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| Normand "Billy" Labelle |
| Normand Labelle, called "Billy" or "Dog" by associates, was born in 1955 and joined the Popeyes motorcycle gang at a very young age. On September 14, 1974, at the age of 19, he and fellow Popeye Gilles "Le Nez" Lachance walked into the Chaufferie discotheque and brutally beat Brian Levitt and shot his brother Gary. He died in hospital a week later. The brothers had made the mistake of getting into a traffic dispute with the two bikers. Labelle was not charged but Lachance was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to seven years in prison. Three years later, on December 5, 1977, Labelle became a founding member of Canada's first Hells Angels chapter when the Montreal club |
| was absorbed by the Big Red Machine. He was among the 15 members who purchased the club's impressive clubhouse in Sorel. Labelle, who would become close to Hells Angels Michel "Sky" Langlois and Michael "L'Animal" Lajoie-Smith, took on a characteristic that is uncommon among the club: the ability to keep a low profile. His name has rarely made the papers. Police arrested Dark Circle members Salvatore Brunetti, Normand Paré, Jean-Jacques Roy, André Désormeaux, Michel Duclos, Louis-Jacques Deschenes, Franco Fondacaro, Serge Bruneau, Michel Possa, Jean-René Roy, André Bureau, Marcel Gauthier, Claude Joannette, Roger Lavigne, Jean Rosa, and Pierre Bastien in November, 1995 and charged with, between August 15 and September 30, 1995, conspiring to murder "Billy" Labelle. All were eventually convicted. On March 1, 1997, eight members and two prospects broke away from the Montreal chapter on and formed the South Charter. They ordered new patches from Vorarlberg, Austria, where all the club's patches are made and set up shop in Saint-Basile-le-Grand. Labelle, who is active primarily in Laval and the Laurentians, became the chapter's first president. |