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![]() Patch logo of the Popeye MC | |
Founded | 1965 |
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Founders | Michel Langlois, Roger Calve, Yvon Bilodeau and Giles Charette [1] |
Founding location | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
Years active | 1965-1977 |
Territory | Montreal, Saint-Hyacinthe, Drummondville, Quebec City, Rive-Sud, Gatineau, Sherbrooke, Sorel-Tracy, Laval and Trois Rivieres |
Ethnicity | predominantly French-Canadians |
Leader(s) |
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Activities | Drug trafficking, prostitution, extortion, theft, contract killing, assault, and murder |
Allies | Dubois Brothers Hells Angels Rizzuto crime family Grim Reapers Gitans MC [2] 13th Tribe MC [3] |
Rivals | Outlaws Satan's Choice Devil's Disciples |
The Popeye Moto Club, also referred to as the Popeye(s) MC, and often shortened to simply The Popeyes [4] was a French-Canadian outlaw motorcycle club [5] and criminal organization based across the province of Quebec. [5] At the group's peak, they were believed to be the largest club in Montreal and the second-largest outlaw motorcycle club in Canada, behind Satan's Choice. They were also the largest of the French-speaking clubs in the country. [6]
The Popeye Moto Club was founded in the populous city of Montreal by over half-a-dozen avid Quebecois motorcycle enthusiasts Michel "Sky" Langlois, Gilles "Super Gilles" Charette, Roger Calve and Yvon "Gorille" Bilodeau. [7] The specific year of the club's formation has been a subject of dispute - but is variously reported as either 1951 or 1965 (with the latter being widely accepted as more accurate). [8] [9]
Inspired by the iconic cartoon figure Popeye the Sailor Man, the Popeyes' center-patch depicted the fictitious character smoking his signature tobacco pipe whilst riding a cruiser motorcycle. Headquartered within the densely-populated borough of Le Plateau-Mont-Royal located at 4862 Drolet St., Montreal, Quebec, the club established several additional chapters throughout the province, located in Drummondville, Gatineau, Laval, Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec City, Rive-Sud, Sherbrooke, Sorel-Tracy, and Trois Rivieres. [10] [11] At their largest, the Popeyes were estimated to have several hundred members across Quebec.
From 1936–1939 and 1944–1959, Quebec endured a regime of conservative policies that were implemented by its 16th Premier (head of government) Maurice Duplessis along with his right-wing nationally conservative party Union Nationale. [12] This era, referred as " Grande Noirceur ", gave birth to the province's signature outlaw biker subculture - as a response to the emphasis put on the society's traditionalist norms. [13] Furthermore, countless biker gangs arose across Quebec that were fundamentally based on the values of liberty and freedom. [14] [15]
The Popeyes were regarded to be the most violent outlaw biker club in Quebec, and were notorious for engaging in gratuitous and sadistic violence, which is part of the reason why they were later chosen by the Hells Angels for recruitment. They had the reputation for being the most prosperous and the most violent motorcycle club in Montreal. [16] As one of the most notorious and dominant biker gangs in the province, the Popeyes had a strict policy towards other motorcycle clubs whose logos featured a red and white color scheme. On multiple occasions, they would strip the patches of clubs bearing red and white colors, and subsequently burn them as a way of displaying their dominance. Some of the clubs that would be affected by the Popeyes' rules included the Zombi MC, Black Angels MC and Escape Hell MC. [17]
Another Quebecois club, the Drummondville-based Mongols MC (unrelated to the U.S.-based club of the same name), was absorbed by the Popeyes's Rive-Sud chapter in late 1974. Among the Mongols' members was future Popeye president Yves Buteau. [18] [19] Buteau was personally courted by high-ranking Hells Angels member Sonny Barger - a crime boss from Oakland who was highly instrumental in cultivating the Hells Angels' rebellious and nonconforming image. [20]
In the early 1970s, the Popeyes began working as "muscle" for the Dubois Brothers, a prominent crime family in Montreal. Popeyes members initially worked as assassins and later on as drug dealers. They also became involved with the Montreal Mafia. [21]
