https://www.latribune.ca/actualites...quebec-f795f18bb3bb9ec19c5f912114264289?

Goal to stop all Hells Angels in Quebec

You'll tell the criminal intelligence that I'm now retired. "

C 'is by making this request to a police officer who lived near his home in Rock Forest Sylvain Boulanger opened the door to the investigators to convince him to work with the police to become the star witness in the proof of SharQc project.

In an interview with La Tribune, a source explains that this historic police operation sprouted after the positive results of the Operation Printemps 2001 which made it possible to have Maurice "Mom" Boucher sentenced to life imprisonment.

"The goal was clear: stop all Hells Angels in Quebec," said the police source.

In order to successfully investigate and convict members in good standing of all chapters in Quebec, the team of criminal investigators and prosecutors was well aware that it had to put together convincing evidence in the so-called project. Hells Angels Rayon Quebec Strategy: SharQc.

"It needed an informer. We had subtly made certain approaches. One day, Sylvain Boulanger asked a police officer to warn criminal intelligence to change his status to retiree. It opened the door. A policeman went to confront him and gave him his phone number, "said the police source.

As time went by, Boulanger chose a few months later to "return his jacket" and become an informer to testify against his former "brothers".

During about forty sworn declarations, Boulanger helped to sustain the theory of the cause for murders and conspiracies for murder.


A member in good standing between December 1993 and November 2005, Sylvain Boulanger began working with the police forces in 2006 before signing a $ 2.9 million contract in 2007.

"We did not know there was a unanimous vote of all members in Quebec for the biker war. He also told us how bonuses were funded to eliminate competitors. The Sherbrooke chapter put $ 100,000 in the $ 1 million prize pool. As a sergeant-at-arms, Sylvain Boulanger knew where the money was going and what the weapons were for, "the police source said.

Sylvain Boulanger had access to the details of the targeted victims, the perpetrators of the killings and how the crime occurred. In addition to planning and committing murders on their territory, the Hells Angels of Sherbrooke have been called to reinforce the Quebec Chapter.

"At some point in the investigation, we had a warrant to wiretap all the Hells Angels in Quebec. A colossal job was done to corroborate everything, "the police source said.

Even if the judicial result was not the expected one, the police remain convinced that the work done has shaken the standard bearers of organized crime in Quebec.

"Several big names in the Sherbrooke chapter have retired after their release. They were afraid to spend the rest of their lives in jail. They also all lost a lot of money while they were in prison, "said the police source.

As for Sylvain Boulanger, he remains to this day under the witness protection program.

A milestone operation despite an aborted lawsuit

If the vast police operation of April 15, 2009 struck the collective imagination with the arrest of all members in good standing of the Hells Angels of Quebec, the cessation of proceedings during the mega-trial for murder in October 2015 marked the limits of the process judicial.

"Even if the trial for the latest accused has not been completed, one thing is certain, the Hells Angels no longer feel untouchable," said a police source who agreed to comment on the tenth anniversary of Operation SharQc at the Tribune.

Sherbrooke chapter members Claude Berger, Michel Vallieres, Yvon Tanguay and brothers Sylvain and François Vachon obtained a stay of proceedings in the first degree murder and general conspiracy murder cases during the biker war between July 1994 and July 2002, for which they were tried by jury in October 2015.

The factual background of three of the seven first-degree murders in the evidence was reported to have occurred in the regions: Michel Mathieu on March 5, 1997 in Deauville, Sylvain Reed on March 12, 1997 in Sherbrooke and Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, and Robert Léger on August 12, 2001 in Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley.

Several other members in good standing in Sherbrooke pleaded guilty to reduced charges of conspiracy to murder and were sentenced to long prison terms.

They obtained reduced sentences in September 2016, ensuring that many were released from prison.

"It is certain that there has been disappointment with the fact that murderers are being released. But many of these guys have still spent six to eight years in prison, "said the police source.