In 1982, the fifth estate’s Hana Gartner sat down with one of Montreal’s most notorious hitmen to discuss how he got away with murder - and how he became a police informer.

Donald Lavoie was involved with 27 murders during his ten-year career as a hired killer for gang leader Claude Dubois.

“I found it so easy,” Lavoie told Gartner. “A man’s life was so easy to take away.

“Once you kill once, the second is nothing.”

Lavoie was never convicted for his killings, but police did arrest him for extortion and convinced him to become a police informant. With Lavoie’s help, officers were finally able to arrest Dubois.

The interview took place in a special detention wing of the Quebec police force building in Montreal, where Lavoie was living under police protection. He and Gartner discussed his wife and children, his life of crime and what remains on his conscience after leaving the gang behind.

Gartner also visited Montreal’s anti-gang squad, where she spoke with detectives Richard McGuiness and Julien Gigerd about Lavoie's notorious past