The 2,000 residents of 1,2000 apartments in Duff Court, Lachine know of the bad reputation their area has earned throughout the years.The area, which consists of eight identical buildings put in the 1960s in the area bounded by 14th, 24th Aves, Duff Court St. and Highway 20 to the north, has apparently cleaned up its act. Coolopolis has a list of crimes committed in the area going back some time, but not quite as far as the era in which West End Gang hit man Jackie McLaughlin lived in the area before being murdered in April 1984.
Here's a chronicle of crime from the area. (Dates are mostly correct but some are one day off).
23 December, 2014:
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| Rosey, left, was killed, Dusty, right, was charged |
Court near Roy Crescent at 10:20 p.m. He was rushed to hospital where he died later. Dustin "Dusty" Lombardi, 27, was charged with murder and drug possession one month later.
2 Nov. 2012: A man, 30, was hit in the head with a sharp object at 1500 Duff Court. He would not tell police who did it.
27 Dec. 2010: A man was found shot at the corner of 24th and Duff Court at 12:40 a.m. but survived his injuries. The perpetrators fled in a white car.
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| Gordon the drunk |
21 Dec. 2006
Four young people stabbed a 17-year-old man in the back, who suffered serious injury. He managed to get inside a nearby building. Multiple witnesses declined to talk to police.
4 March 2005: A seven-year-old child lit a mattress on fire, causing a blaze that damaged several floors of the housing complex.
18 March 2004: A 20-year-old homeless man was forced in to psychiatric care after been seen caressing himself in front of tenants. He had also urinated in the halls. His parents from the South Shore hadn't heard from him for six months.
25 May 2003: Jean-Guy Lamarre, 35, was killed at around nine pm while fighting with his 47-year-old friend, who lived two floors over, in a drunken brawl. The two former roommates were close friends for three years who painted houses together. Richard Connor, 47, was charged with second-degree murder.
7 May 2003: Two men were arrested for breaking into coin laundry machines in four buildings on Duff Court in April. Other similar robberies ensued even after the suspects were detained.
31 Oct. 2002: Someone lit a couch on fire in the stairwell in the basement of a 40-unit building on Duff Court.
17 Oct. 2002: A male suspect broke into three cars inside a garage a Duff court apartment. He was white, about 20 and 5'11”.
15 Aug. 2002: Police issued an alert for a man, aged about 50, who got a nine year old and a 13 year old girl in to his car where he masturbated in front of them. Both ran away. He drove an older model pickup truck and lured the girls by asking for directions. He spoke English, wore glasses and jean shorts.
14 Sept. 2001: Melissa Wilisky was shot to death at the corner of 24th and Duff Court at 12:50 a.m. She was shot nine times in the back while returning to her home at 893 24th Ave. She owed a small drug debt to Darryl Maighan, who was shot dead two years later in Lachine by Crozel "Cozy" Cobbler, the Goodfellows street gang leader who was caught and convicted.
2 April 2001: A woman was slashed in the face with a box cutter, or exacto knife by three youths. Witnesses were too terrified to report the young men who did the deed.
7 Dec. 2000: A 31-year-old man set off a series of fires outside the Subway, Au coin de Feu Brasserie and several buildings in the Duff court area because he was distraught that nobody would give him a job.
23 Nov. 2000: Two youths were arrested after mugging a 17-year-old boy. One put his knife to the boy's throat and the other took the wallet. The perpetrators were known to police. They were found on Duff Court, one was 19, the other 16. A similar robbery had been committed one day earlier a block away.16 March 2000: Thieves broke into laundry rooms of nine apartment buildings and stole the money from the washing and drying machines. The thieves used crowbars and screwdrivers to grab the $30-$50 in change from each machine.
11 May 2000: A man doused the floor of a Duff Court building with gasoline and set it at 2270 Duff Court. Tenants were evacuated.
22 Dec. 1999: A man with his head covered attacked a 10-year-old girl at the Axep store on 14th Ave in Duff Court at 5:35 p.m. He put a knife to the girl's throat and told her not to scream.She screamed and ran away.
16 Dec. 1999: Someone tried to steal a microwave oven from a common room at a Duff Court building. He had forced a basement door open with a crowbar but fled when spotted.
1999 Duff Court resident Richard Goodridge, 29, is seen wearing a T-shirt reading Support Rockers, which police considered proof that he was close to the Hells Angels boss Mom Boucher. A decade later he was described by police as being an important street gang leader.
