Hell To Pay

Michael Plante, a low-level Hells Angels dogsbody in Vancouver, is arrested for extortion in 2003. Coincidentally, police intercept a boat carrying cocaine from Colombia to Vancouver, a shipment arranged by the East End chapter of Vancouver's Hells Angels. The cops need to send someone inside to gather evidence that can be used to arrest and convict the gang. Plante does not want to go to jail, so he cuts a deal, beginning his descent into the nightmare of going undercover in the Hells Angels. The stakes are high-the East End chapter of the Hells Angels is one of the richest in the world. Plante soon learns how slowly the justice system moves as it prepares to prosecute the arrested Hells Angels members. The high-profile and highly paid defence lawyers win their applications to sever the indictment into a number of trials, meaning that Plante will face months on the witness stand under heavy grilling. Much is riding on the trials: Plante's life and livelihood; the federal government's legislation on gangsterism that could dismantle the Hells Angels; and the freedom of the accused-all high-ranking and enormously wealthy Hells Angels. The judge's final ruling shocks the court.