Richard Vallée (born 10 November 1957) is a Canadian outlaw biker and

gangster A gangster (informally gangsta) is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''Organized crime, mob'' and the suffix ''wikt:-ster, -st ...

. A drug trafficker and member of the

Hells Angels Motorcycle Club The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is an international outlaw motorcycle club founded in California whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells ...

, Vallée was extradited to the United States and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2007 for the 1993 car bomb murder of

New York State Police The New York State Police (NYSP) is the state police of the U.S. state of New York; it is part of the New York State Executive Department and employs over 5,000 sworn state troopers and 711 non-sworn members. The New York State Police are re ...

drug informant Lee Carter.

Criminal career

Outlaw biker

Born in

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, ; ) is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

, as a young man Vallée joined the Satan's Guard outlaw biker gang led by Louis "Mélou" Roy. Vallée began his criminal career working as a

pimp Procuring, pimping, or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term "pimp" ...

, and in 1988, he was charged with operating a brothel, which he pleaded guilty to on 30 November 1988. The Satan's Guard gang "patched over" to join the

Hells Angels The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is an international outlaw motorcycle club founded in California whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells ...

on 14 June 1991. Vallée was very close to Roy, who became the president of the Hells Angels' Trois-Rivières chapter. On 22 May 1992, Vallée was acquitted of the charge of illegally firing a handgun. Vallée became one of the main drug smugglers for the Hells Angels, bringing drugs over the

Canada–United States border The international border between Canada and the United States is the longest in the world by total length. The boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Canada' ...

. In January 1993, a group of Canadian Hells Angles walked into a bowling ally/bar in the border town of

Champlain, New York Champlain is a town in Clinton County, New York, United States. The population was 5,754 at the 2010 census. The town is located on the western shore of Lake Champlain, near the northern end of Lake Champlain and is on the U.S./Canadian border ...

, and asked the bartender, Lee Carter, if he wanted to make some money as a drug "mule" bringing cocaine from New York to

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. Carter feigned agreement, but promptly contacted the

, who recruited him as an undercover agent. Carter purchased cocaine in New York, which he handed over to two Canadian Hells Angels who attempted to smuggle the cocaine over the border, but who were arrested by the U.S. Customs. The arrest was done in a manner that made it appear that it was a random search. Some 57 kilograms of cocaine were seized. Carter visited Montreal where he spoke with Roy and Vallée. Carter was the only witness who could tie Vallée to the drug smuggling case. On 26 July 1993, a man in a

U.S. Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

uniform asked one of Carter's neighbors where he lived, saying he had some mail for him; the neighbor pointed to Carter's house. On 28 July 1993, Carter was killed by a bomb planted in his car. Without Carter as a witness, the American authorities were forced to drop the case against Vallée, and the extradition request to Canada was withdrawn. On 1 April 1995, a Hells Angels hitman, Serge Quesnel, was arrested on charges of murder. Quesnel turned Crown's evidence and named Vallée as Carter's killer. The police raided a Montreal house owned by Vallée and found explosives, blasting caps and a U.S. Postal Services uniform. In December 1996, a grand jury in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

indicted Vallée on charges on first-degree murder, and the United States filed an extradition request with Canada. Vallée became a founding member of the Hells Angels' elite

Nomad Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...

chapter on 24 June 1995. He forged especially close connections with two chapters of the Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club, namely the Sudbury chapter led by Michel Dubé, and the

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

chapter led by the wrestler Ion Croitoru. Vallée sold the majority of the cocaine that was in turn sold by the Hamilton and Sudbury chapters of Satan's Choice. To assist with his business in

northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on p ...

, Vallée recruited Sylvain "20/20" Vachon of the Angels'

Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( , ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François River, Saint-François and Magog River, Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territ ...

chapter, who often brought cocaine into Sudbury to sell to Dúbe's chapter.

Fugitive

On 21 January 1997, while being held at the

Rivière des Prairies The Rivière des Prairies (; ), called the Back River in English, is a delta channel of the Ottawa River in southwestern Quebec, Canada. The Kanien'kehá:ka called it ''Skowanoti'', meaning "River behind the island". The river separates the citi ...

penitentiary, Vallée was attacked by another prisoner who broke his jaw. On 5 June 1997, just two days before Vallée was due to be extradited, he was taken to the Hôpital Saint-Luc to be treated for his injured jaw. Going along with him were two unarmed guards. A woman claiming to be Vallée's wife called the hospital and asked if he was there; the hospital confirmed that he was. A man wearing dark sunglasses then walked into the hospital, saying he was a visitor. Vallée asked for permission to take a shower before returning to prison, which was granted. While Vallée was taking a shower, a guard was in the bathroom to ensure he could not escape. The man with the sunglasses had hidden himself in the closet of the bathroom and then emerged with a shotgun. The first guard was bound and gagged, to be followed up by the second guard who was waiting outside of the bathroom. Vallée and his accomplice then escaped from the hospital, fleeing on stolen motorcycles.Montreal police arrest most-wanted fugitive
Tu Thanh Ha, ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' (19 April 2003) Vallée went to Costa Rica for a number of years. During this time, he was featured on the television program '' America's Most Wanted'' several times. The U.S. Marshals Service posted a notice, which read: "Armed and dangerous... Vallée is a member of a large-scale international smuggling organization and a demolition expert with a violent criminal history". At some point, Vallée returned to Canada. At about 1:30 am on 11 April 2003, a man was driving his automobile in Montreal turned right on a red light at Sherbrooke Street West and Décaire Boulevard. Montreal is alongside New York the only city in North America where it is illegal to turn right on a red light, causing a policeman who witnessed the turn to signal to the driver to pull over. The driver of the car had an automobile license that gave his name as a Guy Turner. As the driver was drunk, the policeman arrested him for drunk driving, and then discovered a loaded handgun together with some $3,500 in cash in the car. The driver known as "Guy Turner" was taken to the police station, where a finger print test revealed he was Vallée. By this time, the police had already released Vallée, believing him to be Guy Turner. The '' Sureté du Québec'' arrested Vallée on 17 April 2003 as he leaving a store on Saint-Mathieu Street. In 2006, Vallée was extradited to the United States, and convicted of first-degree murder for Carter's death in September 2007. On 13 April 2008, Vallée was sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole. Vallée is currently living at the high-security United States Penitentiary, Lewisburg.

Books

* * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vallee, Richard Living people 1957 births 20th-century Canadian criminals Canadian male criminals Canadian gangsters Canadian drug traffickers Canadian pimps People extradited from Canada to the United States Canadian people imprisoned in the United States Canadian people convicted of murder Canadian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment People convicted of murder by the United States federal government Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States federal government Gangsters sentenced to life imprisonment Canadian expatriates in Costa Rica People from Trois-Rivières Hells Angels