering from a chronic illness for a long time, but his condition had deteriorated significantly over the past year.

Originally from Trois-Rivières, Desfossés began his criminal career by participating in valuables thefts and joined the Gang de l’Ouest during the 70s, when this criminal organization of Irish origin was ruling the roost in Montreal.

Police suspected Desfossés of involvement in murders during the 1970s, for which he was never charged.

In August 1984, he was arrested and charged with a $135,000 robbery of cash couriers in Ontario, but the charges were dropped after a judge found that police had illegally searched his home.

In the big leagues

During the 1980s, Desfossés succeeded Frank Ryan – shot dead in 1984 – and Allan Ross – convicted in the United States – as leader of the West Gang.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Raymond Desfossés was considered by the police to be one of the most important and influential criminals in Quebec. He had established strong ties with the Hells Angels, the mafia and the Dubois clan.

In 1990, he went to Florida to meet with a Quebec trafficker, Gaétan Lafond, to lecture him on behalf of a consortium composed of the West End Gang, bikers and the mafia, which set the price of cocaine in Montreal and which felt that Lafond was not selling it expensive enough. Lafond was assassinated in Colombia seven years later.

In 1991, Desfossés was present at the wedding in Montreal of Giuseppe Di Maulo’s daughter, Milena, and Frank Cotroni, son of the former mafia boss of the same name.

Around this time, Desfossés, who owned a body shop in Cap-de-la-Madeleine – now a sector of Trois-Rivières – tried, unsuccessfully, to launch a sports car he had created, the Ray Desf, on the market, which he presented at auto shows.

Extradited to the United States

In 1992, Desfossés was arrested in Louiseville, at the request of the Americans, who wanted to try him for the murder, committed seven years earlier in Florida, of a former member of the West Gang, David Singer.

The kingpin tried to block his extradition, but the Supreme Court refused to hear his case. In 1998, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 12 years, more than half of which he had already served in Canada.

The king

During a trial, a former right-hand man of Desfossés who became an informer declared that he and his boss regularly imported quantities of 50 to 60 kilograms of cocaine into Quebec.

This is the time when Desfossés earned his nickname of King of Cocaine in Trois-Rivières.

But it was also the time when the king would become a target of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and his palace would regularly be a prison.

According to police officers who investigated Desfossés, he was a sly fox. “He didn’t expose himself, kept a low profile, drove vehicles that were not flashy, relied on many loyal followers who protected him, met people in disused warehouses and was well-versed in counter-surveillance maneuvers,” one of them summarized.

But the federal police were able to count on a mole within its organization.

The RCMP is on his trail

In 1998, Desfossés was arrested for the seizure of 210 kilograms of cocaine, but the case was dismissed as he was extradited to the United States.

But the RCMP recovered six years later.

Desfossés and 25 other individuals linked to the West Gang, the Hells Angels and the mafia were arrested following the Calvette investigation, during which 750 kilograms of cocaine were seized aboard a boat, the Gabriela, off the coast of Puerto Rico in August 2003.

Desfossés was sentenced to 13 years two years later, and while incarcerated at Cowansville Penitentiary, he helped authorities prevent the delivery of a large quantity of weapons to a street gang.

Betrayed by his hitman

Raymond Desfossés was still serving this sentence in 2009 when investigators from the Sûreté du Québec arrested him in his cell for several murders.

Desfossés’ hitman, Gérald Gallant, had just turned his back on him and admitted to 28 murders and 13 attempted murders, including half a dozen ordered by Desfossés, before and during the biker war (1994-2002).

During this bloody conflict, Desfossés had sided with the Rock Machine and had ordered Gallant to murder the usurious moneylender Robert Savard.

It was during this crime, committed in 2000, that an individual who accompanied Savard hid behind a waitress, Hélène Brunet, who was injured in the attack.

Desfossés had also offered Gallant $250,000 to kill Hells Angels warrior leader Maurice Boucher, a contract the killer was never able to fulfill despite several attempts.

Media reports suggested that Desfossés already had a contract out on his head, but he told parole officers in 2018 that he did not fear for his life.

During his three federal sentences, Desfossés asked to be sent to a minimum-security penitentiary, but authorities always refused, due to his high level of danger.

Retirement, really?

In 2014, Desfossés pleaded guilty to a reduced count of conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to 20 years to be served concurrently with his existing sentence for cocaine importation.

Three years later, Desfossés was able to go to a halfway house and told parole officers he wanted to become a law-abiding citizen, that his criminal career was over and he was retiring.

But at 72, it was clearly not quite over.

In July 2023, his parole was revoked for breach of conditions after investigators from the RCMP’s C Division (Quebec) Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU) found five phones, some containing an encrypted messaging app, and $70,000 in his home as part of an investigation into a drug importation and trafficking ring.

Desfossés was again granted automatic release – at two-thirds of his sentence – on August 4, 2023, and his sentence ended on September 18, a few days before his birthday.

The UMÉCO investigation continues, but if Desfossés was still a potential target, the old fox will not be part of the hunting board.

“There is a moral line that, as a leader, he sometimes had to cross. But the ultimate act, that of taking the life of another human being, considered ‘necessary’ in some circles, remains what inevitably condemns those who believe themselves to be above the law,” reacted a former accomplice of Desfossés, who became an undercover civilian agent for the RCMP and author of a book based on their relationship, A1, the invisible.

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