Maurice Boucher
Encyclopedia
Maurice "Mom" Boucher is a convicted murderer, reputed drug trafficker, and outlaw biker—the former President of the Hells Angels
' Montreal
chapter. Boucher led Montreal's Hells Angels against the rival Rock Machine
biker gang during The Quebec Biker War
of 1994 through 2002 in Quebec
, Canada. In 2002, Boucher was convicted of ordering the murders of two Quebec prison guards (as an effort to destabilize the Quebec Justice system), and is currently serving three life sentences in a Canadian prison.
, Canada, he was raised in poverty in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve section of inner-city Montreal
, where his family moved when he was two years old. Boucher dropped out of school in grade 9 to work odd jobs. Unhappy with his income and desperate to support his drug habit, he turned to crime. He was arrested for three break & entries in the fall of 1974 and served nearly six months in detention. In November 1975, Boucher performed an armed robbery, but was caught and sentenced to 40 months in prison.
Around 1982, Boucher was a member of a white-supremist motorcycle gang named the SS, who were based in Pointe-aux-Trembles
, on the eastern tip of the Island of Montreal
. A fellow member of the SS was Salvatore Cazzetta; the two became friends. As leaders of the gang they became candidates to join the Hells Angels when that gang decided to expand its international operations into Canada.
In March, 1985, a Lennoxville, Quebec
chapter of the Hells suspected the Laval
chapter of wasting drug profits by using too much of the product themselves. The Laval chapter was invited to a Lennoxville chapter party. When the five Laval 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.
What became known as the Lennoxville massacre
, was considered extreme even for the criminal underworld, and it gave Quebec's Hells Angels a notorious reputation. Cazzetta found the ambush—essentially, biker "brothers" killing their own—to be an unforgivable breach of the outlaw code. He refused Boucher's offer to join him at the top of the Quebec Hell's Angels, and instead formed his own, smaller gang with his brother Giovanni—The Rock Machine
-- in 1986.
, Boucher joined the Hells Angels motorcycle club
in Montreal, and quickly rose through its ranks. By the early-1990s, he was considered one of the most powerful bikers in the province, and was involved in numerous lucrative criminal activities such as cocaine
trafficking
and loan shark
ing.
In 1994, following the arrest of Salvatore Cazzetta on charges of conspiring to import 200 kilos of cocaine, the Rock Machine
was rendered temporarily leaderless. Boucher, by now president of the Montreal chapter of the Hells Angels, decided to make his move against the Rock Machine and other independent dealers. His ultimate aim was to establish a Hells Angels monopoly over street-level, biker gang drug-dealing in the Montreal area—and eventually, all of Quebec.
Boucher organized "puppet clubs" to persuade Rock Machine controlled bars and their resident drug dealers to surrender their illegal drug business. Rock Machine resistance led to bloodshed. On July 14, 1994, two members of the Hells Angels' top puppet club entered downtown motorcycle shop and shot down a Rock Machine associate. This would be the spark that would set off the Quebec Biker war
.
That August, a Jeep wired with a remote-controlled bomb exploded killing an 11-year-old boy, Daniel Desrochers, who was playing in a nearby schoolyard. A month later, the first full Hells Angels member was shot to death entering his car at a shopping mall. Nine bombs went off around the province during his funeral."
In 1995, Boucher decided to start a new Hells Angels chapter which he would lead. The Hells Angels Nomads chapter was a group made up of the most powerful Hells Angels in Quebec and not bound by geographical locations like other Hells Angels chapters.
, he ordered the murder
s of Quebec correctional officers Diane Lavigne and Pierre Rondeau in 1997. Both officers had been chosen at random. Besides the blow to the judicial system in Quebec, Boucher wanted crimes committed by bikers that would be so serious that prosecutors wouldn't want to make deals to turn bikers into informants.
In 1998, a jury acquitted Boucher of having ordered those murders. He was then closely followed by the police. In 2000, an appeals court dismissed the earlier acquittal, and he was arrested again. He was convicted for the murders with the help of a police informer in May 2002. The key witness for the prosecution was Stéphane Gagné, nicknamed Godasse, who was involved in both murders. He testified that Boucher ordered him to carry out the killings and was later congratulated by Boucher himself. After 11 days of deliberation by the jury, Boucher was found guilty of attempted murder and two counts of first-degree murder. Boucher received an automatic life sentence, with no possibility of parole for at least 25 years.
