MARRIED TO THE MOB
POLICE WATCH CLOSELY AS TOP HELLS ANGEL MARRIES DRUG DEALER’S DAUGHTER
MONTREAL • The bridal party wore black leather jackets over their dresses with the words “Ride or Die” painted on the back.
The bride and groom arrived in a vintage blue Cadillac with empty beer cans dangling from the back and a sign that read “Going to get married again!” tied to the licence plate.
The high-profile wedding, between a full-patch member of the Hells Angels and the daughter of a notorious drug trafficker drew members of organized crime to downtown Montreal on Saturday.
Martin Robert, 44, and Annie Arbic, 32, were married at Montreal’s Windsor Ballrooms on Peel Street.
The couple, both incarcerated for serious crimes at different points throughout their relationship, have been together for more than a decade.
Robert, a member of the Hells Angels’ Montreal chapter, has a criminal record that includes convictions for arson, drug possession, assault and dangerous driving.
Arbic is the daughter of Sharon Simon, a notorious drug trafficker dubbed the “Queen of Kanesatake.”
She was imprisoned in 2008, when she was 22 years old, for drug trafficking and money laundering charges. She had been arrested in Project Cleopatra, an RCMP-LED investigation that was centred on her mother. The mother and daughter duo were arrested at the same time in 2006.
According to the Journal de Montreal, among the nearly 300 invitees were many members of different Hells Angels branches and people with ties to the Montreal Mafia and powerful Rizzuto clan.
Among the guests was alleged Hells Angels leader Salvatore Cazzetta.
As one former RCMP intelligence analyst put it on Twitter, the “arrogance” of holding the wedding in downtown Montreal raises questions about the gang’s increasing “feeling of invincibility.”
Police officers could be seen parked across the street and stationed near the entrance on Saturday, taking photos and videos to document everyone in attendance.
Being driven in a mix of buses, limousines and SUVS, guests started arriving at the downtown ballroom around 4:45 p.m.
Some hid their faces from news and police photographers, others welcomed the attention. At least one proudly wore a gold Hells Angels pendant around his neck.
Robert went on the lam in 2009 after being targeted in Operation Sharqc, an investigation that led to almost every member of the Hells Angels based in Quebec being arrested on drug trafficking, murder, and conspiracy charges stemming from the gang’s bloody war with rivals between 1994 and 2002.
Nicknamed Marty or Capo, Robert was listed as one of Quebec’s 10 mostwanted criminals while on the run. He was finally arrested in a Mexican nightclub in early 2010 and has been out of prison since 2015, after serving five years related to the Sharqc charges.
Robert and Arbic’s longtime relationship has been documented in Parole Board of Canada decisions through the years.
Though a model inmate, Arbic was denied parole on at least two occasions due, in part, to her relationship with Robert.
In 2009, the parole board found Arbic’s relationship with him to be “very worrying” and questioned how she would be able to live with Robert without him “having an impact” on her choices.
In 2010, Arbic was again denied parole after acknowledging she planned to continue her relationship with Robert, who, at the time, was facing several murder charges following Operation Sharqc.
She also had several unescorted leave requests denied while Robert was on the lam — authorities feared she would try to flee the country to join her boyfriend in hiding.
As they arrived in front of the Windsor on Saturday, their driver honking and speeding into the Peel Street parking spot, Arbic quickly ran up the concrete steps toward the ballroom, holding a large bouquet in her right hand and her veil in her left hand.
Robert followed closely behind.