Rock Machine Motorcycle Club

In approximately 1982, Salvatore Cazzetta was a member of the SS, a white supremacist motorcycle gang based in Pointe-aux-Trembles, on the eastern tip of the Island of Montreal the club was also known as the SS Merciless Riders. Fellow SS member Maurice Boucher became friends with Cazzetta and as leaders of the club, the pair became candidates to join the Hells Angels when that club expanded into Canada.[6] Giovanni Cazzetta had joined the Outlaws Motorcycle Club at a young age and had been involved in the First Biker War, he had remained a member of the organization in Quebec until 1984, when he left to join his brother in the SS Motorcycle Club.

A Lennoxville, Quebec, chapter of the Hells Angels suspected in March 1985 that the Laval chapter was interfering with drug profits through personal use of products intended for sale.[2] It is believed that the Laval chapter's invitation to a Lennoxville chapter party led to the ambush and death of five Laval members. Divers located the decomposing bodies of the victims at the bottom of the St. Lawrence River, wrapped in sleeping bags and tied to weightlifting plates, two months after the party.[6] The event became known as the "Lennoxville massacre," and its extreme nature earned the Quebec chapter of the Hells Angels a notorious reputation. Cazzetta considered the event an unforgivable breach of the outlaw code and, rather than joining the Hells Angels, in 1986 formed his own club, the Rock Machine, with his brother Giovanni. They recruited some of the best talent around and formed alliances with the Rizzuto crime family, the West End Gang, and the Dubois Gang. Giovanni Cazzetta would hold the position of second-in-command. Only Salvatore would hold more influence.[6]

Future Rock Machine National President, Fred Faucher later said, "Sal once told me, 'Those guys (Hells Angels), they operate their club in such a way that I didn't want to join them'".[6] The founding members of the Rock Machine were Salvatore Cazzettta, his younger brother Giovanni and a few close friends of theirs, many of whom were members of the SS Motorcycle Club. Other founding members included Paul "Sasquatch" Porter, Johnny Plescio, Andrew "Curly" Sauvageau, Renaud Jomphe, Gilles Lambert, Martin Bourget, Richard "Bam Bam" Lagacé, Serge Pinel and several others.[7]On the surface, the Rock Machine ran operations like tattoo parlors and bars, as well as motorcycle repair shops, what the group truly profited off was the sale of narcotics and other prohibited goods. As the Rock Machine charged much less for their cocaine than did the Hells Angels, the gang quickly won much market share in the Montreal area.[8] The Hells Angels had been badly weakened by the Lennoxville massacre on 24 March 1985, when five members of the Angels' chapter in Laval were shot by their colleagues, afterward the vacuum was filled by a number of Montreal-based organized crime groups most prominent being the Rock Machine, and it was not until the early 1990s that the Angels became a major force in Montreal organized crime again.[9] Initially Rock Machine members chose not to wear Hells Angels-style leather vests that could easily identify members, and instead wore rings displaying an eagle insignia (this would last until the 1995, with the adoption of three-piece vests).[10]

Gold ring given to members of the Rock Machine

The Rock Machine's first patch (1995)

The official Rock Machine club motto is "A La Vie A La Mort", or "To the Life Until Death". The club the possesses a patch that reads "RMFFRM" which stands for "Rock Machine Forever, Forever Rock Machine", an extremely common thing among outlaw motorcycle clubs.[2]

In April 1992, Giovanni Cazzetta was arrested by police and charged with trafficking narcotics, police found him to be in position of three kilograms of cocaine worth around $120,000(modern equivalent when adjusting for inflation of $246,000 US). He was forced to plead guilty to four charges the following spring and would be sentenced to four years in prison, Giovanni was released in 1997 and briefly participated in the conflict that was to come.[11] Marice Boucher, was released after finishing a forty-month sentence for armed sexual assault, joined the Hells Angels and was subsequently promoted within the club's ranks. The Hells Angels and Rock Machine co-existed peacefully for many years, a situation that, according to police officials, was due to Boucher's respect for his friend, Cazzetta and the latter's connections with the Quebec Mafia, the only organized crime group that the motorcycle gangs were unwilling to attack.[2][6]

