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Rockers Motor Club

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Rockers MC
FoundedMarch 26, 1992[1]
FounderMaurice Boucher[2]
Founding locationMontreal, Quebec, Canada
Years active1992–2001[3]
TerritoryPractically exclusive to Quebec with some reported activity in North British Columbia[4]
EthnicityMostly Quebeckers and Francophone Canadians
Leader(s)
ActivitiesDrug trafficking, assault, intimidation, protection and murder
Allies
Rivals
Notable members

The Rockers Motor Club, often abbreviated as the Rockers MC, was a Canadian outlaw biker gang and support club for the larger Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.[21]

Lasting from 1992 until 2001, the group played a significant role in the ill-famed Quebec Biker War.[22] Acting not only as a recruitment tool to test the competence of bikers wanting to become Hells Angels, the Rockers Motor Club was also utilized to carry out numerous unlawful objectives of the Angels which included intimidation, violent assaults, and assassinations of their rivals in an effort to help the ladder obtain total control over the nation's illegal drug trade.[21][23]

Prior to the formation of the Angels-affiliated Rockers Motor Club in the early 1990s, another biker gang had coincidentally existed in the same area known as the Montreal Rockers Motorcycle Club, also nicknamed "the Rockers". This particular group emerged as a supporter club for the Montreal chapter of the Outlaws MC before eventually working its way up to become their second chapter within the city in 1978.[24]

History

[edit]

The Rockers MC was first set up in March 26 of 1992 by then-President of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) Montreal charter, Maurice "Mom" Boucher. It was during this time in Quebec that several organized crime entities were competing for drug turf across the French-speaking province. The Hells Angels MC, being among one of such prominent players in the criminal underworld, were challenged by a rivaling outlaw motorcycle gang, Rock Machine. Territory of the Hells Angels and Rock Machine began to overlap with one another which incited much conflict between the two before a large-scale gang war broke in 1994.

The Rockers were officially established a couple years before the Quebec Biker War began by high-ranking Hells Angels crime boss Mom Boucher. The aim of the club's creation was to provide more manpower and follower who were willing to commit crimes in order to become Hells Angels. In addition, the club was also setup as a means to distance the Hells Angels from unwanted police attention that would especially come from "street-level" crimes, and - thus, were often called upon to carry out HAMC's so-called "dirty work".[25][26] Several other Hells Angels supporter motorcycle clubs were established for this same purpose around and after this time including the Damners MC, Demon Keepers MC, Evil Ones MC, Jackels MC, Jokers MC, Mercenaries MC and the Rowdy Crew MC.[27][28] The Rockers were different from any other of the said HAMC puppet clubs, however, as they acted exclusively as the group's enforcement arm.

When settings up the Rockers, Maurice Boucher hand-picked his ambitious Haitian-Canadian protégé Gregory "Picasso" Woolley to shepherd the outlaw biker club.[29] Woolley, an up-and-coming crime boss who got his start as an early member of the small-time Crack Down Posse street gang, had already worked alongside the Hells Angels as Maurice Boucher's bodyguard and earned his reputation after successfully forging an alliance between HAMC and the influential Italian-Canadian Rizzuto crime family (as well as several of the area's local street gangs) to manage Greater Montreal's illicit drug market.[30][31] Woolley would shortly go on to form The Syndicate in 1998, another criminal organization to collaborate jointly with the Angels.[31][5]

As a support club (synonymously referred to by police as "puppet clubs"), the Rockers MC operated under the discretion of the Hells Angels, most notably its Quebec Nomads chapter which consisted of Canada's most reputable and high-ranking members.[32][33] In the context of law enforcement, "supporter" motorcycle gangs like the Rockers Motor Club act as auxiliary organizations to their dominant affiliated gang and, like in the case of the Rockers, may be used to help them facilitate various criminal activities.[34][35][36]

During the year of 1995, Anglo-Canadian Hells Angels MC leader and Nomad chapter member Walter "Nurget" Stadnick instructed the Rockers Motor Club to found an auxiliary outlaw motorcycle club of their own which would be based out of out west in Winnipeg, Manitoba.[37] The resulting one-percenter supporter club that came about was the Redliners, which Stadnick plan ned to oppose two of Western Canada's dominant biker gangs: the Los Brovos and the Spartans MC.[38][39][10]

