Frank "Dunie" Ryan

Who was Frank "Dunie" Ryan?

Frank Peter "Dunie" Ryan born June 10, 1942, in Montreal, died November 13, 1984, was the leader of one of the most well known Montreal criminal organizations, the West End Gang.

Ryan's father abandoned their family when Ryan was three years old, leaving his mother to raise him by herself. Ryan dropped out of school in his mid-teens and led his own teenage gang who participated in "petty" crimes such as smash and grabs, garment thefts from trucks and breaking and entering.

Ryan continued his crime spree throughout the early 1960s, ending with an armed robbery conviction in 1966 for which he served 6 years of a 15 year sentence in an American prison. After his parole Ryan joined a new gang to help him continue his criminal enterprises, which now included loansharking as well as robberies. It was while at the helm of this gang that Ryan started to import and distribute drugs in the Montreal area.

After his initial forays in the drug market Ryan realized that this was a market that could be expanded and soon he had built a drug network that spread throughout Quebec, Ontario and the Atlantic provinces.