Lest we forget Harry Livsey

Livsey

   Harry Livsey was one of those Montreal gangsters that never got his due.
   The former car salesman built an impressive network of stolen cars and a big connection to Florida which he operated from his strip club at Chabanel near the Main.
   Livsey, whose real name was Harry Lipske,  had a notorious cruel streak and was once found carrying of 14 sticks of dynamite and 200 detonators on October 12, 1967 at the Worlds Fair.
   He wanted to blow up a couple of Expo pavilions to create a distraction to allow him to rob the central bank of the fair.
   But he was acquitted, as he was able to persuade the court that he had the explosives to blast a big rock on his property.

Harry's car

   Cops had followed him driving from his strip club, the Fort du Nord (230 Chabanel West) with the TNT in his trunk.
   Livsey, a sharp dresser who never wore the same shirt twice, owned the joint with an acquaintance named Gaston Roy.
  It was believed that Livsey obtained the bombs he used in his other stunt from a truck heist. Some believe he sold the rest to FLQ terrorists.
   In those days the Tabouret, a cruel gang associated with notorious psycho gangster Richard Blass, had bad feelings for the Mafia.
   In one example they killed an innocent army kid in the area named Giuseppe Colizza just to provoke the Italian mob.
   On 8 February 1969 a troublesome client named Paul April had an argument with co-owner Gaston Roy in Livsey's Fort du North bar, which featured some sort of strippers or gogo dancers.
   April had found a dancer attractive and hauled her into Livsey's office, presumably to have some sort sexual activity with.   
   By coincidence liquor authorities came in at that very moment.
   Staff banned April from the bar. The dancer was fired.
    April was unhappy. He tossed threats at Livsey and Roy.
   Roy was later found dead outside.
    Roy, 26, was shot dead that same night while mounting onto a small truck in the parking lot across from 9277 Meunier, which was only about 300 feet behind the nightclub he owned with Livsey.
   The .38 was held close to his head when he was shot.

Gaston Roy d. 9/2/69

   Livsey, 37, organized a sit down with April at the Fort du Nord on Wednesday 12 Feb..
   Livsey always despised the vulgar and aggressive April and during their conversation masked gunmen entered and shot Livsey dead.
   One shooter was holding a .32 calibre revolver and the other a .30 M-1 sawed-off rifle.
   ***
   The shooters were said to be Jackie McLaughlin and Johnny Brady. McLaughlin was one of the most prolific killers in the West End Gang and whose tales have been discussed at length on Coolopolis. Brady was not named in any other news reports, so he remains a mystery.
   Their identities came out in an extraordinary crime commission hearing with Theodore "Teddy" Aboud, who was 53 years old when he divulged criminal gang secrets in April 1973.
   Aboud's explosive testimony included details of fixed hockey games, including a story about getting an inside tip that Chicago Blackhawk goalie Glen Hall had thrown two games for gambling purposes in 1961.
   He also spoke of criminals supporting Mayor Drapeau's 1960 election bid, an abortion ring, counterfeit stamps racket, and bribes to police and public officials.
  Aboud said that he knew who was involved in Livsey's murder because he was sitting at a bar table with April, McLaughlin and Brady when he heard them planning to kill Livsey.
***
    April was a huge drug dealer associated closely with the West End Gang, even marrying into the gang.
   April was close to a clique of crooks led by car dealer Larry Schlaer, who imported large amounts of drugs.
   April would eventually end up killing gang boss Dunie Ryan in late 1984 in a motel room at Nittolo's on St. James Street West.
   Schlaer, fearing that he'd be targeted for retribution for his pal April killing Ryan shooting - which Schlaer insisted he had nothing to do with -  was granted some form of prosecutorial immunity in return for cooperating with police. He moved out of town and survived another couple of decades.
   The West End gang got their revenge on April and others in his circle, most famously when Apache Trudeau and Michel Blass delivered a bomb hidden in a TV and VCR on Demaisonneuve, killing the villainous April dead for once and for all.
   During the prior months other murders near the St.Simon Apotre Park included Michel Dudas, James Fryer, and Howie Russel.
   Other gang members killed in the months prior included: Raymond Bonenfant, Michel Marleau, Eric McNally, Susan Clark, Gary Snor, Gilles Bienvenue, Albert Ouimet, Roget Larue, Andrew Corbeil, Claudette Corbeil and Georges Groom.

\