One of the most notable members of the Rockers was Dany Kane, a criminal from Montérégie who would later become a police informant for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Sûreté du Québec.[40]

While a member of the Rockers, Dany Kane would later come into contact with a small-time crook named Aimé "Ace" Simard via a gay online dating service.[41] Unbeknownst to friends or acquaintances of either two, they engaged in a bisexual relationship with one other.[42] Kane would eventually sponsor Simard into the ranks of Rockers MC. As a newly initiated member, Simard committed his first serious crime for them in early February 1997 after he shot and seriously wounded a drug dealer who had owed money to the club along with his girlfriend who was also present at the scene of the attack. Not long after, Aime Simard and Dany Kane traveled to Halifax, Nova Scotia on orders of high-ranking Hells Angels street lieutenant David "Wolf" Carroll to eliminate a drug dealing businessman named Robert "Bob" MacFarlane who had owed a financial debt to the Hells Angels. When the pair made their way into the province on February 27, 1997, Kane and Simard tracked down and confronted MacFarlane at an Industrial Park, who attempted to flee when they approached him. Before long, MacFarlane was gunned down by Aime Simard - marking the very first murder he had carried out for the club. To reward his success, the Rockers Motor Club granted Simard a spot on their crew of assassins (comedically referred to as their "football team").[16]

In amidst of the war with Rock Machine, Rockers MC biker Paul "Fon Fon" Fontaine, along with an accomplice, murdered provincial prison guard Pierre Rondeau and nearly killed Rondeau's colleague, Robert Corriveau on Sept. 8, 1997. The attack was ordered by Maurice Boucher in an attempt to destabilize the Quebec justice system and frighten police informants who were either members or associates of HAMC. Fontaine was successfully awarded with membership into the Hells Angels MC Quebec Nomads chapter for this act.[17][43]

In response to the targeted murder of senior Hells Angel Normand Hamel on April 17, 2000, by Rock Machine MC members, a longstanding HAMC-affiliated outlaw motorcycle club based in Laval, Quebec known as the Death Riders MC assimilated into a new chapter of the Rockers Motor Club which became known as Rockers MC North.[44] Acting on behalf of the Hells Angels, this newly-formed support charter oversaw the drug trade in Laval as well as the lower Laurentides region in Southwestern Quebec.[7]

Dissolution and legacy

[edit]

There is wide speculation amongst journalists and law enforcement alike that much of the gang-related homicides that occurred during the notorious Quebec Biker War were committed by bikers who belonged to the Rockers Motor Club. It is alleged that nearly all of such individuals had been driven by the desire to "prove their worth" to the Hells Angels MC - hoping to be admitted as "full-patch" members.[45]

The majority of Rockers MC members were arrested by the Quebec authorities in 2001 following a massive law enforcement crackdown involving the RCMP, Sûreté du Québec, Ontario Provincial Police and the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal known as "Operation Springtime".[citation needed] This, in turn, caused the gang to disband for good.[citation needed]

In 1998, gang hitman Aime Simard testified against five Rockers MC bikers before he was sentenced to life imprisonment on three counts of second-degree murder along with other criminal offenses. Several years later, he was founded stabbed to death in his prison cell on July 18, 2003, while incarcerated at Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert.[46][47][48]

Rockers member Dany Kane committed suicide in his garage though the use of carbon monoxide gasses from his car's exhaust system in August 2000.[49][40]

