Born in Montreal, he was nicknamed Le Chat, French for The Cat, because of his luck in evading death after surviving at least three assassination attempts and a police shootout, and escaping from custody twice.

Born in the Montreal neighbourhood of Rosemont, Blass would turn to amateur boxing as a way to channel his anger when he was a child.

[2] On 4 May 1968, the Cotroni family struck back by killing two of Blass's men, Gilles Bienvenue and Albert Ouimet, who were shot down by masked gunmen.

Two weeks later, Blass was tracked by the Mafia to a motel named "Le Manoir de Plaisance" in a Montreal suburb.

In October 1968, Blass was injured by bullet shots to the head and back after being ambushed, alongside partner Claude Ménard, inside a garage.

[2] On October 16 of that year, Blass became a fugitive for the first time, when he and other prisoners overpowered a jail guard and fled the van in which they were being transported to court.

An unidentified female friend of his smuggled in some firearms during a visit, and Blass broke the jail visitor's window.

Blass wanted to kill Raymond Laurin and Roger Lévesque, both of whom had participated in the 1969 bank robbery and testified against him.

[6] A book about Blass was published in 1983[7] by famous criminal lawyer Frank Shoofey, who previously represented him.