Yves Trudeau (biker) - Hells Angels

Hells Angels

In the late 1960s, he joined the outlaw motorcycle gang, Popeyes. That Quebec biker gang would become Canada's first Hells Angels chapter. Trudeau was a founding member of the Hells Angels in Quebec in 1977 after the Popeyes patched over.

In September 1979, Trudeau and others broke away from the Montreal Chapter to form the North Chapter, based in Laval. The group would become known for its violent and reckless behavior and excessive drug use. Standing five-foot-six and weighing 135 pounds, Trudeau did not resemble the prototypical biker, but he is considered to be the Hells Angels' most prolific killer.

Trudeau admitted to killing 43 people from September 1973 to July 1985. He was the first Canadian Hells Angel to earn the “Filthy Few” patch, awarded to members who have killed for the gang.

Among his murder victims:

• Jean-Marie Viel, shot to death in Trois-Rivières in 1970 after he made the mistake of stealing a motorcycle from the gang. Viel was Trudeau's first murder victim.
• Jeanne Desjardins, a grandmother, killed in February 1980 for trying to help her son, ex-Hells Angel Andre Desjardins. Trudeau beat her to death and then killed her son and his girlfriend. The bodies of the latter two were dumped in the St. Lawrence River.
• Donald McLean, a member of the rival Outlaws gang, and his girlfriend Carmen Piche, blown up in May 1980 when a bomb attached to McLean’s Harley-Davidson exploded.
• Reputed West End Gang member Hugh Patrick McGurnaghan, blown up in Westmount in October 1981 when a bomb planted in his Mercedes-Benz detonated. Trudeau later said West End Gang chieftain Frank "Dunie" Ryan had hired him to commit the murder.
• Michel Desormiers, a brother-in-law of reputed mob boss Frank Cotroni, gunned down in July 1983. The killing was supposedly cleared with the Montreal Mafia first.
• Even fellow Hells Angels were not safe. Trudeau killed Charlie Hachez, a member of the North Chapter, because he had a heavy drug problem and allegedly conspired to Kidnap Dunie's kids, and owed Dunie Ryan $150,000 in drug money. Hachez was lured to a meeting, killed, and his body dumped in the St. Lawrence River.
• And when Dunie Ryan was himself murdered, Trudeau was hired to extract revenge. In November 1984 a television set stuffed with explosives was delivered to the apartment where Ryan’s alleged killers were holed up. The explosion killed four people and injured eight, and knocked a huge hole in the apartment building in downtown Montreal.