He is currently detained in the only Canadian Super-Maximum security penitentiary
located in Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, north of Montreal.
Hells Angels
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is a worldwide one-percenter motorcycle gang and organized crime syndicate whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Their primary motto...
' Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
chapter. Boucher led Montreal's Hells Angels against the rival Rock Machine
Rock Machine
Rock Machine, or The Rock Machine M.C., is an outlaw motorcycle gang with six Canadian chapters, six United States chapters and eight chapters in Australia. Formed in 1986 by Salvatore Cazzetta, a former friend of Hells Angels Quebec chapter president Maurice Boucher, the Rock Machine competed...
biker gang during The Quebec Biker War
Quebec Biker war
The Quebec Biker war refers to the violent turf war that began in 1994 and continued until late 2002 in Quebec, Canada.The war began as the Hells Angels in Quebec began to make a push to establish a monopoly on street-level drug sales in the province. A number of drug dealers and crime families...
of 1994 through 2002 in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Canada. In 2002, Boucher was convicted of ordering the murders of two Quebec prison guards (as an effort to destabilize the Quebec Justice system), and is currently serving three life sentences in a Canadian prison.
Early life
Born in Causapscal, QuebecCausapscal, Quebec
Causapscal is a city in the Canadian province of Quebec, located in La Matapédia Regional County Municipality. The city's name derives from the Mi'kmaq word Goesôpsiag, meaning "rocky point"....
, Canada, he was raised in poverty in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve section of inner-city Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, where his family moved when he was two years old. Boucher dropped out of school in grade 9 to work odd jobs. Unhappy with his income and desperate to support his drug habit, he turned to crime. He was arrested for three break & entries in the fall of 1974 and served nearly six months in detention. In November 1975, Boucher performed an armed robbery, but was caught and sentenced to 40 months in prison.
Around 1982, Boucher was a member of a white-supremist motorcycle gang named the SS, who were based in Pointe-aux-Trembles
Pointe-aux-Trembles
Pointe-aux-Trembles was a municipality, founded in 1674, that was annexed by Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1982. This was the last city to be merged into Montreal until the 2002 municipal reorganization of districts and municipalities as boroughs....
, on the eastern tip of the Island of Montreal
Island of Montreal
The Island of Montreal , in extreme southwestern Quebec, Canada, is located at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. It is separated from Île Jésus by the Rivière des Prairies....
. A fellow member of the SS was Salvatore Cazzetta; the two became friends. As leaders of the gang they became candidates to join the Hells Angels when that gang decided to expand its international operations into Canada.
In March, 1985, a Lennoxville, Quebec
Lennoxville, Quebec
Lennoxville is an arrondissement, or borough, of the city of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. Lennoxville is located at the confluence of the St. Francis and Massawippi Rivers approximately five kilometers south of downtown Sherbrooke....
chapter of the Hells suspected the Laval
Laval, Quebec
Laval is a Canadian city and a region in southwestern Quebec. It is the largest suburb of Montreal, the third largest municipality in the province of Quebec, and the 14th largest city in Canada with a population of 368,709 in 2006...
chapter of wasting drug profits by using too much of the product themselves. The Laval chapter was invited to a Lennoxville chapter party. When the five Laval 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.
What became known as the Lennoxville massacre
Lennoxville massacre
The Lennoxville massacre, or Lennoxville purge, was a mass murder which took place at the Hells Angels clubhouse in Lennoxville, Quebec on March 24, 1985. The killings were used to liquidate the Hells Angels North Chapter, founded by Yves "Apache" Trudeau...
, was considered extreme even for the criminal underworld, and it gave Quebec's Hells Angels a notorious reputation. Cazzetta found the ambush—essentially, biker "brothers" killing their own—to be an unforgivable breach of the outlaw code. He refused Boucher's offer to join him at the top of the Quebec Hell's Angels, and instead formed his own, smaller gang with his brother Giovanni—The Rock Machine
Rock Machine
Rock Machine, or The Rock Machine M.C., is an outlaw motorcycle gang with six Canadian chapters, six United States chapters and eight chapters in Australia. Formed in 1986 by Salvatore Cazzetta, a former friend of Hells Angels Quebec chapter president Maurice Boucher, the Rock Machine competed...
-- in 1986.
