| Jean "Le Francais" Duquaire |
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| Jean Duquaire, born in the mid 1950s, is known as “Le Français” – The Frenchman - and has often been referred to as being one of the reputed leaders of the Rock Machine/Bandidos. In mid-July, 1994, he and Michel Boyer, the son of famous informant Bernard Provencal, were arrested in a stolen car in the city’s east end. In the car, police found firearms, masks, and bullet proof vests, according to a news article. Authorities suspected the tw o were planning to kill Hells Angels leader Maurice “Mom” Boucher. Boyer would be gunned down in front of his home the following year. |
| In Bordeaux prison, Duquaire and others in the Rock Machine camp allegedly approached Stéphane “Godasse” Gagné, a Hells Angels associate, and demanded that he stomp on a photograph of Mom Boucher. He refused and was viciously beaten. Shortly thereafter, Gagné supposedly got his revenge by attacking Duquaire with an iron bar and a makeshift blade. Duquaire spent three days in a coma, according to a news report. Gagné later became a government informant and recounted the incident on the witness stand. In 2000, the Rock Machine formed a puppet club called the Palmers to carry out their bidding. Duquaire and fellow biker André “Dédé” Désormeaux were described as the group’s godfathers in several news reports at the time. Duquaire played a strong role in the Rock Machine joining the international Bandidos organization, according to authorities. On December 1, 2000, when the group officially became Bandidos, Duquaire supposedly put up the required $45,000 to purchase their new club’s colours, a sum the other members were to pay back. The Rock Machine/Bandidos organization was crippled in June, 2002, when police arrested over 60 of the gang’s members and associates in a series of raids across Quebec and Ontario. Among those charged were Duquaire, Salvatore Cazzetta, Serge “Merlin” Cyr, Alain Brunette, André Désormeaux, and Robert Paradis. Police seized several kilos of cocaine and hashish, as well as four firearms, including a machine gun, that they say belonged to Duquaire. Over $40,000 was seized from his home, while an additional $60,000 was found at the home of Stéphane Paquin, Duquaire’s alleged right-hand man. According to authorities, Duquaire sold between two and four kilograms of cocaine and several kilos of hashish every week. By the time of his arrest, various dealers supposedly owed him a total of half a million dollars for drugs he had fronted to them. On March 17, 2003, Duquaire, Paquin, and Réginald Berger, described as Duquaire’s drug runner, pleaded guilty to charges of drug trafficking and gangsterism. Duquaire also pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. The biker leader was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Paquin was sentenced to four years and a half, while Berger received four years. The judge stipulated they would have to serve at least half of their sentences before becoming eligible for parole. |