Ex-gangster to attend business school
Former Hells Angel says he’s severed ties with the Mafia
A man who once helped manage a multimillion-dollar drug empire for the Hells Angels has been granted leave privileges from a penitentiary so he can attend business school.
Monday, Normand Robitaille, 44, resumed a hearing he was supposed to have in November, as he seeks to prove he has severed ties to the world’s most notorious biker gang.
He persuaded the Parole Board of Canada to allow him unescorted leaves to attend management courses at the École des hautes études commerciales de Montréal (HEC Montréal) twice a week. Robitaille was accepted into the school’s Diplômes d’études supérieures spécialisées program after completing a university degree by correspondence behind bars.
Unescorted leaves are a step toward parole for inmates serving lengthy prison terms. Robitaille is serving a 17-year sentence at the SteAnne-Des-Plaines Institution, a minimum-security penitentiary just north of Montreal.
Robitaille was once a member of the Hells Angels Nomads chapter based in Montreal. Almost every member of the Nomads chapter in Quebec was arrested in 2001, along with dozens of members of the Rockers, a Hells Angels puppet gang. All were charged with conspiring to murder members of rival organized crime groups. From 1994 to 2002, the Hells Angels were involved in a bloody war against a collection of gangs called the Alliance, over drug-trafficking turf. More than 160 people died during the conflict, including several innocent victims.
Robitaille pleaded guilty in 2003 to conspiracy to commit murder, drug trafficking and participating in the activ- ities of a gang. He was later convicted of laundering his drug-trafficking profits, through the purchase of real estate, and his sentence was extended to his current 17-year term.
The Nomads chapter was created by Hells Angels leader Maurice (Mom) Boucher, who is serving three life sentences for ordering the deaths of prison guards. The investigation that shut down the chapter revealed that by the year 2000 the Nomads were making $2 million a month in profit from cocaine sales alone.
Robitaille appeared to fill in for Boucher as leader at times. His influence extended to sitting down for a meeting with reputed Mafia leader Vito Rizzuto during the summer of 2000, where they set a new price for a kilogram of cocaine in the city.
But in 2004, when he was transferred from one penitentiary to another, Robitaille announced to authorities that he was quitting the Hells Angels. A written summary of his hearing Monday notes that, as of October 2009, the Sûreté du Québec no longer considered him part of the gang.
Robitaille now claims to follow the path of a completely
Robitaille’s influence extended to sitting down for a meeting with Vito Rizzuto.
different group — Buddhists. The summary notes he used past escorted leaves to meet with a Buddhist chaplain he “has been following for years. You mention that this philosophy has had a real and positive impact on your life, including controlling your emotions and backing away from certain situations.”
Two parole board members who began hearing Robitaille’s request in November were so struck by the change in Robitaille that they delayed it so he could be evaluated by a psychologist. The evaluation was done last month and the psychologist determined his risk of reoffending in a violent crime is low as long as he stays away from people like his former associates.
The psychologist determined Robitaille “possesses an excellent capacity for introspection,” which allowed him to make significant progress toward rehabilitation.
But the written summary also notes the psychologist included a caution that “despite the path you (Robitaille) are on, (parole officers) should stay alert to your capacity for manipulation.”