Founder of the Rock Machine Motorcycle Club, Salvatore Cazzetta was arrested at a pitbull farm located in Fort Erie, Ontario during 1994. He was charged with attempting to import more than eleven tons (22,000lbs) of cocaine valued at an estimated 275 million dollars US (adjusting for inflation the 2021 value is $513,238,697). Claude Vézina, who was President of the Quebec City chapter at the time, became the new National President of the Rock Machine. Renaud Jomphe was made President of the Montreal chapter, while Marcel Demers became the President of the Quebec City chapter until eventually opening the Beauport chapter in late 1996.[2]

Recently promoted Hells Angels Montreal President Boucher began to increase pressure on the Rock Machine shortly after the arrest, which initiated the Quebec Biker war.[6] The local Rock Machine Motorcycle Club formed an affiliation, the Alliance, with Montreal crime families such as the Pelletier Clan, Dark Circle and other independent dealers who wished to resist the Hells Angels' attempts to establish a monopoly on street-level drug trade in the city.[4][12] A violent turf war ensued with the Hells Angels. The Rock Machine MC, its support clubs and the Pelletier Clan would provide manpower while the Dark Circle would provide the funding. The Dark Circle's leadership was ruled by a committee of five. The chairman was Michel Duclos[13]

Boucher organized "puppet clubs" to persuade Rock Machine-controlled bars and their resident drug dealers to surrender their illegal drug business.[2] This led to the creation of The Palmers MC, a Rock Machine MC support club with chapters in Montreal and Quebec City, it was created to counter Hell's Angels allies, the Rockers MC, Evil ones and Death Riders MC support clubs. It was led and organized by Rock Machine members Jean "Le Francais" Duquaire and André “Dédé” Désormeaux, who was initially a member of the Dark Circle but joined the Rock Machine, these two were described as the grandfathers of the Palmers MC, all of its members would be patched into the Rock Machine in 2000. The starting point of the conflict is disputed; however on July 13, 1994, three members of the Rock Machine entered a business in downtown Montreal. They assassinated Pierre Daoust, a member of a Hells Angel support club, the Death Riders Motorcycle Club. Once it was confirmed they had the right target he was shot 16 times in the head and torso.[14]

There was very little coverage over this incident however many in Montreal's underground knew that the Rock Machine was defending its territory, months before the death of Daoust. The members of the Alliance (Rock Machine MC, Pelletier Clan, The Dark Circle) as well as other individual narcotics dealers and street gangs all met to discuss a united front against the Hells Angels after they gave the narcotics community of Quebec an ultimatum to have them as their mandatory supplier of all contraband goods and narcotics. This offer was refused and the Alliance was formed; due to the Hells Angels' "monopolistic attitude" they had decided to take the initiative and strike first.

A day after on July 14, 1994, The Rock Machine attempted to assassinate Normand Robitaille, a member of Hells Angels support club the Rockers MC and a future and prominent member of the Hells Angels. The attempt failed and Quebec police announced that they had arrested five members of the Rock Machine Motorcycle Club for planning to bomb the Evil Ones MC clubhouse which was also aligned with the Hells Angels.[14]

With current knowledge of events due to information from Sylvain Boulanger, it is known that on July 15, 1994, the hierarchy of the Hells Angels in Quebec held emergency meetings in the city of Longueuil, Quebec. All four chapters in Quebec at the time were present (Montreal, Quebec City, Trois-Rivières and Sherbrooke). There was also a meeting at Hells Angels bunker during this period of time. All chapters had to cast a vote on whether or not they would participate in the conflict against the Rock Machine and their alliance. All four chapters agreed and the club began to prepare for the long conflict ahead. The Hells Angels was an international organization and received aid from all over the country and internationally, giving them more support then the Rock Machine.[14]

On 19 October 1994, a local drug dealer Maurice Lavoie was gunned down in his car and his girlfriend was wounded.[15] Lavoie had previously been buying his wares from the Pelletier Clan associated with the Rock Machine, but had recently switched to the Hells Angels, and as a result the Pelletier Clan hired a hitman named Patrick Call to kill Lavoie.[15]

On 28 October 1994, Sylvain Pelletier, the leader of the Pelletier Clan, was killed by the Hells Angels, who threatened to murder any drug dealer who did not buy their supplies from them.[15] After these killings, an increasingly murderous struggle for the control of the drug trade in Montreal began between the Hells Angels and the Rock Machine that would see 20 dead before the end of 1994.[15]

