Organized crime figure serving 45-year sentence gets day parole

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Christian Deschênes, a well-known organized crime figure serving a 45-year sentence for a series of crimes, including a plot to kidnap a Montreal Mafia leader, will soon experience life on the outside of federal penitentiary for the first time in two decades.

The Parole Board of Canada decided to grant Deschênes day parole on Wednesday after deliberating on the matter for a week. He will reside at a halfway house for six months until his case goes before the board again.

His latest sentence involves a violent heist involving an armoured vehicle at Marché Central and then his plan to kidnap Montreal Mafia leader Francesco Arcadi during the summer of 2001. The Sûreté du Québec learned of the plot while investigating the armoured vehicle robbery and arrested Deschênes as he was on his way to the Rizzuto organization’s hangout in St-Léonard to kidnap Arcadi.

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The official version that came out in court was that Deschênes felt he was owed money from a past drug smuggling effort and planned to hold Arcadi for ransom. Last week, Deschênes said the plot to kidnap the Mob leader involved the death of a friend’s son and that he did it out of “loyalty.”

He asked to be released on day parole so he can comfort his longtime girlfriend who is terminally ill.

In October, Deschênes was granted permission to take 72-hour unescorted leaves, but his plans did not work out because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The information in your file indicates that you have maintained your collaborative behaviour, despite the disappointment (of seeing his leaves cancelled). You are not a subject of interest for preventive security for many years,” the parole board wrote in its summary of the decision to grant Deschênes day parole.

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“Changes observed in your behaviour and way of acting over the past 10 years will give credibility to your project output and (your case-management team) estimates that the level of risk is reduced. Day parole comes at an opportune time in your very long sentence. Gradual reinstatement is necessary and reasonable and should take place over a long period.”

One of the conditions the parole board imposed on Deschênes is a requirement that he take part in psychological counselling to help him deal with the stress of his girlfriend’s illness.

This article was originally posted here