Gilles Mathieu

Mathieu was born into a working class family. He worked as a maritime inspector at the port of Montreal.[1] In 1980, Mathieu was arrested for attempting to sell LSD to an undercover policeman.[2] On 5 December 1980, he joined the Hells Angels.[1] On 26 June 1981, Mathieu was convicted of conspiracy to sell LSD and sentenced to a year in prison.[1] Mathieu was present at the clubhouse of the Angels' Sherbrooke chapter on the night of the Lennoxville massacre in 1985, but was acquitted.[3] Mathieu was known for his "violent streak" as Paul Cherry, the crime correspondent of The Montreal Gazette described it .[4]

On 25 June 1995, Mathieu was a founding member of the elite Nomad chapter of the Hells Angels.[5] During the Quebec Biker War, Mathieu seemed to be always by the side of Maurice Boucher.[2] When the hitman Stéphane Gagné – whose nickname was Godasse (Old Shoe) – reported to Boucher that he had killed the prison guard Diane Lavigne on 26 June 1997, Mathieu was present.[6] When Boucher asked for Mathieu's opinion of the murder, he replied: "That's great, Godasse!"[6]

Mathieu was considered to be one of the most important Hells Angels in Montreal and a millionaire.[1] At his preliminary hearing (the Canadian equivalent to a grand jury) in 2001 relating to Operation Springtime charges, evidence presented by the Crown showed he owned a company with assets worth $2.3 million whose headquarters was an address at the West Edmonton Mall.[1] Mathieu was also believed to have placed at least $1 million in a tax haven in the Cayman Islands.[1]

On 15 February 2001, Mathieu was arrested at a Montreal hotel where he together with several Hells Angels were looking at photographs of the members of the Bandidos gang.[7] Found in the room were several handguns and about $10,000 in cash.[8] In a plea bargain with the Crown Attorney, André Vincent, Mathieu pleaded guilty to weapons charges and was sentenced to a year in prison.[8]

On 28 March 2001, the police launched Operation Springtime, a crackdown against the Hells Angels.[9] Mathieu, who was already in jail owing to the weapons charges, was also charged with 13 counts of first-degree murder as part of Operation Springtime.[10]

At his trial in 2003, Vincent presented evidence that linked Mathieu to the 13 murders of Rock Machine members.[11] The trial came to an unexpected end on 11 September 2003 when Mathieu together with the other accused all made plea bargains with Vincent.[11] In exchange for the Crown dropping the 13 counts of first-degree murder charges, Mathieu pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to traffic in narcotics, and gangsterism.[11] The judge sentenced Mathieu to 20 years in prison.[11]

Mathieu was released on parole on 20 September 2013.[12] The National Parole Board did not accept Mathieu's claim that he had resigned from the Hells Angels in 2009 and imposed the parole condition that he live in a half-way house.[12] On 17 December 2014, Mathieu asked for permission to leave the half-way house, which was refused by the parole board as it established that he had over the course of 2014 visited four times a barber with known Hells Angels associations, which the parole board took as evidence that he was still loyal to the Hells Angels.[12]

• Cherry, Paul (2005). The Biker Trials: Bringing Down the Hells Angels. Toronto: ECW Press. ISBN 978-1550226386.
• Langton, Jerry (2010). Showdown: How the Outlaws, Hells Angels and Cops Fought for Control of the Streets. Toronto: John Wiley. ISBN 978-0470678787..
• Schneider, Stephen (2009). Iced: The Story of Organized Crime in Canada. Toronto: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0470835005..
• Sher, Julian; Marsden, William (2003). The Road To Hell How the Biker Gangs Are Conquering Canada. Toronto: Alfred Knopf. ISBN 0-676-97598-4.