After Pelletier was killed, the independent drug dealers of Montreal formed the "Alliance to fight the Angels" headed by his younger brother, Harold Pelletier, whose first act was an attempt to assassinate Boucher in November 1994. Another member of the Pelletier Clan, Martin Simard, purchased enough stolen dynamite to fill a truck, which was left near Boucher's favorite restaurant by Alliance member Martin Pellerin.[16] The plan was to set off the explosives by remote control when Boucher arrived, killing him and everybody else in the restaurant, but a Montreal parking officer noticed the truck was parked illegally and had it towed, thus unknowingly foiling the plot.[16]

On 24 June 1995, Boucher founded the Nomads, an elite chapter of the Angels, that unlike the other chapters, had no geographical limit and were to operate all over Canada.[17] To join the Nomads, applicants were required to commit murders, which ensured that no undercover police agents could enter the Nomads chapter. Additionally, only the highest-quality Angels who had proven themselves could join the Nomads.

On August 13, 1995, a Jeep wired with a remote-controlled bomb exploded, killing Hells Angels associate Marc Dube and an 11-year-old boy, Daniel Desrochers, who was playing in a nearby schoolyard, An Interpol informant claimed that the plan was created and facilitated by Boucher to earn back public credit. The first Full-Patch Hells Angels member was shot to death entering his car at a shopping mall a month later. Nine bombs went off around the province during his funeral targeting several Hells Angels businesses and properties.[6] This series of violence related to Operation Wolverine, a police crackdown on both groups in which 130 were arrested.

in October 1995, Harold Pelletier, one of the heads of the Pelletier Clan(Member of the Alliance), turned himself in to the Sûreté du Québec, confessing that on the night of 7 August 1983, he murdered a drug dealer named Michel Beaulieu who was behind in his payments to the Pelletier Clan, and asked that the police provide him with protection from the Angels in exchange for more information about his crimes.[18]

Ultimately, Pelletier confessed to committing 17 murders between 1983 and 1995, yet he was convicted only of the murder of Beaulieu. Pelletier's murder of Beaulieu was classified as second degree murder, despite the fact Beaulieu had fallen asleep after Pelletier got him drunk before he was shot. Since the murder was premeditated, it should have been classified as a first degree murder.[19]

Steinert was the biggest pimp in Montreal, owning the Sensations escort service, whose office in Montreal was destroyed in a case of arson in August 1996 by the Rock Machine.[20]

In his plea bargain struck in June 1996, Pelletier was sentenced to life imprisonment with a promise that he receive full parole after 10 years served, in exchange for which he shared all he knew about the Montreal underworld.[19] The Crown justified the plea bargain with Pelletier, given that he was guilty of 17 murders, on the grounds he was a "mine of information" about the underworld of Montreal.[21] Pelletier's motives for striking a plea bargain was that the "Alliance against the Angels" was collapsing with Alliance members defecting over to the Angels, and he wanted Crown protection from the Angels.[21] However, Pelletier violated the terms of his plea bargain, under which he promised not to commit any more crimes, when he was caught in 2002 attempting to bribe another prison inmate to kill a prisoner whom he disliked, allowing the Crown to revoke its agreement and Pelletier was not released in June 2006 as was promised 10 years earlier.[21] Pelletier finally received full parole in December 2013 after he completed his high school equivalency degree, started attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and demonstrated an ability to get along with penitentiary staff.[22]

On 18 October 1996. President of the Rock Machine Montreal chapter, Renaud Jomphe was shot and killed. The Rock Machine leader was seated with fellow club members Christian Deschenes and Raymond Laureau in a booth at the rear of a Chinese restaurant known as Restaurant Kim Hoa, located on Wellington Street. A man entered the establishment and approached the table, fired several shots, and fled out the rear of the building. Jomphe and Deschenes were killed, while Laureau was wounded in the shoulder. One of the Paradis Brothers, Peter Paradis, would succeed Jomphe as president of the Montreal chapter, taking over much of his business in the suburb of Verdun.[23]

In November 1996, the Rock Machine planted a bomb in the old Hells Angels bunker in St. Nicholas and the residential neighborhood where it was located was shaken by the immense force of the blast. The bunker received significant damage.

