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119-619: The name "The Planet Smashers" was first used in 1992 for a band including Matt Collyer, Ceco Munaretto, Andrew Conway and Dave Jones. The original group played punk, ska, and rock inspired by the "Manchester sound." The group primarily focused on live shows although it did record one demo ("The Road Song") at a Montreal studio, and one live performance (Station 10 in Montreal, October 1992). The songs "Coolest Guy" and "Vampire," among others, come from this period. The group briefly disbanded in 1993 - largely because its drummer had vanished. The band

238-602: A "bunch of goons on a power trip". On 15 September 1995, Richard "Crow" Émond was gunned down in a parking lot while helping his girlfriend get out of a car, becoming the first fully patched Hells Angel to be killed by the Rock Machine. Émond had just replaced Roy as the president of the Trois-Rivières chapter. On 21 September, the day after Émond's funeral, three Rock Machine members – Benoit Grignon, Daniel Paul and Pierre Patry – were killed as they tried to plant

357-514: A "very violent and cruel psychopath who can't control himself", concluding he was the prime suspect for the bombing. The RCMP stated that the fact that whoever controlled the bomb that killed Dubé was aware that there were children playing across the street fitted in with what was known of Steinert's character and with what Kane had reported. Commander André Bouchard of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal stated: "I'm convinced today that

476-649: A Hells Angels associate, Glenn Cormier, was murdered in Quebec City. In March 1996, Kane murdered a drug dealer, Roland Lebrasseur, who refused to buy drugs from the Hells Angels. After getting over a scare caused by the killing of Desrochers, Steinert was living high at this time, receiving the "Filthy Few" patch in March 1996 awarded to those who killed for the Angels, and a full patch at the same time. Steinert

595-675: A Quebec prison between 1985 and 1987 awaiting first-degree murder charges for his role in the Lennoxville massacre, during which he learned some French. At the request of Carroll and Stadnick, Kane had founded a puppet club for the Angels in Toronto called the Demon Keepers Motorcycle Club. However, the Demon Keepers ended in fiasco, with the entire group being put behind bars by authorities without making

714-430: A RICO-type law, citing concerns about civil liberties, and the closest it came was with Bill C-95 in 1997 that increased the penalties if it could be established that someone had committed a crime in the service of a criminal organization. Bill C-95 was passed in 1997 and journalists Timothy Appleby and Tu Thanh Ha of The Globe and Mail observed in 2000 that nobody had been convicted under Bill C-95 offences. In 1997,

833-549: A Rock Machine member was shot dead as he was sitting in his van. Claude Rivard, a drug dealer for the Pelletier clan, was murdered while his car was stopped for a red light. His killers, Serge Quesnel and Richard Vallée then engaged in a car chase followed by the Montreal police, but were able to escape on foot. On 23 March 1995, Quesnel murdered an independent drug dealer associated to the Rock Machine, Richard Belcourt, by persuading him to visit Quebec City and shooting him in

952-697: A bomb outside of the Saint-Luc clubhouse of the Jokers, an Angels puppet club whose activities were previously overseen by Émond. Grignon, Paul and Patry died when a Jokers member fired a shotgun at the trio, which caused the explosive to detonate. Two other bombings were also carried out on the same day, one targeting a strip club in Laval , and other at a used car dealership in Montréal-Est . No casualties were reported in these attacks, although several cars at

1071-548: A case concerning outlaw bikers instead of the four or six that were normally assigned in other provinces, and those who could not handle the pressure were seen as failures by their superiors. As the outlaw bikers usually had well-paid defence lawyers, the Crown Attorneys often found themselves overwhelmed by the heavy burden of work, leading to frequent burnouts. René Domingue, the Crown Attorney who prosecuted

1190-578: A criminal organization like the Mafia or the Hells Angels was not in itself a crime, and prosecutors could only convict a Mafioso or Hell's Angel if it could be established that they had committed a crime. Under the RICO act in the United States, membership of a criminal organization was made a criminal offence, thus making the job of American prosecutors much easier. The Chrétien government refused to pass

1309-604: A dynamite buying spree, adding that both Boucher and Steinert were furious when they learned about the dynamite-packed truck left by the restaurant. On 1 January 1995, Normand Baker, a Rock Machine member was murdered while drinking in a Hard Rock Cafe in Acapulco by the Hells Angel Francoise Hinse. Baker had been one of the killers of Daoust, and his murder while on vacation in Mexico was intended to send

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1428-505: A highly dangerous man who was feared by the other Angels, who was planning to murder anyone who might oppose him in his plans to take over the drug trade in Quebec. Some of the information sold by Kane to the RCMP was self-serving and incorrect, as when he named another Angel as responsible for a murder that he himself had committed in 1995. However, Kane's information was mostly accurate and is

1547-597: A hotel in Longueuil to take a vote on whether or not they wanted to take part in biker war against the Alliance. According to Sherbrooke Hells Angel-turned- Crown witness Sylvain Boulanger, the Montreal, Trois-Rivières and Quebec City chapters – Michel Langlois and Maurice Boucher of the Montreal faction, and Quebec City chapter vice-president Marc "Tom" Pelletier in particular – were strongly in favour, while only

1666-403: A jeep that was blown up. Peter Edwards, the crime correspondent of The Toronto Star , wrote the Rock Machine "wasn't really a motorcycle club at all: members didn't have to own a bike to bike. What brothers Giovannia (Johnny) and Salvatore Cazzetta sought to create was a cohesive confederation of drug-dealing groups". The Hells Angels attempted to dislodge the Rock Machine and their allies from

1785-420: A long time resisted this pressure, claiming the existing laws were adequate to deal with the biker war and that it was just up to Quebec to apply them. Both sides had their own agenda with Quebec City using the unwillingness of the federal government to pass a RICO-type act as evidence of Ottawa's supposed indifference to Quebec, thus justifying separatism while Ottawa used the inability of Quebec City to deal with

