Hells Angel René Charlebois left tapes before committing suicide
Hells Angels allegedly paid former police detective Benoit Roberge at least $500K for information
CBC News has learned new details about how police caught and arrested one of their own — former Montreal police sergeant-detective Benoit Roberge — due to video and audio recordings left behind by former Hells Angel René Charlebois.
Roberge, a former biker-gang police investigator, is accused of selling information to the Hells Angels.
According to Radio-Canada, Roberge was allegedly paid at least $500,000 for selling information to the bikers.
Information from beyond the grave
The new details come from Hells Angel René Charlebois, who escaped from a minimum-security prison in Laval and committed suicide on Sept. 26.
- Hells Angel René Charlebois escapes from Laval prison
- Escaped Hells Angel René Charlebois found dead
But before he took his own life, Charlebois left 10 audio recordings and almost a two-hour video.
In the video, Charlebois says that by the time someone discovers the tapes, he will already be dead.
The ten audio recordings contain phone conversations between Charlebois and Roberge.
Some reveal how Charlebois and another top-ranking member of the Hells Angels, Salvatore Cazzetta, arranged to pay Roberge.
In one instance, Charlebois explains to Roberge how he will pay him $100,000.
“We’ll do it like we did the last time: leave your car on the side, and leave the doors unlocked. We’ll put the money on your backseat. You’ll pick it up later,” Charlebois said on the tape.
According to evidence obtained by Radio-Canada, Charlebois wanted to know the names and whereabouts of any bikers who collaborated with the cops -- including the police's star witness in Operation SharQc, the police crackdown that led to the arrest of 156 Hells Angels.
During one recorded conversation, Roberge tells Charlebois that he was hesitant to give a name of another source, afraid the person would be killed.
“Don’t worry, we won’t kill him. We’ll just stop working with him,” Charlebois said.
Charlebois mentions past investigations
Besides the audio tapes, Charlebois also left a one hour and 48 minute video for police.
In it, he alleges that Roberge told him police falsified their reports for Operation SharQc.
However, in a separate phone conversation, Roberge contradicted that information saying that police did not change their reports.
“Nothing was falsified, and the Hells would be better to negotiate deals with the Crown,” Roberge said.
Charlebois also apparently tried to clear the name of former biker boss Mom Boucher.
He said Boucher had nothing to do with the killing of two prison guards in 1997, for which Boucher received a life sentence.
The latest information also reveals that Charlebois himself was a longstanding police informant who had been on the books as a source since 2006.