THE INFORMANT: THE DEALER'S EARLY LIFE

Meet Merv Monteith; a big, bald, brute of a man who has something
disarming about his personality.

He's easy to talk to. He's likeable. There are numerous tattoos
covering his hands and forearms; a mix of spiders, beetles and small
medallions are etched on each finger, covering up ruggedly drawn
prison tattoos that once formed the words "love" and "hate" when he
clinched both fists.

Monteith grew-up in Peterborough, mostly a product of the Children's
Aid Society. A vacation to Niagara Falls his parents took Oct. 14,
1962 negates his claim as a native.

"My mom was pregnant. I was actually born on the old Burlington
Skyway," he said. "The car was out of gas... and somebody rear-ended
them. Mom went into labour and I was born six-weeks premature."

His chaotic birth mirrored his life. He said he had a hostile domestic
life, a father who doubted his paternity and a mother who couldn't
cope raising him.

"My childhood was terrible," he said. "I was under the gun since I was
born."

Born with blond hair, a distinguishing quality that set him apart from
his four sisters, Monteith said his father never "took" to him.

"He accused my mother of cheating.

He never wanted anything to do with me."

His father left the family and in came a string of transient men as
his mother immersed herself in the party scene, Monteith recalled.

"There was men coming and going all the time. There was never a father
figure. As soon as you started to get to know somebody, they'd be
gone," he said.

For much of his early years, Monteith bounced from stints at home to a
revolving door of foster families.

"I just kept getting shoved in foster homes. I guess it was easier for
my mother to cope with girls than to have a boy."

Always an outsider, Monteith never developed a steady relationship
with any of his foster families, he said.

"I was certainly not made welcome in some of the places," he said.
"Foster parents back in those age, I think it was more about the
money. It sure wasn't because of the love of the children."

At the age of 10, Monteith was sent to a group home. While it was the
first steady arrangement he'd ever had and he has fond memories of
some of the staff members, others were less favourable to him, he said.

He remembers an incident when a frustrated worker brought him to a
nearby barn and shoved his face in cow manure.

Without any positive role models in his life, Monteith began getting
involved in petty crime at 16.

"I just didn't care. I was a troublemaker," he said. "I was in and out
of jail from 16 until I was 20. In and out. In and out."

Writing bad cheques was a quick fix for money that put him before the
courts, he recalled.

He landed in jail at 16, receiving six months for breaching his
probation conditions.

"I went right into an adult jail. They didn't have young offenders
back then," he said.

But far from deterring his criminal life, the role prison is supposed
to play, Monteith said he never had any qualms serving time.

"I never had a problem in jail. I never had a bad taste for jail. Jail
never scared me," he said. "I always knew how to handle myself."

At 19, Monteith was introduced to members of the local Satan's Choice
motorcycle gang who he said had a clubhouse on Parkhill Rd. East.

For a teen that never felt he belonged, Monteith had found a family
among the bikers.

"They kind of took me under their wing. I never had a father figure
growing up. I never had brothers. All of a sudden, here I had 500
brothers and they all liked me, they all wanted me around," he said.
"To me that was the cat's pyjamas back then, just to be wanted."

As an organized gang, there wasn't much organization among the Satan's
Choice members, Monteith said.

"All the chapter did in Peterborough was drink and fight," he said.
"None of the other chapters really had any respect for us. We weren't
allowed keys to any of the other clubhouses."

Beginning as a "hang around," Monteith climbed the gang hierarchy to
"striker" where he received his first patch.

"You have to run around and do their bidding, drive people here and
there. You go run and get booze. It's just basically a gofer," he explained.

It was during this time Monteith faced his biggest prison sentence
after getting caught up in a cheque writing scheme in London, Ont.

"I ended up getting 3 1/2 years," he said.

In addition to the long prison term, the Satan's Choice kicked him out
of the club for what they considered a foolish screw-up.

Monteith left prison at about 24 and says he went straight for several
years, dabbling in roofing and miscellaneous jobs, but the lure of
money would draw him back to crime at age 27.

Cocaine was about to hit the city in a big wave and Monteith was about
to catch a ride.