Maurice 'Mom' Boucher: HA crime boss

Born in Causapscal, Quebec, Maurice Boucher was raised in poverty in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough of inner-city Montreal. He dropped out of school in grade 9. In April 1973, at age 19, he committed his first crime. There would be no going back. In 1975, Boucher was described as an ambitious man who wanted to get rich without working. He was cold-blooded and regarded violence as normal. Around 1982, Boucher was a member of a white supremacist MC named the SS who were based in Pointe-aux-Trembles. A fellow member of the SS was Salvatore Cazzetta. They became prime candidates to join the Hells Angels when the club expanded into Canada. Another member was Normand 'Biff' Hamel who followed Boucher into the Hells Angels. He was Boucher's right hand right up until he was murdered in 2000.

In March 1985, the Sorel (Montreal South) chapter accused the Laval (Montreal North) chapter of being drug addicts and thieves.

5 Laval members were ambushed and murdered. Months later divers found their decomposing bodies wrapped in sleeping bags and tied to weights at the bottom of the St. Lawrence. It became known as the Lennoxville massacre. Cazzetta found the ambush an unforgivable breach of biker code, and instead of joining the Quebec Hells Angels, formed the Rock Machine. Yves 'Apache' Trudeau, the Angels' leading killer, turned rat and sent 39 HA and associates to prison. Réjean Lessard was convicted of first-degree murder for ordering the Lennoxville massacre.

On 1 May 1987, Boucher became a 'full patch' member of the Hells Angels, three days after he killed Martin Huneault, a leader of a rival gang, the Death Riders. The Death Riders became a Hells Angels puppet club, and the HA controlled all of the drug trade in Laval. Maurice Boucher quickly rose to upper management.

Boucher wasn't afraid to fight anyone. He was both feared and respected. Boucher had the nickname 'Mom' because of his exact attention to detail. By the early 1990s, he was one of the most powerful bikers in Quebec, and one of the richest as he was involved in many illegal enterprises. In 1992 Boucher founded the Rockers Motor Club, a Hells Angels' puppet club in Montreal that was responsible for most of the murders committed in the Quebec biker war.

In 1994, following the arrest of Salvatore Cazzetta on cocaine charges, Boucher, then president of the Montreal chapter,  moved against the Rock Machine and other independent drug dealers. By July 1994, the Quebec biker war was underway. In 1995, Boucher founded the Hells Angels Nomads. With the exception of the Sherbrooke chapter, all Hells Angels chapters in Canada were required to buy their cocaine from the Nomads. Boucher's bodyguard was Haitian immigrant Gregory 'Picasso' Woolley, the best assassin working for the HA. Woolley was ultimately made the president of the Rockers by Boucher. He was the first black to head an OMG in Canada.

Boucher ordered the murders of Quebec prison guards Diane Lavigne and Pierre Rondeau in 1997. Both had been chosen at random. Boucher was arrested and charged with two counts of first degree murder for the killings. He was acquited and became a celebrity in Quebec. Boucher turned on his former allies as his iron fisted control expanded to include all of Quebec. In October 2000, a Montreal appeals judge declared that the trial of Boucher was marred by intimidation of the jury. Boucher would be retried for the murders of Lavigne and Rondeau. It was the beginning of the end. On 28 March 2001, Boucher learned from his jail cell of Operation Springtime, which saw the arrest of 142 bikers including 80 of the 106 Hells Angels in Quebec. Boucher was found guilty of one count of attempted murder and two counts of first-degree murder on 5 May 2002. He would never be a free man again.

Boucher's Nomads chapter was dealt a fatal blow in March 2001 when all of its members, except David Carroll, were nailed. Michel Rose (sentenced to 22 years), Donald 'Pup' Stockford (20 years), Gilles 'Trooper' Mathieu (20 years), Richard 'Dick' Mayrand (22 years), Denis Houle (20 years), David 'Wolf' Carroll (0). From left to right bottom: Walter 'Nurget' Stadnick (20 years), René Charlébois (20 years), Normand Robitaille (21 years), Maurice 'Mom' Boucher (life)

Boucher suffered what he considered the ultimate betrayal in 2014: he was expelled from the HAMC after a unanimous vote taken by all Hells Angels of Quebec. Boucher was expelled from the club for a simple reason: he was no longer useful to the group and never would be. A not insignificant cut of drug profits ended for Boucher and his family. Boucher never forgave his brothers for their betrayal. After refusing to be treated for his throat cancer, he was transferred from the Special Handling Unit to a palliative care one. Boucher died at age 69 on July 10, 2022 in a federal penitentiary in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines.