GANGS TEST CANADA'S CIVILITY, POLICE SYSTEM

Hells Angels Among Warring Factions

The hit took place at 10 in the morning.

Two men in black walked up to a man unloading his car, pumped five
bullets into his back and fled. Michel Auger, the reporter who knew
too much about organized crime and put it all in the newspaper,
staggered but did not fall.

``I saw someone without a face and a ball of smoke near his belt,''
Auger said. ``I immediately knew that my work was the cause of the
pains in my back.'' He managed to call for help on his cell phone.

The bullets, which police say they believe were fired by a member of
the Hells Angels motorcycle gang, cut through Auger's body but missed
vital organs. He recovered and, in his newspaper, Le Journal de
Montreal, continues to chronicle a deadly and escalating gang war in
Canada, a country known more for its peacekeeping in foreign lands,
its civility at home and its general repulsion of violence.

Police don't claim to have gang violence under control. Giuliano
Zaccardelli, commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,
contends that the very fabric of Canadian society may be at stake. And
police can't explain why the upsurge is happening now, other than to
say that certain types of violence tend to appear in Canada about 10
years later than in the United States. Police are supporting
controversial amendments to the Criminal Code now before Parliament
that would make it illegal simply to be a member of a gang.

The gang battle pits the Hells Angels against a group called the Rock
Machine for control of drug distribution. In the middle, willing to
supply whichever gang is triumphant, are traditional organized-crime
groups that import drugs into Canada.

The violence has killed 157 people in Quebec since 1994, police say.
Gangs have allegedly intimidated farmers into growing marijuana, taken
over small-town drug markets, beaten up bar owners, killed two prison
guards and issued death threats against judges, police officers and
prosecutors.

By police count, about 105 full-time Angels are in Quebec, plus many
part-timers.

The gang does not respond to allegations that it's the cause of a
crime wave. ``They keep very quiet, they don't issue public
statements,'' said lawyer Daniele Roy, who represents 13 Angels on
trial in Quebec City on 162 charges that include kidnapping, assault
and drug offenses. They deny the charges.

Roy says authorities single out the gang unfairly. ``The Hells Angels
are the flavor of the moment,'' Roy said. ``You have the Italian
Mafia. You have Asian gangs in the West. You have the Warriors,
Indians who are controlling the drug market in Manitoba. . . . I do
not think the Hells Angels are any worse than any other group.''

Police say the government must get tougher. ``We're too nice in
Canada,'' said Andre Bouchard, commander of the Crimes Division in the
Montreal Urban Community Police. He said a former Sicilian Mafia
leader recently told Canadian Television that Canada was a ``preferred
place'' for the business of crime because police forces are small,
sentences are light and the prisons are ``like hotels.''

Bouchard is sitting in his office above a shopping mall. Only a glass
window separates the homicide squad from the shoppers below.
Frequently, a reputed Hells Angels leader named Maurice ``Mom''
Boucher, a well-dressed man who commutes to his office near another
police station, lunches with an entourage at the food court below,
Bouchard says. Police view that as a taunt.

``He thinks he's higher than God,'' said Bouchard. ``He thinks he can
run anything. . . . They took over Quebec. Now, they want Ontario.
They will start a war.''

Few of the killings that police blame on the Angels have resulted in
convictions. Since 1995, only three top members of the gang have been
charged with murder. None was convicted -- in part, police say,
because of leather-clad bikers who packed courtrooms and stared down
jurors.

Canadian law enforcement officials say stronger laws are needed. ``We
don't have real anti-gang legislation,'' said Louis Dionne, director
of the Quebec government's organized-crime unit. ``Real legislation
would criminalize participation in gangs,'' so authorities wouldn't
have to prove people had committed specific criminal acts.

The Criminal Code amendments also would allow authorities to seize the
property of criminal organizations. ``We want the judge to (be able
to) say, `You have a big house and all these cash investments, you
tell us where you get that money,' '' Dionne said.

Quebec police also want to replace jury trials with three-judge panels
for organized-crime cases. ``It scares 12 people to sit in a courtroom
with these bikers,'' Bouchard said. ``It is easier to protect three
judges than 12 jurors.''

Talk like this concerns many Canadians, who are proud of their open
legal system. It also concerns lawyer Roy, who argues that in its
enthusiasm to go after crime, the government shouldn't eliminate
rights that are considered the ``cornerstone'' of Canadian society.

``I'm not trying to pretend it is OK to commit a crime,'' she said.
But ``if you want to fight crime, fight crime -- don't change
society's principles. If you want to fight crime, give more money to
police officers and give better education.''