Name Yves Trudeau Role Biker | Criminal penalty Life in prison | |
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Criminal charge 43 counts of manslaughter | ||
Other names Apache, The Mad Bumper Died July 2008 (aged 62) Quebec, Canada Born 2 April 1946 (age 62) Quebec, Canada Similar Yves Buteau, Dany Kane, Maurice Boucher | ||
Hells Angels Lennoxville purge 30th anniversary
Yves "Apache" Trudeau (1946–2008), also known as "The Mad Bumper", was a Canadian former member of the Hells Angels North Chapter outlaw motorcycle gang in Laval, Quebec. Frustrated by cocaine addiction and his suspicion that his fellow gang members wanted him dead he became a government informant. 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.
Contents
- Hells Angels Lennoxville purge 30th anniversary
- Hells Angels
- Lennoxville massacre
- Informant
- Release from prison
- References
He was given a new identity, in 1994, when he was granted parole. He was arrested in March 2004 for sexually assaulting a young boy and received four more years. In 2007, Trudeau learned he had cancer and was transferred to a medical centre from Archambault penitentiary.
Hells Angels
In the late 1960s, he joined the outlaw motorcycle gang, Popeyes. That Quebec biker club would become Canada's first Hells Angels chapter. Trudeau was a founding member of the Hells Angels in Quebec in 1977 after the Popeyes patched over.
In September 1979, Trudeau and others broke away from the Montreal Chapter to form the North Chapter, based in Laval. The group would become known for its violent and reckless behavior and excessive drug use. Standing five-foot-six and weighing 135 pounds, Trudeau did not resemble the prototypical biker, but he is considered to be the Hells Angels' most prolific killer.
Trudeau admitted to killing 43 people from September 1973 to July 1985. He was the first Canadian Hells Angel to earn the “Filthy Few” patch, awarded to members who have killed for the club.
Among his murder victims:
Lennoxville massacre
Trudeau claimed that Ryan's successor, Allan "The Weasel" Ross, had offered to pay him $200,000 to eliminate Ryan’s killers, but Ross later told Trudeau to collect from the Halifax Chapter instead. When Trudeau approached the Halifax Chapter about payment, they refused.
This only added to the resentment many Hells Angels already felt towards members of the North Chapter. Other Hells Angels felt that the North Chapter bikers were too wild and uncontrollable. They often used drugs they were supposed to sell and were suspected of cheating other chapters out of drug profits. A decision was made to liquidate the North Chapter, in what would be known in biker history as the Lennoxville massacre.
A meeting was set up at the Sherbrooke Chapter’s clubhouse in Lennoxville on March 24, 1985. At that gathering, five members of the North Chapter were shot to death, wrapped in sleeping bags, and dumped in the St. Lawrence River. The others were allowed to live and were absorbed into the Montreal Chapter.
Trudeau was supposed to be at that meeting, but had enrolled in a detoxification program the week before. He later said he wanted to clean himself up, because he knew what happened to members who were always high. News of the North Chapter slaughter soon reached Trudeau at the detox center in Oka, and Trudeau received a visit from a Montreal Chapter representative. Trudeau was told that he was out of the club and would have to have his club tattoos removed.
Informant
After his release from the detox center, Trudeau discovered that the Hells Angels had taken his motorcycle and $46,000 in cash that belonged to him from the North Chapter clubhouse. They said they would return the bike if he killed two people for the gang. Trudeau succeeded in killing one of the targets. Jean-Marc Deniger was killed in May 1985 and stuffed in his car. Satisfied, the Hells Angels gave Trudeau his motorcycle back.
But Trudeau knew he was living on borrowed time. The Hells Angels had taken out a $50,000 contract on his head. He decided to become a police informant and government witness.
In 1985, Trudeau pleaded guilty to 43 counts of manslaughter, which officially means he didn't intentionally kill his 43 victims – 29 of whom died from firearms, 10 from bombs, three from being beaten to death, and one from strangulation. Police estimated 30 to 35 of his victims were other motorcycle gang members or sympathizers. Trudeau also testified on 40 other murders and 15 attempted murders.
As part of his controversial contract with the government, Trudeau was sentenced to life in prison, with eligibility for parole in seven years. Under his deal, the government also gave him $40,000 over the next four years and about $35 a week for cigarettes.
Release from prison
Trudeau was granted parole in 1994 and given a new identity. He lived under the name Denis Côté and worked as an orderly in a nursing home. However, after being laid off in 2000, he slid back into cocaine addiction and sexually assaulted a 13-year-old boy, for which he pleaded guilty in 2004. He was sentenced to a four-year prison term.
In 2006 Trudeau was diagnosed with bone-marrow cancer. In July 2008 the Canadian National Parole Board granted him parole and ordered him released to an outside medical-care facility. As part of his release, Trudeau is not allowed to contact minors or the victims of his crimes.