On 28 March 1997, Rocker member Aimé Simard, stating he was acting under the orders of the Rocker president, a man known as Gregory "Pissaro" Wooley, murdered Rock Machine member Jean-Marc Caissy as he entered a Montreal arena to play hockey with his friends.[24]

In early 1997, Giovanni Cazzetta was released from prison, he would return to the Rock Machine, Claude Vézina willing stepped down and Giovanni was given the position of National President in his brother's absence. He would lead the club through the conflict until May 1997. In May Giovanni was subject to a police sting in which a man from Alberta attempted to purchase 15 kilos of cocaine(valued at $600,000, adjusting for inflation the modern equivalent of $1,132,000). This individual turned out to be an informant for the crown. The mules Frank Bonneville and Donald Waite, that delivered the cocaine to the informant were arrested and the narcotics seized by police, Matticks, Bonneville and Waite pled guilty on June 17, 1997, and were sentenced to three, four, and two years respectively. Claude Vézina would be momentarily reinstated as National president of the Rock Machine. Giovanni attempted to fight the charges brought against him, however he would lose these appeals, he was sentenced to 5 years prison time in April 1998. While Maria Cazzetta, Giovanni's sister and Suzanne Poudrier received one year conditional sentences[11]

On May 19, 1997. Prominent Rock Machine member Serge Cyr was placed under arrest and charged with conspiracy along with 13 others including members of the Rock Machine, Pelletier Clan and Palmers MC for planning the murder of Hells Angels president Maurice "Mom" Boucher. In 1994, a stolen van loaded with explosives was discovered outside the Cri-Cri restaurant on St. Catherine street, the restaurant was an establishment that Boucher often ate at. Cyr was released soon after, with the condition that he would report to police once a week, which he never did Cyr gained reputation from this and after the December 2000 arrests, he was promoted to President of the Montreal chapter.[25][26]

On 21 May 1997, Claude Vézina and his sergeant-at-arms Dany "Le Gros" Légaré were both charged with the trafficking of narcotics. In order to conduct his arrest, police had to sneak by guard dogs that he had located on his property; they entered his home and arrested him in his bedroom.[27] This was all the result of a sting operation set up by the Quebec police. A police informant had completed seven transactions of narcotics with the two members of Rock Machine, during a five-month period.[28] The massive raid launched by authorities as part of Operation Carcajou resulted in the seizure of a laboratory where narcotics such as PCP and methamphetamine were produced. $1,500,000 worth of various other narcotics, over 325 kg (716.5 lbs) of dynamite along with detonators, seven pistols, two fully automatic machine guns, three semi-automatic carbines and a pistol suppressor.[29] After the arrest of Vézina, Frédéric Faucher became the Rock Machine's new national president on 11 September 1997, Alain "Red Tomato" Brunette was promoted to president of the Quebec City chapter.[29]

In mid 1997, an imprisoned Hells Angel, Denis Houle, was the victim of an unsuccessful assassination attempt when a Rock Machine member opened fire on him from beyond the prison fence.[30] The resulting investigation first alerted the public to the existence of the Dark Circle, and it was reported the Hells Angels would pay well for information identifying the members of the Dark Circle. Over the next two years, two members of the Dark Circle were murdered by the Hells Angels while a third escaped when the Hells Angels shot and killed the wrong Serge.[31]

As the war turned into a battle of attrition the Hells Angels began to gain the upper hand as ever-increasing levels of support poured in from around Canada and internationally, but at the same time, the Great Nordic Biker War was taking place, and the Rock Machine was impressed with the way that the Scandinavian branches of the Bandidos held their own against the Scandinavian branches of the Hells Angels.[32] In June 1997, the three leaders of the Rock Machine, Fred Faucher, Johnny Plescio, and Robert "Tout Tout" Léger, went to Stockholm to seek support from the Swedish branch of the Bandidos, but were expelled by the Swedish police, who declared that they did not want Canadian bikers in their country.[33]

Faucher, had been the President of the Rock Machine Quebec City chapter prior to his promotion to National President, he had gained wide attention in underworld circles by blowing up the Hells Angels clubhouse in Quebec City in February 1997 and after the Rock Machine's leader Claude "Ti-Loup" Vézina was arrested for drug smuggling, he became the Rock Machine's new leader on 11 September 1997. Faucher decided the best hope for the Rock Machine was to have the club absorbed into the Bandidos, the second-largest outlaw biker club in the world.

