Biker Trials, The Read Online Free PDF Page A

and an informant.
    Months prior to his death, Kane had been taken on by Normand Robitaille to work as his chauffeur. He would drive Robitaille all over Montreal and the surrounding area, taking him to meetings with other members of the Hells Angels and occasionally, members of Montreal’s Mafia. He also took Robitaille to his squash games with other members of the Hells Angels. One day while he chauffeured Robitaille around, Kane was told of plans to apply the Hells Angels’ corporate strategy to a different type of business. The plan was to start linking all of Quebec’s pawn shops through a Web site where their products could be sold over the internet. Robitaille was going to be partners with Maurice (Mom) Boucher and Robert Savard, a notorious loan shark at the time. It sounded like a good idea as other online stores were attempting E-business around the same time. But the Hells Angels did not see themselves as the next Amazon.com. Instead, their plans, as Robitaille explained them to Kane, were to burn down the pawn shops of any owner whodid not want to get on board with them. A few weeks later, Robitaille told Kane the Hells Angels were serious about their plan and intended to send Kane and another man into Quebec’s pawn shops to test the waters. If anyone disagreed, others would be sent in to intimidate the owners.
    Robitaille had joined the Hells Angels organization as a Rocker in 1994. Four years later, at the age of 30, he became the youngest member of the Nomads chapter, joining members of the Hells Angels who were showing a lot of grey hair. He was about 20 years younger than members like Boucher and Stadnick and represented the future of the gang in Quebec. In the latter years of the biker war, Robitaille was often seen at Boucher’s side. He was also a constant presence at any important meeting the Hells Angels held with other criminal organizations during 2000. The new generation of Hells Angels was, for the most part, clean-cut men who took good care of themselves and worked out constantly. Gone was the beer gut associated with the image of a debauched biker who rides his Harley-Davidson for hours on end. In fact, some of the younger Hells Angels looked pretty awkward on the massive motorcycles which they were occasionally required to ride to abide by the gang’s international rules.
    Normand Robitaille appeared to be a quick learner. In 1995, during his time as a Rocker, he had taken part in an ill-planned extortion attempt that landed him in a federal penitentiary for a couple of years. A few years later, he joined a team of Rockers, along with Charlebois, who controlled drug traffic in the Hells Angels’ most profitable areas in Montreal. While Robitaille was under investigation in Project Rush, the police found documents in his suitcase that outlined a business plan to gather significant chunks of real estate. For this reason, the pawn shop idea likely made perfect sense to Robitaille. The Hells Angels had used the same strategy to take over significant areas of Quebec’s drug turf. Why couldn’t it be applied to another line of business, onealready filled with shady characters who were unlikely to call the police for help?
    It was the way the Hells Angels did things. And by the end of 2000, it all seemed to be working well.

1
The Peak
    They probably never saw it coming.
    The Hells Angels in Quebec had reached the peak of criminal arrogance by the freezing cold afternoon of December 29, 2000. As police watched, more than 300 men sporting leather jackets with gang patches were converging at a relaxed pace on an imposing, white, three-storey building on Prince Street in Sorel, a city less than a hour’s drive from Montreal. The building had served for years as a hangout and secure bunker for the first chapter of the already notorious gang, chartered in Canada on December 5, 1977.
    Inside the building, members of the Hells Angels from all over Quebec were enjoying one