1904-493: A major force in Montreal organized crime again. In the early 1980s, Maurice "Mom" Boucher and Salvatore Cazzetta were leaders of the white supremacist SS motorcycle gang, dominating organized crime in the Pointe-aux-Trembles district of Montreal. In 1986, following a prison sentence for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl, Boucher joined the Quebec branch of the Hells Angels, quickly rising to become

2023-469: A piece of shit, you interrogate him in a motel-you don't bring him to the fucking Ritz". Bouchard stated he left Operation Carcajou in 1996 out of disgust with the uncooperative attitude of the Sûreté du Québec , saying: "They were doing secret jobs. We didn't know. We found out the next morning: there'd be seven guys in the cells. Where the fuck did they come from? That's when it got a little rough". Despite

2142-467: A power grab, and the RCMP and Sûreté du Québec, only interested in ensuring that the blame for the continuing biker war fell on the other service. The Poitras commission spoke of "a virtual police war was being waged" inside the Carcajou squad with the detectives from the RCMP and the Sûreté du Québec openly feuding with each other. The Poitras blasted the chief of the Carcajou squad, Michel Arcand of

2261-576: A protégé of senior Angels' leader David "Wolf" Carroll , contacted the Interpol office in Ottawa, saying he wanted to sell information to the police. Carroll had founded the Angels' chapter in Halifax in 1984, and moved to Montreal in 1990 to assist the president of the Montreal chapter, Maurice Boucher, although his French was very limited. It is generally believed that Carroll was in Montreal to assist

2380-603: A series of new members and sidemen. Cooper switched from drums to bass guitar when Tim Doyle joined the band. For the past decade or so, the band's lineup has primarily consisted of Matt Collyer, Dave Cooper, Scott Russell, Alexandre Fecteau, Patrick Taylor, and most recently, keyboardist Patrizio McLelland was added to the band. The Planet Smashers released Descent Into the Valley of the Planet Smashers on July 12, 2011. Their eighth studio album, titled Mixed Messages ,

2499-573: A shooting in Montreal. Later on 14 July, the Sûreté du Québec arrested five Rock Machine members, including Normand Baker, who were found in possession of firearms, explosives and detonators while en route to attack the South Shore clubhouse of the Evil Ones, a Hells Angels puppet club. On 15 July 1994, senior Hells Angels from across Quebec were summoned by Boucher to an emergency meeting at

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2618-489: A single drug sale and Kane sought revenge by working with the police. Interpol put Kane into contact with Staff Sergeant Jean-Pierre Lévesque of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), who appointed Corporal Pierre Verdon of Montreal to be his handler. At their first meeting on 4 November 1994, Kane told Verdon that the leader of the Angels in Quebec was Maurice "Mom" Boucher, whom he described as

2737-422: The Sûreté du Québec and the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal that was supposed to end the biker war swiftly and promptly, and bring to justice those responsible for the death of Desrochers. Operation Carcajou proved to be a fiasco because of politics. From 1994 to 2003, Quebec was governed by the separatist Parti Québécois (PQ) and relations between Ottawa and Quebec City, which were difficult in

2856-633: The Beauport chapter in late 1996. In the early 1990s, various independent gangs controlled drug sales territories in eastern and northern Montreal, including Saint Denis Street , as well as in Laval, Mascouche , Terrebonne , Saint-Sauveur , and Sainte-Adèle . A number of drug dealers and crime families, such as the Dark Circle, the Pelletier clan, the Rock Machine, the Palmers, and former members of

2975-533: The Crips gang in the United States. The Syndicate began by engaging in extortion rackets and robbing dépanneurs (convenience stores) before moving on to serve as drug dealers and killers for the Angels, becoming well known in Montreal for doing the "dirty work" that even the Angels did not want to do. Wooley was president of the Rockers, the Angels' puppet club in Montreal, and, although he could never hope to join

3094-468: The Devils Disciples , resisted the Hells Angels' attempts at monopolisation and established a coalition known as the "Alliance to fight the Angels". The subsequent guerre des motards resulted in the bombings of many establishments and murders on both sides. It claimed more than 160 lives, including Daniel Desrochers, an 11-year-old boy who was fatally injured by shrapnel as he was playing near

3213-630: The First Biker War , in which they vanquished the Outlaws from the province. However, the club was severely weakened by the Lennoxville massacre on 24 March 1985, when five members of the Angels' chapter in Laval were shot by their clubmates. As the Laval chapter of the Angels had been liquidated, the leaders of the Sorel chapter fled Canada upon learning that they were also targeted. In

3332-475: The Montreal Mafia , and as a result of his Mafia ties, the Hells Angels were unwilling to challenge the Rock Machine as long as he was leader. Cazzetta has often been described as controlling all of the organized crime in Montreal that was not controlled by the Mafia in the late 1980s and early 1990s. On 26 March 1992, as part of a push to recruit more members, the Hells Angels created a puppet club ,

3451-489: The Rockers Motor Club . This was a common tactic on the part of the Angels to provide more manpower and a wider pool of followers willing to commit crimes in order to become Hells Angels. It is standard for members of a puppet club to commit most of the crimes in the hope that they will be promoted to the rank of "prospect" within the Hells Angels proper. A British policeman told journalist Patrick Lejtenyi about

3570-512: The Sûreté du Québec detectives as having dubious expense accounts. Bouchard stated: "My guys from Montreal are interrogating a source at some motel and they order a pizza and four Cokes or whatever, talk to the guy for a couple of hours and then they order a club sandwich. But the SQ guys were coming in [with invoices for stays at the] Ritz Carlton, steak dinner, wine. I was asked to sign bills for $ 800. I go 'fuck you, I'm not signing this. You interrogate