From 1968 up until 1970, a short but violent turf war for control of the drug trade went between the Popeyes and Devil's Disciples MC, another Canadian outlaw biker gang (unrelated to the similarly named U.S.-based club). [22]
A violent confrontation that involved roughly 100 people, both members of the Popeyes and the Devil's Disciples, occurred on 1 June 1968. The skirmish involved the use of chains and baseball bats and left four belligerents seriously wounded. On 17 June 1968, a knife fight broke out between both gangs after a group of ten Popeye MC members blocked the road on Fabre Street in Jacques Cartier while eight members of the Devil’s Disciples were riding there. The engagement led to the death of 18-year old Devil's Disciples member Jean-Yves Picquet, who later died of stab wounds. [23]
In March 1969, French singer-songwriter Johnny Hallyday went on tour in the province of Quebec. As a well-known musical icon in the French-speaking world, he was very popular among the Québécois people – including the Popeye MC, who were big fans of his. When he arrived to perform shows across Quebec, he was welcomed by members of the Popeyes from different chapters. During his stay, Popeyes acted as security for Hallyday at his concerts. Jacques "Coco" Mercier, the president of the rivaling Devil's Disciples, saw the beloved singer's association with the Popeyes to be disrespectful as they, too, were fans of his. This angered the Devil's Disciples, who responded by making public death threats towards Hallyday. When the singer later returned to Quebec for another tour the following year, the Devil's Disciples followed through with their threats they had made and shot at him while he was eating at a restaurant in downtown Montreal. Hallyday was not injured in the shooting, but this attempt on his life caused him to distance himself from the Popeyes. [24] [25] [26]
Later in May of that same year, Popeye Moto Club member Pierre Boucher was stabbed to death by three members of the Devil’s Disciples, including Andre Bureau. An autopsy report yielded that Boucher sustained a total of 58 knife wounds as a result of the stabbing. By 1976, the Devil's Disciples had disbanded after fifteen of their members had been murdered by one criminal group or another.
With Satan's Choice MC being backed by the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, a rival of the Hells Angels, it caused conflict between them and the Popeyes MC, who were allied with the Hells Angels. This led to a two-year war between Satan's Choice and the Popeyes which resulted in the death of at least one Popeyes patch-holder and the injuries of many Satan's Choice members. [27]
After stealing a motorcycle from a Popeye Moto Club member, Jean-Marie Viel was shot and killed by Montreal chapter president Yves Trudeau in 1970. His body was discovered in a field that was located not far from the club's Trois-Rivieres chapter clubhouse. [28] [29] [30] [31]
Police in Montreal were phoned in July 1970 following an apparent gunfight that took place between the Popeye Moto Club and another outlaw motorcycle club. Police later questioned 13 members of the Popeyes at their Montreal clubhouse where three shotguns and a machete were discovered.
During the month of August in 1976, A group of 50 Popeyes members were arrested after they had been involved in trashing a hotel. Among the group members is their President, Yves Buteau.
The Popeyes were patched over by the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in 1977 to form the Hells Angels Montreal chapter (a.k.a. the North Chapter), establishing the very first Hells Angels chapter in Canada. However, only a fraction of the Popeyes members were considered worthy of wearing the Hells Angels kutte and gang colors. [32] [33] [34] A total of 35 members are believed to have patched over, the rest being either not interested or not up to the standard that the Hells Angels required. The North Chapter, itself, consisted mostly of former Popeyes members. [35]
Notorious Hells Angels hitman Yves "Apache" Trudeau was initially a member of Popeye MC until they were absorbed by the Hells Angels. At 22 years old, Trudeau joined the east-end Montreal chapter of the Popeye Moto Club, which started off his criminal career. [36] He went on to commit over 40 murders while a member of both the Popeyes and the Hells Angels.