List of Rockers MC members

[edit]
  • Gregory "Picasso" Woolley
  • Jean-Guy Bourgouin[50]
  • Dany "Dany Boy" Kane
  • Aimé "Ace" Simard
  • Stéphane "Godasse" Gagné
  • Francis Boucher[51]
  • Sébastien "Bass" Beauchamp — Joined up with the Rockers in 1997 and became a full-patch member in 2000. Received a seven-year prison sentence following Operation Springtime. Fatally shot in December 2018 by freelance contract killer Frédérick Silva.[52][19]
  • Robert Johnson[53][54]
  • Stéphane Sirois[55]
  • René "Balloune" Charlebois[25]
  • Serge "Pacha" Boutin[56]
  • Normand "Norm" Robitaille[25]
  • Kenny Bedard[57]
  • Daniel Lanthier[58]
  • Guillaume "Mimo" Serra[59]
  • Pierre "Pépé" Provencher[60]
  • Sylvain Laplante[61]
  • Normand "Pluche" Bélanger[61]
  • Paul "Schtrompf" Brisebois[61]
  • Pierre "Peanut" Laurin[62]
  • Stephen Falls[63]
  • Bruno Lefebvre — Sentenced to 11 years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder, drug trafficking and gangsterism following Operation Springtime. Assassinated in 2013.[64]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Rockers Montreal Chapter".
  2. ^ a b "Maurice 'Mom' Boucher, former Hells Angels boss, dies in prison from cancer". Globalnews.ca. July 10, 2022.
  3. ^ "Picture-Perfect Ending: Canadian Underworld Chief "Picasso" Woolley Walks Free from Prison". The Gangster Report. 11 November 2020.
  4. ^ "R. v. Lindsay | Jun 30, 2005". www.incjournal.com.
  5. ^ a b c "The Quebec Biker War Timeline: Murder & Mayhem in Montreal in Fight for Biker Kingdom". The Gangster Report. December 2018.
  6. ^ "The former vice-president of the Rockers was arrested for firearm possession". Toronto Star. 17 August 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Death Riders: The Grim Reapers of Laval". AmericanMafia.com.
  8. ^ "Quebec's biker war started 25 years ago today". Biker News. 13 July 2019.
  9. ^ Cherry, Paul (Apr 22, 2022). "Man pleads guilty to being accessory after the fact to murder in C.D.N.-N.D.G." Montreal Gazette.
  10. ^ a b "Biker war vigilance urged by Winnipeg police". CBC News. Jul 15, 2011.
  11. ^ "Suspected Hells Angel arrested in Hub assault". Boston Herald. 19 November 2008.
  12. ^ Cherry, Paul (Jul 13, 2019). "Quebec's biker war started 25 years ago today". Montreal Gazette.
  13. ^ Turner, James (Apr 4, 2013). "'Elite' bikers from outside Manitoba mixed up in Project Dilemma sting". Winnipeg Sun.
  14. ^ Cherry, Paul (5 January 2006). The Biker Trials: Bringing Down the Hells Angels. ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-55490-250-7.
  15. ^ Winterhalder, Edward; de Clercq, Wil (Apr 30, 2023). The Assimilation: Rock Machine Become Bandidos - Bikers United Against the Hells Angels. Blockhead City. ISBN 9780989999762.
  16. ^ a b "Bisexual biker hit men helped bust the Hells Angels". The Globe and Mail. 26 May 2001.
  17. ^ a b Cherry, Paul (Dec 28, 2014). "'Mom' Boucher's boys: Where are the Nomads now?". Montreal Gazette.
  18. ^ "Paul "Fon Fon" Fontaine".
  19. ^ a b Cherry, Paul (Dec 21, 2018). "Slain biker's life had a rough start, violent ending in St-Léonard". Montreal Gazette.
  20. ^ "Bernier's ex dined in 2006 with loan shark tied to bikers". CBC News. Jun 5, 2008.
  21. ^ a b "Man who is alleged to be a middleman between Montreal Mafia and Hells Angels denied parole". Biker News. 26 May 2020.
  22. ^ "Hells Angels vs. The Rock Machine: The War in Quebec". Office of Justice Programs. 1999.
  23. ^ Lejtenyi, Patrick (27 October 2016). "How the Hells Angels Conquered Canada". Vice.
  24. ^ Lavigne, Yves (1993). Hell's Angels: "Three Can Keep a Secret if Two Are Dead". Lyle Stuart. ISBN 978-0-8184-0514-3.
  25. ^ a b c Solyom, Catherine (Sep 12, 2003). "Montreal Hells Angels Guilty". Montreal Gazette – via Prime Time Crime.
  26. ^ Lavigne, Yves (1999). Hells Angels at War. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-200024-6.