3689-475: The Sûreté du Québec , confessing that on the night of 7 August 1983, he murdered a drug dealer named Michel Beaulieu, who was behind in his payments to the Pelletier Clan. Pelletier asked that the police provide him with protection from the Angels in exchange for more information about his crimes. Ultimately, Pelletier confessed to committing 17 murders between 1983 and 1995, yet he was only convicted of

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3808-425: The Sûreté du Québec , saying he had a "contemptuous" attitude about upholding the law and that it was "totally inappropriate" for him to be the director of the Carcajou squad. As a result, Arcand was sacked as the chief of the Carcajou squad. Commander Bouchard joined Operation Carcajou in 1995 and started with raiding businesses controlled by the outlaw bikers, always dressed in his full uniform in order to show he

3927-627: The "Alliance to fight the Angels" headed by his younger brother, Harold Pelletier, whose first act was an attempt to assassinate Boucher in November 1994. Another member of the Pelletier Clan, Martin Simard, purchased enough stolen dynamite to fill a truck, which was left near Boucher's favorite restaurant by the Alliance member Martin Pellerin. The plan was to set off the explosives by remote control when Boucher arrived, killing him and everybody else in

4046-639: The Angels from within. Steinert was not included in the Nomads chapter, and was planning in October 1996 on forming his cell within the Montreal South chapter in what appeared to be a challenge to Boucher's authority. A month later in November 1996. The Rock Machine planted a bomb in the old Hells Angels bunker in St. Nicholas and the residential neighborhood where it was located was shaken by the immense force of

4165-419: The Angels over their involvement in the Lennoxville massacre the previous year. Cazzetta instead formed his own motorcycle club, the Rock Machine, with his brother Giovanni . Around this time, Quebec had earned a reputation as a hotbed of violence, and had become known within the biker world as the "Red Zone". The Italo-Canadian Cazzetta was not a member of the Mafia, but he did have a close relationship with

4284-459: The Angels proper as a black man, he maintained very close ties with them. For reasons that remain unclear, Wooley had no qualms about serving as the bodyguard for the white supremacist Boucher. However, Simard proved to be a poor witness on the stand and Wooley's trial for first degree murder ended with his acquittal. Afterwards, the Crown disavowed Simard, saying that he failed to fulfill his side of

4403-419: The Carcajou squad decided the best way to end the war was to put the Rock Machine out of business, arguing that the Rock Machine was the weaker of the two clubs, and the war would end once the Rock Machine was removed from the scene. On 29 January 1997, seven Rock Machine members were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the failed murder plot against Boucher in 1994. In May 1997,

4522-658: The Castelli brothers opened another live venue, the Jupiter Room, located on Saint-Laurent boulevard, which was in operation until 2005. After the Jupiter Room, Domenic Castelli continued to work as a stage manager for touring concerts, circusses and other live events. In 2020, Domenic Castelli compiled a book of posters of shows held at the Jailhouse from 1988 to 2001. The book was well received and according to Cult Montreal, "there are plenty of gems in these pages to keep

4641-477: The Colombians don't trust the Hells Angels, but they do trust the Mafia." In Quebec, the power of the Mafia was limited by the fact it was only open to those who were Sicilians or of Sicilian descent . In contrast, the Quebec bikers were, and remain, mostly French-Canadian . When Cazzetta was arrested on charges on importing cocaine from the United States in 1994, the Angels saw an opportunity to challenge

4760-425: The Jailhouse. Many critically acclaimed artists performed at the venue including local and international acts: Grimskunk , Jon Spencer Blues Explosion , Neko Case , Calexico , Nada Surf , the Planet Smashers and Tricky Woo . In addition to live concerts, the Jailhouse hosted a wide range of other events, including art jams and exhibitions, community BBQs and screenings. After the Jailhouse ceased to operate,

4879-562: The Los Bravos, who were planning on "patching over" to become Hells Angels, which caused some problems with the Angels' plans to expand into the Prairies. Magnussen was unintelligent, and had only been recruited into the Angels because of his size, strength and brutality. Carroll become convinced that nobody could be as stupid as Magnussen was, which led him to the conclusion that Magnussen must be an undercover policeman working to destroy

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4998-554: The McGill University music department until they were kicked out and their first gig was at the now defunct "Station 10" on March 17, 1994. The band played small Montreal venues, including "Purple Haze" and the Jailhouse and at ska festivals. All the band members contributed original material and sets included some ska/punk cover tunes. A first demo of three songs was recorded in Cooper's apartment but not released. Later

5117-420: The Montreal chapter, taking over much of his business in the suburb of Verdun. As one of the club's most prominent members, Marcel Demers, became an assassination target for the Hells Angels. In December 1996, Bruno Van Lerberghe, a member of the Quebec City chapter of the Hells Angels, was killed when while he eating at a restaurant, being shot six times. In February 1997, Magnussen beat up Leonardo Rizzuto,

5236-678: The Montreal drug market, and issued an ultimatum that anyone dealing drugs in the city would have to buy from them. Maurice Boucher organized puppet clubs to persuade Rock Machine-controlled bars and their resident drug dealers to surrender their illegal drug business. In response, the Rock Machine created the Palmers MC, a Rock Machine puppet club created to counter the Hells Angels and their Rockers and Death Riders puppet clubs. The Palmers had chapters in both Montreal and Quebec City, and were led and organized by Rock Machine members Jean "Le Francais" Duquaire and André "Dédé" Désormeaux. Désormeaux

