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The complainant mentioned he was proven the Purple Devils patch earlier than he was informed it was the gang member’s “enterprise card.”
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Two males, together with a member of a Hells Angels help membership, are on trial in an extortion case the place they’re alleged to have used a biker gang’s patch in an try to intimidate the pinnacle of a financing firm into signing over its place in a debt settlement to them at a cut price worth.
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As a part of the trial being heard on the Montreal courthouse on Wednesday, Mario Blais, 57, of Quebec Metropolis, conceded that he was a member of the Purple Devils on March 12, 2020, when he’s alleged to have carried out the try to take management of the finance firm’s place following a Quebec Superior Court docket determination.
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The Purple Devils’ Quebec Metropolis chapter has been described as a help membership of the Hells Angels’ chapter in the identical metropolis in latest court docket selections delivered in Quebec courts. One determination delivered final 12 months describes the Purple Devils because the official help membership to Hells Angels chapters around the globe.
The Superior Court docket determination at problem within the extortion case concerned a numbered firm based mostly in Quebec that owed $6.5 million to its collectors. Blais and the opposite accused within the trial, Frank Bernier, 53, are alleged to have proven the Purple Devils patch in an effort to buy management over the debt for $3.5 million.
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The settlement of the debt includes the sale of a constructing on Wilfrid-Hamel Blvd. in Quebec Metropolis.
“They needed to buy our place,” the complainant mentioned Wednesday whereas being cross-examined by defence attorneys Alexandre Bergevin and Stéphane Harvey.
The assembly was held in a convention room on the finance firm’s places of work on Queen Mary Rd. A digital camera was set as much as report the assembly, however Bernier is alleged to have used a handkerchief to cowl the lens. The digital camera nonetheless recorded the boys’s voices because the assembly continued.
The complainant mentioned that when he rejected the provide, Bernier requested him twice if he discovered it sizzling contained in the convention room. He mentioned Bernier then proceeded to open a jacket Blais was carrying to disclose the Purple Devils patch: a horned demon with flames for hair. He additionally mentioned Blais had no response to Bernier opening his jacket.
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“When (Bernier) opened the jacket and confirmed me the patch, that’s once I understood. (He mentioned) right here is my shopper and right here is his enterprise card,” the complainant mentioned in reference to the patch. “He (later) switched to plural. He referred to his purchasers. Are his purchasers different members of the group? You’ll must ask Mr. Bernier.”
The complainant mentioned the provide was unacceptable and that his firm would solely promote its place at a lowered worth based mostly on what the market requires on the time.
The assembly lasted quarter-hour earlier than Blais and Bernier left. The complainant referred to as the police however solely after a protracted delay. Harvey requested the person if he’s “accustomed to 911?”
“It was the primary time we had seen one thing like this, me and my colleagues. We had been in shock and requested ourselves: ‘Is that this one thing that actually occurs?’ We didn’t know what to do,” the complainant mentioned.
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Blais conceded he was a member of the Purple Devils when the alleged extortion occurred based mostly on a collection of admissions learn into the court docket report by prosecutor Marie-Josée Theriault. Attorneys from each side of the case additionally agreed that the Purple Devils are a help membership of the Hells Angels. Blais has not been seen with the gang since his patches had been seized by police in 2020.
The case will return to court docket on Might 17, and Bergevin and Harvey have but to determine if they are going to current a defence on behalf of their purchasers.
pcherry@postmedia.com
Biker funeral in Montreal attended by tons of of Hells Angels, surrounded by police
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