Gangs of Montreal: The West End Gang and the robbery of the century

It was snowing in Montreal on the night of Nov. 13, 1984.

West End Gang leader Frank Ryan, better known by his nickname, "Dunie", was at one of his usual hangouts, Nittolo's Garden Inn, a seedy restaurant and motel in west-end Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.

Dunie Ryan, at age 42, was a very rich man. He owned a yacht, and a house on the West Island. He gave away fur coats, and money to gang members who needed cash. People called him the King of Coke because of the money he was raking in smuggling drugs.

On that November night 35 years ago, one of his fellow gang members asked to meet him in one of the rooms at Nittolo's. A few minutes later, Dunie Ryan was lying on the motel room floor, shot to death.

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