Former Hells support club member who killed during biker war is closer to parole

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A former member of a Hells Angels support club who participated in a murder committed in Pointe-aux-Trembles during the Quebec motorcycle gang war is one step closer to parole after convincing the Board of Parole from Canada that an exploration of his indigenous roots has changed him.

On February 3, 1995, Mario Lussier participated in the murder of Claude (Le Pic) Rivard, a 38-year-old drug dealer who chose to side with the Rock Machine shortly after the Hells Angels began reporting to the middle people in Montreal who would have to buy drugs like cocaine from them or face dire consequences.

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The conflict between the motorcycle gang and a set of rival organized criminal groups spanned from 1994 to 2002. It spread across Quebec and more than 160 people, including many innocent victims, were murdered across the province.

Rivard was sitting in his Suzuki vehicle in Pointe-aux-Trembles, near the intersection of 8th Ave. and Notre Dame St. E., when someone opened fire on him. Lussier, who was then a member of the Jokers, admits that he was the driver of a vehicle from which the gunman opened fire on Rivard. He also admits that he knew what was going to happen and that he was armed for a drive-by shooting.

On June 3, 1997, Lussier was found guilty of first-degree murder in Montreal court and automatically received a sentence of life in prison with a parole ineligibility period set at 25 years.

Also in 1997, Louis (Melou) Roy, a powerful Hell’s Angel during the Biker War, was accused of murder and being part of the conspiracy to kill Rivard, but the charges were dropped six months later. In 2000, Roy disappeared in what police came to believe was part of an internal purge within the Hells Angels and has never been seen since.

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Lussier is now 60 years old, and in a decision last week, the Parole Board of Canada decided to grant him access to unaccompanied leave from a federal penitentiary. It is the step before criminals serving life sentences are granted day parole.

Lussier will be allowed to visit family members for 72 hours once a month. He has participated in escorted outings since May 2023 without incident.

When Lussier began serving his sentence, he was eligible for full parole in 2020, but that changed over time because he escaped at one point, and in 2010 he was caught trying to take 300 grams of hashish to a federal penitentiary.

A written summary of the parole decision describes how Lussier was a problem for Correctional Services Canada and how he continued to associate with the Hells Angels behind bars until his behavior changed in 2019.

“From your file it appears that you are indigenous, Métis, of Abenaki descent. However, you have never resided in an indigenous community or lived according to its traditional values. He also does not know if any member of his family experienced the boarding school regime,” the parole board wrote while summarizing how Lussier grew up with little connection to his roots. “The information in his file indicates that your parents separated when you were a child. According to you, your mother had elastic values ​​and encouraged you to steal clothes on occasions. Her father, for his part, struggled with an alcohol problem and was violent. “You lived with your paternal grandparents while your father worked long hours.”

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Despite having little connection to his Abenaki roots, Lussier was encouraged to explore them through programs available to offenders serving time in federal penitentiaries. The people advising him “believe that it is possible to establish connections between the events experienced by indigenous people and the influence of the repercussions on their crime,” the parole board wrote.

“They mention, among other things, the loss of cultural identity, the fact that you grew up with your grandparents, your lack of education,
emotional deficiencies, the breakdown of the family, as well as oppositional behavior towards authority (contributed to him being attracted to the Hell’s Angels). You led an unstable, unstructured and marginal lifestyle, marked by substance use and negative associations.

“It seems that today the indigenous way of healing and discovering your origins allowed you to quietly define yourself differently and
Develop your membership in this group, which advocates prosocial values ​​and much more in line with the person you want to become today. “His participation in the proposed activities is, apparently, sincere and is not oblivious to the important changes he has made in his lifestyle until now.”

The parole board was informed that Lussier asked in 2021 to be considered disaffiliated from the Hells Angels and that “a security intelligence officer has no concerns about his proposed departure project.” An Indigenous liaison officer informed the board that Lussier meets with an institutional elder every two weeks. He is also involved in a mural project at an indigenous center.

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