| Blatnois Mauricie Chapter |
| The Blatnois biker gang, based in Grand-Mere, in the Mauricie region, was founded on October 28 1989. The group, usually made up of ten to fifteen members, reportedly used violence and intimidation to maintain control of the drug market in the area. The club was soon assimilated into the Hells Angels vast criminal network, becoming a puppet gang to the Hells Trois-Rivieres Chapter. Two members of the latter – Stéphane “L’Grand” Poitras and Sylvain “Baptiste” Thiffault” – were allegedly placed in charge of overseeing the Blatnois’ criminal activities. In April, 1995, Blatnois member Clermont Carrier and Hells Angels Louis “Mélou” Roy, Sylvain Thiffault, Mario Brouillette, Francois Hinse, and Claude Giguere were charged with conspiracy to murder. Carrier, Thiffault, Brouillette, Hinse, and Giguere would plead guilty, after prosecutors agreed to withdraw charges against reputed Hells leader Mélou Roy. The Surete du Quebec and municipal police raided the Blatnois’ Grand-Mere clubhouse and the home of one of its members on November 2, 1995. A man was arrested and charged with harassment towards a police officer. On July 4, 1999, a member of the Blatnois, Guy Pronovost, was arrested for having allegedly assaulted a police officer in a La Tuque bar. The officer, who had been out with his wife and another couple, was hospitalized for several hours. Two others – Blatnois Richard Rousseau and Hells Angel Stéphane Poitras – were also later arrested in connection with the incident. The Surete du Quebec dealt a severe blow to the Blatnois’ criminal network on June 21, 2000, when they raided 20 locales, including the club’s Grand-Mere clubhouse and the Hells Angels Trois-Rivieres Chapter’s clubhouse, and arrested 17 people, including numerous Blatnois members and a Hells Angel. They were charged with committing a variety of crimes, including assault, kidnapping, and death threats, perpetrated against independent drug traffickers to maintain control of the racket in the Mauricie region. On April 10, 2001, eight full-patch Blatnois members arrested the previous year pled guilty to over 80 charges, including gangsterism, kidnapping, and aggravated assault. Jean-Sébastien Grenier and Camille Paquin Jr. both received eight years in prison, Éric Giguere and Éric Hinse got five years, Richard Rousseau and René Monfette received four years and a half, Pierre Clément got three and a half years, and Claude Jacques received three years. Prosecutors said the gang used baseball bats and wooden beams to intimidate rival dealers into selling Hells Angels supplied drugs. On one occasion, two of the accused allegedly entered the home of an independent drug dealer, tied him to a chair, and battered him so badly that he required surgery. On February 5, 2002, it was another member of the gang’s turn to face the music. Blatnois Pierre Guérard was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleaded guilty to charges of assault, death threats, and participating in the activities of a criminal gang. With the recent convictions of most of the members of the Blatnois, it has been said the biker gang is no longer active. |