5355-434: The Montreal underworld. The Crown justified the plea bargain with Pelletier, given that he was guilty of 17 murders, on the grounds he was a "mine of information" about the underworld of Montreal. Pelletier's motives for striking a plea bargain was that the "Alliance against the Angels" was collapsing with Alliance members defecting over to the Angels, and he wanted Crown protection from the Angels. However, Pelletier violated

5474-464: The Nomads, applicants were required to commit murders, which ensured that no undercover police agents could enter the Nomads chapter. Additionally, only the highest-quality Angels who had proven themselves could join the Nomads. Several members of the Angels' Montreal chapter—which was the oldest Angels chapter in Canada, being founded in 1977—resented the way in which the Nomads came to overshadow them as

5593-437: The Pelletier Clan associated with the Rock Machine, but had recently switched to the Hells Angels, and as a result the Pelletier Clan hired a hitman named Patrick Call to kill Lavoie. On 28 October 1994, Sylvain Pelletier, the leader of the Pelletier Clan, was killed by the Hells Angels, who threatened to murder any drug dealer who did not buy their supplies from them. After these killings, an increasingly murderous struggle for

5712-450: The RCMP as he was terrified of his homosexuality being exposed. Simard also turned on his lover Kane, revealing to the police that Kane had committed three murders over the last two years which caused the RCMP to sever contact with Kane for two years. Simard gave the Crown evidence that Gregory "Pissaro" Wooley — a Haitian immigrant who was working as Boucher's bodyguard — was an assassin for the Angels, saying that, despite being black, Wooley

5831-457: The RCMP that Steinert had been living in Montreal since he was a teenager, but that he had never taken Canadian citizenship, which led the Canadian government to go to the courts seeking an injunction to deport Steinert back to the United States. In May 1996, Steinert's bodyguard, Donald "Bam Bam" Magnussen, lost his temper at a party and murdered David Boyko, the leader of a Winnipeg biker gang,

5950-429: The Rock Machine clubhouses in Montreal and Quebec City were raided while the police arrested 18 Rock Machine members and seized 325 kilos(716.5 lbs) of explosives, particularly TNT. The police confiscated the Montreal clubhouse after drugs were found within the premises. Reflecting the way that the Angels were winning the war, in October 1995, Harold Pelletier, one of the heads of the Pelletier Clan, turned himself in to

6069-497: The Rock Machine was arrested when a Rock Machine member turned police informer asked him to buy 15 kilos of cocaine. Cazzetta introduced the informer to Richard Matticks, the brother of Gerald Matticks of the West End Gang. Matticks told the informer he could not supply 15 kilos of cocaine on a very short notice, but did sell him 9 kilos for $ 350,000. Cazzetta was sent back to prison for violating his 1993 parole and in 1998

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6188-490: The Rock Machine were the most visible parts of the "Alliance to fight the Angels", but its most influential part was the secretive Dark Circle, a group of Montreal businessmen who were secretly engaging in the drug trade. What the Dark Circle all had in common was that all of them owned bars and/or restaurants from which drugs were sold, and drug money laundered; bars in particular were a business where transactions were often in cash, lending themselves well to money laundering. it

6307-408: The Rock Machine. He spent 10 years in a U.S. prison for attempting to smuggle 200 kilograms of cocaine into Canada. Claude Vézina , who was president of the Rock Machine's Quebec City chapter at the time, became the club's new national president. Renaud Jomphe was made president of the Montreal chapter, while Marcel Demers became the president of the Quebec City chapter until eventually opening

6426-549: The Sherbrooke chapter leaders were against retaliation against their rivals. Despite Sherbrooke's initial holdout, the chapter eventually relented in August 1994, providing the Hells Angels' leadership the unanimous vote required to go to war against the Alliance. On 19 October 1994, a local drug dealer, Maurice Lavoie, was gunned down in his car while his girlfriend was wounded. Lavoie had previously been buying his wares from

6545-535: The aftermath of the massacre, Michel "Sky" Langois , the national president of the Canadian Hells Angels, fled to Morocco after a warrant was issued for his arrest on charges of first-degree murder. Afterward, the vacuum left by the Hells Angels was filled by a number of Montreal-based organized crime groups such as the Rock Machine , and it was not until the early 1990s that the Angels became

6664-537: The approach of the Carcajou squad was the police reaction to the funeral of the Hells Angel Robert "Tiny" Richard on 29 February 1996. Out of the concern of a possible Rock Machine attack on those attending the funeral, the Carcajou squad sent some extra police officers to provide security, leading the president of provincial police unit, Luc Savard, to denounce the squad as he maintained the Sorel police force

6783-462: The avid rock fan, Montrealer or otherwise, wide-eyed with history and nostalgia." Quebec Biker War Hells Angels MC Support: The Alliance [REDACTED] Quebec government Maurice Boucher Giovanni Cazzetta [REDACTED] Jacques Parizeau (1994–1996) [REDACTED] Lucien Bouchard (1996–2001) [REDACTED] Bernard Landry (2001–2002) The Quebec Biker War ( French : Guerre des motards au Québec )

6902-519: The band recorded their first cassette in a weekend session, using studio time won by one of Collyer's defunct former bands "The Thrill Killers". The quality of this recording was not very high, but it helped get the band more gigs and visibility, including shows outside of Montreal. Popular destinations for the band included the Toucan in Kingston, The Pit in Ottawa, and Sneaky Dees in Toronto. The band

7021-470: The bar to Jacques Corbo due to the uncertainty created by the province of Quebec biker war , although the bar had no affiliation with bikers. After a lull of the biker war, Corbo sold to brothers Domenic and David Castelli who then ran the venue. During the 1980s and 1990s, Bar La Terrasse/the Jailhouse was an important site for a wide variety of acts that were part of punk , ska , industrial , metal , hip-hop and gothic musical scenes in Montreal, and