On 23 August 1998, a team of Rock Machine killers consisting of Frédéric Faucher, Gerald Gallant, and Marcel Demers rode by on their motorcycles and gunned down Paolo Cotroni in his driveway. Cotroni was a member of the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta Cotroni crime family who were the rivals of the Sicilian Mafia Rizzuto crime family. Cotroni was killed partly to gain the favor of the Rizzutos and partly because he was a friend of Boucher.[34]

On 8 September 1998, Johnny Plescio, a founding member of the Rock Machine, was at his Laval home watching television when his cable was severed.[35] As he rose to see what was wrong with his television, 27 bullets went through Plescios's living room window, 16 of which struck him.[35] At Plescio's funeral, a flower arrangement appeared bearing the word Bandidos, which was the first sign that the Bandidos Motorcycle Club of Texas was taking an interest in the Rock Machine.[35]

On October 28, 1998. Police arrested 25 Rock Machine members and associates as they we're eating dinner in the restaurant of a downtown hotel. The men were forced to lie facedown on the ground, they were searched, and then placed under arrest. Richard Lagacé and Denis Belleau were among those arrested, many were freed the next day, after swearing to stay away from the others that were picked up by police.

Disaster struck the Dark Circle, when one of their number, Salvatore Brunnettii, a restaurateur, bar owner and drug dealer, defected to the Hells Angels and gave them a list of the remaining members of the Dark Circle which basically led to their collapse, leaving the Rock Machine and fragmented members of the "Alliance" to face the Hells Angels and their support clubs.[36]

By 1999 the Rock Machine MC were seriously looking to align itself with longtime Hells Angels rivals the Bandidos Motorcycle Club as the other factions in the Alliance had been devastated, with the Rock Machine itself receiving substantial losses. During May 1999 the Rock Machine Motorcycle Club became a 'Hang-around" club for the Bandidos.

On 17 April 2000, Normand Hamel, one of the Nomads, was killed when attempting to flee from Rock Machine assassins in a Laval parking lot while he and his wife were taking his son to the doctor.[37] He was the most senior member of the Hells Angels killed during the conflict. On 12 May 2000, the Angels tried to kill the two Rock Machine members, Tony Duguay and Denis Boucher, suspected of killing Hamel, leading to a wild car crash, during which Duguay took bullet wounds to his arms, right hand, and thigh. About forty police officers from the Carcajou squad raided the Rock Machine chapter in Beauport but found nothing worthwhile, and in June 2000, the Rock Machine set-up in Ontario began recruiting former members of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club.[37]

In July 2000, Boucher's plans to set up an internet company were derailed when Robert "Bob" Savard, the loan shark who charged 52% interest on the loans he made to the desperate and needy, was gunned down at the Déjeuners Eggstra! restaurant in the north end of Montreal, Savard had been a Hells Angels associate for several years and was considered a right-hand man for Boucher.[38] Savard's dinner companion, Normand Descoteaux, a hockey player turned loan shark, was also a target, but he survived by grabbing a waitress, Hélène Brunet, and using her as an involuntary human shield, ensuring that she took four bullets meant for him.[39] Despite the way Brunet took bullets in her arms, legs and shin, Descoteaux was not charged.[3]^: 242 The shooter's were infamous Canadian hitman, Gerald Gallant and an unidentified associate of his. Gallant was employed by Michel Duclos, the leader of the Dark Circle and also frequently carried out contracts for the Rock Machine during the conflict with the Hells Angels,[40] from 1980 to 2003, he was responsible for 28 murders and 13 attempted murders. His most active years were during the Quebec Biker War, where he killed two members of Hells Angels support clubs in 1997 and a third survived an assassination attempt. In 1998 when he eliminated five men, including Paul Cotroni Jr., son of deposed mob boss Frank Cotroni, making 1998 his most prominent year as a hitman, he also at periods worked for the Irish-Canadian West End Gang.[41]

During this period both groups started to expand into Ontario with both opening several clubhouses. The Rock Machine would open three chapters in Ontario (Toronto, Kingston and Niagara Falls), the Loners had aligned themselves with the Rock Machine, holding a party in Toronto in June 2000 that was attended by dozens of "machinists", as the Rock Machine are known in outlaw biker circles.[14] Also in June 2000 before the Hells Angels.[42] Not wanting to lose ground to the Rock Machine in the province, Hells Angels opened its first clubhouse and in 2000 and gave a limited time offer to outlaw motorcycle clubs in Ontario(especially Satan's Choice and the Para-dice Riders). There would be no probationary period for Hells Angels club membership and all members would receive full-patch. This resulted in 168 members of the ParaDice Riders, Satan's Choice, Lobos and Last Chance "patching" to the Angels. Overnight the Hells Angels went from one chapter in Ontario to 14, giving them a massive advantage in the province. This gave the Hells Angels 29 chapters in total, with 418 full-patch members in Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.[14]

