MATTICKS PLEADS GUILTY, GETS 12 YEARS IN PRISON

This time, police did their job right. This time, Gerald Matticks is
staying in jail.

The man behind the most embarrassing moment in Quebec policing was
sentenced yesterday to 12 years in jail for being a major drug
supplier to the Hells Angels.

His guilty plea came after his trusted right-hand man - a former
vitamin-store owner who started out with Matticks by selling stolen
chickens - turned on him and talked to police.

So Matticks pleaded after getting an iron-clad guarantee from justice
officials that he won't be extradited to the United States to face
much longer sentences there, even though his drug shipments crossed
their soil.

The 62-year-old hood from tough and gritty Point St. Charles has spent
a lifetime submerged in the murky underworld of Montreal and
especially its port as part of the fabled West End Gang and the
Matticks clan.

Could Die Behind Bars

In court, a handcuffed Matticks only replied "yes" once when asked
whether he pleaded guilty. Then he sat back and watched his three
high-priced lawyers talk.

This sentence could mean Matticks will die behind bars. He has a
number of health problems, including diabetes, and his lawyers say
jails aren't well equipped to deal with him.

The gregarious man, who avoided any serious criminal record until now,
has instead developed a Robin Hood reputation. He is generous with
money for sports teams and his parish, and folklore has him driving a
truck through the Point at Christmas in his younger days while tossing
out dollar bills.

"Me, I call him Santa Claus," said Jean Lepine, a bathroom-accessory
merchant who witnessed Matticks's generosity with the poor and elderly
on the South Shore over decades. "He is not dressed up as one, but he
is better than a Santa Claus."

People who benefited from his largesse called him "Gerry" or "Big
Gerry."

Hells Angels kingpin Maurice (Mom) Boucher called him "Boeuf" - a
possible reference to his cattle ranch and wholesale-meat business.

SQ Planted Evidence

But Matticks was much better known by his last name, which became
infamous in the mid-1990s when the Surete du Quebec planted evidence
in a bumbling attempt to get his gang for big-time hashish smuggling
through the port.

The resulting scandal from the "Matticks Affair" turned the tables.
Matticks went free while the investigators faced charges and the
discredited provincial police force was the subject of an embarrassing
$30-million public inquiry.

When it came to business, Matticks was in the big time.

His lawyers admitted yesterday to sending seven shipments - a
staggering 33,000 kilograms of hash and 260 kilos of cocaine - through
Montreal's leaky port, which police knew Matticks and his clan had
controlled for decades.

His clan has done deals with both the Hells and their die-hard
enemies, the Rock Machine. As the biker war progressed and the toll
reached 160 dead, Matticks was called in to help stop the bloodshed.
By then, the Rock Machine had become the Bandidos, who sent a letter
asking Matticks to broker a peace. Such a peace did occur in the fall
of 2000.

Matticks was brought down as part of last year's gigantic police
operation against the Hells Angels. He was caught by police's thorough
infiltration of the "Nomads National Bank" - the name given by
prosecutors to the money side of the Hells drug empire.

The elite Nomads chapter, run by Mom Boucher, had centralized
operations so all affiliates had to buy cocaine and hashish through
them. Everything was kept so secret that many in the gang didn't know
the specific locations. But a member of the Rockers motorcycle gang
who was working undercover for police stumbled onto the spot while
acting as chauffeur for a top-level Nomad.

Dany Kane pointed police to apartments where drug buyers carted
bagloads of cash to pay for drugs they'd bought on credit from the
Hells.

To those same apartments went Elias Luis Lekkas, but not to deposit
money. He went every month to pick up sport bags crammed with $20s,
$50s and $100s - at least $500,000 at a time. He then drove to
Matticks's sprawling farm compound in La Prairie, and counted the
money with his boss.

Surete officers doing surveillance on the apartments followed Lekkas,
and realized they had run into their old nemesis.

The Surete refuses to say officially how it feels about finally
nabbing Matticks. But other sources say investigators are ecstatic.

Lekkas's cover was as a $475-a-week salesman at Matticks's meat
warehouse in Saint-Hubert.

He first met "Big Gerry" through son Donald, but it was the father who
became close to Lekkas, getting him at first to sell stolen chickens
to anyone interested. A container of clothing followed. From there, it
became hashish and coke.

