Bernie Guindon was later a member of the Hells Angels until his retirement in 2006.
116 Facts About Bernie Guindon
1.
2.
Bernie Guindon's mother, Lucy, was an illiterate woman from rural Quebec who dropped out of school in Grade 1 while his father, Lucien, was a petty criminal from Buckingham who worked as a bootlegger.
3.
The Bernie Guindon family were itinerant in his early years, living at various locations in Quebec and northern Ontario.
4.
In Ontario at the time, bars and liquor stores closed very early, and Lucien Bernie Guindon, who ended settling up in Oshawa, sold alcohol out of his house to those who wanted to drink past the closing time, charging double the price in the liquor stores.
5.
Bernie Guindon pere served as a fence for corrupt Oshawa policemen who wanted to sell items that they had stolen while performing their duties.
6.
Bernie Guindon fils grew up in Oshawa surrounded by criminality and violence, recalling his father as a thuggish man who was very good with fists and whose favorite form of entertainment was watching his sons punch each other out.
7.
Bernie Guindon's mother was the main emotional support as he grew up and tried hard to pass on her Catholic faith to her son.
8.
At the Holy Cross Elementary School, Bernie Guindon was a poor student who failed at everything.
9.
Bernie Guindon was frequently beaten by a nun he called "Dirty Gertie".
10.
When Bernie Guindon was 15, he came to the defense of his mother who was being beaten by his father, and proceeded to beat up his father in turn.
11.
Lucy Bernie Guindon found a boyfriend who owned a motorcycle and who allowed his stepson to ride it.
12.
Bernie Guindon later recalled about his first time riding a motorcycle that "it was unbelievable", marking the beginning of a lifelong love of motorcycles.
13.
Bernie Guindon was to have on-off relationship with her that lasted decades before marrying her in 2009.
14.
In 1959, at the age of 17, Bernie Guindon joined the Golden Hawk Riders outlaw biker club.
15.
In November 1961, Bernie Guindon married for the first time after his teenage girlfriend Veronica became pregnant with the first of his many children, but he continued his womanizing and continued to insist that Blais was his true love.
16.
Bernie Guindon refused to address Barnes by his title of Supreme Commander, causing much offense to the latter.
17.
Bernie Guindon punched out the sergeant-at-arms of the Black Diamond Riders.
18.
Bernie Guindon came out of the Golden Hawk clubhouse with a piece of lumber and manically attacked the Black Diamond Riders.
19.
Bernie Guindon punched out a Black Diamond Rider, Tom Bird, and forced Barnes to retreat.
20.
The "Battle of Pebbestone" damaged the prestige of the Golden Hawk Riders, who came to be called the "Chicken Hawks", and Bernie Guindon ended up leaving the club.
21.
Bernie Guindon was furious with this violation of the biker code by the Black Diamond Riders at the "Battle of Pebblestone" as the media dubbed the brawl and vowed revenge.
22.
Bernie Guindon, who was considered to be more intelligent than the average outlaw biker, devised a strategy of seeking to humiliate the Black Diamond Riders by amalgamating several outlaw biker clubs into one and forcing the Black Diamond Riders to retreat by confronting them with overwhelming numbers.
23.
Bernie Guindon knew from his experience of street fights that there was a strength in numbers and the side that had the most fighters always had the advantage.
24.
Under the outlaw biker code, cowardice is considered the supreme vice, and for Bernie Guindon forcing the Black Diamond Riders to retreat from a fight by confronting them with overwhelming numerical superiority would be far more satisfying than merely beating them up.
25.
Bernie Guindon founded the Phantom Riders in either late 1963 or early 1964.
26.
In 1965, Bernie Guindon founded the Satan's Choice outlaw biker club in Toronto by merging his Phantom Riders of Oshawa with three other outlaw biker clubs based in what is Cambridge, Mississauga, and Toronto.
27.
Bernie Guindon chose the name Satan's Choice and adopted the patch of the disbanded club because he knew it would enrage the Black Diamond Riders.
28.
Bernie Guindon had read a newspaper article where Barnes had listed Satan's Choice as one of the clubs which he had forced to disband, which inspired him to choose the name.
29.
Bernie Guindon asked and received permission from Norris to use the name and patch of Satan's Choice.
30.
Bernie Guindon challenged Barnes and his followers to come out and fight them, causing his prestige to rise and theirs to dwindle when they did not.
31.
Bernie Guindon followed up his triumph by dictating terms to the Black Diamond Riders, ordering them to stop attacking other clubs and to stick to their territory in Toronto, whose borders were defined by him.
