Kenny Maskal survived elevator shaft freefall and later beat biker gang with TNT vest

Kenny Maskal from Verdun got hired by Otis elevator, in Montreal in the 1970s.

The union run by Chuck Canning was full of tough guys. Kenny's first day on the job was a harsh one. He had an argument with his supervisor  over a safety harness. 

He was told to just go out on the plank without a harness. They would supply him one later. But be careful, they said.

Ken walked out on the plank and noticed that his colleague had stuck a  piece of wood under the plank for leverage. This wooden wedge caused Kenny to flip downwads through the 18-storey abyss. 

As he fell he cried out "I'll be baa-a-a-a-ack for Youu-uu!”

Two cross beams caught Kenny Maskal before he hit the bottom. He emerged with a broken neck and two broken wrists. Maskal's elevator days were over. Workman's comp gave him $59 a month for life..

Maskal later moved to Western Canada and was at the Gastown Riots in Vancouver's east side to protest the crackdown on drug abusers. Maskal loved his jashish and later got involved in selling quantities of it. 

Maskal was a team player who would do anything for a friend. Hashish supplies to Canada were being halted by a war in Lebanon. Large quantities were shipped through the Montreal port, it was then distributed across Canada. 

Vancouver had its own port and some Lebanese hashish would come through there but the Montreal hashish importers were real marketeers. They press the hashish with black hash oil and to make it appear as the higher-quality black hash that Montreal was famous for.

One day a biker from the Outlaws ripped off a young guy selling hashish for Kenny’s Montreal friend. After hearing of the burn, Kenny - without being asked - went to the Outlaws clubhouse and said "You know the $13,000 you took off the kid? It's our money and we'd like it back.” 

The bikers responded by kicking Maskal from one end of the clubhouse to the other.

Kenny returned later better prepared. He put on some bandaids as well as a few other items and returned to the Outlaws clubhouse. The bikers all drew their weapons on Maskal this time. Maskal lifted his hands to reveal a set of clothespins with electrical contacts connected to wires up his sleeve. 

He explained that the quantity of dynamite strapped to his body would blow and badly affect the structure of the clubhouse and everything in it. 

Maskal then said, while twitching his neck as he frequently did, a remnant of his injury: "You know the

$13,000 you took off the kid? It's not his money and we want it back.”

The shaken bikers said "We have nine now and we'll pay you the rest tomorrow." Maskal left with the $9,000 and did not bother returning for the rest. 

Thirty years later Kenny wasn't so lucky and he was found in a shallow grave.