HELLS ANGELS CRACKDOWN INCLUDES B.C. CONNECTION

The largest operation against biker gangs in Canadian history reached out
to the West Coast Wednesday, with the arrest of a 41-year-old man in North
Vancouver.

Richard Gemme, 41, was allegedly an accountant for the Hells Angels biker gang.

After being picked up by police in North Vancouver, he was flown
immediately to Montreal.

Wednesday's crackdown on organized crime, led by the Quebec RCMP, ended
with the arrests of 138 alleged gang members in that province.

Besides Gemme, the only other out-of-Quebec arrest was of an alleged Hells
Angels member of the elite Nomads chapter. He lived in Hamilton, Ont.

Gemme had at least one police escort, who had arrived earlier from Quebec.

"I can't get into the specifics," RCMP Corporal Leo Monbourquette said of
Gemme's involvement with the gang. "He is believed to be the accountant for
the Hells Angels in Quebec."

Montreal police will reveal the charges facing the alleged Hells Angels
members at a press conference today.

More than 2,000 officers from the RCMP, Surete, Montreal Urban Community
police and more than 27 municipal forces took part in more than 280
searches and seizures that started at the crack of dawn. It was organized
by special regional task forces against outlaw biker gangs.

Wednesday's raids resulted in the seizure of seven homes and 50 vehicles,
including 15 motorcycles. And police put their hands on $7.5 million in cash.

Police believe the illegal drug supply will dry up with so many dealers
behind bars.

"We know that there will be a definite impact immediately on the
drug-trafficking situation in Quebec," said Monbourquette.

Police said traditional investigative techniques -- surveillance, wiretaps
and paid informants -- were used to compile evidence before the raids took
place.

Warrants targeted 42 key players, with numerous plots to assassinate
enemies since 1995, just after the bloody war began for control of Quebec's
illegal drug trade.

The warrants included Maurice Boucher, who is alleged to have
systematically ordered the deaths of top-level enemies in other drug gangs
over the past six years, not stopping even with his imprisonment.

The intended victims were members of the Rock Machine and its hit squad,
the Dark Circle. Also targeted for death were those in the Alliance, a
group of drug dealers that sided with the Rock Machine against the Hells
Angels.

Boucher and 41 other major players also face gangsterism charges that make
it illegal to belong to a criminal organization.

A special six-member team of prosecutors is taking care of the arrests.
They work for the newly formed proceeds-of-crime squad.

One prosecutor in the squad said it could be possible to put 42 people on
trial at the same time for the most serious charges.

"It will be an incredible logistical challenge," said Claude Girard, a
Quebec prosecutor.

McGill law professor Julius Grey said such a mass trial would be
impossible. Imagine a defence lawyer for each accused asking questions one
after another, he added.

The last mass trial of that size was following the Oka crisis.

Quebec's fight against biker gangs is not cheap. The province says it has
already spent $85 million on organized crime since 1995, and another $30
million is earmarked for special anti-biker squads in the next three years.

At a police briefing in Montreal Wednesday, officers were asked what it
would take to eradicate Quebec of the Hells Angels.

"An atomic bomb," Captain Michel Martin of the Surete du Quebec, replied
after thinking about it for a few seconds. "Although they'd probably still
come crawling back."