32.
Bernie Guindon always seemed to know how to get things down without ever appearing manipulative.
33.
Bernie Guindon was a dreamer who would prove time and again his ability to act on and achieve his visions.
34.
For many of the young people in the 1960s, Bernie Guindon was a folk hero.
35.
Later in 1965, Bernie Guindon was featured in the documentary Satan's Choice about outlaw bikers directed by Donald Shebib, which made him into something of a celebrity in the Toronto area.
36.
Charismatic and handsome, Bernie Guindon was the "star" of the documentary.
37.
The authorities made it clear that they disapproved of Bernie Guindon and, starting in late 1966, a police cruiser was almost permanently parked outside of Bernie Guindon's home in Oshawa as a way of reminding him that the police were watching him.
38.
Visitors to the Bernie Guindon home were questioned by the police as they entered and left.
39.
In 1967, Bernie Guindon was present at a Satan's Choice field day in St Catharines attended by other biker clubs as well with a total of about 200 people.
40.
Bernie Guindon granted the request, making MacLeod the first black chapter president anywhere in Canada, leading in Montreal a multiracial, multilingual chapter made of blacks and whites, English-Canadians and French-Canadians of about 20 members.
41.
Outlaw biker clubs tended to shun non-white applicants, and Bernie Guindon was highly unusual in allowing a black man to lead a chapter.
42.
On 25 September 1967, Bernie Guindon held the first national convention of Satan's Choice at a farmhouse in Markham Township just outside of Toronto, which was attended by the Vagabonds club.
43.
In 1968, Bernie Guindon was approached by the Hells Angels for the first time with the offer to have Satan's Choice "patch over" to become Hells Angels.
44.
Bernie Guindon was an ardent Canadian nationalist and rejected the offer, saying he did not want his club absorbed into an American club.
45.
Towards the end of the 1960s, Bernie Guindon started to move into organised crime, turning Satan's Choice into one of the leading distributors of illegal drugs in Ontario and in Montreal.
46.
On 1 June 1968, Bernie Guindon led an attack by Satan's Choice members on a Cross Breeds meeting that saw the latter savagely beaten and their motorcycles trashed, an incident that so badly damaged the reputation of the Cross Breeds that the club disbanded.
47.
Bernie Guindon had an obsession with "rats," as he called police informers, and most of the victims of his violence were fellow Choice members he suspected of being informers.
48.
Bernie Guindon continued his womanizing as many women considered him attractive, which amazed him as, by his own admission, his penis was very small.
49.
Bernie Guindon argued the outlaw biker clubs should respect each other's territories to avoid violence.
50.
Bernie Guindon was described as extremely charismatic and was idolised by his followers.
51.
Bernie Guindon followed up his victory by going to Toronto with his followers to beat up and expel what he called the "fight crazy shitheads" from the Toronto chapter who were causing the trouble with the other clubs.
52.
Edwards, in his sympathetic biography of Bernie Guindon, implies that he was framed by the police and prosecutors who had long wanted to put him in prison, noting irregularities such as the fact that the trial transcripts from 1969 have mysteriously disappeared, making it very difficult to assess the evidence that convicted him.
53.
Bernie Guindon went to prison to start serving his sentence at the maximum security Kingston Penitentiary.
54.
Bernie Guindon described Kingston as a harsh prison where prisoners were not allowed to talk to each other unless a guard was present.
55.
Bernie Guindon quickly married her in the Kingston Catholic prison chapel and she gave birth to twins shortly thereafter, one of whom died shortly after being born.
56.
Bernie Guindon was transferred to the minimal security Joyceville Institution, where living conditions were easier than in the Kingston prison.
57.
In January 1971, Bernie Guindon was released from prison on parole for good behavior.
58.
Bernie Guindon joined his father who was living in Thunder Bay.
59.
Between January and July 1971, Bernie Guindon won successively the Ontario Golden Gloves, the Eastern Canadian Golden Gloves and Canadian Golden Gloves tournaments.
60.
Bernie Guindon won a bronze medal in boxing at the 1971 Pan American Games and he was looking forward to boxing for Canada at the 1972 Olympics.
61.
Bernie Guindon decided he enjoyed beating people up more than he did professional boxing, and unwilling to give up his life of violence, gave up professional boxing instead.
62.
In December 1971, Bernie Guindon was sent to prison for violating his parole conditions by associating with Satan's Choice members.
63.
