How & Why Hells Angels Leader Marty Robert Has Ties with Powerful Mobsters in the US

Original Gangsters News with Scott Burnstein. Welcome to the Original Gangsters News Network and podcast. I'm your host Scott Burnstein. We're going to go up to the Great White North and we're going to discuss Marty Robaire, the Hells Angels superpower boss up in Montreal, and his relationship with the mafia. And more specifically, Marty Robaire's links and connections and building of alliances with the mafia in the United States. And I think this is something that has really been a an undercurrent in the rise of of Marty Robaire. It's something that hasn't been reported a lot. There's been a quite a bit of reporting about his relationship with the mafia in his hometown of Montreal and how they were friends and then they were enemies, now they're friends again. But this is in particular, we're going to deep dive Marty Robaire's cultivating relationships with mafia families and mafia powers across the border in the United States. And I think this is something that is historic in the sense that Marty Robaire is historic. He is without question the most intriguing, historically significant crime boss of of this generation, frankly. What he's doing is is groundbreaking and the power that he's accumulated and the direction that he has taken the Hells Angels since he grabbed power. And we know that the Hells Angels have no international boss, but for all intents and purposes, um 81 nation, all 7,000 patches and tens of thousands of support club patches and uh uh you know, 700 chapters, 70 countries, the power runs through Canada. And when it runs through Canada, it runs through Marty Roeber in in Quebec and Narcisse Sadnick in Ontario. And this is, you know, I don't want to belabor the point cuz we've discussed this quite a bit, but this is you know, this is uh new terrain in that Hells Angels, you know, since the very start, uh building that the the iconic brand, the most prestigious biker club, most notorious biker club in the world, has always, you know, that uh the brand and the uh the base of power has always been in the United States. Group was founded in uh Northern California and has spread not just across the US, but across the globe. But, [snorts] the strings have always been pulled by uh you know, Sonny Barger when he was alive and uh disciples of of Sonny Barger. Uh the Hells Angels is a US brand and it was started in the US and it was ran from the US. Well, that's all changed um in the final years of Sonny Barger and then since Sonny Barger died and the power is firmly in Canada right now. And a lot of that has to do with Marty Roeber, uh who is just a um disruptor, a uh a a has been revolutionary, a guy that is, you know, a a James Bond type figure, international man of mystery, uh has reshaped Hells Angels policy and has grown their power as as crazy as that sounds, uh has taken it into spaces that the Hells Angels have never existed uh before. Um so, he's been transformative in any way and every way, shape, or form, taking the Hells Angels from uh you know, very powerful, if not the most powerful, 1% group to being maybe the most powerful organized crime group on the planet because of this shift from the traditional street rackets to, you know, into the boardroom, into a lot of white-collar stuff, into a lot of geopolitical stuff that has enhanced and and grown the power in the group. And it's all really because of of Marty Roe Berke and his vision, his ambition, his ability to um politic and consolidate you know, you know, his power and and and spread the word, spread the gospel, win hearts and minds. So, a big part of his plan and in the implementation of that plan has been Marty being a student of the American Mafia, also a student of the Mafia in Canada, but, you know, Marty is a uh is somebody that wants to learn from history and improve upon it. Understand the pitfalls before they become pitfalls. Understand, you know, how to move like a boss and not again not just like a biker boss. He sees himself and other people have come to see him as much more than just a Hells Angels boss and that goes top to bottom from the way he carries himself to the way he dresses, the way he presents himself to the way that he very stealthily moves, you know, continent to continent, never sleeps in the in the same bed twice. Um very very shadowy. There's a lot of mystique around him. And he's doing this all in real time and he's been spending quite a bit of time during his reign as uh numero uno in the in the United States. And again, I don't want to belabor this point cuz we've we've talked about it, but you know, some people in the Canada you know, mainstream media have had a hard time accepting that and they question how and why Marty is spending so much time in the US. And you know, my response to them and again, I've said it on here before is you know, federal law enforcement in the United States wants Marty Roe Bare in the United States so they can make a case against him. Um Donald Trump, the president of the United States and his Department of Justice and the FBI and the DEA and the ATF they want a head on the wall and the way that they got Ryan Wedding's head on the wall. And they want to stick it to Canada. That's the that's the um you know, posturing and mentality of of the White House now. It neither here nor there in in regards to a lot of what we're reporting, but it does impact this effort by law enforcement in the US to ensnare Marty Robaire