23 June 1999: Four men of about 18 years of age were walking near 14th and Duff Court when they shot at a man at 6:10 p.m. The victim was hit in the gut but did not want to talk to police at hospital. Witnesses appeared scared and gave conflicting reports.
28 Jan. 1999: Three young people robbed two teens in Duff Court at knife point at 11:20 p.m. On Roy Crescent. One held a 10 cm knife to the throat of his victim. They took money, cigarettes, a bus pass and two Nintendo games and a magazine.
17 Dec. 1998: A thief broke into a home at 4:30 p.m. On 17 Ave. The owner was home sleeping and the thief ran out.
21 Aug. 1997: Three youths put a knife to a 10-year-old boy's belly and asked him for money. The police caught up with three kids, the leader of whom was 14.
24 April 1997: A 52-year-old woman was robbed of the $800 she had won at bingo by a man in his 20s.
6 March 1997: Five cars were broken into in an interior garage at Duff Court, seven more were stolen from earlier.
25 Jan. 1997: Two men broke into a Duff Court apartment and threatened a man with a baseball bat. Police arrested two 25-year-olds.
5 Jan. 1997: A 31-year-old man ran into a depanneur with a sledgehammer yelling “Joanne! Joanne!” at 11 a.m. He had arrived in a taxi, telling the drive that he'd pay him once he got the money inside. He smashed the cash, took money and cigarettes and fled. Police tracked him down for nine blocks. He sobered up and said he had no memory of what had happened.
19 Sept. 1996: Two armed men held up the Duff Court Grocery at 889 14th oat 10:30 p.m. They got away.
7 Nov. 1996: Police caught a man breaking into an apartment at 3:30 a.m. on Duff Court. The 24-year-old cut his hand badly after breaking a window.
17 Oct: 1996: Jon Yul Lim said that his Epicerie Duff Court at 14 th Ave. was robbed 11 time sin six years, including the most recent robbery where thieves broke in and emptied the place, even taking the cash register.
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| Jermaine Gero and Toby Condo in recent photos |
2 June 1994: A 20-year-old man was arrested at 34th and Duff Court at 4 am after accepting an invitation to go to the home of a 42-year-old man in Dorval. He stabbed the man as he was lying down listening to music. He cut the man in the chest, abdomen, arms and hands before the five-inch blade fell off. The victim recovered.
6 Jan 1994: A woman, 53, was pushed to the ground while waiting for a bus at 5:45 on Jan 6. in front of 2305 Duff Court. The three males assailants were about 17.
25 Nov. 1993: A woman was arrested at Duff Court for selling cocaine. She was 29. Police had been tipped off.
21 Sept. 1993: Police arrested a man trying to break into the basement of 2270 Duff Court. He was cornered at 3 a.m. He was 23.
26 Aug. 1993: A man, 53, was arrested for tossing his Shiztzu dog into a cement wall at Duff Court. He claimed he had lost the dog. It was found under the balcony unconscious. The dog recovered and was put up for adoption.
13 June 1993: A girl, 8, was raped by a blonde ponytailed man. He offered to take her out of the hot sun at about 4 p.m. On a Sunday. But once inside the apartment building brought her to the basement storage and raped her. The rapist was aged 25-30 and stood about 5'8” and weighed about 160. He wore a gold chain with a concornucopia medallion. And had a gold earring. The little girl's parents were divorced or separated.
20 May 1993: A man, 22, was charged with threatening to kill his girlfriend. Police tracked the call to a phone booth at 24th Ave. The man was carrying a baseball bat. He ran across Highway 20 when spotted and hid under the balcony on Duff Court. He swung the bat at an officer but was tackled.
10 April 1993: Three men and a woman were nabbed with 1.5 kg of hash, 50 grams of cocaine, explosives and $20,000 in cash.
22 April 1993: A woman, 78, fled after two men broke into her home. Two men, both 26, one from Duff Court, were caught and arrested.
18 March 1993: A man, 20, and a woman 18, were arrested on drug charges at 8 p.m. in Duff Court. The man faced charges of trafficking marijuana.
19 Nov. 1992: A man was arrested for stealing coins from a laundry room at 2270 Duff Court.
1 Oct. 1992: Kids were warned not to climb over metal posts that cross Highway 20. The kids would crawl through a hole in the fence to the highway, climb metal bars and then scale the highway over the vehicles.
22 July 1992: Kamalatie Murlidhar-Janack, 28, was bludgeoned to death at 2370 Duff Court by her husband Rohan Janack, 34 at 4:30 p.m. He then phoned police to confess from a phone booth on Cote de Liesse and told his wife's cousin who came to take care of the woman's three-year-old son who was an eyewitness to the murder. The killer was a McGill Mechanical Engineering grad from Guyana who was unable to find work because he couldn't speak French.