7140-476: The bargain as Wooley was still a free man and ended its protection for him in 1999, placing him in the general prison population. The Angels put out a jailhouse contract on Simard's life, and in 2003 he was murdered by fellow inmates who stabbed him to death with homemade knives, inflicting over 187 stab wounds, at the federal prison where he was being held in Saskatchewan. In May 1997, Giovanni Cazzetta of

7259-564: The bars and nightclubs on York Street in Ottawa. Steinert also had plans to take over the bars, restaurants and nightclubs of Toronto, Kingston and Winnipeg. Not content with Canada, Steinert had got into contact with a New York Mafia family to send strippers from Quebec to a Mafia-owned resort in the Dominican Republic. The Hells Angels had their own surveillance unit with three vehicles equipped with hidden cameras with batteries that lasted for 72 hours that were discreetly placed on

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7378-604: The best of times, were highly acrimonious. Throughout the biker war, the PQ government blamed the Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien , claiming the existing laws were insufficient to deal with bikers. PQ officials also claimed that Canada needed a tough anti-gang law modeled after the American RICO act that would make membership in criminal organizations illegal. The Chrétien government for

7497-590: The biker war as evidence of Quebec's incompetence in maintaining law and order, thus justifying federalism. The feuding between the federal and Quebec governments affected Operation Carcajou with the RCMP and the Sûreté du Québec. Detectives spent their time feuding with one another and made almost no serious efforts to investigate crimes committed by the bikers as the detectives were much more interested in pursuing their vendettas against one another. One detective who served on Operation Carcajou later told journalists William Marsden and Julian Sher that Operation Carcajou

7616-466: The blast. The bunker received significant damage. Carroll ordered Kane to kill Magnussen, an order that Kane was reticent to fulfill as Magnussen was a full patch Hells Angel while Kane was only a Rocker; such a violation of Angels' etiquette could have resulted in Kane's own murder. At Kane's request, the police visited Magnussen to warn him that the other Angels were planning on killing him, but he dismissed

7735-486: The case against the West End Gang boss Gerald Matticks collapsed when detectives were caught planting evidence, blasted Operation Carcajou as a colossal waste of money in its 1998 report. The Poitras Commission in its report stated that Operation Carcajou was characterized by dysfunctional relationships, clashing egos, and bureaucratic in-fighting with the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal only interested in making

7854-514: The case alone and having to do some of the police work himself. Legault stated: "The police were totally disorganised. They didn't know how to do a case like this. They didn't have the structure to properly organise the evidence." After working for 75 hours per week on the Vallée case for over a year without any help, Legault had a nervous breakdown and lost the case. Crown Attorney Lucie Dufresne found herself in 1998 taking on five defence lawyers on

7973-490: The case of five Rockers charged with killing Jean-Marc Caissey of the Rock Machine. Dufresne said: "I asked for help and I was refused. This was a huge case with all sorts of proof, electronic wiretaps, an informant. And I was told, 'There's nobody available ' ". In the middle of the trial, Dufresne suffered what she called her "humiliating" nervous breakdown. Dufrense has not tried a case since 1998, saying: "I adore it, but I am not longer capable. You push and push and push until

8092-478: The club's leader. Boucher, who became an fully patched Hells Angel on 1 May 1987, became president of the Sorel chapter later that year. One of Boucher's friends was Guy Lepage, a former Montreal police officer dismissed from the force for associating with Mafiosi, who became his main contact with the Mafia . Boucher's defection to the Hells Angels resulted in a rift with Cazzetta, who had sworn against working with

8211-420: The conclusion that he was the one who planted the bomb that had killed Desrochers, and was now worried about a police crackdown (Steinert felt no guilt about the death of a child). Kane reported: "Since that day, Steinert no longer talked about the bombs he had ordered and never spoke again about using bombs. Steinert asked some of his crew what they thought of the bombing   ... When they told him they thought

8330-423: The control of the drug trade in Montreal began between the Hells Angels and the Rock Machine that would not end until 2002. The favorite weapon of both biker gangs was dynamite stolen from mines and construction sites. The use of dynamite came with a high risk of wounding or killing bystanders, as well as risk to those using it as a weapon. After Pelletier was killed, the independent drug dealers of Montreal formed

8449-416: The dealership were damaged. By October 1995, the police would list 30 murders committed in Montreal as being connected to the biker war. In response to the public outrage over the death of Desrochers, the federal, Quebec, and Montreal governments announced on 5 October 1995 the much vaunted Operation Carcajou, an elite joint task force consisting of the best detectives from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,

8568-558: The head half-way along the journey after pulling over on a remote rural road. Quesnel was a professional hit-man for the Trois-Rivières chapter of the Hells Angels who had murdered a drug dealer named Richard Jobin on 9 September 1993 to give himself the underworld reputation as a killer. In October 1993, Quesnel murdered another independent drug dealer, Martin Naud, by ramming a pair of scissors through one of his eyes and then used

8687-425: The house. Bouchard described the scene: "I walk in and they got a party going on in there. This was a sit-down supper, you know-booze and wine at $ 50 a bottle. Nobody's paying. And you're starting to think, what the fuck is going on here? Is this a protected bar? Ah, okay. So they never take down a Hells Angel or a Rock Machine or someone who's in the bar. They let him alone. That's not good". Bouchard also described

8806-481: The machine breaks. The vision here is always short term". Domingue told the journalists Julien Sher and William Marsden: "If you look at the rate or percentages of success in cases solved against the Hells Angels, I would say they kill with impunity. They have reasons to laugh at the law because they could do what they wanted but for the odd arrest here and there. We ended up being their best place to prosper. We didn't take them seriously enough". In Canada, belonging to