On December 6, 2000, 255 police officers tracked and arrested 16 Rock Machine members and associates on narcotics trafficking charges. The "ring", operated by Marcel Demers Leader of the Beauport chapter and National president Fred Faucher of the Quebec City chapter, were accused of distributed more than two kilograms of cocaine a month and generated almost $5 million in profits annually(modern equivalent of $8,347,967). Alain Brunette would he promoted to the position of national president, until he became the first president of Bandidos Canada on December 1, 2001, Jean-Claude Belanger would replace Brunette as president of the Quebec City chapter. Robert Léger would head the Beauport chapter until his death. Also In December 2000, the Rock Machine officially became a probationary club of the Bandidos, seeing the division this caused the Hells Angels would approach the Alliance with the offer of a ceasefire brokered by the Rizzuto crime family, which was accepted. The truce had an ulterior motive for the Hells Angels as they hoped to halt the expansion of the Bandidos in Canada, especially Ontario. The Hells Angels would also convince members of the Rock Machine who did not agree with the "patch-over" to join them. The truce would last for only a brief period before hostilities continued.[14]

In December 2000, most of the Rock Machine's Ontario members joined the Hells Angels.[43] The Hells Angels national president, Walter Stadnick, offered the Hells Angels membership to the Rock Machine's Kingston and Toronto chapters while excluding the London chapter, saying that the members of the London chapter were unqualified to be Hells Angels.[44] Most of the Ontario members of the Rock Machine took up Stadnick's offer as it was felt that the Bandidos patch with its cartoonish drawing of a Mexican bandit was "silly".[44] Furthermore, Stadnick offered Hells Angels membership on a "patch-for-patch" basis, allowing members to trade their current patches for equivalent Hells Angels while the Bandidos required new members take a reduction in rank.[45] Paul "Sasquatch" Porter, a founding member of the Rock Machine and the president of their Kingston chapter, wrote on the wall of the clubhouse: "Hello to all the RMMC, I wish you the best with your new colors! Bye my brothers!"[43] Porter became the president of the Hells Angels bew Ottawa chapter.[46] The fact that the Hells Angels had conspired to kill Porter when he was a member of the Rock Machine did not stop him from defecting.[46]

Regardless of the prior issues, on December 1, 2001. The Rock Machine Motorcycle Club became official members of the Bandidos Canada in a "Patch-Over" ceremony at the Rock Machine's Kingston chapter club house. The Bandidos Canada inherited seven new chapters(Montreal, Quebec City, Point-Aux-Trembles, Beauport, Toronto, Kingston and Niagara Falls). On March 28 of the same year, a massive investigation by Canadian authorities dubbed Operation Springtime was launched against the Hells Angels. The raids resulted in the arrests of 138 members of the Hells Angels including Maurice Boucher himself and associates connected with the motorcycle club. This brought about a power vacuum in the country's narcotics market.[14]

The Bandidos Canada were looking to take advantage of this opportunity to regain territory lost and take new territory from the Hells Angels. However a concurrent investigation, Operation Amigo, was underway targeting the Bandidos Canada operations. This operation had initially gone under a different title and was created to target the Rock Machine as a result of the conflict in Quebec. When The Rock Machine patched over to the Bandidos they became the main focus. On June 5, 2002, raids led to the arrests of 62 members of the Bandidos Canada (Rock Machine) including all of its Quebec manpower and many other associates.[47] This put an end to the conflict as it was the first time since the start of the war that both sides had large numbers of men and their respective leaders in custody and facing charges. All in all it is the deadliest recorded biker conflict in history with over 162 dead, over 300 wounded, 100 plus arrested and 20 people missing. It also cost the government of Canada and Quebec millions of dollars in damages[14] with 84 bombings, and 130 cases of arson.[48]

In 2006, an event known as the Shedden massacre occurred with 8 members of the Bandidos being shot and killed. (it is referred to as the Shedden massacre due to the fact that the bodies were dumped near the Hamlet of Shedden). The Bandidos Canada closed its doors officially in October 2007. A failed attempt to get the club back on its feet by the then released Frank Lenti, lack of support from US and European Bandidos, and the Canadian members' suspicions about their US counterparts' involvement in the Shedden murders led to the closure. During this period it was confirmed by the President of the newly formed Rock Machine, that there were still 27 other members of the Bandidos that we're still active in Canada at the time, none of which were involved in the massacre.[49]

