ROUGH RIDE FOR JUSTICE

NEW CHAPTER IN HELL!

Hells Angels operating an expanding criminal empire across the country

MONTREAL -- Rough Ride for Justice is a national report by Sun Media on how
the growing strength of bike gangs in this country has forced officials to
try to change current anti-gang legislation.

The special 12-page pullout in today's Sunday Sun features articles from Sun
teams in Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, London, Montreal and Toronto.
Rough Ride for Justice shows the strength of the outlaw bikers across Canada
and how police and prosecutors are limited in fighting this force. Journal
de Montreal crime reporter Michel Auger, shot by a suspected bike gang
member in Montreal last year, launches the report with this column.

On Aug. 9, 1995, a bomb went off on Adam Street in east-end Montreal,
killing the first innocent victim of a biker war that began a year earlier.

Daniel Desrochers, 11, was killed by blast debris.

Until that happened, Quebecers weren't really interested in the war between
the Hells Angels and the Rock Machine.

Quebecers thought it was only gangsters killing each other.

Good riddance, they said.

But Desrochers' death pushed the Quebec police to launch a concerted effort
to fight biker crimes.

Still, the Hells Angels were able to set up a practically impenetrable and
indestructible network. There have been many criminal investigations
targeting them, but very few Hells Angels members have found themselves
behind bars.

Since 1995, 17 innocent people have been injured or killed by bikers.

I am one of those victims.

On Sept. 13, as I walked through the Journal de Montreal parking lot, a man
armed with a gun chose me as his target.

I survived the attempt on my life, even if I had five or six bullets hit me
in the back.

Even today, I don't know how many bullets I took. Police suspect the Hells
Angels were behind the attack.

Nobody would have predicted 25 years ago that the gang of young bikers who
hung out near Lafontaine Park in downtown Montreal would one day become one
of the strongest crime organizations in Canada, with international
influence.

On Dec. 5, 1977, the Hells Angels set up in Petite-Patrie, a working-class
Montreal neighbourhood.

But soon their clubhouse on Saint-Vallier Street received almost daily
municipal police visits. Police pressure was so great the bikers moved to
Sorel, where we can still find the Montreal chapter and the Canadian Angels'
mothership.

There are now 431 Hells Angels members in Canada.

Since last November, they have created 12 new chapters.

The Quebec Angels are considered among the most violent organized criminals
in the world. To date, Quebec police blame them for about 160 murders and 15
disappearances.

Will Hells Angels across the rest of the country follow in the footsteps of
their Quebec godfathers?

I hope not.