HELLS CRIPPLED

Massive Quebec raid nabs 40 bikers

MONTREAL -- Hells Angels drug dealers have been thrown into disarray after
raids yesterday struck at their lucrative operations in the Montreal area,
police said. Forty bikers were arrested in the sweep by mid-afternoon as
raids continued. They were to be arraigned on charges including gangsterism,
conspiracy and drug trafficking.

When police task force officers backed by tactical teams and a battering-ram
equipped armoured car fanned out in 33 cities and towns early yesterday,
three years after massive raids from which the bikers were just starting to
recover.

"They were getting back on track," said Const. Pierre Chouinard said of the
Hells Angels.

'TAKING OVER'

"They were taking over pretty well what they had before," said Chouinard, a
spokesman for a police anti-biker squad grouping Quebec provincial,
municipal and RCMP officers.

"They were starting to eliminate the small pushers again. From what I know,
we stopped them dead in their tracks."

Among the arrested were 12 full-patch members of the Hells South chapter,
three Hells from Montreal, one member of the Rockers puppet club and four
Evil Ones.

The raids were a culmination of a 30-month investigation. About 400 police
took part.

One of the places hit was the South chapter clubhouse in St-Basile-le-Grand,
east of Montreal, one of three main Hells clubhouses in Quebec.

The South chapter allegedly ran drug operations in Montreal and on the
island's north and south shores.

VICIOUS WAR

"When we arrested the (Hells) Nomads, it's certain that a void was created
in the drug trade," Chouinard said.

"We knew somebody had to take over that void and the South chapter of the
Hells Angels was the designated group."

The ruthless Nomads, led by Maurice (Mom) Boucher, were the generals in the
vicious seven-year war over Montreal's lucrative drug turf.

Most of the chapter was arrested in the Operation Springtime 2001 raids.
Boucher is serving a life sentence for his part in the slayings of two
prison guards.