The COVID-19 pandemic forced the Hells Angels to postpone to their first official motorcycle outing of the year in Quebec, which was to take place next Saturday.
The powerful motorcycle club, which has been very discreet since the start of the health crisis, has probably decided to postpone holding this demonstration of visibility until later, which it calls the ‘First Run’, Le Journal learned.
According to police sources, the Hells Angels and their many supporting clubs do not intend to run the risk of being fined fines totaling $ 1,546 each for illegal assembly or non-essential movement by the police.
Bikers are possibly waiting for the end of the progressive withdrawal of roadblocks in the majority of the 19 regions or sectors of Quebec where travel is reserved for residents and essential services only because of the pandemic.
The Legault government has already announced that these restrictions should be lifted as of May 18 almost everywhere, except in northern Quebec and on the Lower North Shore.
The ‘First Run’ is a mandatory activity for all members in good standing of the Hells Angels, as stipulated in the global charter of band internal regulations.
Business in slow motion
Several observations from police sources on the ground tend to show that business has been slowing down for all of organized crime in Quebec for two months.
The drug market is undergoing price changes as large as they are unusual, while the kilo of cocaine can sell for up to $ 65,000 in Montreal, 30% more than the average cost of the past 25 years.
According to the Canada Border Services Agency, seizures of drugs imported from abroad dropped by 61% last March at its checkpoints across the country, compared to March 2019.
In addition, the Hells involved with the Italian mafia in illegal sports betting lose millions of dollars every month, in Quebec and Ontario, since the pandemic has forced the suspension of the activities of almost all professional sports leagues in the world.
On April 23, the Hells were also dismissed by the Supreme Court of Canada in their last appeal to annul the state confiscation of their Sherbrooke bunker. The last fortified den that the biker gang held in Quebec has been declared “well offensive” by the courts and could soon be demolished.
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Source: Le Journal de Quebec