At 69 years old Armand Richard had driven a cab for over thirty years and was something of a pioneer in the Montréal taxi industy. In 1940 he was one of the founders of Hochelaga Taxi. Ten years later he sold his interest in Hochelaga and moved to LaSalle Taxi. In December, 1971, he decided to retire and sold off his personal fleet of ten cabs. However retirement didn't last long. In January, 1972 he bought another taxi and went back to driving for LaSalle. Just before midnight on July 28, 1972, he was finishing a 14-hour shift when he was hailed at the corner of Sainte-Catherine and Théodore streets by two young men aged 18 and 21. The pair were members of a motorcycle gang called Lucifer's Apostles. They had set out to rob a grocery store when they found to their dismay that it was closed. They then decided to rob a taxi driver and hailed Mr. Richard. They were armed with a .32 calibre revolver and a sawed-off .22 calibre rifle. The two men directed Mr. Richard to Pointe-aux-Trembles, then one of 28 independent municipalities on the Island of Montréal. When they arrived near the intersection of 50th Avenue and Forsyth Street they demanded Mr. Richard's money. Instead of complying Mr. Richard jumped out of the cab and ran away, shouting for help. His passengers also exited the cab and the 21-year-old fired three shots from his revolver into Mr. Richard's back. One bullet hit his heart and he fell dead on the sidewalk. A woman came out of a nearby house to investigate what she thought were firecrackers and came almost face to face with the 21-year-old as he and his accomplice fled empty-handed. The cab rolled into the intersection and collided with an oncoming car, attracting more attention. Several other witnesses got a close look at the killer. The two fugitives ran through a nearby field, discarding their weapons on the way. They met up at the apartment of a woman friend and then took a taxi to an east-end Montréal club. An initial search of the crime scene turned up no evidence but a day later the two weapons were found in the field. The witnesses were also able to help a police artist create a good likeness of the 21-year-old killer which led to his identification. Nevertheless it was not until two months later, on September 28, that the killer and his accomplice were arrested in an east-end apartment. The leader of Lucifer's Apostles was also taken into custody. Meanwhile, Mr. Richard's funeral took place on August 3. More than 200 taxis joined the funeral procession which stretched for three blocks. "If someone could be brutal enough to shoot down Mr. Richard, a tiny old man, what's to stop them from shooting me, or any one of us?" asked Jules Charron, also a LaSalle driver. "Anyone who could shoot such a good man for whatever reason doesn't deserve to live." [Next column]

Notre Dame des Victoires church, Montréal, where Armand Richard's funeral was held on August 3, 1972. About 200 taxis joined the funeral procession which stretched for three blocks. (Source: Notre Dame des Victoires.) On October 12 a coroner's inquest found both the killer and the accomplice criminally responsible for Mr. Richard's death. The killer was charged with first degree murder. At the killer's three-day trial in February, 1973, both the 18-year-old accomplice and the leader of Lucifer's Apostles adamantly refused to testify against him. In response, Mr. Justice Alphonse Barbeau sentenced the accomplice to five years in jail for contempt of court, the harshest sentence for contempt ever imposed by a Canadian court. As a result of this sentence the gang leader changed his mind about testifying. He told the jury about statements that the two accused had made about the murder and he admitted that he had supplied them with the .22 calibre rifle. The rifle butt had his initials carved into it. In the face of this testimony, as well as the testimony of the several witnesses who picked him out of a police lineup and identified him in court, the killer changed his plea to guilty of second degree murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Three weeks later the accomplice was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years in jail. In July, 1973 the Québec Court of Appeal reduced his 5-year contempt of court sentence to one year. The court cited the excessive harshness of the sentence and the fact that the accomplice's refusal to testify had no effect on the course of justice. Mr. Richard is buried in Cimetière le repos Saint-François d'Assise, also known as Cimetière de l'Est, Montréal.