The head of the Rock Machine, the biker gang battling for control of Quebec's illegal drug trade, was sentenced to 11 1/2 years in prison Friday for his role in Quebec's biker gang war.

Frederic Faucher was the leader of Rock Machine, a chapter of the Texas-based Bandidos biker gang.

He pleaded guilty earlier this month to 28 charges including drug trafficking and seven attempted bombings in 1996 and 1997.




His second-in-command during the biker wars, Marcel Demers, had pleaded guilty to 17 charges of drug trafficking. Demers, who was also a founding member of the Rock Machine, was sentenced to nine years in prison.

Faucher was arrested on December 5, 2000 after Peter Paradis, a member of the gang, turned police informant and provided evidence against Faucher.

More than 150 people – many of them bystanders – have died as a result of the biker gang war over Quebec's drug trade.

In Alberta, the former president of the Calgary chapter of the Hells Angels biker gang has been found guilty of plotting to blow up two Calgary homes.

The judge in the case said there was overwhelming evidence Kenneth Szezrba was plotting to blow up the houses of a Calgary alderman and a community activist.

The Hells Angels were upset over the role the two played in a decision to have the club's clubhouse torn down.

Szezrba faced four charges in connection with the case. He will be sentenced in late June.