Getaway driver in Mob hit is denied parole
A street gang member who acted as the getaway driver when a close friend of organized crime leader Raynald Desjardins was murdered in St-léonard in 2013 has been denied parole as he continues to serve time behind bars for his role in the homicide.
Edrick Antoine, 42, a member of a Reds-affiliated street gang called Unit 44, was part of a group that clashed with another group tied to the Montreal Mafia eight years ago. He took part in the Jan. 22, 2013 murder of Gaetan Gosselin, a longtime friend and business associate of Desjardins.
“According to your file, the murder was related to maintaining control of a drug distribution territory. You mentioned that when you discovered that a rival gang wanted to rub out one of your friends and yourself, you decided that you had no choice but to act if you wanted to stay alive. You did not want to reflect further on the consequences and you considered the murder to be the only possible solution. You stated that you were comfortable with your involvement in the murder of a criminalized individual,” the Parole Board of Canada noted in its recent decision to deny Antoine both full and day parole.
The written decision also notes that Antoine was placed under protection for the first six months of his sentence because “you had a contract on your head.”
He was denied a release because his case-management team, the people who prepare an offender for parole, assessed Antoine to still be a high risk to public safety and someone who is likely to reoffend before his sentence expires.
One thing that did not help Antoine's chances for parole was that he is alleged to have threatened a Correctional Service Canada guard last June and told the guard he'd see him again when his sentence expires.
In 2017, Antoine pleaded guilty, along with four other men, to being part of a conspiracy to commit murder. When he was sentenced in June 2017, he was left with a prison term of eight years and 10 months.
After Gosselin was killed, Montreal police investigators uncovered evidence that Harry Mytil, a Montreal street gang leader, issued orders for the hit from Toronto to the men who plotted to kill Gosselin. Mytil was killed at his home in Laval three months after Gosselin was murdered.
According to the written summary of the board's decision, Antoine concedes he is a street gang member but denied the allegation that he is considered a gang leader. He also boasted he is a “good” cannabis and crack dealer because he was “rarely caught.”
“Based on the information (presented at the parole hearing), the board can see that you have initiated a process of change and that small steps have been taken in the right direction. However, considering your long road ahead, the board is of the opinion that you have not made sufficient observable and measurable changes required by law to be granted day or full parole at this stage of this sentence,” the board wrote in its decision.
Coincidentally, Antoine was turned down for a release on the same day the Parole Board of Canada imposed a series of conditions on Desjardins's upcoming statutory release. He is serving time for his leading role in a plot to murder a Mafioso in 2011.