Richard Mayrand, a former member of the former Nomads and close to the late leader of the Hells Angels warriors Maurice Boucher, was arrested by border officials in Montreal on February 28.
Posted at 5:58pm
Daniel Renaud LaPresse
The exact circumstances of his arrest are unknown, but the 58-year-old former biker is said to have failed to declare a legally required sum of $10,000 or more.
His arrest was announced on Wednesday, when he was formally charged with failing to report to a customs officer the importation of cash of a value equal to or greater than that required under the Waste Recycling Act and the financing of terrorist activities.
Mayrand was released with a promise to appear at the Montreal courthouse on September 13. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are leading the investigation.
an influential member
In the ’90s, Richard Mayrand, a member of the defunct Nomads section, was considered one of Quebec’s most influential Hells Angels.
He was part of the close guard of Maurice Boucher, who recently died of natural causes, and was notably involved in the peace negotiations with the Rock Machine at the end of the motorcycle war that left 160 dead and as many wounded between 1994 and 2002.
Mayrand was arrested in Operation Spring 2001, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, drug trafficking and gangsterism and was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2004.
He was released in 2014 after serving two-thirds of his sentence, but his parole was suspended the following year for violating conditions.
In 2016, he convinced parole officers to release him by testifying openly.
Mayrand spent 25 years with the Hells Angels and joined them even though they killed his brother during the famous Lennoxville shooting in 1985.
He said he left the organization and erased his tattoos in 2009.
Bodybuilder and former Mr Canada Mayrand said he struggled to find a job after his legal release in 2014.
He was a part-time railway worker, bricklayer and trainer before becoming a driver for an aid organization for the poor.
“This (criminal) life, I don’t want it anymore. I have children and grandchildren. My children have been waiting for me for 14 years. That’s enough. We have groceries in the fridge, that’s all I need,” Mayrand said during the hearing.
in the peripheral
The name Richard Mayrand, absent for a number of years, seems to have resurfaced in criminal and police circles of late.
A source told La Presse that the former biker was spotted at a secret gym in east Montreal frequented by organized crime influentials at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mayrand would also have been present at the first Hells Angels hike, held on Montreal’s South Shore last spring at the invitation of Southern Section members. He reportedly arrived on a motorcycle with gang leader Gregory Woolley and Hells Angels South Section member Patrick Lock.
Sources even say that Richard Mayrand, who would have been close to the members of the Hells Angels of Montreal, would have liked to be reinstated into the organization’s ranks but was denied.
To reach Daniel Renaud, dial 514.285-7000, extension 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the La Presse mailing address.