Legendary bouncer Gros Michel: How he died

Gros Michel seen w/ex gf

  Michel Larouche, or Gros Michel as he was more commonly known, had the high-profile job of bouncer at the rowdy Foufounes Electrique nightclub before suddenly dropping dead of a heart attack in the prime of his life.
 A recently-referenced academic history of the nightclub suggested that there might be more to Michel's death, implying that he might have been caught in the crossfire of a longstanding duel between skinhead groups.

Hottie Martine Vallieres tweaks Big M's nip

  But the better read on it stems from his relationship with the Rock Machine gang. That group had a grip on the drug trade in the bar, a task which presumably required the cooperation of Michel. The inner workings of any arrangement weren't exactly public, so it's unknown whether he developed any dispute with the gang or not.

  A guy from the Rock Machine gang named Sasquatch was often seen around the bar. Sasquatch drove a big black SUV and always looked grumpy.
    The Rock Machine invited Michel to a huge, wild biker party on Aug. 18, 1991, supplying him with unlimited drugs and booze. 

Paul "Sasquatch" Porter, mentioned tangentially herein

    Michel was known to enjoy partaking in giant amounts of toot, so it wasn't a stretch to imagine him sniffing some Bolivian marching powder.

RM dealer Benoit RIP

    The next morning Larouche was found dead in his room, with naked women in the room (a detail supplied by his brother Richard, who died last year).
    As for Paul "Sasquatch" Porter, it's not known whether he was at that party, but soon after, dozens of bodies were dropping in the biker war against the Hells Angels, including a Rock Machine dealer named Benoit who was a regular at the bar. 

   Rock Machiner Porter eventually defected to the Hells Angels in 2000 and relocated to the Ottawa area where he was recently sentenced to two years for possession a quarter kilo of cocaine for the purposes of trafficking.

Sylvain Binette on Michel Larouche
   The idea that Michel's death might have been the result of a settling-of-accounts seems preposterous.
   I never got mixed up with anything related to the bikers and the inner workings of Michel’s relationship with them but I was close to a lot of the parties involved.
   If there had been any doubt about the cause of his death, there would have been retaliations of some sort, that I am sure of.
   The truth is Big Michel already had heart problems. I have personally witnessed at least three angina attacks in the previous year or two, and one in the week prior that biker party.
   There were a few of us who saw a big black cloud hanging over Michel’s head when he announced he would go, but we kept to ourselves, since there was no force on earth that would have stop him from being there.
   The idea that the bikers would have elaborated such a scheme to get rid of someone is giving them too much credit, in my opinion.
   The rumor that flew around the most at the time was the possibility of a suicide.    Richard always firmly denied this on the basis that Michel’s agenda was booked for the next two years.
   My take on this was that it wasn't suicide per se, in a goodbye-cruel-world way.
   But sometime in his late twenties (he died at 34), his doctor had told him that if he wanted to live to see his fortieth birthday, there were some drastic changes to be had in his lifestyle.
   Things like going on a diet, quit drugs ang stop drinking. Get healthy, which for Le Gros meant the same as robbing him of his whole personality.
   The man was an ogre, a party animal who didn’t know the meaning of restraint, the embodiment of live- fast-die-young. I think he just figured that he would keep on going until his body let go.
   It saddened me when I read that history of the club, to see what little place is given to Michel. As far as I’m concerned, les Foufounes Électriques are pretty much the House that Michel Built.
   He was the center of attention in a place bursting with characters. He was this channeling force that gave the place the feeling that you belonged. That of course is if you were in his good graces! He loved and hated with the same passion. His friends were the most loyal bunch you will ever meet (we referred to ourselves as the family), and it is no surprise that such a polarizing figure would make some fervent enemies. I’ve known people who partied all night the day they learned of his death.
   I met Big Michel sometime in the mid-eighties. I knew him then as the infamous barman/bouncer at Foufounes Électriques. I was a regular at the bar and as lead singer for local hardcore-punk band Northern Vultures, was getting some kind of low-grade recognition from the in crowd in the underground scene.
   I was mostly friends with his brother Richard who was manager then and would end up hiring me as a busboy. Michel was more like a friend’s friend and was mostly pals with my bass player. We would play gigs at Foufs (and I mean the old, pre-terrace/mezzanine/big stage Foufs!) and get wasted on Michel & Richard’s tabs.
   I figure it is during one of these parties that the decision was made that Michel would become our band’s manager.
   I remember one night when I was heartbroken, glooming over a breakup (which was one of my specialties back then), Big Michel showing up at our band’s HQ with a 40oz bottle of Johnny Walker Black, a few ounces of pot and the biggest amount of cocaine I have ever seen at once. He told me he knew what I was going through and that his medicine was at my disposal. All I can say is that I have never been much of a coke user after that night! But I think this is the defining night when we became friends.
   The are so many anecdotes to be told about this guy that I wouldn’t know where to start. Working with him on the Black Mondays at Foufs, being on tour with the band, celebrating an anniversary, a record launch, fighting off Nazi-skinheads and planning for Northern Vultures’ global domination.
He died 21 one years ago, and I still think about him quite often. He was my friend, a big brother, and if there is one reason I’d like that there’d be an afterlife, it would be to meet him again, reminisce and give him back the $10 I owe him…

Coroner's report
Here's the text of an official coroner's report supplied to Coolopolis.
   Michel Larouche, born July 22, 1957  residing at 2120 Frontenac, Montreal. Mother: Jeannine Richard, father: Fernand Larouche. place of death 1735 Lac Echo Street, St. Hippolyte, Quebec.
Date of death: August 19, 1991

Cause of death: Drug overdose.
   An autopsy conducted at the coroner's office in Montreal could not find any evidence of macroscopically identifiable illness that could have contributed to the death. However toxicology results demonstrated the presence of drugs in his blood and urine, namely: cocaine benzodiazepine and cannabis.
  The coroner conducted an eternal physical exam and found no marks of violence on the body surface.
  There were trances of intravenous marks in the veins near the elbows.
  Michel Larouche was identified by his brother Richard Larouche at the Hotel Dieu Hospital in St. Jerome, in the presence of hte coroner.
   Other elements: alcohol: negative, blood, presence of cocaine and metabolites, traces of benzodiazepines, urine: traces of cannabis.
   The death took place at 1735 Lac Echo, which was a home where there was a weekend happening involving between 200 and 300 bikers. Larouche was among them. Larouche was a promoter at a Montreal nightclub and he was well-known in the mileu.
   He partied the entire weekend in spite of warnings from his friends. Larouche had suffered angina pain in the past and weighed 395 pounds, so he exposed himself to complications from an overdose of drugs and alcohol.
   On August 19, 1991 Larouche was seen, for a first time, by a male house cleaner. He was seen at 12:00 p.m. on a sofa in a chalet on the site, which had no other guests in it. About 2:30 p.m. another person entered and heard him snoring. At about 3:15 p.m. it was clear that he was no longer breathing and was motionless. An ambulance arrived at 3:25 p.m. as well as the St. Jerome SQ.
   Larouche was brought to the Hotel Dieu St. Jerome where his death was confirmed after attempts to revive him. The coroner investigated the scene in the company of a SQ investigator.
Conclusion: It was a violent death. Signed, Coroner Linda Talbot Feb. 12, 1992.