On September 13, 2006, Mr. Bill was laid to rest in his Hells Angels leather vest in Peterborough after a fatal motorcycle collision with a truck. Guindon’s suspicions about him being a rat were never proven, and some one hundred bikers gathered to pay their last respects.
Mr. Bill was sixty at the time of his death and had been saying some strange things in his final days, including that Gault was a police informer. Gault was among the mourners at the funeral, and would later deny in court that, after he filed by the open casket, he said to a fellow member, “He’s never smelled better.” If he did make the remark, it would have been one time when he actually spoke the truth. Mr. Bill in life had been an assault to the senses. Guindon recalled his horror when Mr. Bill would peel off his socks. “Holy fuck. Jesus Christ. His nails had to be that much larger and they’re black. Jesus Christ, this guy! Have you ever had a bath?…I almost got sick watching his feet.”
Guindon was a little surprised by the turnout at Mr. Bill’s send-off. “There was not as many people as I thought would show up.” Perhaps the reason was the rumour circulating that he had been a rat. Guindon said, “If I would have known earlier, I would have done something about it…He didn’t do drug transactions and he didn’t work, but he always had money.”
CHAPTER 42: Culture Shock
Harley left school after Grade 10 and then got his diploma as an adult.
Paul Gravelle was in a higher economic bracket than Guindon, and was of higher interest to the police. Gravelle pled guilty to a multi-million-dollar marijuana importation scheme but said he stayed away from moving what he considered to be hard drugs. He denied a role in the November 16, 1998, shotgun murders of Ancaster lawyer Lynn Gilbank and her husband. Gravelle told The Hamilton Spectator there was no truth to allegations his family took part in the murders to silence an informant working with Gilbank. “No,” he said. “That’s not true. Our family is not killers…That’s beyond us to do a thing like that. That’s a despicable act. That’s a cowardly act.”
Gravelle lived for five years in Mexico, where he said he performed magic tricks on the street for large crowds. He came home in 2010, once the murder beef had gone away. He leased a BMW X5, and not long after that, found some strange wiring under the hood. He took it back to the dealer, who responded with fear and called the Niagara Regional Police. When the bomb squad checked it out, they saw it was a hidden recording device, installed by Peel Regional Police.
CHAPTER 49: Fathers and Sons
Harley-Davidson motorcycles were under attack by demographics at the same time that Harley riding clubs were struggling to stay relevant. Articles on the aging of the Harley market include James B. Kelleher’s “As Boomers Age, Harley Hunts for Younger Riders,” Reuters.com, June 21, 2013; James R. Hagerty’s “Harley-Davidson to Ramp Up Marketing, as Sales Skid,” WSJ.com, October 20, 2015; and Trefis Team’s “Harley-Davidson’s European Fate Could Turn Around This Year,” Forbes.com, April 1, 2014.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Once again, I’d like to thank editor Craig Pyette for his patience, good humour and considerable skill. Also, Suzanne Blais-Guindon, Lorne Campbell, George Chuvalo, Mark DeMarco, Shanan Dionne, Bill Dunphy, Verg Erslavas, Juliet F. Forrester, Rick Gibson, Paul Gravelle, Devin Guindon, Harley Davidson Guindon, Jack Guindon, Teresa Guindon-Mader, Daphne Hart, Paul Henry, Walter Henry, Franco Hobs, Sarah Hodgins, Chuck (Spider) Jones, Cecil Kirby, Richard Mallory, George McIntyre, Steve (Slick) McQueen, Mike Murphy, Maggie Pearce-O’Shea, Kathleen Power, Giovanni (John) Raso, Don Shebib, Vikki Sheldrake, Johnny Sombrero (Harry Barnes), Harley’s stepmom, Ian Watson.
PETER EDWARDS has written for the Toronto Star for more than thirty years, specializing in organized crime and justice issues. He is the author of twelve previous non-fiction books, including The Bandido Massacre: A True Story of Bikers, Brotherhood and Betrayal; One Dead Indian: The Premier, the Police and the Ipperwash Crisis; Business or Blood: Mafia Boss Vito Rizzuto’s Last War (with Antonio Nicaso); and Unrepentant: The Strange and (Sometimes) Terrible Life of Lorne Campbell, Satan’s Choice and Hells Angels Biker. Edwards was a member of a team that won a National Newspaper Award for spot news reporting. He has been awarded an eagle feather from the Union of Ontario Indians and a gold medal from the Centre for Human Rights.
www.peteredwardsauthor.com
Hard Road Page 31