Product Description

In this definitive, up-to-the-minute account of the Hells Angels in Canada, two veteran journalists investigate why the recent imprisonment of feared biker leader, Maurice “Mom” Boucher, is too little, too late.

By the spring of 2002, Boucher was safely in prison but the Hells Angels had grown to 37 chapters with close to 600 members across the country. They had taken over the drug trade and continued their rapid expansion into Ontario with a recent, high-profile enlistment -- or patchover -- of 168 members from other gangs. In Winnipeg, gang warfare turned ugly as the Hells muscled out the competition and firebombed a policeman’s home. In Vancouver, they secured a stranglehold on smuggling in the all-important West Coast port.

The Road to Hell is the story of how the Hells have taken over the Canadian crime scene: how politicians dithered while overburdened prosecutors burned out and lost major cases; how police brass squabbled while a handful of dedicated cops worked years to amass their evidence; how a few citizens stood up the bikers and paid for that bravery with their lives. Murder plots, drug deals, money laundering and assassinations are brought to life through never-before-revealed police files, wiretaps and surveillance tapes. In gripping prose, the authors tell all about Boucher’s war on the justice system; how he finally lost in Quebec, thanks in part to Danny Kane, a reluctant biker turned informer; but how across Canada the Hells have succeeded in building a national crime empire.

The RCMP and then the police in Montreal would run Danny Kane as one of the most successful -- and most secretive -- agents ever to infiltrate organized crime. Kane would climb all the way to the top: from a lowly hangaround to a trusted confidante of the Quebec Nomads, the elite chapter led by the top Hells Angels lieutenants of Maurice “Mom” Boucher. And through his entire six-year-career as a spy, few people -- even inside the police -- would ever know about his dangerous double life. -- from The Road to Hell


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #76912 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-05
• Released on: 2005-07-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 464 pages

Amazon.ca
Bombings, hired killings, a ruthless criminal boss out to control the underworld, and an elite group of street-tough cops hell-bent on stopping it all. It has the makings for a classic crime novel--only in this case it's all completely true. The Road to Hell, by investigative journalists Julian Sher and William Marsden, is the most comprehensive, compelling, and painstakingly researched tome to ever chronicle the rise of Canadian biker gangs and the police forces that fight them. The book uses never-before-published police reports, memos, and files from confidential informants to tell the riveting story of a biker war that began in the early 1990s and stretched from Vancouver to Halifax. During one murderous decade, when police and prosecutors failed to first recognize and then subdue the gangs, there were "at least 157 murders, 167 attempted killings and 16 disappearances" attributed to bikers. In the end, the Hells Angels and Maurice "Mom" Boucher, their bloodthirsty barrel-chested criminal Svengali of a leader, reigned supreme. They decimated or absorbed their fellow biker gangs, controlled the flow of drugs through all of Canada's major ports, and ruled the street drug trade. Today, after police finally got organized and hit back, Boucher and other top bikers languish in jail, though their gang still dominates the streets. The Road to Hell tells you how they got there, and does it with the grit, panache, and guts the story deserves. --Craig Silverman

Review
"(A) tremendous work on the Hells' Angels .... that will raise needed public awareness and denunciation of this threat to our communities."
—Honourable Gord Mackintosh, Minister of Justice/Attorney General, Manitoba

“Julian Sher and William Marsden present a thorough, colourful, enlightening account of how various missteps by the justice system helped the Hells [Angels] become the first organized crime organization to operate coast to coast... . With a cast of characters that includes blunt-talking police investigators and dozens of bikers, the book offers a multi-faceted perspective of what was going on behind the scenes among the bikers and those working to bring them to justice during the past decade.”
—Canadian Press

“Surprisingly detailed…. Chilling.”
—The Daily News (Halifax)

“Pulling no punches…[a]uthors Julian Sher and William Marsden detail Nova Scotia murder plots, contract killings and twisted revenge-filled biker politics, fuelled by the gang’s insatiable desire to control turf.”
—The Chronicle-Herald (Halifax)

“The Road to Hell: How Biker Gangs Conquered Canada by Montreal journalists Julian Sher and William Marsden…is clearly a case of…truth being stranger than fiction, and Sher and Marsden tell [the] story very well. … Road to Hell is a triumph on several levels. The authors are clearly comfortable with their topic and there’s a sense of indignation and zeal that fuels their story. … Sher and Marsden have managed to write an “important” book that moves with the power and style of a Harley Electra Glide.”
—Toronto Star

Praise for “Until You Are Dead” by Julian Sher:
“There have been previous books on the trial of Steven Truscott, but ‘Until You Are Dead’ is the most comprehensive analysis to date. . . . It is difficult to conceive of anything more that could be said in Truscott’s defence.”
—The Globe and Mail

“Before there was Donald Marshall, David Milgaard, Guy Paul Morin, Gregory Parsons or Thomas Sophonow, there was Stephen Truscott. [Sher] has uncovered new evidence and written a compelling story detailing how Truscott’s 1959 murder trial was horribly flawed.”
—The Vancouver Sun


From the Hardcover edition.

From the Back Cover
"(A) tremendous work on the Hells' Angels .... that will raise needed public awareness and denunciation of this threat to our communities."
—Honourable Gord Mackintosh, Minister of Justice/Attorney General, Manitoba

“Julian Sher and William Marsden present a thorough, colourful, enlightening account of how various missteps by the justice system helped the Hells [Angels] become the first organized crime organization to operate coast to coast... . With a cast of characters that includes blunt-talking police investigators and dozens of bikers, the book offers a multi-faceted perspective of what was going on behind the scenes among the bikers and those working to bring them to justice during the past decade.”
—Canadian Press

“Surprisingly detailed…. Chilling.”
—The Daily News (Halifax)

“Pulling no punches…[a]uthors Julian Sher and William Marsden detail Nova Scotia murder plots, contract killings and twisted revenge-filled biker politics, fuelled by the gang’s insatiable desire to control turf.”
—The Chronicle-Herald (Halifax)

“The Road to Hell: How Biker Gangs Conquered Canada by Montreal journalists Julian Sher and William Marsden…is clearly a case of…truth being stranger than fiction, and Sher and Marsden tell [the] story very well. … Road to Hell is a triumph on several levels. The authors are clearly comfortable with their topic and there’s a sense of indignation and zeal that fuels their story. … Sher and Marsden have managed to write an “important” book that moves with the power and style of a Harley Electra Glide.”
—Toronto Star

Praise for “Until You Are Dead” by Julian Sher:
“There have been previous books on the trial of Steven Truscott, but ‘Until You Are Dead’ is the most comprehensive analysis to date. . . . It is difficult to conceive of anything more that could be said in Truscott’s defence.”
—The Globe and Mail

“Before there was Donald Marshall, David Milgaard, Guy Paul Morin, Gregory Parsons or Thomas Sophonow, there was Stephen Truscott. [Sher] has uncovered new evidence and written a compelling story detailing how Truscott’s 1959 murder trial was horribly flawed.”
—The Vancouver Sun


From the Hardcover edition.