38 ARRESTED IN DRUG RAID APPEAR FOR BAIL HEARINGS

22 Released, 16 Ordered Into Custody. Biker Gang Expert Warns Roundup
Has Created 'A Real Void' In Drug World That Groups Will Try To Fill

PAUL CHERRY, The Gazette

The reputed head of a street gang alleged to have controlled drug
trafficking in Montreal for the Hells Angels made his first court
appearance yesterday after a massive police roundup.

Dany (Lou) Cadet-Sprinces, 35, was among 16 people ordered held in
custody for a future bail hearing after appearing before Quebec Court
Judge Claude Parent. Twenty-two other men and women were released
after agreeing to bail or bonds that ranged from $2,000 to $20,000.

All of those released also had to agree to a series of conditions,
including that they not communicate with an informant the police used
to investigate the network.

A publication ban has been placed on the person's identity.

All 38 were arrested Tuesday in a crackdown on a Hells Angels drug
trafficking network.

Cadet-Sprinces is alleged by police to be the head of the Syndicate,
a street gang created by Hells Angels underling Gregory Wooley more
than five years ago. Wooley has been behind bars since 2000. He is
serving a sentence for drug trafficking and conspiracy to commit
murder, crimes he committed for the Hells Angels during the biker war
of the 1990s.

Wearing a dark blue sweater with white stripes, the goateed
Cadet-Sprinces appeared at ease in the prisoner's dock. He joked with
his lawyer before learning his bail hearing won't be scheduled until
after May 26.

Five other members of the Syndicate will also be held in custody
until their bail hearings.

A man who was not arrested or charged after Tuesday's police raid was
Emmanuel Zephir, 33, described by police sources as a "rising star"
in the Syndicate in a story The Gazette published in March.

Guy Ouellette, a retired Surete du Quebec investigator and an expert
on biker gangs, said yesterday he wouldn't be surprised to see Zephir
- - already an influential street gang leader in 2000 when he was
sentenced to five years and four months in prison for manslaughter -
take over what is left of the Syndicate. Police estimates put the
gang's membership at about a dozen, including those arrested Tuesday.
Zephir was released from prison in January.

Ouellette cautioned that Tuesday's arrests have "created a real void"
in the city's drug-trafficking turf and recommended police be
vigilant in monitoring the organized crime groups that might try to step in.

At a news conference Tuesday, Commander Didier Deramond, the head of
Montreal's Regional Integrated Squad, said the Syndicate controlled
drug trafficking in the downtown core and parts of western Montreal
for the Hells Angels. The squad is a joint police unit that targets
outlaw motorcycle gangs.

Andre (Frise) Sauvageau, 46, the only member of the Hells Angels to
appear in court yesterday, is charged with conspiring to traffic
drugs with Cadet-Sprinces and the other Syndicate members between
January 2002 and May of this year.

Stephane Trudel, 40, another Hells Angel charged with being part of
the conspiracy, was expected to turn himself in yesterday but did not
appear in court.

A spokesperson for the Surete du Quebec said they are still looking
for the gang member.