Hells Angels
By late-1987, soon after finishing a 40-month sentence for armed sexual assaultSexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
, Boucher joined the Hells Angels motorcycle club
Motorcycle club
A motorcycle club is a group of individuals whose primary interest and activities involve motorcycles.In the U.S. the abbreviation, MC or MCC, can have a special social meaning from the point of view of the outlaw subcultures, and is usually reserved by them for those clubs that are mutually...
in Montreal, and quickly rose through its ranks. By the early-1990s, he was considered one of the most powerful bikers in the province, and was involved in numerous lucrative criminal activities such as cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
trafficking
Smuggling
Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
and loan shark
Loan shark
A loan shark is a person or body that offers unsecured loans at illegally high interest rates to individuals, often enforcing repayment by blackmail or threats of violence....
ing.
In 1994, following the arrest of Salvatore Cazzetta on charges of conspiring to import 200 kilos of cocaine, the Rock Machine
Rock Machine
Rock Machine, or The Rock Machine M.C., is an outlaw motorcycle gang with six Canadian chapters, six United States chapters and eight chapters in Australia. Formed in 1986 by Salvatore Cazzetta, a former friend of Hells Angels Quebec chapter president Maurice Boucher, the Rock Machine competed...
was rendered temporarily leaderless. Boucher, by now president of the Montreal chapter of the Hells Angels, decided to make his move against the Rock Machine and other independent dealers. His ultimate aim was to establish a Hells Angels monopoly over street-level, biker gang drug-dealing in the Montreal area—and eventually, all of Quebec.
Boucher organized "puppet clubs" to persuade Rock Machine controlled bars and their resident drug dealers to surrender their illegal drug business. Rock Machine resistance led to bloodshed. On July 14, 1994, two members of the Hells Angels' top puppet club entered downtown motorcycle shop and shot down a Rock Machine associate. This would be the spark that would set off the Quebec Biker war
Quebec Biker war
The Quebec Biker war refers to the violent turf war that began in 1994 and continued until late 2002 in Quebec, Canada.The war began as the Hells Angels in Quebec began to make a push to establish a monopoly on street-level drug sales in the province. A number of drug dealers and crime families...
.
That August, a Jeep wired with a remote-controlled bomb exploded killing an 11-year-old boy, Daniel Desrochers, who was playing in a nearby schoolyard. A month later, the first full Hells Angels member was shot to death entering his car at a shopping mall. Nine bombs went off around the province during his funeral."
In 1995, Boucher decided to start a new Hells Angels chapter which he would lead. The Hells Angels Nomads chapter was a group made up of the most powerful Hells Angels in Quebec and not bound by geographical locations like other Hells Angels chapters.
Legal issues
During the intense war between the Hells Angels and the Rock MachineRock Machine
Rock Machine, or The Rock Machine M.C., is an outlaw motorcycle gang with six Canadian chapters, six United States chapters and eight chapters in Australia. Formed in 1986 by Salvatore Cazzetta, a former friend of Hells Angels Quebec chapter president Maurice Boucher, the Rock Machine competed...
, he ordered the murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
s of Quebec correctional officers Diane Lavigne and Pierre Rondeau in 1997. Both officers had been chosen at random. Besides the blow to the judicial system in Quebec, Boucher wanted crimes committed by bikers that would be so serious that prosecutors wouldn't want to make deals to turn bikers into informants.
In 1998, a jury acquitted Boucher of having ordered those murders. He was then closely followed by the police. In 2000, an appeals court dismissed the earlier acquittal, and he was arrested again. He was convicted for the murders with the help of a police informer in May 2002. The key witness for the prosecution was Stéphane Gagné, nicknamed Godasse, who was involved in both murders. He testified that Boucher ordered him to carry out the killings and was later congratulated by Boucher himself. After 11 days of deliberation by the jury, Boucher was found guilty of attempted murder and two counts of first-degree murder. Boucher received an automatic life sentence, with no possibility of parole for at least 25 years.
He is currently detained in the only Canadian Super-Maximum security penitentiary
Special Handling Unit
The Special Handling Unit is Canada's highest security prison. It is co-located with the Ste-Anne-des-Plaines Institution and the Regional Reception Centre, at the Correctional Service of Canada complex at Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Quebec . As of 2008, there were 90 prisoners at the SHU...
located in Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, north of Montreal.