The two men were arrested alongside about 100 others nabbed in a
monumental roundup of the Hells and their associates on March 28, 2001.

Police and prosecutors wanted Matticks so badly, they set up a special
scheme. They bugged the van that picked up both Matticks and Lekkas
that day to see whether they would incriminate themselves. An
undercover police officer, playing the role of an arrested biker, rode
along hoping to hear something incriminating.

But Matticks was too smart. He said nothing that could hurt him. His
weakness in the end became Lekkas, a 30-year-old with no prior
experience in jail or with tough crooks.

Lekkas found life hard away from his wife and children, stuck in a
special biker wing of Bordeaux Jail while awaiting trial. He was
surrounded by some of the most fearsome characters in the biker world.

Lekkas became convinced his life was in danger - especially because he
could incriminate Matticks. The special wing was fraught with paranoia
as everyone kept to themselves, worried about their neighbours.

Lekkas unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide. When he got back to the
wing, Matticks was cold to him, unconcerned about his welfare. Then,
Lekkas learned Matticks wanted him to take most of the rap, as the
evidence was strongest against him. The underling agreed until he
realized the prosecution was asking for 12 years.

So he tried to commit suicide again. This time it was faked - just a
way to be taken to the infirmary to call police.

Lekkas, in the end, got a seven-year sentence for his role. And he
told the cops everything.

He said Matticks was the main hashish supplier to the Nomads, and
their contact was biker Normand Robitaille. He enlightened police on
how the drugs were getting through Montreal's port.

He also said Mom Boucher's favourite nickname for Matticks was "Boeuf"
- - which became the code name used by the Nomads on computer
spreadsheets to identify Matticks.

Police already knew Matticks and Boucher had some sort of relationship
because surveillance had caught them holding meetings. And Matticks
was listed as holding the mortgage on Boucher's family compound in
Contrecoeur.

[sidebar]

Gerald Matticks, for the Record

July 4, 1940 - Gerald Matticks is born, the youngest of 14
children.

June 19, 1972 - Gerald Matticks and his brother John are acquitted of
attempting to murder a man whom they believed was informing Port of
Montreal police about their activities.

Nov. 1, 1979 - Gerald Matticks denies any criminal activity while
testifying at infamous public hearings into organized crime. But his
name is linked to the legendary West End Gang of crooks.

Nov. 12, 1979 - Matticks and two brothers are arrested after the
organized-crime hearings. They face charges of conspiracy to commit
theft, possession of stolen goods and perjury. All are acquitted. The
hearings end with the Mattickses being named as the heads of an
organized gang of truck hijackers.

June 8, 1992 - Matticks and his brother Richard plead guilty to
stealing a tractor-trailer full of suitcases. They are fined $10,000
and must serve 90 days in jail on weekends.

May 24, 1994 - Gerald and Richard Matticks are arrested, along with
five others, for importing 26.5 tonnes of hashish through the Port of
Montreal.

June 15, 1995 - A Quebec Court judge throws out the charges after
finding that Surete du Quebec officers planted evidence at a
warehouse. The debacle quickly becomes known as the Matticks Affair.
An internal investigation begins at the SQ.

Oct. 15, 1995 - Four SQ officers are charged with fabricating
evidence, perjury and obstructing justice in the Matticks Affair.

June 9, 1996 - A jury acquits the four SQ officers.

Oct. 18, 1996 - A public inquiry is ordered into the SQ after
allegations that high-ranking officers tried to thwart the internal
investigation into the Matticks Affair.

April 14, 1997 - A public inquiry headed by Lawrence Poitras, a former
chief justice of Quebec Superior Court, begins. It ends up costing $30
million.

Jan. 28, 1999 - Poitras makes public his recommendations about the SQ,
citing a law of silence and police solidarity to hush up misconduct.

March 28, 2001 - Gerald Matticks is arrested alongside more than 120
Hells Angels and drug dealers in the costliest investigation in Quebec
history. He faces charges of gangsterism and drug-trafficking.

July 16, 2001 - Matticks's right-hand man feigns suicide to turn
informant for the police.

Aug. 6, 2002 - Matticks pleads guilty and is sentenced to 12 years in
prison after having already spent 18 months denied bail.