in a case in the US, which is, you know, a world's difference between taking a case in Canada. And Marty's done time and he's been convicted of gangsterism and murder and drugs and all that stuff. But has never faced a case in the US. So, you know, a guy that is really raised elevated the sophistication level of Hells Angels, not just in Canada, but, you know, trying to you know, get other people to to follow his lead, other leaders of Hells Angels chapters. And a lot of that has been making company and making alliances, business connections with the Italian Mafia in in the US. And not just one group. Uh based on my sourcing, Marty has cultivated relationships with Mafia groups, uh Mafia families and bosses uh in New York City, the five families. In Boston, in New Jersey, in Philadelphia, uh in the Los Angeles and Las Vegas area, as well as uh where he spends most of his time when he's in the US, in South Florida. And we've we've done a little bit of reporting the last month, kind of nippling around the corners but not jumping into the deep end of the pool with word of this murder investigation that might include or that I'm told does include Hells Angels American Italian Mafia groups and possibly Marty Robair. One of the guys that is in the middle of this whole thing is a Hells Angels boss from the US. I'm not going to you know, name a name right now, but he's somebody that is on record with Mafia families in New York City. And I'm told he was fronting for Marty in some of the business down in South Florida that led to this homicide that's being investigated right now. So you know, we're talking about history, but we're also talking about possibly foreshadowing what's on the horizon. And I, you know, posit the question is Marty Robair's desire to play ball with the American Mafia is it ultimately going to be his undoing? And is the glamorization or you know, hit his and I don't want to say he's obsessed. I think that would be miscategorization, but he holds American Mafia leaders in in great esteem. Um again, I don't want to say glamorizes or idolizes, but he studied them. I mean, going back to how the Cosa Nostra was formed with Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky um Marty is a a student of history. And he has envisioned himself as this kind of hybrid biker boss mafia guy. And he's made that a reality. You know, his his nickname on the streets is the capo, which is a a mafia term. So, you know, is this going to be his undoing? I wouldn't bet on it. You know, uh Marty's too smart. He's too stealth. He's too powerful, I think, uh for it to be his undoing. Is it possible that there could be an indictment? That's possible. Do I see Marty sticking around to face that indictment? No. I think if there is an indictment that comes down in the US and Marty Roe Berke is named, um we'll never see or hear from Marty Roe Berke again. And he'll he'll run the Hells Angels from underground. He'll be like what Wolf Carroll's become, you know, the Canadian Hells Angel that disappeared 25 years ago and pretty sure he ain't dead, but he's sipping a pina colada somewhere uh on a beach and he's still holding some sway in the Hells Angels. Um yeah, it's not you know, it's not apples to apples there, but so, I I want to kind of go over some of what we know about Marty and the mafia uh in the US. He has been rubbing elbows with these guys, the guys in New York, the guys in uh Florida, Boston, Jersey, pretty much since he took power. And he's, you know, taken power in the last decade or so and he has if you're keeping tabs with law enforcement in the US, you have the kind of uh entry points that I have and I'm able to get intelligence leak to me and get a uh a grasp on who's moving with who, who's sitting with who. You know, Marty has is taking meetings and has took meetings and has gone into business with a number of these US Italian mob guys. And some of it frankly is pretty out in the open. Uh they're not meeting in basements or underground tunnels or uh at 3:00 in the morning when nobody's paying attention. They're You know, Marty is holding meetings with these guys in in popular restaurants and nightclubs and cigar bars and it ain't a secret with with law enforcement over uh on this and on this side of the border. I'm the only one reporting it. So, that's why it it hasn't really circulated in the in the you know, public consumption sphere outside of you know, frankly the I'm a nerd. So, when I say nerds, I mean this uh with with uh with grace and with with heart. Uh I mean it kindly. You know, the people that follow organized crime that come to Original Gangsters that are interested in a lot of the inside baseball of of the underworld. I mean, we're we're nerds. We're not you know, we're not the mainstream public. Uh we pay attention to people and things and events that other people don't care about and we spend years, decades studying it and contextualizing it and all that. So, unless you're one of the 60,000 people that are subscribers to the OG, you probably don't know about any of this Marty Robaire stuff going on outside of Canada. In fact, I mean, we're I think without question the leading outlet when it comes to any news about Marty Robaire. Uh Pete Edwards at the Toronto Star did an excellent job with a um an investigative piece on Marty earlier this year. We had him on to discuss it. Um some of the Montreal papers definitely cover him. They don't they don't do a lot a lot of uh there's not a lot of depth to their coverage. My