How Steven Gault infiltrated the Hells Angels

Steven Gault's opportunity arrived on a Harley one day in the fall of 1999.
Mr. Gault, at that time in his mid-20s, had already settled into a life of brawling, swindling and snitching when a door to the world of outlaw motorcycle clubs opened for him in the form of a long-time biker known among his comrades as Mr. Bill.
The chance meeting would lead, almost a decade later, to a massive police strike against bikers based on inside information provided by Mr. Gault. It would result in numerous busts on a variety of charges ranging from drug trafficking to murder conspiracy and pay him in excess of $1 million.And here in Durham Region it would lead to a courtroom showdown between Mr. Gault and two men he once called brothers.
Steven Gault was still a teenager in North Bay when he started sharing information with the police. Among those he helped put behind bars was a brother-in-law with whom he used to travel rural Ontario, targeting seniors in home-renovation scams.
Mr. Gault was living in Northumberland County in the fall of 1999 when he met Bill (Mr. Bill) Lavoie. Mr. Gault said he was working on a house in Warsaw, near Peterborough, when Mr. Lavoie, clad in his Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club colours, rode up on his Harley-Davidson.The two struck up a conversation about motorcycle parts and other matters of mutual interest. The encounter resulted in an invitation to Mr. Lavoie's house and, as time went on, to parties hosted by the Satan's Choice at its Oshawa clubhouse. Eventually there was talk of enlisting in the club, but that was postponed as the Choice awaited an expected annexation by the Hells Angels, known among bikers as a patch-over.The patch-over would occur in 2000; in the meantime, Mr. Gault was in touch with a police handler."I contacted one of the officers I was providing information to...I told (the cop) if I could make my way into the Hells Angels and make my way up to full patch, I would take down any drug dealers I could," he said.In the spring of 2000 Mr. Gault was granted "hang-around" status with the newly minted Angels, meaning he was entitled to fetch beers and take out the trash for full members. He persevered, rising to the rank of prospect and in early 2002 was nominated for full-patch status."Becoming a Hells Angel is a tough thing," Mr. Gault explained."There's a lot of not very nice guys in there and they're selective about who they take."Mr. Lavoie (who died in September 2006) vouched for Mr. Gault, although he'd known him for only a short time.
Mr. Gault cultivated an image among his biker brethren as something of a wild man, showing off a handgun and presenting them with press clippings of an assault conviction -- he bit a man's ear off during a bar fight. He also hinted he'd committed a murder. His way of settling a beef was to throw the first punch and keep on throwing until he'd made his point: the new Angel once squared off against the Oshawa club's sergeant-at-arms, who serves as the charter enforcer."I pretty much mopped the floor with him," Mr. Gault said matter-of-factly.As he strove to prove his worth to the Angels Mr. Gault was also making his case with the police. In 2005 he signed a contract that made him a paid police agent in the employ of the Biker Enforcement Unit. Terms of the covenant changed somewhat over time but much of the framework remained the same: Mr. Gault would be paid $1,900 each week during the operational phase, while $15,000 would be paid each month into a trust held by police. Further lump sum payments would come as phases of the contract were completed. The police paid their agent's income taxes, too.During cross-examination in a Whitby court last November, a defence lawyer took Mr. Gault through the various terms of the contract and offered the opinion Mr. Gault would be paid in excess of $1 million.Mr. Gault thought for a moment."I'll go with your math," he said.
Project Tandem began in 2005 and was scheduled to run less than a year, during which time Mr. Gault was to conduct drug transactions with bikers, doing his deals under the watchful eyes of police handlers. In the end the undercover investigation lasted a year and a half and saw 18 bikers busted, along with several associates.He was nearing the end of his contract when in June 2006, Mr. Gault told his handlers he had been approached by two bikers -- Mark Stephenson of Sunderland, president of the Oshawa Hells Angels and Remond Akleh if Cobourg, a former Oshawa Angel who had transferred to the Nomads wing of the club -- with a plot to kill Frank Lenti, a Woodbrige man who'd bounced around the biker world for years. His affiliations with various clubs had earned Mr. Lenti a reputation as a "Velcro" biker, prone to frequently switching patches.Mr. Gault had a history with both accused men, of course, most particularly Mr. Akleh: the two had an acrimonious falling out in 2003 when Mr. Akleh learned Mr. Gault was a police informant and took this information to the club. Mr. Gault managed to convince the Angels he wasn't a snitch, in part by vigorously pursuing Mr. Akleh through club "arbitrations" -- internal tribunals held to settle beefs among the bikers.The best defence, he would explain in a courtroom several years later, was a good offence."I had to show my backbone," he said. "I wanted (Mr. Akleh's) patch."Mr. Gault would testify that by the time 2006 rolled around, all that bad blood was forgotten -- something Mr. Akleh vehemently denied. Mr. Gault said the accused men were concerned Mr. Lenti was about to revive the moribund Bandidos gang and challenge the Angels for turf in Ontario; the killing, he said, was to benefit the club. And Mr. Gault said they chose him as the trigger man to carry out the plot.Mr. Gault spent 14 days on the witness stand during a trial that began in Whitby last October and finally concluded last Sunday. He was extensively cross-examined by defence lawyers who assailed his credibility -- lawyer Glen Orr said Mr. Gault didn't have "the scruples God gave a tomcat" -- and presented to the jury a salient question: Why would the bikers enlist a man who had been outed as a police snitch in a murder plot?The jury returned Sunday to acquit Mr. Stephenson and Mr. Akleh of the charges against them. Mr. Stephenson was freed after two and a half years of pretrial custody; Mr. Akleh had lived under strict bail conditions for the same amount of time.By the time the verdict arrived Mr. Gault was long gone, walking out of the courtroom and fading into the anonymity of a witness protection program. (This story is based on testimony presented in court and documents entered into evidence during trial)