8925-400: The main source of information about the biker war from the Angels' perspective. Kane was leading a double life in more than one sense, as the ostensibly straight Kane was having a secret relationship with another Rocker, Aimé Simard . Kane mentioned to Verdon that one of the Angels, an American living in Montreal named Scott Steinert , was willing to do anything to win the war, and had gone on

9044-540: The men responsible for the Lennoxville massacre in 1986, was assigned to the Operation Carcajou squad as its legal counsel in 1995. Domingue stated that the Crown gave the Carcajou squad a budget of $ 5 million, but none for the Crown Attorneys, saying: "I was alone on a part-time basis. I was running around like mad and unable to do any decent work". Another Crown Attorney, François Legault, who prosecuted Hells Angel Richard Vallée in 1997, found himself handling

9163-469: The message that no-one who crossed the Angels were safe anywhere. Hinse was arrested by the Mexican police, but freed after a Mexican judge was bribed with some 700,000 Canadian dollars to dismiss the murder charges. On 30 January 1995, Jacques Ferland, a chemist who worked for the Rock Machine was murdered in Quebec City house, by the Hells Angels hitman Serge Qusnel. On 27 February 1995, Claude Cossette,

9282-546: The murder of Beaulieu. Pelletier's murder of Beaulieu was classified as second degree murder , despite the fact Beaulieu had fallen asleep after Pelletier got him drunk before he opened fire. Since the murder was premeditated, it should have been classified as a first degree murder . In his plea bargain struck in June 1996, Pelletier was sentenced to life imprisonment with a promise that he receive full parole after 10 years served, in exchange for which he shared all he knew about

9401-433: The murderer should be liquidated, Steinert didn't respond and became very pensive". According to Kane, Boucher and Steinert had discussed a plan to win over public opinion by killing one of their own in an especially brutal manner out of the hope that the public would blame the Rock Machine; Dubé who was a low level drug dealer working for the Angels was chosen as the one to be sacrificed. A RCMP report described Steinert as

9520-460: The outrage, little was done to stop the carnage as the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal , which has long been notorious as the most corrupt police force in Canada, preferred to take bribes from both biker gangs and look the other way. Those policemen unwilling to accept bribes from the bikers found themselves receiving death threats and their cars were torched by arsonists. In 1998, one policeman who worked undercover in Montreal complained it

9639-540: The person who pressed the button to have the bomb explode saw children across the street. There was no way he could not see the children across the street". Renaud Jomphe who was president of the Rock Machine Montreal chapter was interviewed and told reporter Michel Auger of the Journal de Montreal, that "we don't attack or target, and we certainly don't kill, children". He also stated the Hells Angels as

9758-526: The planned expansion of the Angels into Ontario, since he, together with national president Wolodumir "Walter the Nurget" Stadnick and Donald "Pup" Stockford were the only Anglos in the Quebec Angels' leadership. Neither Stadnick nor Stockford spoke French, and police wiretaps showed that when the leaders of the Angels met, interpreters were needed for them to participate. Carroll had spent two years in

9877-516: The premier Hells Angels chapter in Canada, but none dared to challenge Boucher. In the most notorious incident of guerre des motards , on 9 August 1995, a drug dealer named Marc Dubé was killed by a bomb planted in his jeep. Daniel Desrochers, an 11-year-old boy playing across the street, was also killed by debris from the explosion. Dubé was leaving the Hells Angels clubhouse in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighborhood of Montreal at

9996-413: The province in 1993. In Quebec, most of the illegal drugs were imported by the Mafia and distributed by the biker gangs to various street-level drug dealers. The journalist André Cédillot, an expert on biker gangs in Quebec, stated in an interview: "The Mafia were in charge of importation and the Hells Angels were the distributors. Internationally, the Mafia has a better reputation than Hells Angels because

10115-414: The restaurant, but a Montreal parking officer noticed the truck was parked illegally and had it towed, thus unknowingly foiling the plot. On 4 November 1994, Rock Machine member Daniel Bertrand, was shot dead while drinking in a Montreal bar. On 4 December 1994, another Rock Machine member, Bruno Bandiera, was killed when his bomb he was transporting in his car exploded prematurely. The Pelletier Clan and

10234-406: The scissors to cut his throat. In November 1994, Quesnel was permitted to join the Trois-Rivières chapter of the Hells Angels after the chapter president Louse "Mélou" Roy decided that he was the type of killer he wanted in his chapter. Roy told Quesnel he would be paid $ 500 per week and $ 10,000 every time he committed a murder, an offer that Quesnel promptly accepted. Quesnel's career as a hitman

10353-487: The senior ranks of the Montreal police was selling Boucher information, as Boucher had often boasted to him that he knew everything that police knew about him. Kane also told the RCMP that the Hells Angels paid double a policeman's weekly salary for information, and that much of the Montreal police were working for them, causing him to ask that RCMP should never share information with the Montreal police lest he be exposed. An additional problem with handling outlaw biker cases

10472-552: The son of Vito Rizzuto , in a bar fight, which led to a request from the Rizzuto family for Magnussen's murder. On 28 March 1997, Kane's lover, Rocker member Aimé Simard — stating he was acting under the orders of the Rocker president, a man known as Gregory "Pissaro" Wooley — murdered Rock Machine member Jean-Marc Caissy as he entered a Montreal arena to play hockey with his friends. After being arrested, Simard agreed to work for

10591-402: The stomach for this or have the necessary authority to actually commit crimes. The downside of this is that the attrition rate is high   ... However, those determined to wear the patch will   ... do as they are ordered and that's what makes these gangs so dangerous." The war began as the Hells Angels in Quebec began to make a push to establish a monopoly on street-level drug sales in

