Pubdate: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 Source: Windsor Star (CN ON) Copyright: The Windsor Star 2001 Contact: http://www.southam.com/windsorstar/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/501 Authors: George Kalogerakis and Basem Boshra, The Canadian Press HELLS ANGELS REELING FROM RAIDS: OTHER ARRESTS But Police Say Disarray Won't Last Long Hells Angels leader Maurice Boucher no longer has two murder charges to worry about. He has 15. The largest operation against biker gangs in Canadian history tightened the noose around Boucher Wednesday by fingering him for 13 additional killings and nabbing every member of his elite squad, the Nomads. Police conceded the operation won't cripple the Hells for long. "It's going to destabilize them, at least for a while," said Capt. Michel Martin of the Surete du Quebec. "With all the seizures of their assets, homes and cars, they're going to busy with their lawyers and in the courts. And we hope that they'll be in jail for a very long time." Police allege Boucher systematically ordered the deaths of top-level enemies in other drug gangs over the past six years, not stopping even when he was behind bars. And his orders led to the slaying of an innocent man who responded when the assassin yelled out his first name -- Serge. The hitman was looking for another Serge. Suspected with Boucher in eight of the killings is his 25-year-old son, Francis, already in Saint-Jerome prison for a year on a weapons charge. In addition to the charges against both Bouchers, police also seized two homes in the family's compound on the South Shore. The father, known as "Mom," is already behind bars because he faces a second trial on charges of ordering the deaths of two prison guards in 1997. While 138 of his gang members were being rounded up, Quebec's most notorious biker sat in his special isolation cell at Tanguay's prison for women. Boucher, 47, will only appear in court later this week to face the new charges. But others began to be arraigned by video-conference from a wing at Bordeaux prison set aside just for them. The arrest warrants also name Gerald Matticks, a name well-known to provincial police. His acquittal in the mid-1990s because Surete officers planted evidence during a raid led to the Poitras commission into police wrongdoing. Matticks was sought for drug-dealing and gangsterism. More than 2,000 police officers from the RCMP, Surete, Montreal Urban Community police and more than 27 municipal forces took part in more than 280 searches and seizures that started at the crack of dawn. It was organized by special regional task forces against outlaw biker gangs. The raids grabbed seven homes and 50 vehicles, including 15 motorcycles. And police put their hands on $7.5 million in cash. Police believe the illegal drug supply will dry up with so many dealers behind bars. Police said traditional investigative techniques -- surveillance, wiretaps and paid informants -- were used to compile evidence before the raids. Warrants targeted 42 key players, including Boucher, with numerous plots to assassinate enemies since 1995, just after the bloody war began for control of Quebec's illegal drug trade. The intended victims were members of the Rock Machine and its hit squad, the Dark Circle. Also targeted for death were those in the Alliance, a group of drug dealers that sided with the Rock Machine against the Hells. Boucher and the other 41 major players also face gangsterism charges that make it illegal to belong to a criminal organization. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D