Pubdate: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2009 The Ottawa Citizen Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 Author: Paul Cherry, Canwest News Service Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?188 (Outlaw Bikers) 123 ARRESTED IN HUGE HELLS ANGELS RAID Full-Patch-Member-Turned-Informant Aided In Quebec Bust (CNS) The tough shell of secrecy that protected the Hells Angels in Quebec for years finally cracked during an investigation that has produced the arrests of almost the gang's entire membership in Quebec. Canwest News Service has learned the key to the investigation that generated the arrests of 123 people Wednesday in Operation SharQc involved a full-patch member of the gang who turned informant, an extremely rare occurrence in Quebec. According to two sources familiar with the investigation, Sylvain Boulanger, a former sergeant-at-arms in the gang's Sherbrooke chapter, supplied investigators with information about an important vote the gang's membership across the province held in July 1994. Hells Angels across Quebec essentially voted in favour of engaging in the bloody turf war, with rival gangs such as the Rock Machine and Dark Circle, that ran from 1994 to 2002 and involved the deaths of more than 160 people, including several innocent victims. At least two other informants, Martin Roy and another man, both former underlings in the gang's vast drug trafficking network, gave evidence in support of the investigation. The fact that Roy was an informant was already revealed in Operation South, an investigation that produced the arrests of several Hells Angels in Montreal a few years ago. In past investigations, the Regional Integrated Squads who investigate biker gangs could only rely on underlings such as Roy for inside information. Having an actual full-patch member supply information about the gang's operation has not been witnessed in decades. A few Hells Angels ditched their loyalty to the gang after the 1985 Lennoxville Purge, when the gang killed five of its own members at a bunker near Sherbrooke, Que. But since then, getting a Hells Angel to ditch his colours and turn his back against a gang that demands fierce loyalty appeared to be impossible in Quebec. Wednesday's roundup represented an unprecedented strike against one of the biggest criminal organizations in the province with 111 full-patch Hells Angels arrested or sought on arrest warrants. Members from all five of the gang's chapters in Quebec are represented among the charges filed in Operation SharQc. The Justice Department placed the gang's five bunkers, or clubhouses, across the province under seizure orders. Retired gang members were also among those arrested, as were several people described by police as associates of the Hells Angels. Everyone who appeared in court will remain in custody until they have a bail hearing. The next date in the case is set for April 22. In all, 156 people are named in a 26-page indictment and 115 appeared before a judge. Another eight were already behind bars and many of the remaining 33 people not arrested by late Wednesday afternoon are believed to be in France and Dominican Republic, where the Hells Angels in Quebec recently established a chapter. More than 100 people named in the indictment face first-degree murder charges, allegedly linking them to 22 homicides carried out during the Hells Angels war with the Alliance, an umbrella group that included the Rock Machine and Dark Circle. The Alliance was united in its opposition to the Hells Angels' monopolistic attitude toward drug trafficking in cities such as Montreal and Quebec City. The war was initiated by members of the Hells Angels' now defunct Nomads chapter, led by Maurice (Mom) Boucher. Crown prosecutor Madeleine Giauque said Wednesday that Operation SharQc is an extension of Operation Springtime 2001. She said a small group of people reflected on what they learned from Operation Springtime 2001 and came up with ideas on how the scope of a similar investigation could be broadened. Giauque would not comment on how the investigation was conducted. But when asked if the murder charges represented a group of people who allegedly were in agreement with the gang war she replied: "One can draw that conclusion from reading the charges." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom