| Operation Amigo |
| When police arrested more than 100 Hells Angels and associates across Quebec in a massive crackdown in March 2001, the Bandidos were riding high. Their ruthless rivals for the Montreal drug trade were practically out of commission and the Bandidos planned to take full advantage.
But those dreams of seizing control of the drug trade came crashing down on June 5, 2002. With most people still asleep, more than 200 police officers from the RCMP, Quebec Provincial Police and various municipal agencies pounced on more than 60 members and associates of the Bandidos across Quebec and Ontario. Within hours, virtually every member of the gang in Quebec was behind bars on charges that included conspiracy to commit murder, drug trafficking and gangsterism. In prison, the bikers surely scratched their heads. They had went to great lengths to avoid surveillance, so how exactly was police able to get the drop on them? They soon learned the truth: one of their own was secretly working with police. Known as “Rat Killer”, Eric Nadeau was the national secretary of the Bandidos and an accomplished drug dealer. But he was also a double agent, secretly passing along important information about the gang to Montreal police. Nadeau, who became an informant in 1991, hooked up with the Bandidos during the middle of the biker war. Before that, he had been on the side of the Hells Angels, but jumped ship when they tried to gun him down. Shortly after the attempted hit, Nadeau said Montreal police approached him with the offer to infiltrate the Bandidos. Nadeau contacted the Bandidos through their website and told them of his intention of switching sides. After exchanging numerous e-mails and communicating by telephone, they welcomed him into the fold. Nadeau said he started off as a driver for some of the senior members, but later became a partner in his own drug network in southwest Montreal. The network supplied cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy and speed to area dealers, including members of the Killer Beez, a Bandidos puppet gang. Bandidos was quickly accepted into the gang and became a full-patch member on December 1, 2001, the same day as all Canadian members were granted full membership status of the U.S.-based gang. Shortly thereafter, Nadeau was awarded the rank of National Secretary. Nadeau provided police with all kinds of information about the Bandidos, including warning them of a planned hit on Hells Angels associate Steven “Bull” Bertrand. Yet Nadeau claimed police did nothing as a walked up to a restaurant window and fired several shots into Bertrand’s body. The Hells Angels associate survived. About three months after the hit, police wrapped up Operation Amigo and swooped down on the gang. The police operation was considered a smashing success, with all but a few of those arrested pleading guilty in the months following the bust. Others decided to fight the charges in court.In September 2004, five Bandidos members were found guilty in a Laval court on charges that included drug trafficking and gangsterism. Nadeau, who spent about 18 months infiltrating the Bandidos, said he was then abandoned by police. He filed a lawsuit in court against them to obtain the money he said he is owed for his efforts. |