Bernie Guindon stated that as the Canadian amateur light middleweight boxing champion that he would very much like to box for Canada at the 1976 Olympics, but complained that prison was making it difficult to practice.
64.
Bernie Guindon described Toronto in the 1970s as being a North American version of Bangkok.
65.
Bernie Guindon described the Venus Spa as a decaying, sleazy bar where the paint was peeling off the walls with the only benefit being that his current girlfriend of the moment was working there as a stripper.
66.
Bernie Guindon took his victory over Templain as confirming for him the superiority of boxing over karate.
67.
Bernie Guindon came into conflict with one of his subordinates, Garnet McEwen, the president of the Choice's St Catharine's chapter, who favored "Yankeeization", wanting closer ties with the Outlaws.
68.
Bernie Guindon remained very popular with his followers and overshadowed McEwen.
69.
McEwen informed the OPP of the PCP factory and when it was that Bernie Guindon would be visiting Oba Lake so they could arrest him.
70.
Bernie Guindon rarely visited Templain's Oba lake lodge, and it was no accident that a group of undercover policemen were present at the Oba lake lodge during one of Bernie Guindon's infrequent visits.
71.
The drug network for selling the PCP ranged as far as Florida and the police estimated Bernie Guindon was making at least $60 million per month in sales.
72.
Kirby felt he was owned money by Bernie Guindon and ended up leaving Satan's Choice to become a bomber and a hitman for the Mafia.
73.
The charismatic Bernie Guindon proved to be the principal focal point of Satan's Choice, and with his prolonged absence the club became plagued by infighting between the chapter presidents.
74.
The way his supposed allies, the Outlaws, poached several chapters away from him while he was in prison caused Bernie Guindon to have a lasting grudge against the Outlaws.
75.
In 1977, Bernie Guindon was described in media reports as being furious with Garnet McEwen, the man he appointed as interim national president, for having engineered the "patch over".
76.
From within the Millhaven prison, Bernie Guindon placed a bounty on McEwen, promising to pay $10,000 as the reward for killing McEwen.
77.
Bernie Guindon spent hours punching his bed in fury as he wished his bed was McEwen.
78.
When Bernie Guindon was released early from prison for good behavior in 1984, all Satan's Choice had left were the chapters in Thunder Bay, Kitchener, Oshawa, and Toronto.
79.
In May 1979, Bernie Guindon was sent to Joyceville Institute, where he learned leather work, a trade that he excelled at.
80.
Bernie Guindon made himself popular with the other prisoners with his super-sized "Frog Log" marijuana cigarettes that he rolled with the cannabis being supplied by corrupt prison guards he had been bribed to smuggle in the marijuana.
81.
On 19 November 1984, Bernie Guindon was released on parole and, despite his parole conditions, resumed his association with his club.
82.
Bernie Guindon went to Windsor to beat up Bill Hulko, the former president of the Choice chapter who had gone over to the Outlaws in 1977.
83.
Bernie Guindon started dating a teenage stripper known by her stage name "Angel" because it was said that she had a heavenly body.
84.
Between 1985 and 1988, Bernie Guindon opened up four new chapters in Ontario, adding about 95 new members.
85.
In February 1985, Bernie Guindon was called by George Chuvalo who asked for his help regarding his troubled son, Jesse, who had issues with drug addiction.
86.
Bernie Guindon remained close to a number of other gangster-boxers such as Eddie Melo and Howard "Baldy" Chard, the chief enforcer for Johnny Papalia of Hamilton.
87.
Shannan Bernie Guindon ultimately felt the need to leave Oshawa to stop living in her father's shadow.
88.
Bernie Guindon tried his hand at a number of legitimate occupations such as manufacturing custom-built motorcycles and leatherwork.
89.
Bernie Guindon was a perfectionist when it came to custom building, and found that most people were unwilling to pay for his expensive services whether it be with leather wallets or motorcycles, as consumers preferred to buy the cheaper items manufactured in factories.
90.
Bernie Guindon complained that the quality of Satan's Choice bikers in the 1980s had vastly declined since the 1970s and 1960s, saying that Satan's Choice needed more members like Lorne Campbell, the president of the Oshawa chapter, and David Hoffman, the treasurer of the Kitchener chapter, who felt had the necessary "balls" to live up to his standards of toughness.
91.
Bernie Guindon claimed that if Satan's Choice had more members such as Hoffman and Campbell and fewer such as McEwen, it would still been the largest biker gang in Canada.
92.
In 1988, Lowe described Bernie Guindon as living in a middle-class neighborhood of Oshawa and engaged in real estate speculation while owning a camp in northern Ontario for outlaw bikers.
