To avoid starting another bloody war, the Hells Angels break with their habits and try to resolve through negotiation the violent conflict which pits them against traffickers in the National Capital.
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The members of the ruthless gang involved in the biker war, which left 165 dead in Quebec between 1994 and 2002, have in fact entered into talks with rebel traffickers from a group led by the young kingpin Dave “Pic” Turmel , our Bureau of Investigation learned.
The latter have been refusing for a year to pay the Hells royalties of 10% of their sales – commonly called a “tax” or “rent” in the underworld – as has become the rule within this environment for more than ten years.
Even though they are renowned for reigning supreme over the drug market in Quebec, the Hells have accepted without much retaliation the repeated attacks of which they have been the targets in connection with this feud in recent months.
Low profile
According to our information, the Hells want to stay low profile and prevent this conflict from degenerating into open war which could spread elsewhere, such as in Montreal where recalcitrant traffickers have links with the fearsome Profit Boys street gang.
In addition, our sources believe that the fifteen members of the Hells from the Quebec chapter, all of whom have regained their freedom in recent years after having served long incarceration sentences for their role in the murderous war they waged on the Rock Machine in the late 90s, would not be inclined to risk prison again by getting involved in another armed battle.
“Family photo” of bikers from the Quebec chapter, in Percé, in Gaspésie, in 2009.
Courtesy
“They are more on the axis of negotiation to try to find agreements, rather than going towards violence.”
“THE [motards] have learned a lot of things in recent years and they are more on the axis of negotiation to try to find agreements, rather than going towards violence,” declared chief inspector Michel Patenaude, director of criminal investigations at the Sûreté du Québec, in a report which will be broadcast Friday evening on the show I on TVA airwaves.
The inspector responsible for organized crime at the Sûreté du Québec, Michel Patenaude
Screenshot I
The police believed they were observing a lull at the start of the year. But over the past week, three businesses linked to the Hells have gone up in flames in Quebec, Beauce and La Pocatière.
“We are killing the competition”
The “gentle method” currently advocated by the Hells contrasts radically with the methods traditionally used since the biker gang established its first Canadian chapter in Montreal in December 1977.
“We are killing the competition. For example, in drugs, if your competitor doesn’t want to do business with you, if he doesn’t understand, you eliminate him. And then, the others will understand that they are better off doing business with you,” ex-Hells Angels Sylvain Boulanger declared to SQ investigators when he became the star informer of the operation. SharQc.
Flight to Europe
According to our sources, in addition to the negotiations, the bikers hope to come to “isolate” their leader Dave Turmel, whose quarrel with his former supplier of narcotics and rookie color wearer of the Hells of Quebec, Mathieu Pelletier, is at the origin of this confrontation.
Mathieu Pelletier, member in good standing of the Hells Angels
Photo Courtesy
Described in police documents as the leader of the Blood Mafia Family (BMF) street gang, Turmel fled the country last summer, just before he was the subject of an arrest warrant by the County Police Department. Quebec City following an anti-drug investigation.
The 27-year-old kingpin is currently living in exile in a European country from where he continues to direct his criminal activities, as well as his rebellion against the criminal organization that the authorities currently consider to be the most powerful in Canada.
For their part, the Canadian authorities have taken steps with the Interpol agency in the hope of putting an end to Dave Turmel’s overseas escape and repatriating him to Quebec to bring him to justice, according to our information. However, there is nothing to suggest that his arrest is imminent.