10710-499: The streets to collect footage of various targets. The funeral of Mafia boss Frank Cotroni's mother was recorded as Boucher wanted footage of the faces and the license plates of all who attended the funeral. He was planning to liquidate the Cotroni family once he was finished with the Rock Machine. Boucher approved of Steinert, whose work ethic contrasted strongly with Carroll who was a self-proclaimed "party animal". Kane mentioned to

10829-442: The summer of 1995. In 1996 the band's summer tour extended into the United States. The band suffered mishaps like a broken saxophone, multiple van breakdowns, and an issue at the border that prevented Travis from completing the tour. After a few more shows in Montreal the original lineup broke up, with Ceco, Andrew and Travis leaving the band. The Planet Smashers have continued, with Collyer and Cooper remaining as core members and

10948-613: The terms of his plea bargain, under which he promised not to commit any more crimes, when he was caught in 2002 attempting to bribe another prison inmate to kill a prisoner whom he disliked, allowing the Crown to revoke its agreement and Pelletier was not released in June 2006 as was promised 10 years earlier. Pelletier finally received full parole in December 2013 after he completed his high school equivalency degree, started attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and demonstrated an ability to get along with penitentiary staff. In January 1996,

11067-442: The time of his murder, and it remains unclear whether it was the Angels or the Rock Machine who planted the bomb. Kane, in his reports to Verdon mentioned that Steinert, whom he described as an arrogant and aggressive bully, was acting very strangely after the death of Desrochers. Kane described Steinert as acting very worried, and expressing the fear that he might finally have go to prison or be deported from Canada, which led Kane to

11186-564: The toll is staggering: 162 dead, scores wounded. The victims include an 11-year-old boy killed by shrapnel from one of the more than 80 bombs bikers planted around the province. Even the New York Mafia in its heyday never produced such carnage, or so terrorized civilians." The Hells Angels first entered Canada via a "patch over" of the Popeyes of Montreal on 5 December 1977, and subsequently established dominance in Quebec during

11305-481: The use of puppet clubs by the Hells Angels: "However, the paranoia that new recruits might be infiltrators from law enforcement or even journalists causes much angst around their selection. To try and avoid this, potential members are treated like shit and asked to perform various tasks to prove their worth. These are often degrading or illegal, the rationale being that a UC [undercover] cop or similar wouldn't have

11424-517: The venue soon became a recurrent stop for international touring artists, with Domenic Castelli frequently acting as host as well as promoter for many of the concerts held at the venue. Castelli's first concert was a late 1980s benefit for Montreal youth organisation Head & Hands featuring punk band the Ripcordz . But Domenic Castelli's first job was cleaning up after punk bands at Bar La Terrasse, before he began to book concerts there, and later at

11543-650: The warnings completely as a police provocation intended to turn him against his "brothers". In December 1995, Steinert purchased the mansion previously owned by the Lavigueur family in the 1980s, on Laval's expensive Île aux Pruches island (part of the Hochelaga Archipelago ), where he was married in the summer of 1996. A deportation order was served on Steinert, who was born in Milwaukee, ordering him to leave Canada by 14 November 1996, but his lawyer

11662-528: Was a turf war in Montreal , Quebec , Canada, lasting from 1994 to 2002, between the Quebec branch of the Hells Angels and the Rock Machine . The war left 162 people dead, including civilians. There were also 84 bombings and 130 cases of arson . In March 2002, American journalist Julian Rubinstein wrote about the biker war: "Considering how little attention the story has attracted outside Canada,

11781-588: Was a club and concert venue located at 30 Mont-Royal West in Montreal , Quebec , Canada in a neighbourhood known as Le Plateau-Mont-Royal . The venue, founded by Jacques Corbo, opened in 1992 and established itself as an important centre for underground music , Underground art and culture in Montreal. The site of the Jailhouse Rock Café initially housed, from 1920 to 1957, the Belmont Moving Picture Theatre. The building

11900-487: Was a member of the Dark Circle and later joined the Rock Machine. Rejecting the Angels' ultimatum, the Alliance launched a series of attacks against the Hells Angels beginning on 13 July 1994, when Death Riders member Pierre Daoust was shot dead by three Rock Machine associates while working in his motorcycle shop in Rivière-des-Prairies . The following day, Rockers member Normand "Norm" Robitaille survived

12019-400: Was able to void the deportation order, arguing that Steinert had just married a Canadian woman with whom he had a child, making it inhumane to send him back to the United States. Besides the marriage ceremony at Lavigueur mansion, Steinert also used the estate to make a pornographic film entitled The Babe Angel , starring himself and 9 of his prostitutes. In August 1996, Salvatore Cazzetta who

12138-541: Was accepted by the otherwise all-white Angels as he was their best killer. Wooley had founded a street gang of fellow Haitian immigrants, based in the north end of Montreal in the poor neighborhood of St. Michel where many Haitians lived, initially known as the Crack Down Posse (CDP), and was renamed the Syndicate in 1998. They wore blue gang colors that were closely modeled after the hats and clothing worn by

12257-418: Was agreed that the Pelletier Clan and the Rock Machine would provide the "muscle" while the Dark Circle would provide the financial backing. The Dark Circle's leadership was provided by a committee of five. The chairman was Michel Duclos, a Montreal schoolteacher who also owned a bar that was a front for laundering profits from the drug trade. In November 1994, a disgruntled member of the Rockers, Dany Kane ,

12376-506: Was an important part of the vibrant local ska scene that existed in Montreal in the mid-90s. The self-titled CD was recorded in spring 1995; because of a tight budget it was produced and recorded by the band in Dave's apartment on a 12 track tape recorder. This album includes favorites like "Pee in the Elevator" and "Janice". The band had its first cross-country tour promoting its release in

