The boss Raynald Desjardins still very close to the Hells Angels

The astonishing nomination of Jack Simpson within the Hells Angels organization suggests a solid strategic alliance between the bikers and one of the most influential figures in the Montreal mafia, Raynald Desjardins.

This is what several police sources from our Bureau of Investigation believe, who mention that his links with the Hells “protected” Desjardins in the long-standing conflict between the latter and the Rizzuto clan.

In 2021, police reports obtained by our Bureau of Investigation feared an unending war between the two mafia factions, considering it “very unlikely” that the Sicilian clan would be able to coexist peacefully with Desjardins.

The Laval resident, who celebrated his 71st birthday last week, has been on parole since the winter of 2023 after having served almost the entirety of a 14-year sentence for conspiracy to murder.

After escaping a shooting, Desjardins took revenge by planning the assassination of aspiring godfather Salvatore Montagna, fatally shot with three .357 Magnum caliber bullets, on November 24, 2011.

It is Jack Simpson, a loyal and faithful soldier of the kingpin Desjardins, whom the Sûreté du Québec identified as the alleged shooter in an investigation where the police had access to the text messages exchanged between the suspects.

Ambush

That morning, Montagna and Desjardins were to meet to resolve their differences. At 9:30 a.m., Simpson went to the Langelier metro station to pick up Montagna and lure him into an ambush.

Surveillance cameras made it possible to trace the white van driven by Simpson to his home on Île Vaudry, in Charlemagne.

At 10 a.m., a neighbor called 911 after hearing gunshots. Montagna had just fled Simpson’s residence by smashing the glass of the patio door and ran away towards the L’Assomption River. It was near the river that it collapsed.

Simpson was supposed to flee to Mexico, but he was captured before leaving, while hiding in Ottawa, four days after the murder.

“Are you in pain? Are you disappointed that he [Montagna] is he dead?” he spontaneously asked the investigator who arrested him.

Simpson pleaded guilty to conspiracy, as did Desjardins, and got off with a ten-year sentence.

Calabrian clan

Although Desjardins has notified the authorities of his “retirement” from the criminal world, the Laval resident is still considered by the authorities as one of the leaders of the Calabrian clan of the Montreal mafia.

He was the brother-in-law of former mafia number 2 Joe Di Maulo, who was shot and killed in the fall of 2012, allegedly for his lack of loyalty to former godfather Vito Rizzuto.

It’s not new that Desjardins has been doing business with the Hells. In 1993, the Quebec Hells helped him orchestrate an importation of 700 kg of cocaine from Venezuela.

However, the plot had gone wrong. The boat carrying the cargo experienced a rudder failure off the coast of Nova Scotia, prompting the crew to dump the sewer pipes in which the drugs were hidden to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

But the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were spying on the entire operation thanks to a mole. Desjardins was then sentenced to 15 years in penitentiary.

In the late 1980s, Jack Simpson was caught in New York State while transporting a large quantity of heroin, allegedly intended for the Montreal mafia. This earned him 11 years of incarceration.

Simpson was also among the guests at the wedding of Desjardins’ daughter, Vanessa, at the Le Mirage golf club in Terrebonne, on 1^er October 2011.