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The Rock Machine was a drug dealing organization that evolved into a motorcycle gang primarily based in Quebec, Canada.^[1] The group was initially formed as the result of an affiliation (the Alliance) between Montreal crime families such as the Pelletier Clan and other independent dealers who wished to resist the Hells Angels' attempts to establish a monopoly on street-level drug trade in the city.^[2][3] A violent turf war ensued with the Hells Angels.^[4] It was this turf war that prompted the Rock Machine to become a motorcycle club and align itself with the Bandidos motorcycle club from Texas. Initially most Rock Machine members did not even own motorcycles.^[5][6]

The members of the Rock Machine chose not to wear leather vests like other motorcycle gangs that could easily identify members, but rather wore rings with the insignia of an eagle.^[7]

Well-known former members of the Rock Machine included Peter Paradis (who later testified for the Crown at the trials of other members), Richard "Bam-Bam" Lagacé (deceased), Johnny Plescio (deceased), Tony Plescio (deceased), Renaud Jomphe (deceased), Frederic Faucher, Alain Brunette, Bruce Doran (an ex-convict from Sault Ste. Marie Ontario, who was instrumental in establishing the Kingston, Ontario chapter), and Paul Porter. In 2000, the Rock Machine was absorbed into the Bandidos in a patch-over ceremony. Many Rock Machine members joined their former arch-enemy the Hells Angels when the Bandidos refused to immediately grant full-patch status to many of the more junior patched members of the Rock Machine. Some high profile members to defect to the Angels included Paul Porter, Nelson Fernandes and Bruce Doran. These three joined the Nomads chapter of the Quebec Hells Angels. However, Fernandes died of cancer within months of becoming a Hells Angel, and Doran turned in his colours and returned to private life (although some members of the law enforcement community believe he is still very active and merely using his resignation as a cover to continue his involvement without the scrutiny of police).^[8]

A complete history of the Rock Machine becoming Bandidos Canada can be found in the books "Out In Bad Standings: Inside The Bandidos Motorcycle Club; The Making Of A Worldwide Dynasty" by Edward Winterhalder, published in 2005 by Blockhead City Press Owasso Oklahoma, and "The Assimilation: Rock Machine Become Bandidos - Bikers United Against The Hells Angels by Edward Winterhalder and Wil De Clercq, published in 2008 by ECW Press Toronto Ontario Canada. Winterhalder was the high ranking member of the Bandidos that was responsible for the assimilation of the Rock Machine in Canada into the Bandidos, according to a June 2006 newspaper article from the London Free Press in London, Ontario.

After the 2006 Bandido massacre wich would claim the lives of 8 prominent Bandidos members at a farm in Shedden Ontario,the Bandidos Canada finally closed its doors officially in 2007 after a brief but pointless struggle to stay open. Infighting and a suspicion about there U.S counteparts involvement in the murders caused it's closure Thus endeding any hope of Bandido dominence in Canada. The Rock Machine would again re-open early in 2008 when several angry and disgruntled members of the now defunct Bandidos Canada "No Surrender Crew" came together again to reorganise the club, quickly spreading across Canada and over several countries including the United States and Australia.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Assimilation: Bikers United Against The Hells Angels by Edward Winterhalder and Wil De Clercq - ECW Press 2008 Worldwide
• CBC News In Depth: Biker Gangs in Canada
• CBC News In Depth: Canada's Anti-gang Law
• The Fifth Estate: The Road to Hell: The Rise of the Hells Angels in Quebec
• York University's Nathanson Center for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption

[edit] See also

• Maurice Boucher
• Hells Angels
• Rockers MC

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