guys over at Vice, who I worked on with the Kingdom Come documentary docu-series that was out 2 years ago. We filmed a lot of that in Montreal and a lot of that was about Marty Robaire. So, Vice has done a great job. Vice had the exclusive from Marty's wedding back in 2018, which was a royal the royal wedding and again, that was something that I think foreshadowed a lot of things. For people that maybe didn't know about him before that coverage, you you what Vice was painting him as, kind of being the future of the Hells Angels leadership, has proved to be true. And he has exceeded, I think, all levels of stature and power that anybody could have expected for a Hells Angels boss from Montreal. So, that's why that's why we spend so much time discussing him and reporting on him is, you know, frankly because of his historical significance and his his, you know, real-time day-to-day significance in the global underworld ecosystem. Um he I think and I'm going to I'm going to take some liberties here. I don't think he views or viewed the Sicilian Rizzuto mob uh in Montreal, at least the you know, the the current version of it, the post-Vito Rizzuto version of it. Um I don't think he viewed it with as much respect and adoration and you know, overall uh you know, he's not transfixed by those guys or or I guess impressed by those guys the way he is by you know, all the iconic US Mafia bosses and and and and groups that he's he's studied and he's looked to make uh inroads with over the last 10 years when he when he visits the States. The fact that he he's not as impressed by the modern-day Rizzuto clan was was was shown by the fact that he went to war with them. He tried to absorb them. You know, it was a hostile takeover attempt back in 2023. And, you know, co-signed a attempt of assassination of Vito Rizzuto's son and successor Leonardo Rizzuto, Leo the Lawyer. And there was a bunch of different proxy wars going on at the same time and it was, you know, 2 and 1/2 years of two two years of uh violence and bodies dropping and money lost because the you know the the balance of power in Canada has always existed kind of at the footsteps of that long-time alliance between the Rizzutos and the Hells Angels and they've been the the straws that stir the drink and and keep everybody honest and and that dwindled for a while and it looked like it might completely fall apart and dissolve. Now, that relationship has been rehabilitated and Leo Rizzuto and and Marty Robert are on the same page and and and you know aligned with each other again and the groups are working with each other again since the end of 2024 with the peace conference that we were the first to report in December. And you know, he's both are on to kind of bigger and better things. Well, Marty is definitely Leo and his and his group are are fighting a case right now, the biggest mafia prosecution in the history of Canada, Project Alliance, and Leo and most of his cabinet are are locked up fighting the case. So, they have and they got air power coming at them like you know crazy spider monkeys inside outside. So, the whole Hells Angels Rizzuto mob thing is a thing of the past. But it shows the lack of respect and the the uh the lack of kind of you know the the the modern-day order of things or the way things have always been, the traditional pecking order the way the food chain has always been constructed and you know, dating back to the late 70s, early 80s, it was Hells Angels and Rizzutos that uh ruled the roost. And they benefited from each other and they you know, they was you know, one hand washing the other. Uh as the Canadian underworld became destabilized with Vito Rizzuto going to prison and then eventually dying and all the iterations of the the wars within the mafia in Canada Marty, I believe sensed a a lane for him and in the Hells Angels to leverage the diminishing of the Rizzutos and the mafia in Canada and seize upon that to elevate the Hells Angels brand. And I think right now, even though the war is over with and it's been over with for two years when it all, you know with all the pieces are put back together it's not exactly the way it was before. It's not uh you know, an even 50/50 split right now. If anything, I'd say the Hells Angels are in a a better spot and have a a level of power and influence that sit up, you know, hovering above the Rizzutos. And before, you know, for all those, you know, decades before that two-year conflict, when Vito Rizzuto was alive and was the most powerful crime boss in that country even though they were, you know, they were equals. The Rizzutos existed at a kind of a plane hovering above where the Hells Angels were. They just kind of they've changed places. Um and I think there's another aspect that really hasn't been reported. I I reported it a little bit uh in 2024. I never it was never in any I I didn't get any headlines, but if you went into some of my reporting about the the final stages of that Rizzuto mob Hells Angels war, I think I did mention this, but I want to highlight it here. And again, I think it underscores how much reverence that Marty Robear holds for the the mafia in the United States. Those guys in New York City and in some of those other territories in the US where Marty has built alliances with Italian mobsters. They counseled him. As 2024 you know, went from spring to summer to fall, they told him, "Go make this right. This is bad for business and it and it's bad for business for you in Canada and soon it will be bad