The former Winnipeg chapter of the Bandidos started to call themselves the Rock Machine in early 2008.[50] The vast majority of the new Rock Machine were former members of the Bandidos and there is no connection with the first Rock Machine.[51] The former Bandido chapter in Winnipeg chose the name Rock Machine as a way of enraging the Hells Angels.[52] Langton noted that the website for the new Rock Machine had a section set aside for its dead members, which did not list a single member of the Rock Machine killed in the Quebec biker war, but instead listed the "Shedden 8" victims of the Shedden massacre.[51] Langton wrote "These guys aren't the Rock Machine. In they have little to do with them".[53] The current club uses the name and patch of the former Rock Machine, but is otherwise not connected to the first version of the Rock Machine.[54] Most of the Rock Machine's chapters exist only on the internet, and one policeman told Langton about the seemingly impressive number of chapters on the Rock Machine's website: "LOL Internet bikers!"[55] In an interview with Langton in 2008, a recruiter for the Rock Machine who did not wished to be named said the gang had opened up chapters in Toronto and Kingston in the spring of 2008.[50] Th recruiter stated that the Ontario members were former Bandidos; from a gang in Woodbridge called The Crew; or never been in a motorcycle gang before.[50]

Typical of the members of the Rock Machine was Ron Burling, described by the journalist Jerry Langton as a man with a shaven head, bushy goatee beard, his entire body covered in tattoos except for his face and described him as a "physically huge man".[50] Burling's Facebook profile described him as "a member of the Rock Machine Nomads" and his occupation as "Edmonton Maximum Security Penitentiary General Population".[50] Burling had been convicted of a brazen kidnapping and assault.[56] On 8 February 2005 as a member of the Bandidos Winnipeg chapter, Burling had smashed through the window of a car to remove a drug dealer named Adam Amundsen from his vehicle.[57] Burling then beat Amundsen for several hours with a baseball bat and his fists to encourage him to pay back a $6,000 dollar drug debt owned to the Bandidos.[58] In addition, Burling used a knife to slice off a tattoo off Amundsen's body and then finally used a sledgehammer to smash every bone in Amundsen's index finger and then cut off the tip of his finger.[57] Burling was convicted of assault and kidnapping, and threatened both the judge and the crown attorneys with violence when his appeal was quashed.[57] Burling tried to lift the bench to throw at somebody, but was tasered by the court marshals.[57]

In 2008, members of a gang in Prince George, British Columbia known as the Game Tight Soldiers were told by the Hells Angels to either leave Prince George or start to pay them for the right to work in Prince George.[59] Most of the Game Tight Soldiers led by their president, Steven King, chose to relocate to Winnipeg to join the Rock Machine.[60]

The Rock Machine s Toronto chapter was founded in April 2008 and had recruited around 24 members.[61] The new Rock Machine was initially led by Sean Brown, who reorganized it as the Rock Machine Canada Nomads. The move was also intended as an insult toward the Bandidos US national chapter and Bandidos National President Jeffrey Pike in particular, but gained unexpected momentum. In August 2008, President of the newly founded RMMC Sean "Crazy Dog" Brown, gave an interview with the Ottawa Citizen, he stated the reformed club contains former members of the Bandidos(who were not associated with the RMMC beforehand) and original Rock Machine members. Members who were being released from prison or joined in prison were instrumental in the revival of the club, despite the club's new rule set revolving around the inclusion of criminals in the organization. The Rock Machine were not willing to exclude former Bandidos or original RMMC members of the club that had been imprisoned. Even though they possessed criminal records, they claimed those joining would no longer be involved in crime(essentially claiming second chance clause). He went on to state that the group "maintains a brotherhood and close association with the Western based Red Power" and the Rock Machine had different mentality and it was not the criminal organization it had been before.[49]

Two members of the Rock Machine Nomads chapter out of Australia, were arrested at the Winnipeg Airport in September 2008, they were in Manitoba on on request of the International Nomads chapter to help set up a chapter in Winnipeg, they were held and extradited back to Australia.[62] The Rock Machine would be established in the province later that year regardless of the setbacks, with the chapter being created by former members of the Winnipeg Bandidos chapter, which would be joined by former members of the Mongols. The entire club would be reinforced by patching over a small Canadian motorcycle club known as "The Crew" MC, which had chapters in Huron County, Ontario and Western Canada.[50]