Other Popeye members that later became famous Hells Angels include Laurent "L'Anglais" Viau, Normand "Billy" Labelle, Robert "Tiny" Richard, Denis "Le Cure" Kennedy, Jean-Pierre “Matt le Crosseur” Mathieu, Jean-Guy “Brutus” Geoffrion and Michel "Sky" Langlois. [37] [38] Trudeau, Langlois and Viau all played a role in the infamous Lennoxville massacre. [39] [40]
The Rock Machine Motorcycle Club (RMMC) or Rock Machine is an international outlaw motorcycle club founded in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1986. It has eighteen Canadian chapters spread across seven provinces. It also has nine chapters in the United States and eleven chapters in Australia, with chapters also located in 24 other countries worldwide. It was formed in 1986, by Salvatore Cazzetta and his brother Giovanni Cazzetta. The Rock Machine competed with the Hells Angels for control of the street-level narcotics trade in Quebec. The Quebec Biker War saw the Rock Machine form an alliance with a number of other organizations to face the Hells Angels. The conflict occurred between 1994 and 2002 and resulted in over 160 deaths and over 300 injured. An additional 100+ have been imprisoned.
An outlaw motorcycle club, known colloquially as a biker gang or motorcycle gang, is a motorcycle subculture generally centered on the use of cruiser motorcycles, particularly Harley-Davidsons and choppers, and a set of ideals that purport to celebrate freedom, nonconformity to mainstream culture, and loyalty to the biker group.
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is an international outlaw motorcycle club whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporation. Common nicknames for the club are the "H.A.", "Red & White", "HAMC", and "81". With a membership of over 6,000, and 467 chapters in 59 countries, the HAMC is the largest "outlaw" motorcycle club in the world.
Yves Trudeau, also known as "Apache" and "The Mad Bomber", was a Canadian outlaw biker, gangster and contract killer. A former member of the Hells Angels North chapter in Laval, Quebec, Trudeau was the club's leading assassin and a major participant in multiple biker conflicts throughout Canadian history, including the Popeyes–Devils Disciples War, the Satan's Choice–Popeyes War and the First Biker War. Frustrated by cocaine addiction and his suspicion that his fellow gang members wanted him dead, he became a Crown witness after the Lennoxville massacre. In exchange, he received a lenient sentence – life in prison but eligible for parole after seven years – for the killing of 43 people from September 1973 to July 1985.
The Lennoxville massacre, or Lennoxville purge, was a mass murder which took place at the Hells Angels clubhouse in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, on March 24, 1985. Five members of the Hells Angels North Chapter, founded by Laurent "L'Anglais" Viau and Yves "Apache" Trudeau, were shot dead. This event divided rival outlaw motorcycle gangs in Quebec, leading to the formation of the Rock Machine club in 1986, a rival to the Angels in the 1990s. The name "Lennoxville massacre" is a misnomer since the killings took place in Sherbrooke. The misconception that the killings took place in Lennoxville arose from the fact the victims had stayed and partied at a motel in Lennoxville before they went to the Sherbrooke clubhouse.
Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club (SCMC) was a Canadian outlaw motorcycle club that was once the dominant outlaw club in Ontario, with twelve chapters based in the province, and another in Montreal, Quebec, at its peak strength in 1977. Satan's Choice grew to more than 400 members by 1970, making it the second largest outlaw motorcycle club in the world, behind only the Hells Angels.
Wolodumir "Walter" Stadnick, also known as "Nurget", is a Canadian outlaw biker and gangster who was the third national president of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in Canada. Stadnick is generally credited with turning the Hells Angels into the dominant outlaw biker club in Canada. The journalists Michel Auger and Peter Edwards wrote that much about Stadnick is mysterious, ranging from what is the meaning of his sobriquet "Nurget", to how a unilingual Anglo Canadian from Hamilton became the leader of the then largely French-Canadian Hells Angels. In 2004, the journalist Tu Thanh Ha wrote that Stadnick is "a secretive man little known to the public", but "he is one of Canada's most pivotal organized-crime figures."
