Gerald "Gerry" Matticks

Gerald "Gerry" Matticks was born in on July 4, 1940, in an eight-room apartment in Goose Village, near Griffin-town, in Montreal. His father worked a stagecoach for the city while his mother had her hands full taking care of their 14 children.

As a young boy, Matticks would not conform to authority. He dropped out of school at age 12, after slapping a teacher. He began to work in construction and a pulp and paper factory. He married at the age of 17 and was the father of four children by the age of 21.

Matticks, along with several of his brothers, hooked up with the West End Gang in the late 1950s or early 60s. The brothers became expert hijackers, specializing in loads of television sets, meat, booze, and cigarettes, sitting at the top of a successful ring of theives and armed robbers.

Over the years, the Port of Montreal would become their personal playground. Matticks got a cut of all illegal activities at the port and he, along with several other family members, belonged to the checker's union, responsible for sending containers to the right places.

On June 19, 1972, Matticks and his brother John were acquitted of attempted murder. The two allegedly tried to kill a smoked-meat salesman who they believed was informing police on their activities. Three witnesses testified on the stand that Matticks was in a bar at the time of the incident. He was acquitted.

Matticks, who once boasted to a report that he was able to drink 40 ounces of gin in one sitting, was next arrested on November 12, 1979. He and two of his brothers were charged with conspiracy to commit theft, possession of stolen goods, and perjury. Matticks beat the case once more.

Over the years, Matticks did very well financially. He opened up several businesses, including a country bar called Mickey's, a Point-Saint-Charles trucking company, and a whole-sale meat business, and bought a large ranch in La Prairie, on the South Shore of Montreal. The property holds nine buildings and is surrounded with security cameras.

Matticks also earned a reputation as being very generous. He regularly donated money and food to the poor. During the 1998 ice storm alone, he donated enough food for 2,000 meals. At Christmas, Matticks drove a truck with a Santa and give presents to poor families.

Matticks and brother Richard were arrested for hijacking a truck full of suitcases in 1989. The two pleaded guilty on June 8, 1992, and were sentenced to 90 days in prison, to be served on weekends, and fined $10,000.

Gerald Matticks and his brother Richard, along with underlings Steve Brown, Felice Italiano, Roger Goulet, William Hodges, and Don Driver, were charged with importing narcotics on May 26, 1994. The arrests came after police seized 26.5 tons of hashish at the Montreal Port on May 4 and evidence that the group had successfully imported a shipment of 10 tons in March. The drugs were distributed on the streets of Montreal. The 26.5 tons seized by police had an estimated street value of over $360 million.

During the raids, police seized $800,000 in cash, two one-kilogram gold bars, electronic surveillance equipment, including infra-red night-vision goggles, a .38 calibre firearm, a machine to count money, and a small quantity of counterfeit $2 bills.

The charges against the seven the men were dropped on June 15, 1995, when Quebec Court Judge Micheline Corbeil-Laramee ruled that Surete du Quebec officers had planted evidence. Copies of four incriminating maritime lading documents were falsely identified as part of the goods seized from Werner Philips International, a maritime salvaging company raided during the bust. Four officers were later charged with fabricating evidence but were later acquitted.

Matticks and his crew regularly did business with both the Hells Angels and the Rock Machine and in 2000, as the biker gangs waged a war that had taken more than 150 lives since 1994, Matticks was approached by members of the Rock Machine that wanted peace. He helped leaders of the gangs negotiate an uneasy truce. The truce was later broken and the killings continued.

Matticks and underling Elias Luis Lekkas were arrested on March 28, 2001 when police launched Opération: Printemps 2001 and arrested over one hundred Hells Angels and associates. Matticks was accused of being the biker club's main hashish supplier and was charged with drug trafficking and gangsterism.

Shortly after being arrested, Lekkas contacted investifators and spilled the beans. He told police everything he knew about the Matticks gang, including their method for smuggling drugs at the port. When word of his defection hit the streets, photographs of Lekkas were put up in numerous bars with words like "rat" or "stool" scribbled on them.

For a 25% cut, either in drugs or in money, Matticks would safely smuggle drugs through the Montreal Port for traffickers, Lekkas explained. When he was paid in merchandise, Matticks sold the drugs to the Hells Angels. On several occassions, the biker club owed him as much as $7 million.

Matticks pleaded guilty on August 6, 2002 and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Evidence showed that in about one year, Matticks and his gang had smuggled 33,363 kilograms of hashish and 260 kilograms of cocaine through the port.

He pleaded guilty after a guarantee from authorities that he would not be extradited to the Unites States, where he would face stiffer sentences.

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