No parole for ex-Rock Machine leader
Faucher serving sentence for role in contract killings in 1990s
A man who was once a sworn enemy of the Hells Angels has been denied release from the 23-year sentence he is serving, in part because he is believed to be on very good terms with the notorious biker gang.
Between 1994 and 2002 the Hells Angels in Quebec were engaged in a bloody turf war with a group of organized crime gangs called the Alliance. The war over drug trafficking claimed more than 160 lives, including several innocent victims. During the conflict, Frédéric Faucher, 44, was the leader of a Quebec City chapter of the Rock Machine, the most visible gang among those in the Alliance. Faucher’s influence extended beyond the provincial capital and, after several Rock Machine leaders in Montreal were killed, his leadership role extended to the gang’s Montreal chapter as well.
According to a summary of the decision the Parole Board of Canada made on Thursday to keep Faucher behind bars, he acknowledged that if he had not been the leader of the Rock Machine the biker gang war would have never have reached the magnitude it did.
The Hells Angels desperately wanted to kill Faucher during the war and Faucher is serving his 23-year sentence because he returned the favour. He became a member of the Rock Machine in 1993 or 1994 and sold large quantities of drugs, including cocaine, PCP and hashish. In 1996 and 1997, he was involved in plots to blow up seven buildings controlled by the Hells Angels.
In 2001, Faucher received an 11-year prison term for drug trafficking and attempting to blow up a bunker the Hells Angels’ Quebec City chapter maintained in a small town near the provincial capital. He was granted day parole in 2008 and reached his statutory release date by January 2009.
But, three months later, he was arrested again after a professional hit man who became a police informant revealed that Faucher had hired him to carry out seven murders between 1995 and 2001.
On Nov. 8, 2012, Faucher avoided a trial on the firstdegree murder charges by pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit murder. His existing sentence was extended to the current 23-year term he is serving.
On Jan. 8, Faucher had a hearing before the Parole Board of Canada and the two board members who heard his case — Paul Turmel and Pierre Cadieux — took the unusual step of deliberating until reaching their decision on Thursday.
The written summary of the decision reveals that authorities believe Faucher “re- mains an influential member and respected among biker gangs.” It also states that Faucher is believed to be linked to the Hells Angels. His brother, Jean-Judes Faucher, 39, was also once a member of the Rock Machine during the war, but he is alleged to have joined the Hells Angels after a truce was agreed upon in 2002. Jean-Judes Faucher recently turned himself in to police after spending years on the lam. He faces drug trafficking charges in Operation SharQc, a lengthy investigation that, in 2009, resulted in the arrests of nearly every member of the Hells Angels based in Quebec.
Frédéric Faucher told the parole board he wants nothing to do with organized crime and he hoped to be released to a halfway house and start working for a company that had agreed to hire him.
The parole board rejected the plan for a variety of reasons. One was that a psychologist who evaluated Faucher in August rated him at a moderate-to-elevated risk of reoffending. The psychologist also found Faucher showed little empathy for his crimes.
The parole board was also presented with information alleging his links to the Hells Angels are current. “You are a subject of interest for preventive security (at a medium-security penitentiary) and for the Sûreté du Québec because of your status and your influence among (other inmates). How- ever, no information connects you to any illicit activities inside the (penitentiary),” the author of the summary noted.
Faucher’s case-management team, the people who help prepare an inmate for an eventual release, also recommended Faucher remain incarcerated. The summary states that they recommended prudence for the time being because a “reorganization of the Hells Angels (in Quebec)” is underway and it is unclear what, if any, role Faucher would have in it.
Faucher’s next parole hearing is scheduled for December 2015.