Regardless the Manitoba Rock Machine would become much more aligned with national leadership during the presidency of Jay "Critical J" Strachan who would become President of the Winnipeg chapter after Ron Burling, he was eventually elected International President of the Rock Machine after Sean Brown was voted out, this was due to his lack of wanting to expanding back into Quebec after their initial setup in Montreal, also the club did not like the soft approach that he was taking towards the Hells Angels, a policy of appeasement. Strachan had a deep respect for both the sacrifice made by the original members of the Rock Machine and the members of the slain No Surrender Crew(Rock Machine dubbed their remembrance patch "No Mercy Crew"). He instituted commemorative patches for both events, which members of the Nomads chapter wore on their jackets. These patches, especially the patch commemorating the Quebec Biker War are still worn by members worldwide in the current day.

The Rock Machine are estimated by authorities to have 300–400 members in the country as of 2022. The club spread across Canada and throughout several other countries worldwide including the United States, Australia, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Hungary, Belgium, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, France, South Africa, England, Spain, Georgia, Hong Kong, Kosovo, Kuwait, Armenia, Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines and Turkey. As of 2022, the Rock Machine Motorcycle Club has established over 120 chapters, in 26 countries, on 5 continents since its inception.[5]

The Rock Machine Motorcycle Club has also been responsible for the creation of several support clubs, such as The Palmers MC (1994–2002/now defunct). Founded in Montreal, it was a participant in the Quebec Biker War, the SS Elite Motorcycle Club(2009–Present) a RM created support Club with rules and mentality modelled on the Waffen SS. It has had chapters in Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and the United States, the Hell Hounds MC(2010–2013), New Bloods MC(2014–Present), Fearless Bandits MC (2015–Present) and Vendettas Motorcycle Club(2009–Present) founded in Manitoba by the RMMC. Over the years it has become an international support club of the Rock Machine with chapters in Canada, Australia and Russia. As support clubs they are tasked with providing security and manpower, support, enforcement and logistics to any Rock Machine MC chapter. The support club reports to the mother chapter in Quebec but is also required to support local chapters across the country/world. For those that complete this task for the duration of the probationary period, they will receive request to become members of the Rock Machine Motorcycle Club. Most of these clubs shared the same colors, due to this the community is called the "Black and Platinum Family"[63]

The current iteration of the Rock Machine MC maintains an enmity towards the Texas-based Bandidos, despite claims in Alex Caine's book The Fat Mexican that Rock Machine members in 2008 made a secret deal with high-ranking members of the Bandidos national chapter to re-open in Canada, as of 2022 the Bandidos have still not returned to Canadian soil. The Rock Machine claims to be just a motorcycle club.[64] Langton dismissed these claims, arguing that the Rock Machine had recruited Ron Burling into their ranks when he was already in prison serving a 17-year sentence for assault and kidnapping as he maintained that only a criminal organization would recruit a violent criminal such as Burling as a member.[53] In 2021, Detective Scott Wade of the Ontario Provincial Police's Anti-Biker Enforcement Unit called members of the Rock Machine "violent guys, but they weren't' established and organized".[65]

The Rock Machine stated:

"We believe everybody deserves a second chance," a representative for the Rock Machine stated. "We won't throw our members out who are in jail. We don't abandon our brothers that are in jail."

Today the Rock Machine Motorcycle Club's Mother chapter resides in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. All official chapters follow the rules and regulations set out by the mother chapter. With recent updates and reformats to the club's official Constitution in 2020, the rules are much more stringent, more relatable to other high-profile biker groups such as the Hells Angels.

Rock Machine World map

The club has more than 90 active chapters worldwide.[75][76]

Since its rebirth, the Rock Machine maintains that it is a group of motorcycle enthusiasts and claim that it now dismisses members who are involved in known crimes or criminal activity. Any members that do commit crimes, do so without the club's permission.[5] Many law enforcement agencies and journalists criticize these claims. For an in-depth list on allegations and incidents please see Rock Machine MC criminal allegations and incidents.

• List of outlaw motorcycle clubs
• List of gangs in Canada

• CBC News In Depth: Biker Gangs in CanadaDead Link
• CBC News In Depth: Canada's Anti-gang LawDead Link
• The Fifth Estate: The Road to Hell: The Rise of the Hells Angels in QuebecDead Link
• York University's Nathanson Center for the Study of Organized Crime and CorruptionDead Link