  27. ^ "East Coast drug ring busted by series of raids, RCMP says". The Globe and Mail. 28 February 2002.
  28. ^ Sher, Julian; Marsden, William (11 June 2010). The Road to Hell: How the Biker Gangs are Conquering Canada. Knopf Canada. ISBN 978-0-307-36586-6.
  29. ^ Cherry, Paul (May 24, 2020). "Man who had ties to Mafia, Hells Angels denied parole". Montreal Gazette.
  30. ^ Beaudin, Monique (Dec 30, 2019). "Timeline: A decade of deadly Mob instability, Hells arrests, corruption". Montreal Gazette.
  31. ^ a b "Kingpin Gregory Woolley must be on his guard". The Canadian News. 28 May 2022.
  32. ^ Caine, Alex (27 October 2009). The Fat Mexican: The Bloody Rise of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club. Random House of Canada. ISBN 978-0-307-37276-5.
  33. ^ "One of the most powerful Hells Angels in Quebec told he can't sell real estate until sentence expires". National Post. Jan 5, 2016.
  34. ^ "10 Notorious Motorcycle Gangs". HowStuffWorks. 6 June 2011.
  35. ^ Barker, Tom (2005). "One percent bikers clubs: A description". Trends in Organized Crime. 9: 101–112. doi:10.1007/s12117-005-1005-0. S2CID 144003167.
  36. ^ Bolan, Kim (Jul 22, 2018). "Police concerned about rise of Hells Angels puppet clubs". Vancouver Sun.
  37. ^ Caine, Alex (2 August 2011). The Fat Mexican. ReadHowYouWant.com. ISBN 978-1-4596-2480-1.
  38. ^ "CN MB: Bad to the Bone". Rave.ca. 2002-06-23.
  39. ^ "Reorganized crime". The Globe and Mail. 26 September 2008.
  40. ^ a b "The mark of Kane". The Globe and Mail. 9 April 2005.
  41. ^ "Danny "Danny Boy" Kane".
  42. ^ Borden, Sherri (8 Apr 2004). "CC: CN NS: Wilson Admits Ordering Murders". Halifax Herald Nova Scotia – via Cannabis Culture.
  43. ^ "Witnesses recall fatal guard shooting at Hells Angels trial". CBC News. Oct 10, 2008.
  44. ^ "The Death Riders/Rockers North".
  45. ^ Cherry, Paul (5 January 2006). The Biker Trials: Bringing Down the Hells Angels. ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-55490-250-7.
  46. ^ "Hells Angels informer dies in jail". The Globe and Mail. 22 July 2003.
  47. ^ "Inmate's death raises alarm over prison violence". CBC News. Feb 9, 2004.
  48. ^ "Crown argues Sask. Inmate killed biker snitch to impress Hells Angels". SaltWire. Dec 30, 2009.
  49. ^ "Quebec death linked to NS". CBC News. Aug 11, 2000.
  50. ^ "Proche des Hells Angels tué au Mexique : Qui était Samy Tamouro?". TVA Nouvelles. 13 December 2023.
  51. ^ "BAnQ numérique".
  52. ^ "Arrested for the murder of a former Hells Angels relative". 27 February 2019.
  53. ^ "The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada". 11 April 1997.
  54. ^ "BAnQ numérique".
  55. ^ "Woman who dated Bernier had links to biker gang". The Globe and Mail. 8 May 2008.
  56. ^ Cherry, Paul (Feb 27, 2015). "Hells Angel underling who turned informant granted parole after security risk". Montreal Gazette.
  57. ^ Cherry, Paul (5 January 2006). The Biker Trials: Bringing Down the Hells Angels. ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-55490-250-7.
  58. ^ "Minister gives bikers chance to defend themselves". CBC News. Jun 15, 2001.
  59. ^ "GUILLAUME "MIMO" SERRA Ex-prospect des Hells Angels Nomads 55 ans". Le Journal de Quebec (in French). 27 Mar 2021 – via PressReader.
  60. ^ "PIERRE "PÉPÉ" PROVENCHER Ex-membre des Rockers 71 ans". Le Journal de Quebec (in French) – via PressReader.
  61. ^ a b c Myles, Brian (6 June 2002). "Les Rockers - les Nomads ne faisaient plus confiance à la bande d'indisciplinés". Le Devoir (in French).
  62. ^ "Unexpected end to Hells Angels mega-trial". CBC News. Sep 11, 2003.
  63. ^ "Un influent Rockers reste en prison". 11 January 2010.
  64. ^ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/former-gang-member-shot-inside-outremont-business-1.1321367
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