http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2016/12...ien-hells-angel

Michel "the animal" Smith gets 10,000 dollar/month pension from the Hells Angels.

Friday, 30 December 2016 06:30
Update Friday, 30 December 2016 06:30
ERIC THIBAULT AND FÉLIX SÉGUIN

Le Journal de Montréal and Investigative Office

The Hells Angels have just awarded a golden pension to one of their most influential members in Quebec, who will receive a $ 10,000 monthly pension after 23 years of loyal service.
It is under this lucrative deal that Michel "L'Animal" Smith, a pillar of the South chapter, has decided to withdraw from the motorcycle gang in recent months, according to information obtained by our Investigative Bureau .André "Curly" Sauvageau, an ex-Rock Machine among the most powerful Hells in Montreal, would have been asked to pay him his monthly starting premium, based on receipts from the criminal activities of the club, according to our sources.
" A lot of money "
"It did not matter to many, in the club, to pay him such an amount. But it shows us that the Hells have a lot, a lot of money, "a source familiar with the case said.
Those who previously bore the name of Michel Lajoie-Smith withdrew from the band "with honor" - or in "good standing", in the jargon of the Hells.
Ironically, the 54-year-old ex-motorcyclist received his patches as a member in good standing on December 5, 1993, the same evening as Sylvain Boulanger, who became the "$ 3 million" informer of Operation SharQc and the enemy Juror of the gang.
With the Mafia
According to our information, Smith would have played a leading role in the narcotics market, even though he has never been convicted of drug trafficking.
According to court records Le Journal received a copy, Smith was presumably one of only two Hells at the executive table that the motorcyclists had formed with the Italian mafia to control the cocaine market in the Greater Montreal area, 2008.
According to information from the SQ and the RCMP, Smith led the sales territories west of the territory alongside some mafiosi, including m Raynald Desjardins, detained since 2011 for plotting the murder of the aspirant Godfather Salvatore Montagna.
However, no drug charges were laid against them.
Strategic expansion
The police believe Smith also sponsored the first chapter of the Hells Angels in Ecuador last spring. In March, it was observed in the capital of Quito at the party where the Devils Clowns officially joined the ranks of the Hells.
The establishment of a section in this country is strategic since Ecuador is one of the main places through which the cocaine produced by its neighbor, Colombia, transits, before being exported to North America, according to the CIA.
Smith had made numerous contacts in South America, having spent three years on the run in Panama following Operation SharQC in 2009.
Once extradited to Quebec, "L'Animal", also known as "Gros Mike," did well in court. After three years in pre-trial detention, he found himself guilty of conspiracy to murder on March 17, 2015. His murder charges were dropped and Smith was released from prison.
THEY KEEP AN EYE ON THEIR PENSIONERS
"You can not withdraw from the Hells Angels and not keep in touch with them. Because a certain moment, surely you're going to get yourself killed. Sure and certain."
This is at least the opinion of Dayle Fredette, who was a member of the Hells of the Quebec Chapter for 12 years - and who knew "Gros Mike" Smith while they were both held in Donnacona's maximum security penitentiary - Before returning his jacket and collaborating in Operation SharQc with the police.
Fredette told the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) in 2011 that retired members of the gang "on good terms" must nevertheless "keep in touch with the club all the time".
" A divorce "
Several of them even remained "business partners" with motorcyclists, especially in the narcotics trade, and continued to pay a percentage of their revenues to the band.
The other SharQc informer, Sylvain Boulanger, compared his retirement from the Hells to "a divorce".
"When it does not work, we leave or there are some who are helped to leave. I had to leave. [...] With a criminal organization like this, one must expect everything. You can never be sure of staying alive. And I went to see you to sleep better, "said Boulanger in one of the statements he delivered to the SQ and that Le Journal had access.

Last edited by Ciment; 12/30/16 09:53 AM.