Hells Angels planning Sherbrooke support party ahead of mega-trial

The Hells Angels in Sherbrooke are throwing a biker-gang support party, and anybody with $50 to spare is invited.

• Hells Angels biker mega-trial set to begin Aug. 3

"Today they're after the angels.Tomorrow it could be you! Fight for your rights!" reads the tagline for the Free All Angels Sherbrooke event.

The Support 81 Sherbrooke party, which is being largely organized on Facebook, is scheduled to take place on Saturday in a Sherbrooke bar; 81 represents the positions of the letters H and A, for Hells Angels, in the alphabet.

Sylvain Tremblay, a retired Sret du Qubec officer who specialized in organized crime, said the party is a show of support for members of the biker gang scooped up in the SharQc sting operation in 2009.

Tremblay said the party is likely timed to coincide with the start date of a biker mega-trial on Aug. 3 for 10 people.

The party is surely a sign that the local chapter of the Hells Angels has recovered from SharQc and is back in action, he said.

A quick timeline of the biker trials

In 2009, 156 people were arrested in the massive SharQc sting on various charges including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, drug trafficking and gangsterism.

In the years since, 101 have pleaded guilty, while 31 others were released in 2011 after a judge ruled there were unreasonable delays in their cases.

Three people have died since being charged, while eight others are still at large.

Only 12 of the 156 chose to go to trial. Ten of those 12 will face the jury in the mega-trial beginning Aug. 3.

The final two accused have a trial date set for January 2016.