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The 69-year-old was in prison serving a life sentence for killing two prison officers.
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Paul Cherry • Montreal Gazette Maurice (Mom) Boucher, the notorious leader of the Nomads branch of the Hells Angels in Quebec, shows a peace sign to photographers outside a Montreal funeral home where a wake is being held for Normand “Biff” Hamel, 21, on Friday in April. 2000. Photo by John Mahoney /Montreal Gazette files
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Maurice (Mom) Boucher, the former Hells Angel who was the mastermind behind Quebec’s bloodiest conflict with organized crime, has died of cancer in a federal prison.
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Sources confirmed that Boucher, who turned 69 last month, died Sunday at the Archambault Institute in Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, a federal prison located 40 kilometers north of Montreal. Two sources told the Montreal Gazette that Boucher had been suffering from cancer for some time and had refused treatment.
“The only thing I can say today is that it closes another chapter for the Hells Angels in Quebec,” said Guy Ouellet, MNA for Chomedey and a former Sûreté du Québec investigator who was part of the combined police force that helped take down of Boucher and the vast criminal network he built after 1994, the beginning of the conflict between organized crime groups lasted eight years. More than 160 people died during what became known as the Quebec biker gang war.
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“My first thought was Diane Lavin, the prison guard he ordered killed (on June 26, 1997). I’ve been thinking about her recently because it was the 25th anniversary of her death,” Ouellette said, noting that until a few years ago, Boucher was eligible for full parole shortly after the life sentence he received for the murder.
In 2005, after retiring from police work, Ouellette published Mom, a book about the notorious criminal. It was already scheduled to be reissued in a few weeks, Ouellette said.
In 1997, Boucher came under intense pressure from police who were sure he was the man running the Hells Angels in Quebec as they battled other criminal organizations for control of the province’s drug trade. In an attempt to intimidate the justice system, Boucher told his subordinates to kill people associated with her.
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People who were taking orders from Boucher decided to attack the prison guards and killed Lavigne as she was walking home from work at the Montreal Detention Centre. Then, on September 8, 1997, they killed Pierre Rondeau and wounded Robert Corriveau by firing multiple shots into the bus the guards were riding on their way to the Rivière des Prairie detention center.
Stefan (Godas) Gahne, a Hells Angels subordinate involved in both murders, became an informant and helped get Boucher convicted of the murders.
At the time, many people predicted that because of his notoriety, Boucher would probably never see the outside of a federal prison again.
Lavigne’s death marked an important turning point in the bikie gang war, and Ouellette said the date used served as a reminder that Boucher will be eligible for full parole this year. But, as Ouellette noted, Boucher’s parole ineligibility was extended in 2018. An investigation into the Montreal Mafia and the Hells Angels revealed that Boucher was behind a plot to kill mob leader Reynald Desjardins.
Boucher was sentenced to 10 years in prison for plotting to kill Desjardins, and the investigation revealed that he still held sway in Quebec’s organized crime circles.
This article will be updated.
pcherry@postmedia.com
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