HELLS INVADE ONTARIO

Quebec Gang 'Patches Over' Estimated 130 Bikers During Sorel Party

Quebec Hells Angels created their first Ontario chapters yesterday with
what police confirmed was a mass conversion of biker-gang members.

The initiation ceremony took place at the Hells Angels' bunker on Prince
St. in Sorel during a party attended by more than 300 motorcycle-gang
members from throughout Canada.

Police estimated that more than 130 members of Ontario-based outlaw gangs
were given patches identifying them as full-fledged members of one of the
world's most notorious criminal groups.

Surete du Quebec Sgt. Guy Ouellette said last night that several Ontario
gang members exited the party after 7:30 p.m., sporting Hells Angels
patches with Ontario bottom rockers. Ouellette said 10 new Ontario chapters
were created in one fell swoop, giving the Hells 181 chapters worldwide.
The Ontario Provincial Police is expected to call a press conference this
morning to discuss the development.

The bunker in Sorel, 75 kilometres northeast of Montreal, is home to the
Montreal chapter of the Hells Angels, the first chapter established in
Canada. It was chartered on Dec. 5, 1977.

Security was tight at the bunker, as gang members drove up in late-model
sports-utility vehicles while police officers from Ontario's and Quebec's
anti-biker-gang squads videotaped the arrivals.

Members of such puppet gangs as the Montreal-based Rockers and the
Sorel-based Rowdy Crew guarded the entrance to the fortress-like four-story
building, giving anyone they didn't recognize a cold stare.

Bruno Lefebvre, 31, a prospect member of the Nomads, the Hells Angels elite
chapter in Quebec, was busy at the bunker gate. (He faces an assault charge
in Montreal.) Another gang member handed out new cell phones to comrades
working security.

Several full-fledged members of the Nomads were in attendance, including
Rene (Balloon) Ouellette-Charlebois, 35, a convicted fraud artist. (Ginette
Reno sang at his wedding this year. Photographs of the event were
published in a crime tabloid and shocked many Quebecers.)

"What do you think, that we have a spokesman or something?" said one gang
member working security, when asked by a reporter whether the Hells were
initiating new members. "I don't know anything about new patches."

About an hour later, a van pulled up to the bunker. Two members hauled out
a heavy industrial sewing machine and carefully lugged it into the building.

The machine was expected to be given a long workout last night, as members
of relatively small Ontario-based gangs like the Satan's Choice and the
ParaDice Riders ditched their old colours and were expected to receive
their new red-and-white Hells patches.

Paul Brisebois, 29, a prospect member of the Nomads, was arrested at a
nearby hotel that had been completely booked by the Hells Angels and their
associates. Brisebois, who appeared to be arranging transport and
protection for full-patch members heading to the bunker, seemed shocked
when uniformed members of the Sorel-Tracy municipal police slapped
handcuffs on him. The biker was accused of violating a conditional release
from custody.

The mass conversion was part of what police theorize is the Hells Angels'
reaction to the entry into Canada this month of the Bandidos - one of a few
biker gangs that match the Hells in terms of worldwide membership.

The weekend gathering probably would have taken place earlier this month,
but police say it appears the Hells had to wait for the arrival of dozens
of their infamous patches - known as "Deathheads" - which are made
exclusively by gang members in Austria. Only a full-fledged member of the
gang can sport the Hells patch of a winged skull. Prospect members are
limited to wearing a patch identifying their gang's geographic location
until they are fully accepted as members.

The Bandidos patched over all five chapters of the Rock Machine - two in
Quebec and three in Ontario - awarding them probationary-member status this
month. That means the Hells Angels are facing increased competition for
turf on which to sell illicit drugs in both provinces.

Ontario Provincial Police Det.-Sgt. Stephen Rooke, a spokesman for the
Provincial Special Squad, said he and several other officers were willing
to wait all night in Sorel in hopes of catching a glimpse of Ontario
patches confirming that the Hells Angels have chartered chapters in that
province.

"We have been preparing for exactly this. The special squad was formed in
June of 1998 on the speculation that the Hells Angels were trying to get
into Ontario," Rooke said. "It is our opinion that a large number of the
outlaw motorcycle-gang members from the province of Ontario will be patched
over. We're here to confirm that."

Two weeks ago, the Hells Angels ignored their own rules and quickly patched
over a Manitoba gang whose members had been prospects for five months.
Usually, the Hells Angels wait a year before allowing members to wear the
Deathhead.

Last year in Germany, the Bandidos created several chapters almost
overnight and the Hells Angels responded by quickly patching over a
well-established gang called the Bones, creating more than 20 chapters.

Rooke said new members are being brought into the fold for two reasons.

"First, there is a lucrative drug trade in the province of Ontario, and the
Hells Angels want to control it. And secondly, at the beginning of December
the Rock Machine were patched over to become probationary Bandidos, which
announced to the Hells Angels that the Bandidos were attempting to take
control. And that possibly sped up any recruitment plan they had in process."

Rooke said the Hells Angels in Quebec have always had a presence in
Ontario. The gang's chapters in Trois-Rivieres and Sherbrooke have long
been alleged to have a strong influence on the illicit drug trade in
eastern and northern Ontario.

"Now they want a chapter," Rooke said.

But the Ontario police officer said he does not anticipate the same
violence experienced in Quebec, where nearly 160 homicides in the past six
years have been attributed to a war between the Hells Angels and the Rock
Machine.

The Satan's Choice members, who already had ties to the Hells, are believed
to have been completely patched over, giving the Hells Angels a presence in
such communities as Hamilton, Milton, Sudbury, Kitchener and Thunder Bay.

Rooke said there were 97 members of the Satan's Choice before last night's
party. Members of the gang were charged with detonating a bomb at a Sudbury
police station in 1996. No one was injured in the blast, which caused more
than $130,000 in damage.

It was unclear last night which Ontario gang would become Hells Angels in
Toronto, Canada's richest drug market. Members of the Toronto-based
ParaDice Riders were expected to be patched over last night. Members of
other Ontario gangs were also expected to be patched over, including the
Last Chance and the Lobos.

The Hells Angels also have chapters in Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Alberta,
British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

With Hells Angels leader Maurice (Mom) Boucher, 47, behind bars and
awaiting trial for the murder of two prison guards and the attempted murder
of another, police are eager to see who is behind the new developments.

It is believed two members of the Nomads, the elite chapter of which
Boucher is president, presided over the Ontario initiation. Richard (Bert)
Mayrand, 37 and Gilles (Trooper) Mathieu, 50, are apparently spearheading
the expansion into Ontario. Mathieu is said to be a respected adviser to
Boucher on Hells Angels matters. Mayrand remains a loyal member of the
gang, even though his brother was purged from it in 1985.