A man who acted as the getaway driver in the slaying of a close friend of Mob leader Raynald Desjardins has been ordered to stay off the Montreal Island when he is soon released from a penitentiary.

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Edrick Antoine, 44, a former street gang leader, was one of five men who pleaded guilty in 2017 to having conspired to murder Gaetan Gosselin, Desjardins’s longtime friend and business associate. Gosselin was killed in 2013 outside his home in St-Léonard. The homicide appeared to be part of a conflict between the Rizzuto organization and people who chose to side with Desjardins when he tried to take control of the Montreal Mafia in 2010 and 2011.

Antoine pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and, on June 21, 2017, he was sentenced to a 15-year prison term. With time served factored in he had eight years and 10 months left on the sentence. He was turned down for parole in April 2021 and will soon qualify for a statutory release. Almost all offenders serving time in federal penitentiaries in Canada who have not been granted parole are automatically released after they reach the two-third mark of their sentence.

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The Parole Board of Canada was only left to decide whether conditions should be imposed on Antoine’s release. On May 1, it imposed seven conditions on Antoine. While most are standard in a case involving a member of a criminal organization, the board also ordered Antoine reside at a halfway house and he: “Not be on the territory of the island of Montreal, without the prior consent of your parole supervisor.”

“The concerns are rooted in your case management team’s assessment of your risk for general recidivism and the psychological risk assessment for violent recidivism tied to your association with negative peers and threats to your personal security. In this latter vein, the board observes that although the security information department confirms that you are not a person of interest, the department adds that your personal security may be under threat in the event of your conditional release,” the parole board wrote.

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Antoine is the second person involved in Gosselin’s murder to recently be advised their life might be in danger when released.

Kevin Tate, 39, did surveillance on Gosselin before he was killed. Tate received the same sentence as Antoine and in November the Parole Board of Canada placed conditions on his statutory release.

“In September 2022, police officers from the Sûreté du Québec showed up at (Tate’s penitentiary) to meet certain detainees, including you, in order to inform you that according to information obtained, your life was in danger. Your parole officer met you following this interview. You said you didn’t know if this threat was related to your prior criminal activity or your association with a (street gang),” the parole board wrote in the decision made on Nov. 22 in Tate’s case

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The decision made in Antoine’s case describes how he became the leader of a “well-known street gang in Montreal” after the death of a close friend in 2012. It is an apparent reference to the death of Chenier (Big) Dupuy, the leader of the Bo-Gars street gang who he was killed on Aug. 10, 2012. Tate also had ties to the Bo-Gars.

Antoine told the parole board all of his “real friends” were gang members who are now deceased and he plans to leave the milieu when he is released.

He was born in Canada and moved to the U.S with his mother when he was five.

“At the age of 12, you started skipping school and associating with friends in your neighbourhood who were marginal. Your mother had a hard time structuring you, and making you respect her authority. You dropped out of school during adolescence. Due to your many encounters with the (police) in your teenage years, you were deported to Canada when you were 19 years old,” the parole board noted in its decision.

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While many have speculated Gosselin was killed because of his ties to Desjardins, the decision notes Antoine says it was more about self-preservation.

The parole board wrote: “The murder was related to maintaining the control of a drug distribution territory. You decided that you had no choice but to act if you wanted to stay alive since you had discovered that a rival gang wanted to rub out one of your friends and yourself. You state that you were comfortable with your involvement in the murder of a criminalized individual at the time.”