Vincent Boulanger, secretary of the Montreal Hells Angels chapter and one of the most influential bikers in Quebec according to police, was arrested early this morning, learned The Press.
Posted at 6:50 a.m.
Boulanger, 50, was apprehended around 5 a.m. after members of the Sûreté du Québec’s Tactical Intervention Group (GTI) broke into his residence in the Saint-Hubert borough, in Longueuil, on the Rive- South of Montreal.
Boulanger, who was alone in his condo when the helmeted police arrived, offered no resistance. He remained frozen when he left the building, handcuffed and escorted by an investigator. The biker was transported to the headquarters of the Sûreté du Québec, rue Parthenais in Montreal, for questioning. He will be charged with gangsterism, conspiracy and drug trafficking Tuesday afternoon at the Montreal courthouse.
According to our information, Boulanger is suspected of being the sponsor of a consortium of individuals called Fratrum, which is allegedly involved in various criminal activities, including drug trafficking networks in the regions of Saint-Jérôme, in the Laurentians, and Sherbrooke, in Estrie.
The biker would have collected rental taxes from drug trafficking territories and would have settled conflicts that arose during the police investigation initiated at the end of 2018.
In addition to Boulanger, ten other individuals should be arrested Tuesday in the Saint-Jérôme and Sherbrooke regions and charged with drug trafficking and other crimes.
200,000 conversations intercepted
During the investigation, dubbed Percuter and led by the National Organized Crime Squad (ENRCO), sleuths allegedly intercepted more than 200,000 wiretap sessions, according to a court document obtained by The Press.
Investigators also carried out around twenty searches, including one in December 2020, in a building on rue Hochelaga, in Montreal, where the Pro Gym fitness center was once located.
At the start of the investigation, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Boulanger would have regularly attended the Pro Gym where some of his associates and their spouses would have opened a beauty salon and a school of mixed martial arts also raided for suspicions money laundering.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
On December 3, 2020, investigators carried out a search of a beauty salon located behind the Pro Gym.
Another Hells Angels, Christian Ménard, a member of the Sherbrooke section, was vice-president of Pro Gym according to his Facebook page, and made a few public appearances to demand relaxation of sanitary measures at the height of the pandemic.
Boulanger’s condo had also been visited by investigators a year ago.
Tuesday’s arrests are also believed to be linked to a strike dubbed Renaissance carried out in October 2020 by the Saint-Jérôme police’s organized crime squad during which cocaine and other narcotics were seized in various quantities. .
According to our information, during the searches under investigation, the sleuths would have got their hands, in addition to drugs, on a large quantity of money and several clothes and objects bearing the effigy of the Hells Angels, including jackets .
SharQc and Kayaking
Vincent Boulanger is a former member of the Sherbrooke chapter who joined the ranks of the Montreal chapter in recent years.
His status as secretary ensures that he is in contact with the other sections of Quebec and Canada and would be particularly involved in financial matters.
Vincent Boulanger was arrested in the massive SharQc anti-biker roundup in 2009, but he was among the group of 31 individuals charged with drug trafficking who were released in May 2011 as Superior Court Judge James L. Brunton apprehended major unreasonable delays in holding mega-trials.
Two years later, Boulanger was arrested in an operation dubbed Kayak which targeted a narcotics trafficking network active in the Eastern Townships. He pleaded guilty to counts of conspiracy and drug trafficking, and was sentenced to 90 months in prison in December 2015.
Vincent Boulanger was part of a group of Hells Angels who found themselves in a restricted area around the arena during a boxing gala held at the Center Pierre-Charbonneau in Montreal in September 2019. The case had rebounded in a case before the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux.
Certain factors, including the pandemic, are said to explain why investigators are making the arrests three years after the Percuter investigation began.
ENRCO’s mandate is to attack the heads of organized crime in Quebec.
Members of the squad have arrested nine members of the Hells Angels since the squad began operations in 2018.
To reach Daniel Renaud, dial 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.