Bikie pleads guilty to 27 murders
April 1, 2009 - 7:48AM
MONTREAL - A Canadian hit man whose victims included bikers,
Mafiosi and innocent bystanders has pleaded guilty to 27 charges
of first-degree murder in a case that makes him one of Canada's
most prolific killers.
Gerald Gallant, a police informant who was already serving a
life sentence for a 2001 slaying, also pleaded guilty to 12 charges
of attempted murder and a handful of other charges.
The killings took place between 1978 and 2003 and targeted outlaw
bikers, street-gang members and mobsters. Biker gangs have long
been a problem in the French-speaking province of Quebec, and
most of the murders happened between 1994 and 2002 as the Hells
Angels and Rock Machine gangs battled over drug turf.
Gallant's victims include such bystanders as Helene Brunet, a
waitress who was wounded in 2000 while being used as a human shield
by Robert Savard, a close associate of Hells Angels kingpin Maurice
(Mom) Boucher.
And in 1999, Gallant fatally shot Luc Bergeron, a private detective
who happened to be living in an apartment formerly occupied by
the intended target, a Hells Angels associate.
Gallant, 58, apologised on Tuesday as he read out a prepared
statement in front of survivors and relatives of victims.
"I regret the hurt I have caused the victims and their families,"
Gallant said in a Quebec City courtroom. "I understand that
forgiving will be difficult, maybe even impossible. I accept that.
"I agreed to cooperate with police in order to repair the
damage I caused and to seek forgiveness."
Prosecutor Martine Berube said the case "will possibly go
down in history".
"We have rarely seen in the annals of history this many
murders and attempted murders committed by one person and which
resulted in guilty pleas," Berube said outside the courtroom.
At least one Quebec man has killed more people than Gallant:
Yves (Apache) Trudeau, a founding member of the Hells Angels in
Quebec, was sentenced to life in prison in 1986 after pleading
guilty to 43 counts of manslaughter, part of a deal struck in
exchange for information about fellow gang members.
Last week, acting on information provided by Gallant, provincial
police arrested 10 people across Quebec in connection with dozens
of murders linked to outlaw biker gangs over a 25-year period.
Charges against those arrested include murder, attempted murder
and conspiracy. Police are still looking for one woman with alleged
ties to the case. Operation Baladeur targeted suspects primarily
in the Montreal and Quebec City areas.
"It serves to remind people what a murderous biker war
was happening," said Julian Sher, author of two books about
Canadian biker gangs. "Twenty-seven gang-related killings
out of 160 total biker-related murders during that period. That's
stunning. The worst period of Al Capone's Chicago was never that
bad."
What made Gallant dangerous, said Sher, was that as a contract
killer he was never a full-patch member of any biker gang, and
therefore could serve as a hit man for anyone. But was also not
protected by a gang.
"That made him cold-blooded and efficient, but it also
made him a liability," Sher said.
Police found a sample of Gallant's DNA on a glass in a restaurant
in Quebec and linked him to a slaying from 2001 in Ste-Adele,
north of Montreal.
He fled to Europe after finding out police were on his trail
but he was eventually arrested in Switzerland in 2006 as part
of a sweep targeting cloned credit cards.
Gallant is forbidden from writing a book or making a film about
his crimes.
