ARREST OF BIKERS IN FORMER ROCK MACHINE GANG DEALS BLOW TO QUEBEC BIKER WAR

QUEBEC (CP) - Quebec cops dealt a blow to the bloody biker war that
has raged in the province with the arrest Wednesday of two important
members of the gang formerly known as the Rock Machine. Fifteen
members of the gang, which joined the Texas-based Bandidos as a
probationary member Dec. 1, were arrested after 34 raids in the
Quebec City area.

The gang has been fighting rival Hells Angels for control of Quebec's
illegal drug trade.

The raids were the culmination of a year-long investigation aimed at
shutting down the gang's trafficking of cocaine, ecstasy and PCP.

Police said they arrested the former Rock machine's chief negotiator
Frederic Faucher and Marcel Demers, founder of the Quebec City
chapter of the gang They also said they arrested three of the gang's
main drug couriers, as well as two major lieutenants and some street
dealers.

"I think Mr. Faucher and Mr. Demers are the two members with the most
influence in the old Rock Machine," said Paul Laplante, a spokesman
for the joint police force which included the RCMP, Quebec provincial
police and several police forces from the Quebec City area.

"I think it (their arrest) will deal a heavy blow to the probationary
Bandidos of Quebec," Laplante told a news conference.

Faucher and Demers join Hells Angels leader Maurice (Mom) Boucher in
the group of biker kingpins who are now behind bars.

Boucher is in custody in a special unit of a women's prison in
Montreal that was built specifically for him at a cost of $1 million.
He's awaiting a re-trial of first-degree murder charges from 1997
involving the deaths of two prison guards.

Boucher was acquitted of the charges in 1998, but a three-judge panel
quashed the acquittal and Boucher was arrested in October. He is due
to appear in court Jan. 8.

Police said they are wary of becoming overconfident despite having
the leaders of Quebec's rival biker gangs in custody.

A turf war for control of the drug trade in Montreal and Quebec City
between the rival gangs has left at least 150 people dead in Quebec
since 1994.

"We can't claim to have stopped these types of activities entirely in
the area," said provincial police Sgt. Denis Alain.

The old Rock Machine holds three chapters in Ontario, with at least
one in Kingston and one in Toronto, and two in Quebec.

Laplante said he doesn't know what effect Wednesday's arrests will
have in Ontario.

"You're guess is as good as mine."

The 15 gang members arrested will be charged with drug trafficking
and conspiracy to traffic drugs, but Laplante said there will
probably be more charges once the Crown prosecutor has a chance to
review the evidence gathered Wednesday.

With the arrests, police say 20 out of 32 prominent members of the
Quebec City chapter of the former Rock Machine and 15 out of 27
Quebec City Hells Angels are now in jail.