Organized crime leader Gregory Woolley killed in daytime shooting south of Montreal

An influential organized crime leader has been killed in a daytime shooting in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, southeast of Montreal.

Police did not immediately identify the victim but The Canadian Press has learned he was Gregory Woolley, who has long been associated with the Hells Angels biker gang as well as with the Mafia and street gangs.

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St-Jean-sur-Richelieu police responded to a call of shots being fired at around 10:30 a.m. in a parking lot located near a health-care facility, and found a 51-year-old man who was later declared dead in hospital.

Quebec provincial police say they have taken over the investigation because of its apparent links to organized crime, and nobody has been arrested.

Woolley has been described by authorities in the past as a street gang boss and confidant of the late Hells Angels kingpin Maurice (Mom) Boucher.

Woolley was sentenced to eight years minus time served in 2018 after pleading guilty to gangsterism and drug trafficking and was released in 2020 after serving two-thirds of his sentence.