162
essentially sold itself. Smoked,
snorted, or injected, this synthetic
“upper” became the Hells Angels’
best-selling product. Its abuse
would reach near-epidemic
proportions across North America.
In spite of this, it was not drugs
but violence that caught the
attention of the law. A report byHELLS ANGELS
California’s attorney general had
singled out the Hells Angels for the
gang rape of a girl in Monterey by
club members. The report pushed
the club into the national spotlight,
as stories of their violent acts
circulated around the world.
One such notorious event took
place in 1969, when club members
were hired by the Rolling Stones as
security at the Altamont Speedway
Free Festival. The crowd was
rowdy, and 18-year-old concertgoer
Meredith Hunter drew a firearm
and twice attempted to climb on
stage. Hunter was fatally stabbed
by Hells Angel Alan Passaro.
Years later, Rolling Stones tour
manager Sam Cutler insisted that
the fans were so out of control that
without the Hells Angels, the
band would have been trampled.
Nevertheless, Altamont painted
a different picture of the Angels:
these men were dangerous outlaws.Their violence was not limited to
the US. Barger incorporated the
Popeyes motorcycle gang near
Montreal, Quebec, in 1977, starting
a new chapter. One of the founding
members was 30-year-old serial
killer Yves “Apache” Trudeau, who,
two years later, founded the Laval
“North” chapter in Quebec.Rivals and conflicts
The Laval chapter gained a bad
reputation for unparalleled use
of violence. Its members were
accused of taking the drugs they
were supposed to be selling, and
were also accused of cheating a
Nova Scotia chapter out of money.
Other chapters saw them as tooThe Hells Angels used extreme
violence at Altamont on 6 December- One Angel even knocked out
Marty Balin, a member of the band
Jefferson Airplane, during their set.
In the ’60s we got a lot of
publicity. It was all fun and
games. In the ’70s we all
became gangsters.
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163
wild, and wanted them gone. In
March 1985, five Laval Angels
were invited to a clubhouse in
Lennoxville, Quebec, by the
Sherbrooke chapter. When they
arrived, they were shot in the back
of the head and dumped in the
St Lawrence River. It became
known as the “LennoxvilleORGANIZED CRIME
Massacre”. The massacre further
cemented the Angels’ reputation as
violent – even by outlaw standards.
Still, this reputation did nothing to
slow the expansion of the club, or
to prevent future violence.
By 1994, under the leadership
of “Mom” Boucher, the Angels of
Montreal were fighting a bitter warwith a coalition of rival gangs for
control of narcotics distribution.
A similar conflict was fought in
Scandinavia, where the Great
Nordic Biker War saw the Hells
Angels face off against the
Bandidos MC and their allies in
a struggle for hegemony over the
northern European drug trade.
As a major crime syndicate, the
Hells Angels have amassed their
fair share of enemies. They have
notable rivalries with the three
other “big four” outlaw motorcycle
clubs: the Pagans, the Outlaws,
and the Bandidos MC. All four
clubs are on government watchlists
across the world. The Hells Angels,
however, are arguably the most
notorious, and the most often
associated with criminal
behaviour. Since its founding,
club members have been charged
with a broad spectrum of crimes- from drug trafficking, extortion,
and money laundering, to assault,
murder, and prostitution. ■
Joining the club
Each “branch” of the
Hells Angels is called a
“chapter”, distributed
across 53 countries over
six continents.Worldwide reach of the Hells Angels
“Mom” Boucher
Maurice“Mom” Boucher was
born into poverty on 21 June
1953, in Quebec, Canada. He
dropped out of high school to
join a white-supremacist
motorcycle gang, the SS, and
eventually became its leader.
Boucher joined the Hells Angels
of Montreal in 1987 after serving
40 months in prison for sexually
assaulting a 16-year-old girl.
Disgusted by the Hells
Angels’ Lennoxville massacre,
Boucher’s former SS friend,
Salvatore Cazzetta, formeda gang – The Rock Machine –
rather than join the Angels.
When Cazzetta was arrested in
1994 for attempting to import
11,000 kg (11 tons) of cocaine,
Boucher decided to monopolize
narcotics in Montreal.
The resulting Guerre des
motards (biker war) between
the Hells Angels and the Rock
Machine claimed the lives of
150 people. The conflict finally
ended in 2002, after Boucher
was convicted of ordering the
murders of two corrections
officers in a failed attempt to
intimidate prosecutors.20+ chapters
10–20 chapters
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