John Kordic and the east end race riot

   This building at 4460 Ontario E was the site of a race riot in July 1991 involving former Montreal Canadien John Kordic.
  Some black newcomers, mostly Somalians, were living in the basement of this building. 

    They were noisy and gratutiously taunted people and made insulting gestures at women walking by, according to neighbors.

   We do not know the other side of the story. The newcomers living there were eventually carted off after many fights involving a whole lot of people. 

   One person quoted in the story was John Kordic who was reportedly living nearby even though he had been traded from the Canadiens in 1988. 

 Kordic had recently been released by the Washington Capitals. He died of cocaine in Quebec City 13 months later. You could imagine that the steroid-pumped former hockey enforcer was doing quite a lot of blow while living in the east end in those days just prior to his death.
   Kordic was living on William David Ave. because it was near where he practiced kickboxing to stay in shape. He grabbed a stick and went after the blacks after one of his friend was being beaten up, he said.         The trouble started when the Somalis tauntied a light-skinned black guy for hanging around with white people. The Somalis further irritated locals by playing a song with a chorus I'm Gonna Knock You Out, as a way of intimidating passersby. Nine blacks were taken into custody for their own protection before being bused to a new pad.
   Steve Labonte, 16, was taken to hospital after being stabbed in the knee with a broken beer bottle and someone torched a car belonging to a black man.