| Nelson Fernandes |
 |
| Nelson Fernandes, born in the mid 1960s, first became known to the media as a high-ranking member of the Rock Machine gang and right-hand man of biker boss Salvatore Cazzetta. He was considered a quiet person, avoiding attention whenever possible, and supposedly possessed solid underworld contacts in Ontario,
In 1992, Fernandes was reportedly charged with threatening to cause bodily harm or kill two police officers. He was eventually acquitted. Fernandes and Cazzetta were named in a 1993 Florida indictment alleging they conspired in a plot to import up to 10,000 kilograms of cocaine from the United States Also arrested in connection to the same plan was reputed West End Gang member William MacAllister and underworld figure Paul Larue, who later became an informant. |
| But before police could arrest them, Fernandes and Cazzetta both went into hiding. Cazzetta was arrested in Ontario the following year, while Fernandes was finally nabbed by police in 1997 as he drove his car in Notre Dame de Grace, in southwest Montreal.
He was finally able to fight off his extradition to the U.S., but Cazzetta wasn’t as lucky. He was brought to Florida, where he pleaded guilty to drug charges and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Fernandes was among the bikers present when Rock Machine leader Fred Faucher met with Hells Angels kingpin Maurice Boucher at a trendy restaurant in Montreal. With anti-gang legislation looming over their heads, The two agreed on an uneasy truce between the two clubs. A photographer from the crime tabloid Allo Police was invited to capture the moment on film and snapped a photograph of Fernandes and a Hells Angels member. The peace didn’t last though and the gangs were back at war within weeks. Fernandes soon had enough of being on the losing side of a war that claimed more than 160 lives since 1994. He and seven other bikers defected from the Rock Machine to their Hells Angels rivals in December 2000. Fernandes and fellow biker Salvatore Brunetti were immediately inducted as full-patch members of the notorious Nomads chapter. Fernandes didn’t have much of a chance to enjoy his new position though. He died of cancer within months of becoming a Hells Angel. |