Yves "Le Boss" Buteau was a Canadian outlaw biker and gangster, known for being the first national president of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in Canada. Buteau began his life of organized crime as a member of the Montreal-based Popeyes biker gang and, by the mid-1970s, he became the club's president. He was instrumental in the Popeyes' merger with the Hells Angels in 1977, and played a significant role in establishing the Angels as a major criminal force in Quebec. In 1983, Buteau was murdered by a drug dealer with ties to a rival gang, the Outlaws.
Bernard Dieudonné Guindon, better known as "Bernie the Frog", is a Canadian former outlaw biker, gangster and boxer, best known as the founder and national president of Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club from 1965 to 2000. He was later a member of the Hells Angels until his retirement in 2006.
The Red Devils Motorcycle Club (RDMC) is an international outlaw motorcycle club and the principal support club of the Hells Angels. The club is not to be confused with the now-defunct Original Red Devils Motorcycle Club that was founded in Canada in the late 1940s.
The Devil's Disciples Motorcycle Club was a Canadian outlaw motorcycle club based in Greater Montreal. Originating in late 1965, the club achieved a short-lived prominence in Montreal and was, for a time, the most powerful motorcycle gang in the city before disbanding in January 1976 as a result of a biker war with the Popeyes, a rival outlaw biker club that would eventually become the first Hells Angels chapter in Canada. The Devil's Disciples gained additional infamy for their assassination attempt on famed French singer-songwriter Johnny Hallyday as well as an internal conflict amongst its members which led to several murders.
The Satan's Choice–Popeyes War was the first major outlaw motorcycle club conflict in Canada's history, involving the country's two largest Motorcycle Clubs; the Satan's Choice from Ontario, and the Popeyes from Quebec. The conflict lasted from 1974 until 1976 and saw the two motorcycle clubs battle for dominance in the country. The conflict misleadingly known in Canada as the "First Biker War" would begin a year later in 1977.
From 1977 to 1984, the Hells Angels and the Outlaws Motorcycle Club fought what came to be known in Canada as the First Biker War. The Angels emerged victorious. As the Outlaws retreated into their Ontario stronghold, the Angels began consolidating their activities and expanding, moving into port cities Halifax, Nova Scotia and Vancouver, British Columbia. The conflict is known in Canada as the "First Biker War", but the first large conflict between bikers in Canada, was the Satan's Choice-Popeyes War which occurred from 1974 to 1976.
Michel "Sky" Langlois is a Canadian outlaw biker and gangster who served as the second national president of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in Canada. A founding member of the Popeyes biker gang, which amalgamated with the Hells Angels in 1977, Langlois was convicted as an accessory to murder in the club's internal Lennoxville massacre of 1985, and later of conspiracy to commit murder for his role in the 1994–2002 Quebec Biker War.
Frédéric Faucher is a Canadian outlaw biker and gangster who served as national president of the Rock Machine Motorcycle Club during the Quebec Biker War (1994-2002). He played a significant role in the conflict and was responsible for facilitating the merger between the Rock Machine and the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, which took place on December 1, 2001.
Normand Hamel, better known as "Biff", was a Canadian outlaw biker and gangster. A senior member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in Montreal, Hamel was the right-hand man of Hells Angels leader Maurice "Mom" Boucher and became one of Quebec's top drug traffickers before he was shot dead in 2000. A member of the rival Rock Machine gang, Tony Duguay, was convicted of Hamel's murder in 2006 but was acquitted of the killing in 2016 after a witness in the case admitted that he lied while on the witness stand.
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, an international outlaw biker gang, has been involved in multiple crimes, alleged crimes, and violent incidents in Canada. The Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC) has designated the Hells Angels an outlaw motorcycle gang. Hells Angels MC have been linked with drug trafficking and production, as well as many violent crimes including murder, in Canada.
The Gitans MC were a French-Canadian outlaw motorcycle gang based out of Sherbrooke, Quebec, who integrated into the larger Hells Angels Motorcycle Club in December 1984 to become what is now the Hells Angels MC Sherbrooke charter.