3 Feb. 1992: Thieves robbed the Epiceries Duff Court at 7:50. The 42-year-old woman who owned the store was on the phone. The thieves ripped the phone wire out. They had to settle with escaping with only lottery tickets only, which were canceled.
22 Nov. 1991: Nurse Rita Stewart sued the Montreal police for $64,000 after two officers, Sarto Dugas and Yves Boyer, pushed their way into her home on Aug. 20, 1986. They did not identify themselves as police and they said they were arresting her without telling her the charge. They asked if she was from Trinidad, Barbados or Haiti. She was being hauled in on a charges of spitting at a ticket taker at the Vendome metro who had made a racial slur against her and her husband. She was acquitted.
24 Oct 1991: A 33-year-old LaSalle man was robbed at gunpoint in broad daylight just after getting off a bus in Lachine. “The man had gone to the bank, then took a bus and got off at the stop in front of an apartment building at 2160 Duff Court in Lachine,"Another man, armed with a revolver, approached him, said `Give me your cash' and punched the victim on the arm before running away," Cardinal said. The robber was about 27 and had brown hair.
18 Oct 1990: A 26-year-old man with long black hair and a jean jacket broke the nose of a bakery truck deliveryman at 9:15 a.n on a Saturday morning at Duff Court and 18th. He sought cash but the driver zoomed off.
11 Dec 1990 A 20-year-old Lachine man was arrested when police were alerted to a break-in after a store alarm went off. A rock was used to break a front window of Provisions Duff Court on Dec. 11 on 14th Ave in Lachine. Police arrived at the scene quickly and saw a man leaving the store carrying a green garbage bag. When the man saw the officers, he dropped the bag and started running. Police arrested him on Duff Court at about 3:45 a.m. The bag contained about $1,500 worth of beer, cigarettes and wine.
20 Dec 1990: A taxi driver, 30 was stabbed in the throat with a kitchen knife by two men in their 20s at 18th and Duff Court. He was in stable condition following the attack.
30 Nov 1989: A 25-year-old man was attacked with a baseball bat after he tried to collect a debt. A 24-year-old Lachine man was charged with assault with a weapon after hitting the man in the face and arm with the bat.
29 Aug. 1989
Cops rushed to the 50-unit building at Duff Court after Real Briere shot
13 July 1989: An armed robber stole $212 from the local depanneur at about 3:30 p.m.. He made a point of cleaning his fingerprints off the door handle upon leaving.
1 June 1989: A 47-year-old Lachine woman set fire to a mattress and chair in her own Duff Court apartment. A neighbor saw the smoke and called firefighters, who contained the fire inside the woman's first-floor apartment.
25 May 1989: Four teens from Duff Court were caught stealing potato chips from the factory across the highway. "Every year around this time there are chip thefts," a local cop said. The kids crossed the highway wielding chips and cheese puffs from the Humpty Dumpty plant on Norman early on a Saturday. They were caught by CP Rail police crossing the tracks at about 2 a.m. They were also carrying three 35-gram bags of popcorn.
21 May 1987: A 23-year-old resident of Duff Court drove into a police cruiser who was pulling drivers over to check for drunk driving. He was brought in with twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system.
3 Aug. 1979 A 15-year-old boy was injured after being accidentally shot by his 16-year old brother at 1610 Duff Court.
27 Feb. 1976 Gerhard Natschek, 32, was shot dead in his home on a Saturday morning at 1515 Duff Court. (A few minutes later Janet Natschek, 29, was shot several times at the Beaconsfield Mall). Police brought in Donald Gibson, 39, of Pointe Claire for questioning.
I lived on duff court/14th 2012_2013, still ghetto as ever
ReplyDeleteThe Duff Court housing project--and the neighbourhood in general--is frighteningly familiar to Chicago's former Cabrini-Green and is probably our closest comparison to that ill-fated endeavour. Time will tell if it ever becomes necessary to likewise bulldoze the place.
ReplyDeleteLachine's police station number 8 is, in my opinion, located too far south (on 15th Avenue below Notre Dame) to be of any effective deterrent against criminality in the Duff Court sector. Another station should be established further north.
Easy access to that part of Lachine has been reduced in recent years. No longer is there an off-ramp from Route 20 east onto 14th Avenue, nor can anyone drive north on 14th to enter the 20 eastbound as used to be the case. Furthermore, an ugly "Berlin Wall"-type noise barrier has been erected along the south side of Route 20. Not sure if this was in response to a neighbourhood petition.
