Tuesday, August 18, 2015

The Lennoxville massacre


This event divided rival OMGs in Quebec causing the formation of the Rock Machine MC.
The Lennoxville massacre was a mass murder which took place at the Hells Angels clubhouse in Lennoxville, Quebec on March 24, 1985. Five members of the Hells Angels North Chapter, founded by Laurent "L'Anglais" Viau and Yves "Apache" Trudeau, were shot dead.
Other Hells Angels felt that the North Chapter bikers were too wild and uncontrollable. They often used drugs they were supposed to sell and were suspected of skimming drug profits that were meant for other Hells Angels chapters.

When the five North Chapter members arrived, they were ambushed and murdered. Two months later, at the bottom of the St. Lawrence River, divers located the decomposing bodies of the victims wrapped in sleeping bags and tied to weightlifting plates.
Laurent Viau, 33, was executed with a shot to the head. Jean-Guy (Brutus) Geoffrion, Jean-Pierre Mattieu and Michel Mayrand were efficiently killed as well. Another Laval biker, Guy-Louis Adam, 31, fought his way outdoors before he was felled after taking seven shots fired from three different guns. A sixth who missed the meeting, Claude Roy, was later tracked down and killed. The victims were stripped of their club colors, zipped into weighted sleeping bags and dumped into the St. Lawrence River.

Hells Angels emissaries stripped bare the Laval clubhouse and the homes of each dead man.
Luc Michaud, Jacques Pelletier and Rejean Lessard were convicted. A fourth club member, Robert (Snake) Tremblay, was convicted of murder in a separate trial. The four served prison terms ranging from 17 to 22 years, and a number of other Hells Angels were convicted of lesser crimes for their roles, including disposing of the bodies.

The Lennoxville massacre escalated a deadly Quebec biker war. Prosecutors say that as many as 150 people have been killed in the Quebec war since the early 1990s. Hundreds of bikers have been convicted and imprisoned.