Montréalités Crime

By Ilcatxo Facto

The passing of Montreal's godfather Vito Rizzuto this week has been marked with a remembrance of  his secretive and violent life and the tragedies and ruthlessness engendered in the mob world. Understanding this world through the lens of Machiavelli will, perhaps, cast light into this dark world.

Niccolo Machiavelli argues that seeing gives to everyone, but touching is something distinct; flesh must meet, because from a distance flesh can only be ideas. Thus, to rule effectively, one must enact violence, flesh must meet flesh.

Justice can be so elusive - humanity has tinkered with its definition and implementation for thousands of years. Yet, we still don't seem to have a conclusive, universal definition that goes beyond the theoretical and is practical for everyone. While some people may 'turn the other cheek' when facing injustice, others pursue 'an eye for an eye'. In Canada, a victim will take a criminal case to the authorities and the authorities will then prosecute. In the end, we rely on an impartial jury to process the evidence objectively and provide a non-biased verdict. The justice system we are familiar with in Canada may be appropriate for the crimes commonly committed here - theft, assault, fraud, murder - but what if the individual on stand was responsible for the torture and deaths of thousands of men, women and children, and for decades of barbaric oppression of an entire nation?

Image source: Flickr.

By: JD

By: JD Flemming

For those who did not get a chance to read the first interview with Dark Horse Nebula (DHN for short), it spanned across a time with a former heavy weight of organized crime and his life up till his point of criminal success. We spoke about his cruel upbringing, his adventures with women, his times in prison and his drug addiction. This follow-up interview is exactly the same with one major difference, the story continues on.

I do not claim to understand a life of crime, or what it would feel like to continue on once that life is over. Because my parents work with Prison Fellowship I've been able to hear the dark tales of a criminal life, and see the life that continues on afterward. During the interview you can hear my parents phone ringing, comments on my mother's cooking, and stories of how my parents helped DHN. I know one of the major rules of an interview is to remain unbiased, and I try to abide by this rule to the best of my ability; yet when the person you're interviewing talks about how he met your parents and the impact this had on him, it's difficult not to be personal. I apologize to any critic that may read this, professional or not, on the journalistic rules broken during this interview. All the same I'm not a journalist, I want the real story, and if the rules are broken so be it.

This is my own personal disclaimer, if I dare break another journalistic rule, and
it's not regarding the foul language, violence, sexual objectification or drug use talked about during the interview. This disclaimer regards the much more avoided topic of God, faith, and at one point the Holy Spirit. This was not put in to be disputed, debated or as propaganda, this was put in because it changed DHN from a man who would end your
life if you got in his way, to a man who wants to help the unfortunate; that's all. For those
who find it insulting that God could be aligned alongside such fowl language and behavior, all I have to say is it's hard walking a mile in criminal shoes without getting some shit on your heel, so have some grace and I hope you enjoy.

From what Iʼve seen, a bad convict runs his mouth about how smart he is (even if he isnʼt), a good convict will be honest with how much intellect he has, and a great convict wonʼt tell you a thing. So as I ran my mouth about how much I knew about the stars my interviewee sat quietly. I told him when you look into the stars, you are also looking into the past, because it takes thousands of years for the light of a star to travel to us. As I continued running my mouth, my interviewee eventually told me about looking into the past, and I could understand he meant much more than what his words said alone. The life of crime is as far from me as the stars are, and each time I read over this interview, I see something new in it. Itʼs because of this, and for his own protection, that I named the interviewee after his favorite nebula,the Dark Horse Nebula, or DHN for short.

Shots rang out inside a closed bedroom in the Redpath mansion on Sherbrooke Street at approximately 6:00 p.m. on the evening of June 13, 1901.

 Peter Redpath rushed up the stairs and burst into his mother's bedroom where he saw the bodies of his mother, 56 year old Ada Mills Redpath, and his brother, 24 year old Jocelyn Clifford Redpath, lying on the floor a few feet apart in pools of blood. A revolver lay on the floor next to Clifford. Both mother and son had gunshot wounds to the head. Doctors were immediately called to the house. Ada Redpath died shortly thereafter; Clifford was barely alive and was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital where he succumbed to his wounds a short time later.

     
This was the general story reported at the time of the incident. The initial thinking was that Clifford was killed in an attempt to stop his ailing and depressed mother from committing suicide.[1]  Unfortunately, the "evidence" given by witnesses became more and more contradictory and confusing, making solving of the mystery impossible. Now, 111 years later, curiosity still abounds concerning the events of that night.

By: Leena Falciglia

Everywhere we look, we see traces of man's inhumanity toward man; we see the results of pride and greed and hatred in our morning papers, and on our evening news. There are many dangers in this world, some real and some imagined. There are men who have risen to such power, that they rule with an iron hand in many parts of our cities.  Pride, greed and hatred give evil men the power to carry out any evil deed often undetected. As long as some parts of our cities remain poor and desolate, as long as people are desperate enough to hope for a change or a new life, as long as politicians and law enforcement look the other way, as long as there is corruption in our legal system, as long as there is greed, as long as there are men and women filled with hatred, La Cosa Nostra remains a very real and present threat in our societies.