A contested monopoly | The Press

“We will no longer see control over drug territories like the Hells Angels had before. They are challenged by groups that were once called street gangs, but which are no longer street gangs. For us, they are now criminal organizations,” says Chief Inspector Pierre-Mathieu Viviers, head of intelligence at the Sûreté du Québec.

Since the early 2000s, the SQ has given priority to the fight against bikers, then their allies in the Sicilian mafia. But things will now change. Even if the SQ were still searching a premises linked to bikers in Hérouxville, in Mauricie, as recently as Friday evening, in 2025, it will not only be fighting the Hells Angels.

The national police will also have in their crosshairs emerging groups who play in the big leagues on the chessboard of drug trafficking territories in Montreal and Quebec and who do not hesitate to use violence to achieve their ends. , affecting the population’s feeling of security and upsetting the established balance.

These gangs, which formerly provided services to the Hells Angels, have freed themselves, become autonomous and structured criminal organizations, have contacts elsewhere in Canada or abroad, and are now violently challenging their former donors. biker work.

No question of being water carriers

It is Dave Turmel, leader of the Blood Family Mafia (BFM) in the Quebec region, who is considered in the media as the first standard-bearer, in 2023, of this “rebellion” against the Hells Angels. But in reality, the revolt began two years earlier, led by highly dangerous individuals, according to the SQ.

This multiplies expressions to describe the situation: entry into a new era, transformation of organized crime, change of business model or end of one generation and beginning of another.

The Hells Angels’ near-monopoly on drug trafficking in Quebec, acquired at the end of the biker war which left 160 dead and as many injured during the 1990s, has been significantly undermined.

“We see that these groups are more and more organized. We realize that when it comes to supply and accessibility to narcotics, it is no longer necessarily the monopoly of bikers. They have strong outside contacts, so they become competitive against the usual routes the Hells Angels had. They no longer have any reason to pay them a royalty,” explains Mr. Viviers, according to whom the SQ is no longer talking about a royalty war, but a conflict aimed at breaking the monopoly or control of the Hells Angels.

“At the same time as they have gained experience, these groups are made up of young individuals. There is a new generation emerging and they do not want to deal with bikers and be water or suitcase carriers. They are involved in all crimes of violence: extortion, arsons, attempted murders, murders, etc. », Continues chief inspector Pierre-Mathieu Viviers.

Save the furniture

According to the Sûreté du Québec, Hells Angels had to “make compromises” and abandon territories to buy peace or gain allies. In other situations, they lost the war outright.

This would particularly be the case in Saguenay, where the independent trafficker ranked second among the most wanted criminals in Canada, All Boivin, would be in control, at least for the moment.

Other territories have become “gray zones” and could go one way or the other, because bikers are resisting.

The SQ says that the days are gone when bikers only had to show their jacket to calm the ardor of envious people.

According to her, they might have to come to an agreement with their opponents as has been done elsewhere in Canada and in other countries, and turn to other less coveted and more specialized activities, like the Hells Angels of the section of Montreal who would have tried to do so with mafia sports betting in 2023.

“Street gangs have risen in rank […] and the Hells Angels are turning to other lucrative operations. Some will step back and try to keep what they can still save,” says chief inspector Michel Patenaude, head of criminal investigations at the SQ, according to whom these changes within organized crime are only just beginning.

A strong trend

He even claims that Hells Angels told investigators that they wanted to sell their house and leave their area for security reasons.

“In Ontario, the Hells Angels do not control everything and in British Columbia, at least two criminal groups are as powerful as them. These emerging gangs have direct links with Mexican cartels and elsewhere, notably with Toronto,” adds Pierre-Mathieu Viviers.

An open door

Other factors may have exacerbated the rebellion, facilitated the breakthrough of these gangs and “opened the door” for them, according to the SQ.

Among other things, the fact that for the past ten years there has been an “absence of leadership” at the head of Montreal’s structured organized crime, that a conflict broke out between the Sicilian mafia and members of the Hells Angels of Montreal in subject of sports betting, that the five sections of the Hells Angels in the province are less close than before, that the bikers have become gentrified and no longer want to return to war or prison, that their most influential members are old or sick, that gangs control entire sectors in Quebec prisons, that they are extremely violent and more familiar with new technologies, telephones with encrypted communications applications – even in prison –, cryptocurrency and social networks, which allow them to maintain contacts all over the world.

The SQ does not exclude that criminal groups will begin to operate in silos again, as they did before the 1980s, and that some will come together on an ethnic basis.

Those responsible for the fight against organized crime of the SQ recently visited Europe during which the police demonstrated to them, for example, that in Marseille, in the south of France, a group called the DZ Mafia , whose members are mainly from the Maghreb, has dethroned the Corsican mafia although it has been established for decades, that it is now itself considered a mafia and that it does not hesitate to use adolescents to fill out contracts, particularly murder contracts, as was seen in Quebec last year.

“The more clans there are, the more difficult alliances are. There is no taking of territory without conflict. But are we currently seeing a sufficient increase to worry the population? No,” assures chief inspector Pierre-Mathieu Viviers.

The safety of the population above all

The rise of emerging criminal groups and the violence that accompanies it is forcing the SQ to review its strategy to combat organized crime.

To maintain control, she will target groups that she was not interested in before, because she considered them too low in the hierarchy.

In 2025, the Hells Angels will not necessarily be at the center of the hunt for investigators from the National Organized Crime Repression Squad (ENRCO), whose mandate is to attack the leaders of organized crime, and the squads mixed regional associations (ERM).

“We will mainly look at where there will be public safety issues,” said Mr. Patenaude.

The SQ established the Integrated Intelligence Team on Armed Violence (EIRVA), in which the City of Montreal Police Service (SPVM), the Laval Police Service (SPL) and the Service de police collaborate in particular. police of the agglomeration of Longueuil (SPAL), to identify the targets of future investigations.

This aspect is important, because the police are facing new actors that they are less familiar with, and Chief Inspector Michel Patenaude insists on the importance of partnership with 26 other police forces in the fight against organized crime.

“What is happening in Quebec [conflit entre les Hells Angels et Dave Turmel]it has an impact on Montreal, because it is gang members from Montreal who move to Quebec. Intelligence must therefore be integrated and we must talk to each other between police forces. We can no longer work in silos as we did before, both in investigation and in intelligence,” adds his counterpart Pierre-Mathieu Viviers.

Just before Christmas, the SQ gave a foretaste of its intentions by announcing 35 new arrests in connection with violent acts committed as part of the gang rebellions against the Hells Angels in several regions.

“In 2025, we will react as little as possible and anticipate as much as possible,” concludes chief inspector Michel Patenaude.

To contact Daniel Renaud, call 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.