Up until a few years ago, there existed a long-established pedestrian/cyclist overpass which allowed access from Norman Avenue on the north side of the highway to the residential area on the south side and thereabouts down to the river. Indeed, I myself often used this overpass as a short-cut to the Lachine Canal bike path. Over time, however, this structure was poorly maintained and eventually allowed to crumble until it was finally demolished without any advance announcement.
No doubt the removal of the overpass must also have been a blow to the employees of the many industries along Norman and Claire Crescent, as it then totally denied them access to the southside depanneur at 905 14th Avenue, the previous proprietors of which, by the way, had also often been the victims of armed robbery.
If I may digress with respect to accessibility: worthy of note for motorists is that--either deliberately or due to a design oversight--it has never been possible to make a direct u-turn from the 20 westbound off-ramp to the 20 eastbound at exit 60--the junction leading optionally to 32nd Avenue south or Route 13 north. Drivers are forced south onto 32nd Avenue to the nearest legal left (eastbound) turn at Provost Avenue.
To avoid being sidetracked in this way, proceed instead along 20 westbound to exit 58 which is the next available actual u-turn at 55th Avenue. For tourists and other visitors, tune in to CJAD-800 AM traffic reports every 15 minutes.
I mention these facts only because it may not be clear to those in need of a potentially less-problematic west-to-east flip on Route 20 during our all-too-frequent traffic tie-ups.
You're awsome
DeleteUrbanlegend, most of the crime in Duff court these days revolves around drugs and prostitution, all of which takes place inside the buildings/apartments, and mostly between residents. No one is calling the cops. It's not really the kind of thing increased patrols/moving stations would solve
ReplyDeleteI have also been informed that back in the late 80s early 90s, Duff Court area prostitutes would brazenly use Citizens Band radio to lure eastbound Route 20 truckers off at the former 14th Avenue exit--now closed for good. Their "siren songs" must have been too tempting.
ReplyDeleteThat same exit definitely provided criminals with a far-too-convenient opportunity to perpetrate armed robberies at the nearby vulnerable depanneurs, thus enabling quick escapes back onto the highway.
In hindsight, it would have been a preferable option to zone that sector of Lachine as industrial rather than commercial.
Hopefully, the nearby yet-to-be-developed former Turcot Yards area will be responsibly zoned as industrial and not end up as another doomed, residential "combat zone" hell-hole.
I lived on Duff Court in the late sixties. The only crime I experienced there was when someone stole the mirror off my motorcycle.
ReplyDeletePeter Seville
Kristian, where did you find these reports? Very interesting, sadly, just the tip of the iceberg. I met a heroin-addicted prostitute from Duff Court in a drug rehab in 2003. She was 15. She started using heroin when she was 12 and prostituting when she was 13. To say she was a "prostitute" is unfair, as she was essentially a sex slave belonging to a local gang. Apparently they forced her to try heroin at a party, then purposely fed her habit until she was ready to "work" for them. The worst part about this story is that apparently her father became a client of hers when he found out what she was doing. The stories she told about the area haunt me to this day, whenever the subject of Duff Court comes up. She spoke of countless rapes, stabbings, overdoses that still makes me wonder, where the hell were the other residents in this area while all this was happening? How do you go to sleep at night in a place like this?
ReplyDeletePeople d'ont sleepe they complain call police but they cannot do anything apparently?????????????
DeleteWow, I remember in 1992 the crime at 2370 on Duff Court, I was only 12 year old. My dad owned at the time the Marche Mackenzie on 24th avenue, near the Bowling Alley. I have experienced a lot of thing during those time especially several hold ups at gun point where my dad finally bought a 12 gage gun and shot the perps lol. Tough neighbourhood. My dad finally sold the convenient store in 1998 after serving 12 years at this location.
ReplyDeleteI know reside in California, but I come here to see finally and I wanted to visit the old neighbourhood, the store is gone and replaced my apartments, they built a wall between the highway 20 and the residential area. The Hydro Power station is no more. Before the Bowling alley, was a old gas station where I use to play around with my friends.
Fascinating article on such building projects:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35913577
They fergot to put 2 drug dealers where arrested in 1999 lol it was me and some other dude in the same building bean quiet since then lol
ReplyDeleteApril 2001 were young females
ReplyDeleteJermaine Gero was recently arrested for yet another murder
ReplyDelete