12495-538: Was being held in the Parthenais Detention Center prior to his extradition to the United States, was attacked and wounded by six other prisoners in a "jailhouse contract". On 18 October 1996, the president of the Rock Machine Montreal chapter, Renaud Jomphe alongside Christian Deschenes of the Rock Machine were shot and killed while eating in a Chinese restaurant in Verdun. The Rock Machine leader

12614-422: Was capable of providing the security. Likewise, the mayor of Quebec City, Jean-Paul L'Allier, wanted the Carcajou squad to take anti-biker activity in his city because he believed this would mean that the Quebec City police would not have to be involved and in this way he would save his city much money. The Royal Commission chaired by Justice Lawrence Poitras that was set up to examine the Sûreté du Québec after

12733-539: Was completely ineffective, owing to the poisoned relations between Quebec City and Ottawa during this period. Sergeant Gaetan St.Onge of the RCMP who served with the Carcajou squad stated: "Wolverine was a total circus. The SQ was jealous of the RCMP source [Kane]. They were always asking his name. The SQ used to give out the names of their sources all the time. They didn't care if they were blown. They treated them like dirt. At meetings they would just blurt their sources's name and expect everybody to keep it quiet". Typical of

12852-508: Was cut short when he was arrested on 1 April 1995, leading him to turn Crown's evidence in exchange for becoming eligible for parole after 12 years together with some $ 390,000 payment from the Crown. Roy was arrested and charged with murder, but acquitted in April 1997. On 24 June 1995, Boucher founded the Nomads, an elite chapter of the Angels, that unlike the other chapters, had no geographical limit and were to operate all over Canada. To join

12971-440: Was impossible to have charges filed against the bikers stick in court as judges, prosecutors, and jurors had all been bribed. Benoît Roberge, a senior detective with the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal in charge of stopping the guerre des motards , instead cultivated a close business relationship with a Hells Angels leader named René Charlebois, selling him information. Kane told his handlers in 1995 that somebody in

13090-400: Was not afraid of the bikers. Initially Bouchard described Carcajou as an impressively well-funded operation with the most modern equipment, but described the Sûreté du Québec detectives who were a part of Operation Carcajou as having questionable ethics. In a visit to Quebec City, Bouchard was taken by several Sûreté du Québec detectives to a restaurant where all the food and drinks were on

13209-470: Was promoted to president of the Quebec City chapter. The success of the Sensations escort service caused tensions with Carroll, whose Adventure escort service suffered as Steinert wanted all of the profits from prostitution for himself. Steinert founded what he called his Groupe de Cinq to take over all the bars and night clubs on Crescent Street in Montreal and branching out into Ontario to take over

13328-515: Was reformed in late 1993 by original members, Collyer and Munaretto. The two decided to introduce horns into the band and focus on ska. Travis Wilkinson (Trombone) was attracted to the band by a misleading poster that read "Its' your big break, goofball trombone player needed for ska band that's huge in Belgium with confirmed European tour." The other original members were Dave Cooper (Drums) and Andrew Skowronski (Tenor Saxophone). They practiced in

13447-496: Was released April 8, 2014 via Stomp Records. They released a video for the single "Tear It Up" featuring the members of the Montreal Roller Derby league. In 2016, The band took a small hiatus after Matt broke his neck. After a successful surgery by Dr. Carlo Santaguida, his paralysis in his strumming arm returned and he was able to fully return to touring. In 2019 their ninth studio album, Too Much Information ,

13566-416: Was released. This is the first album to feature keyboardist Patrizio McLelland and second album to feature trombonist Patrick Taylor. The band continues to tour Canada and plays sporadic dates in the United States with Andy McAdam filling in on bass for Dave Cooper. Eventually, Andy McAdam replaced long-time member Dave Cooper as the band's bassist. The Jailhouse Rock Cafe The Jailhouse Rock Cafe

13685-505: Was seated with fellow club members and Raymond Laureau in a booth at the rear of a Chinese restaurant known as Restaurant Kim Hoa, located on Wellington Street. A man entered the establishment and approached the table, fired several shots and fled out the rear of the building. Jomphe and Deschenes were killed, while Laureau was wounded in the shoulder. One of the Paradis Brothers, Peter Paradis , would succeed Jomphe as president of

13804-459: Was so antiquated that Crown Attorneys sometimes had to ask defence lawyers for information on the current jurisprudence. Crown Attorneys in Quebec had the lowest salaries for prosecutors in Canada, receiving half of what Crown Attorneys made in Ontario, and those who took on outlaw biker cases received no security for themselves or their families. Typically a single Crown Attorney would be assigned

13923-430: Was the biggest pimp in Montreal, owning the Sensations escort service, whose office in Montreal was destroyed in a case of arson in August 1996 by the Rock Machine. In mid 1996. Marcel Demers , who had been acting president of the Quebec City chapter created a second Rock Machine chapter in the city, it was located in the suburb of Beauport . With Demers becoming the president of the new Beauport chapter, Frédéric Faucher

14042-504: Was the state of the Crown Attorneys in Quebec. There were 84 Crown Attorneys (prosecutors) in Montreal who had four secretaries at their service, requiring the Crown Attorneys to do much of their paperwork themselves, leaving them little time to prepare for cases. Furthermore, until 2002, the Crown Attorneys in Quebec were not provided with computers, forcing them to write out their notes on typewriters or by hand, nor did they have access to online criminal databases. The law library in Montreal

14161-409: Was then home to a Greek restaurant (1960–1983) and later, Bar La Terrasse (1987–1992) before the Jailhouse's opening. The venue was founded by Jacques Corbo. In late 1993, Corbo eventually sold the Jailhouse to employee Greg Kitzler along with Ted N. and Damian H. In 1994, Kitzler hired Domenic Castelli as the main booker for the venue. However, in 1998, the young owners resigned themselves to reselling

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