1 of 1- RadioActive
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John Oakley Reveals His Own Close Brush With A Deadly Bombing
Just when you think you know a talk show host comes a new revelation. In a conversation with an expert on Montreal's notorious West End Gang Tuesday, longtime 640 afternoon driver John Oakley told a story about his past that I've never heard before.
In 1984, a few years after his gig at the pre-Fan CJCL Toronto ended, he had relocated to Montreal and was living on the 17th floor of an apartment building. He'd gone out to an all-night club one fateful night and didn't get home until 6 in the morning.
He was lucky he wasn't there.
A gang war had broken out in the city and someone delivered a TV to a residence on the 9th floor with a bomb secreted inside, an assassination attempt on one of the leaders of the organized crime group. It went off when he was out at the after-hours club and he returned home to find police cars, ambulances, severe destruction - along with four people dead, including the intended target.
He says the only real inconvenience to him was having to spend a week in a local hotel while they repaired the place and made it livable again for residents. But there's no way to know what might have happened had he been home at the time.
A radio survivor and a bomb survivor. Who knew?
- Chrisphen
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Re: John Oakley Reveals His Own Close Brush With A Deadly Bombing
That's a great story.
- Tq345
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Re: John Oakley Reveals His Own Close Brush With A Deadly Bombing
Coincidentally, I just watched an interesting documentary on Crave yesterday called Kings of Coke, about organized crime in Montreal, and the West End Gang in particular.
The explosion was featured with some dramatic and graphic pictures. The doc claimed it was a vcr that was delivered that was wired to explode a couple of minutes after a tape was played.
- RadioActive
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Re: John Oakley Reveals His Own Close Brush With A Deadly Bombing
That was the catalyst for Oakley's revelation. He had one of the people behind the documentary on as a guest to promote the film, and he launched into the story because it literally hit home. I think I heard him say it was a TV, but a VCR with a tape is even more of a "Mission: Impossible"-like scenario. (Not meaning to make fun of a tragedy, but I'd love to know what was on that tape!)
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Thread Starter- RadioActive
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Re: John Oakley Reveals His Own Close Brush With A Deadly Bombing
Here's a look back at the story from the Montreal Gazette. It runs through what happened and says the bomb was hidden in a package that contained both a TV and a VCR. And it even involves a guy named Trudeau!
"As it turned out, the bomb had been sent by Yves (Apache) Trudeau, a Hells Angel contract killer who said he had been hired by Ryan’s successor as head of the West End Gang. After turning police informant, Trudeau testified the following year that he had sent April a gift of a VCR and television set, with 16 kilograms of plastic explosives hidden inside."
Montreal Gazette: Nov. 26, 1984, a bombing on de Maisonneuve
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Thread Starter- Tq345
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Re: John Oakley Reveals His Own Close Brush With A Deadly Bombing
RadioActive wrote:
That was the catalyst for Oakley's revelation. He had one of the people behind the documentary on as a guest to promote the film, and he launched into the story because it literally hit home. I think I heard him say it was a TV, but a VCR with a tape is even more of a "Mission: Impossible"-like scenario. (Not meaning to make fun of a tragedy, but I'd love to know what was on that tape!)
Like you say, I hate to make light of a situation where four people died, but apparently this Trudeau fellow delivered the package unannounced about 4 a.m. You'd think the guys in the apartment might just think something fishy was going on, but hey why look a gift horse in the mouth? But they were so coked out of their heads, who knows what they were thinking.