INFILTRATOR BRINGS DOWN HELLS CHAPTER

Two-Year Probe; 27 Arrested So Far In Trafficking Bust

They didn't know it at the time, but a truck the Hells Angels used to
promote their image in Ontario, even depicting it in their latest
calendar, was actually a police vehicle.

The truck was used by an undercover agent working for the Ontario
Provincial Police while he infiltrated the Hells Angels chapter in
Thunder Bay during a two-year investigation.

Gang members liked it so much they painted it up with traditional
symbols like their notorious winged skull logo. It is included in the
Ontario Hells Angels 2006 calendar, which the gang sells for $20
online and through various shops.

The investigation led to the arrest of five "full-patch" members of
the Hells Angels on Wednesday as the police dismantled a major drug
trafficking network.

That includes four members and a "hangaround" from the Thunder Bay
chapter, who face charges related to a network the police allege was
supplied with drugs from Quebec. The other Angel arrested Wednesday
was described by police as a full-patch member of the gang's chapter
based in Kingston.

"Historically, if we look at Thunder Bay and the north (of Ontario),
there is a strong tie to the Quebec Hells Angels and the distribution
of illicit drugs from Quebec to Ontario," said Detective-Inspector
Don Bell, unit commander of Ontario's Biker Enforcement Unit.

"The Hells Angels are not specific to one region. They are
transnational, their tentacles are far-reaching," Bell said.

"They utilize economies of scale and their partners throughout the
organized-crime world to further their gains."

Mario Minier, 42, and his younger brother Donald were among the four
Thunder Bay members arrested. They are francophones whom the police
have spotted in Quebec on several occasions meeting with Quebec-based
Angels. Another gang member, Julien Roussel, 48, has a criminal
record in northern Quebec dating back to the 1980s.

In all, 27 people have been arrested so far in northern Ontario,
Alberta and Quebec.

They face charges related to what police dub Project Husky, which
might have effectively shut down the Thunder Bay chapter.

According to the gang's international rules, a chapter must meet
certain requirements to keep its charter.

"To continue in its activities a chapter has to have six members that
are free of all judicial matters. When all of the members of the
chapter are incarcerated, it is frozen," said Guy Ouellette, a
retired Surete du Quebec investigator and the author of Mom, a book
about Quebec Hells Angels leader Maurice (Mom) Boucher.

"If only three are incarcerated and three are free, the chapter will
fall under the supervision of a member from another chapter."

Stephane Alphonse Thiffeault, 31, of Piedmont, was the only person
from Quebec arrested in Project Husky. According to a police source,
he has ties to the Hells Angels Montreal chapter.

During a press conference held in Thunder Bay yesterday, it was
revealed that police seized more than $2.3 million worth of drugs,
including cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy.

They also seized firearms, other prohibited weapons and stolen
property. An Ontario asset forfeiture unit seized recreational
vehicles and cash as the suspected proceeds of crime.

Supt. J.P. Levesque of the Thunder Bay police. said, "This
investigation should send a clear message to the community that just
because an individual wears an insignia of an organized crime group,
it doesn't make them untouchable."