Montrealer who took part in Mafia hit is back behind bars

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A man who took part in the murder of a close associate of Mob leader Raynald Desjardins has been returned behind bars after he violated his statutory release by hanging out in a bar with known criminals.

The Parole Board of Canada decided last week to revoke Kevin Tate’s statutory release. He is serving a 15-year sentence for his role in the Jan. 22, 2013 murder of Gaétan Gosselin, a man who was killed while the Rizzuto organization was facing the most significant challenge of its leadership within the Montreal Mafia. Desjardins appeared to have sided with a group that opposed seeing people loyal to the Rizzuto organization maintain its leadership role. Gosselin was Desjardins’s business associate and a longtime friend.

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When he pleaded guilty to taking part in the conspiracy to kill Gosselin, Tate conceded he followed the target for two days but claimed he didn’t know who Gosselin was or why he was doing surveillance on him. The hit appeared to be ordered from Toronto by Harry Mytil, a street gang leader who was killed at his home in Laval three months after the hit on Gosselin.

Tate automatically qualified for the statutory release in May 2023. Almost all offenders serving time inside federal penitentiaries in Canada qualify for the release after serving two-thirds of their sentence if they were not previously granted parole. The Parole Board of Canada ordered that Tate reside at a halfway house after his release. That condition was removed in January and problems began weeks later.

In February, he travelled outside a geographic limit imposed on him by the parole board, but he explained it was merely to go to a municipal courthouse to settle a ticket. In April, Tate was caught with cannabis inside his home, but it was his trip to the bar that led to his release being suspended.

“Around the beginning of June 2024, while police were conducting surveillance inside the club where you were found, you were seen accompanied by criminalized people known to the police,” the parole board wrote in its decision to have Tate returned to a federal penitentiary. “When you saw the police, you tried to flee, but you were overpowered. You were not transparent with the police and you repeatedly changed your version of the facts.”

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One of the people Tate was seen talking with is described as having ties to a biker gang. Another person inside the club at the time is described as being a member of another criminal organization. One of the many conditions imposed on Tate’s release last year was that he not associate with known criminals. Another condition forbade him from being inside bars.

Tate, who had past ties to the BoGars and Unit 44 street gangs, claimed he didn’t know the biker and that he didn’t know the other man had ties to organized crime.

“You mentioned having no interest in having contact with this type of individuals considering the multi-thousand-dollar contract hanging on your head. However, your version does not match the information reported by the police officer who arrested you. The information indicates that you were in a booth with highly criminalized individuals,” the parole board wrote.

According to a previous parole decision made in Tate’s case, during September 2022 police officers from the Sûreté du Québec showed up at his penitentiary to inform him that his life was in danger.

He is serving his second sentence for a homicide. In 2005, he was sentenced to a three-year prison term for a manslaughter conviction. In 2003, he was inside a bar with a friend when an argument broke out with another group of people. He pulled out a firearm and fired off a shot, but the bullet ricocheted and killed his friend.

pcherry@postmedia.com

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