| Gilles Mathieu has been a member of the Hells Angels since the late 1970s or early 1980s. He was a member of the Montreal Chapter, and he helped found the feared Nomads Chapter in 1995, along with Maurice Boucher and Louis Roy. Mathieu also served as Godfather to the Pirates puppet club, headquartered in his home town of Valleyfield.
Mathieu, who was described as Boucher’s second-in-command and close advisor, has kept a low profile over the years. While Hells Angels were being imprisoned left and right following the 1985 slaughter of five members of the club's North Chapter, Mathieu was acquitted of murder and being an accessory after the fact. Evidence revealed at the trial showed that Mathieu arrived at the clubhouse only after the bikers were gunned down. |
| Gilles "Trooper" Mathieu |
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Mathieu was arrested alongside fellow Nomads Denis "Pas Fiable" Houle, Gilles "Trooper" Mathieu. Richard "Dick" Mayrand, and Michel Rose, Nomads prospects Luc "Bordel" Bordeleau and Jean-Richard Lariviere, and Rocker Kenny Bédard at the Holiday Inn on Sherbrooke Street on February 15, 2001. All eight bikers were armed, and police found photographs of eight members of the Rock Machine/Bandidos biker gang. Police seized the bikers’ pocket money, which totaled $39,197. In order to avoid gangsterism charges, the eight bikers pleaded guilty to weapons charges. Mathieu was sentenced to one year in prison. Mathieu was among more than 100 Hells Angels and associates charged in Opération: Printemps 2001 on March 28, 2001. At Mathieu’s home, police seized a large amount of jewellery, a letter with the Canadian rules of the biker gang and a note to Mathieu from fellow Nomad Walter Stadnick, who referred to Trooper as “an inspiration”. It was also later revealed in court documents that Mathieu owned more than $2 million worth of advertising signboards at the West Edmonton Mall. In September, 2003, Mathieu and eight others pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit murder, drug trafficking, and gangsterism. Had they not pleaded guilty, it was estimated that approximately 200 witnesses would have been summoned to testify, costing taxpayers several million dollars. The crown prosecutor alleged that Mathieu was part of a massive criminal organization that reaped $111 million from drug sales per year. The court was asked to impose 20-year sentences on Mathieu and other Nomads members Normand Robitaille, Rene Charlebois and Denis Houle. An 18-year sentence was asked for Nomads prospect Guillaume Serra and 15-year terms for Rockers members Pierre Provencher, Jean-Guy Bourgoin, Daniel Lanthier and Sylvain Laplante. Mathieu’s lawyer said his client received the equivalent of a maximum sentence for second-degree murder despite the fact there was no proof linking him to any actual murder. “He is now 52, and a 15-year sentence means a lot more to him than to a younger man,” the lawyer was quoted as saying. |