The hitman Frédérick Silva, an assassin who formerly rented his services to several criminal organizations in Quebec, put a “contract” on the head of the journalist from The Press Daniel Renaud in 2021. He offered $100,000 to anyone who managed to kill the experienced reporter, a specialist in covering organized crime.
Published at 5:00 a.m.
It was Frédérick Silva himself who revealed to the police how he came to target the journalist, according to extracts of his confession consulted by The Press.
The career criminal, sentenced to life in prison for several murders, turned around in June 2022. Evacuated from the penitentiary by helicopter by the authorities, he now lives under police protection in a secret location and collaborates with the justice system. He participated in several meetings with investigators to help them solve dozens of homicides committed in recent years.
In order to become an informer, he had to sit down and reveal the entirety of his own criminal journey.
Silva told police that in 2021, while he was being held and tried for three murders and one attempted murder, he contacted two influential organized crime figures outside the prison walls. He explained to them that he wanted to assassinate the journalist Daniel Renaud, who was then covering his trial and had written numerous articles about him in The Press.
An ambush
According to Silva’s account, organized crime members surveyed on the subject were reluctant. They reportedly said they were willing to share the cost of the operation with Silva, but said it was a bad idea to attack a journalist.
I said I was tired of him and that I would deal with it. They just told me: “OK, do what you want, we’re with you in your decisions.”
Frédérick Silva, in extracts from his confessions consulted by The Press
A team of shooters had been approached to carry out the task. Silva then suggested a plan to one of his interlocutors.
“I told him that the plan I think is most feasible for the reporter to come is to call him and tell him that you have information about gangs shooting everywhere, or something like that. Meet the journalist at a location and kill him. »
The “contract” was in effect for approximately two months, but was not executed. Frédérick Silva himself ultimately canceled the order he had placed, because he felt he had “more important problems to resolve”.
It was the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) which notified Daniel Renaud of the case in the fall of 2022, after having collected Silva’s confession. According to police, the threat is no longer active.
“It won’t change anything”
“I was shaken,” admits Daniel Renaud.
“I always pay attention to what I write. For me, the best guarantee of my protection is my writings,” continues the journalist.
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Our journalist specializing in organized crime coverage Daniel Renaud
“I do not censor myself, but I always exercise restraint so as not to go into details of the private lives of criminals and avoid putting lives in danger. So I never thought that I could have been the subject of such a contract. I am even surprised and dismayed that people within organized crime were able to accept this, even if they apparently showed reluctance,” he says.
Daniel Renaud was almost alone in covering the trial of Frédérick Silva for a certain period. He remembers that the reaction in the accused’s camp worried him.
I felt that my articles bothered the accused, even though I stuck to what was said in the courtroom. I am confident that I have provided objective and unbiased coverage. I admit that during this period, I looked around me when I left the house to go to my car.
Daniel Renaud
However, he does not intend to change the way he works. “It won’t change anything, because I believe that my way of working is the right way. I am not immune to mistakes, but I am careful and every word is weighed. This affair must not make other journalists afraid of taking over. We must continue to cover organized crime in Quebec, to highlight this entire clandestine part of society,” adds the reporter.
“A Dark Day”
“It’s a dark day for the press, for society. Journalists must be able to investigate and write about crime or any other subject of public interest without fear of losing their skin, otherwise the entire society will be plunged into darkness,” commented François Cardinal, Vice President Information and Deputy Editor of The Press.
Read the deputy editor’s notebook The Press
“It is astonishing that such a situation occurs in a country like ours. For several years, journalists have witnessed growing hostility towards them which manifests itself in hateful emails or, outright, in death threats,” added Judith Lachapelle, president of the Union of Workers of the information from The Press.
Press freedom is fundamental to our society, and it must never be taken for granted.
Judith Lachapelle, president of the Union of Information Workers of The Press
Organized crime has already targeted Quebec journalists in the past. The 1is May 1973, mobster Tony Mucci broke into the newsroom of the Duty and shot towards journalist Jean-Pierre Charbonneau, who was shot and injured. On September 13, 2000, journalist Michel Auger was shot six times in the back in the parking lot of the Montreal Journal. The attack was ordered by criminal bikers.
Daniel Renaud has been a journalist for 36 years. Before moving on to The Presshe worked at CJMS, TQS, TVA, Montreal Journal and at RueFrontenac.com. Author of three books on organized crime, he is often invited on television and radio to share his detailed knowledge of this universe. In 2017, with colleagues from The Presshe won the Grand Prix du jury of the Judith-Jasmin prize, the highest distinction in Quebec journalism, for his revelations on the spying of columnist Patrick Lagacé by the Montreal police.
Frédérick Silva is considered by the police to be a hitman who for years received and executed contracts from several criminal organizations in the Montreal region in order to eliminate various targets. He also allegedly distributed certain contracts to other hitmen. He was for a time one of Canada’s most wanted criminals.
Two of Silva’s relatives were killed during his detention, before he decided to become an informer. He himself had been warned by the police that his life was in danger. An investigator from the Montreal City Police Service (SPVM) had also managed to gain his trust.
The SPVM and the SQ have formed a joint team which is currently investigating all crimes that could be solved thanks to the statements of Frédérick Silva.
