One of Quebec’s most wanted criminals was recaptured this week after escaping more than four years ago from a federal prison.
Denis Begin disappeared on Feb. 15, 2019, from a minimum security unit at the Federal Training Centre, north of Montreal. He was caught by Montreal police on Monday, but police said his arrest was not connected to his escape; they refused to give details.
Begin, 62, was serving a life sentence for a 1993 murder committed in Montreal when he escaped. A news release Thursday from the federal corrections agency provided little information other than saying, “an investigation was conducted by the Correctional Service of Canada into the circumstances surrounding this incident.”
He was sentenced to life after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the killing of 19-year-old Ricardo Gizzi on Halloween night in 1993. Wearing a hockey mask, Begin walked into a bar and shot Gizzi, who was also in costume and wearing a hockey mask. News reports at the time said bar patrons initially thought they were witnessing a Halloween joke when a costumed Begin walked in with a gun.
A jury found Begin guilty of first-degree murder in 1997, but that conviction was overturned and a new trial ordered after he successfully argued that his statement to police after his arrest was not “voluntary.” The appellate court judgment said he had confessed while agreeing to become an informant for Quebec’s anti-biker unit.
A news report from the Montreal Gazette said Begin testified at a 1998 trial that he had a long history with gangs and had information that could help solve many crimes, including the 1995 bombing that killed 11-year-old Daniel Desrochers.
The child was killed while playing near his home when a car bomb – intended for a gang member – exploded. Desrochers’s death came at the height of Quebec’s biker gang wars and is considered a turning point in the bloody battle between rival gangs. No one has been charged for the killing.
Montreal police Const. Jean-Pierre Brabant said Friday that Begin’s arrest was not tied to the prison escape, but the officer didn’t give details around the circumstances of the arrest, citing an unrelated investigation.
The federal corrections agency said Friday it would not give interviews.
Quebec’s provincial police had listed Begin as one of the province’s most wanted criminals.