93.
Bernie Guindon removed his son from the care of his former girlfriend "Angel" in 1990 because of her substance abuse, and chose to raise him along with another of his girlfriends.
94.
Bernie Guindon spent much of the 1990s feuding with the teachers at the Holy Cross Elementary School who believed that the Bernie Guindon family were devil-worshippers and that Harley should not be allowed to attend a Catholic school.
95.
Harley Bernie Guindon recalled that his childhood was different from the other children as he once he was getting off a school bus when he saw somebody run up with an ax intent upon beheading his father in front of their house.
96.
In September 1992, Bernie Guindon renewed his feud with Barnes and the Black Diamond Riders who were attempting to set up a chapter in Sudbury.
97.
Bernie Guindon was enraged when he heard that Barnes had beaten up a Satan's Choice biker on the streets of Sudbury and stolen his gang "colors", leading him to lead a force of Satan's Choice bikers north to Sudbury to personally avenge the insult.
98.
At a brawl in the parking lot of the Sorrento Motor Hotel that came to be known in biker circles as the "Sudbury Saturday Night", Bernie Guindon led 45 Satan's Choice bikers against Barnes and 7 Black Diamond Riders, all of whom were beaten so badly that they had to be hospitalized.
99.
Bernie Guindon considered the "Sudbury Saturday Night" brawl to be revenge for the "Battle of Pebblestone" as he argued that Barnes had not fought fair during at the brawl at the Pebblestone Golf Course 30 years earlier, which justified not fighting fair at the brawl in Sudbury.
100.
Bernie Guindon repeatedly turned Stadnick's offers to have the Satan's Choice join the Hells Angels, saying he wanted to keep his club Canadian, finally leading to Stadnick to sever contact with him in 1993.
101.
Between 28 and 30 June 1996, a retirement party for Bernie Guindon was held at a farm outside of Port Perry with the guest of honor being his long-time deputy Lorne Campbell.
102.
Bernie Guindon maintained he joined the Hells Angels in 2000 because he knew that his prestige would ensure that all of Satan's Choice would join the Angels.
103.
Bernie Guindon stated that he knew some members of Satan's Choice were not keen about "patching over" and those members would likely be the victims of violence if they remained with Satan's Choice, arguing his motives for joining the Angels was to spare those members from being killed by having all of Satan's Choice join the Hells Angels.
104.
Bernie Guindon was a member of the Hells Angels before retiring from outlaw biking.
105.
Barger had long wanted to meet Bernie Guindon, having first proposed a meeting in 1968, and Bernie Guindon's presence at the birthday party held on 13 October 2003 had been specifically requested by him.
106.
Bernie Guindon was not impressed with Barger, whom he regarded as an arrogant and overbearing, and left the birthday early by riding out into the Arizona desert.
107.
Bernie Guindon later stated he felt happier in the solitude of the desert rather than he did in the company of Barger, his obnoxious bodyguards and too many sycophantic Hells Angels who were hoping for a promotion.
108.
Bernie Guindon accused another Hells Angel, Steven Gault, of being a police informer, which led to tensions between the two; ultimately it emerged that Gault was indeed a police informer who was paid $1 million by the Ontario government for his work.
109.
Distrusting Gault, whom he believed was setting up him for something, Bernie Guindon decided to retire from the Hells Angels the next day.
110.
Bernie Guindon had just sold the house and had cancelled his insurance, causing him to take a loss on the items consumed in the fire.
111.
Bernie Guindon founded and remains the honorary chairman of the Ontario Confederation of Clubs, a lobby group for motorcycle enthusiasts.
112.
In 2010, Bernie Guindon was reported to be looking for a ghostwriter to write his autobiography, which he wanted to entitle From Satan to an Angel: Your Side, My Side and the Truth.
113.
In 2012, Bernie Guindon had ended his long-time feud with Barnes who was still the president of the Black Diamond Riders, which had maintained a shadowy existence since Bernie Guindon had defeated Barnes in a biker war in the 1960s.
114.
Bernie Guindon met Barnes by chance at an antiques show in the Kawartha Lakes region in the summer of 2012 and embraced his old enemy saying that their feud which had started 50 years earlier with the "Battle of Pebblestone" was now over.
115.
Bernie Guindon often socialized with Barnes in his last years as he stated that his former archenemy became a close friend.
116.
In November 2016, Bernie Guindon attended Barnes's funeral in Toronto following Barnes's death from a heart attack, aged 81, paying respects to his old enemy turned friend.