Prolific hit man released to halfway house
A hit man who once claimed to police that he took part in 34 contract murders and killed another eight people for personal reasons has been released to a halfway house as he tries to rid himself of the effects of having been behind bars for most of his adult life.
Jean-claude Gauthier, 68, has been serving a life sentence since October 1997, when a jury at the Montreal courthouse found him guilty of the April 12, 1989, murder of James Hainey, a drug dealer. The victim was shot to death inside his own car by Gauthier, who also killed Hainey’s dog. Gauthier lured Hainey to his death by pretending to need to buy drugs from him.
Gauthier left little evidence at the crime scene, but Montreal police found a matchbook with two phone numbers written on it along with the words “la mouche” or “the fly.” The phone numbers were linked to Gauthier, but the investigation went nowhere until 1992 when an informant told police Gauthier killed Hainey.
Gauthier was questioned and said he didn’t know who Hainey was and claimed he couldn’t explain why the words “the fly” would have been written on a matchbox along with two of his phone numbers.
The investigation stalled again until Gauthier pleaded guilty to having killed a different man in Laval on Oct. 14, 1992. Gauthier and two other men went to the victim’s home and tried to collect a debt from him. The victim refused to pay and Gauthier killed him.
In 1993, Gauthier pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the Laval case and received an eight-year sentence. The following year, in March 1994, two homicide investigators visited Gauthier inside a penitentiary after receiving a tip that he was ready to confess to Hainey’s murder. The investigators got much more than they expected when Gauthier claimed he had taken part in 34 contract killings and had killed another eight people out of revenge.
Gauthier was hesitant to offer a full confession and during a fourth meeting with the investigators in October 1994 he backed out of any potential deal with the prosecution and said he no longer wanted to talk.
On Oct. 16, 1996, Gauthier was charged with Hainey’s murder and was convicted of first-degree murder the following year.
“I’ll be old when I get out,” Gauthier was reported to have said in reaction to the verdict, which came with an automatic sentence with no chance at full parole until he serves 25 years.
According to his parole records, Gauthier served his time behind bars classified as an offender with ties to the West End Gang, a criminal organization in Montreal whose members are traditionally of Irish descent.
Gauthier conceded to authorities that he once considered Raymond Desfossés, a prolific drug smuggler tied to the West End Gang, to be his friend. In 2014, Desfossés received a lengthy prison term for having used a prolific hit man named Gerald Gallant to kill six of his rivals between 1980 and 2001.
Gauthier was 67 when he was first granted day parole in March last year. He was released to a halfway house attached to a penitentiary that offers much less freedom than the regular type of halfway house the Parole Board of Canada recently agreed he could be transferred to.
According to a summary of the most recent decision, the board decided Gauthier should remain on day parole for six more months even if they are now working with recommendations, since midmarch, that non-violent offenders should be released from halfway houses to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. As the parole board noted in its recent decision, Gauthier’s case involves “extremely serious criminality that requires prudence. The board does note however that your gradual return to the community is unfolding in a positive way.”