On a summer day in Quebec, Friday, July 1, 1983, a man named Michel Desormiers was gunned down at his residence in the town of Deux-Montagnes. His death was not a random act of violence but a calculated execution carried out by one of Canada's most prolific and feared contract killers. The murder of Michel, a male with deep ties to Montreal's criminal underworld, was another bloody chapter in the violent history of the region's biker gangs and traditional organized crime.
Michel
Desormiers was known to law enforcement as the brother-in-law of Frank Cotroni, a prominent boss of the Cotroni crime family. His sister, Pauline Desormiers, was married to the powerful mob figure. Beyond his family connections, Michel was also reportedly involved in the city's drug trade, acting as a cocaine importer for the Hells Angels motorcycle gang. This placed him in a precarious position, navigating the treacherous alliances and rivalries between powerful criminal organizations. His life was enmeshed in a world where disputes were often settled with lethal force. His own brother, Richard Desormiers, had met a similar fate, murdered a decade earlier in 1973 as part of a conflict with the notorious Dubois gang.
The man who ended Michel Desormiers' life was Yves "Apache" Trudeau, the leading assassin for the Hells Angels. Trudeau, also known as "The Mad Bomber," was a cold-blooded and efficient killer, responsible for at least 43 confirmed deaths between 1973 and 1985. His methods were varied and brutal, ranging from shootings and beatings to strangulation and bombings. He was the first Canadian member of the Hells Angels to earn the "Filthy Few" patch, a grim honor bestowed upon members who had killed for the club. The murder of Desormiers was just one of many contracts Trudeau carried out during his reign as the biker gang's top enforcer.
For two years, the murder of Michel Desormiers remained officially unsolved, another statistic in the ongoing violence that plagued Quebec. The breakthrough came not from a police investigation, but from the killer himself. In 1985, facing internal threats from his own gang after the infamous Lennoxville massacre where five of his fellow members were slaughtered, Yves Trudeau made a deal to save his own life. Fearing he was next on the hit list, he became a police informant, a Crown witness who would expose the inner workings of the Hells Angels.
In a series of stunning confessions, Trudeau admitted to his role in 43 murders, including the killing of Michel Desormiers. He laid bare the details of his violent career, providing authorities with information that would solve dozens of cold cases. In exchange for his testimony against his former brethren, Trudeau struck a deal that was widely seen as controversial. He pleaded guilty to 43 counts of manslaughter, a charge suggesting he had not intentionally killed his victims.
The legal outcome for one of Canada's most notorious serial killers was met with public outrage. Yves Trudeau was sentenced to life imprisonment but, due to his informant deal, was granted parole eligibility after only seven years. He was eventually released in 1994 and given a new identity. His freedom was short-lived; in 2004, he was arrested again, this time for the sexual assault of a young boy, which added four years to his time in prison.
Yves Trudeau died of cancer in 2008, taking the full story of his violent life with him. For the family of Michel Desormiers, the resolution of his case was tied to the shocking admissions of a mass murderer. His death serves as a stark reminder of the brutal reality of organized crime and the violent men who enforced its unwritten laws on the streets of Quebec.
