Normand "Pluche" Bélanger
Hells Angels Nomads Chapter
    Normand Bélanger, known  as “Pluche”, was born  around 1949. He joined the  Rockers Montreal Chapter in the early 1990s, and went on to become one of its leading members. Bélanger has been  named  as being closely  associated  to  Hells  Angels  Nomads  leader  Maurice  “Mom” Boucher.

     Stéphane Sirois, a former Hells Angels associate and one-time driver for Bélanger who would  turn  informant, told  authorities that  Bélanger controlled  the  trafficking of  ecstasy  for  the  gang. He  was  allegedly responsible for controlling  the  price of  the drug, as  well  as importing and distributing the pills.
    On September 20, 1999, when  a  gunman wounded  Nomads member Denis Houle's wife outside the  couple's  Piedmont  home, Normand Bélanger  was  among  the  Rockers  placed  on  guard duty outside  her  hospital  room. Accompanying  him, according  to  news reports, was  Francis Boucher, Pierre Laurin, Stéphane Faucher, Sébastien Beauchamp, and Stéphane Jarry.

     Bélanger and over 100 Hells members and associates were  arrested in Opération: Printemps 2001 on  March 28, 2001. He  was  charged  with  conspiracy  to  murder 11 men, gangsterism, and  drug trafficking. 

     In the Longueuil apartment where he was arrested, police say they found documents, and clothing and  jewellery with the  logos of  the Nomads  and  Rockers. Police  also seized $245,000 in cash that they say belonged to Bélanger.

     In court, the government claimed that Bélanger’s responsibility at Rockers meetings was to collect 10% of members profits. This money, the prosecution said, came from the club’s drug business, and was used to  pay for  lawyers  and  to finance  the  war with  the  rival  Bandidos/Rock Machine. The money would  reportedly be wrapped in elastics  and placed in  a metal briefcase that Bélanger kept in the trunk of his white Mercedes-Benz.

     On trial with 16 other Hells Angels  and  Rockers, Bélanger’s health severely deteriorated since his arrest. According to news reports, he’d sometimes  not be  able to go to court or  attend the trial in  a wheelchair. Doctors said  Bélanger was fighting  a host of  diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, and cirrhosis of the liver, and only had a few months left to live.

     On  September 10, 2002, Quebec  Superior  Court  Justice  Pierre  Béliveau  accorded  Bélanger  a conditional release so that he could spend his last moments with his 8-year-old daughter.
 
     The judge  handed down certain conditions for  Bélanger to follow, including installing  a phone so police can contact him  at  all times, only leaving home for doctor visits, and not communicating with any bikers or their families.