for business for us in the United States. And these you know, these these dons, these cappos uh that he sits with and takes counsel from and does business for in the US encouraged him to make peace with the Rizzutos and that's what he did. Um you know, our reporting at the time and and still our reporting uh Pietro Di Adamo, Black Pete, was the driving force behind you know, logistically fixing the the problems that existed between the Rizzutos and the uh Hells Angels and cobbling back together that alliance and and making sure that all the rough edges had been smoothed over and kind of bygones could be bygones and you know, Pete D'Adamo engineered that. So, there's no doubt. I'm not trying to I'm not trying to uh undermine the narrative that Pete D'Adamo uh uh was a uh major factor if not the determining factor in getting that war settled and or the the dispute that led to that war settled and and um finding a peace and a way to move forward. But, make no mistake about it, Marty Robaire was getting these American-Italian mob guys in his ear that whole year up until the peace being made in December. Being not told what to do necessarily, but being shh you know, the the narrative that was being presented to him was compelling. And he respected those guys enough, I think, to you know, call off the dogs because through most of '23 and into '24, Marty Robaire was hell-bent on absorbing the Rizzutos and making it so at the end of that conflict, the Rizzutos were just kind of a wing of the Hells Angels. That all that never happened and who knows if they could have pulled that off uh from a logistics point of view, but that stance softened as '24 went on and you had a lot of bosses on the East Coast of the United States, Mafia dons, telling Marty this is a bad look for everybody. And this can easily bleed over into us, meaning the the the US Mafia bosses, and and that, you know, a war so close to the border between, you know, two groups that both work with the mob. The Hells Angels have always worked with the mob. Um and the Rizzutos at one point were a part of the Bonanno crime family until they went independent, you know, 25, 30 years ago. So, it was it was precarious. Um I want to just give a quick, uh, anecdote about how I really got hip to this aspect of Marty Robare's grand plan and how how he viewed the Italian mob in the US and how he he valued his relationships with those guys or that he had relationships with those guys, honestly. Um and it all kind of came flooding into me at the same time. I was in Canada working on Kingdom Come, the docu-series on Vice. And I was working with a lot of guys in law enforcement, SQ guys, RCMP guys, that were helping out on the project. And we were wrapping up for one day. This was at the end of the shoot. This was in early '24. And one of the guys from the SQ, he didn't really know me as a Mafia reporter. He had just met me, um, I had come, you know, into his orbit cuz I was helping executive produce this Vice you know, docu-series which was kind of centered around the Hells Angels. And the mafia played a role in the story, but that you know, that that wasn't the crux of everything. So, this guy didn't really know my background other than I knew a lot about Marty Robaire and the Hells Angels of Montreal and I was from the United States. So, he didn't know that I was somebody that had made my bones as a a mafia reporter in the US. And it was literally the last thing he said to me. We were we were, you know, having some pleasantries, you know, great to meet you. Let's keep in contact. Great job, you know, in front of the camera. And as this guy is kind of like walking out the door, he turns around and says, "Do you know anything about the the the mafia in in the United States?" And I was like, "Yeah, of course." I'm like, "I do a lot of reporting on on the mafia in the United States." And then he says, "Do you know who Joey Merlino is?" And [laughter] I did a double take. I'm like, "Yeah, I do. I've done a lot of reporting on Joey Merlino." And he said, "Well, you know, that's Marty's buddy." I said, "What do you What do you mean that's Marty's buddy?" He's like, "Yeah, Marty and and Joey Merlino are pals. Marty lives in the same neighborhood as Joey does in Boca. And uh they go out. They they hit the town together." And I couldn't tell if this guy was like joking around with me or he was serious. And he he was serious. And I said, "Really?" Um I've never This this is not on my radar. And he provided some some uh some proof of what he had said and just told me to kind of keep my eyes out. And from that point forward, I realized that Marty Robair was a lot further entrenched into my US mob reporting than I had ever imagined. It was like two worlds colliding. And when you're talking about Joey Merlino, he's an icon. When you're talking about Marty Robair, he's an icon. They're They're They're criminal icons from completely different spaces, but they they came together and and they have a relationship to this day. Uh this I think this is the first time I'm mentioning Joey Merlino and Marty Robair as a uh as two guys that have a a friendship, a social relationship, possibly a business relationship. Um but it's not the first time my name, Marty Robair's name, and Joey Merlino's name have been put together. And so I just want to end my anecdote with when I started reporting on on uh on Marty's daliances with the Italian mafia, and I was also reporting on Joey Merlino's uh losing standing in in in the US mafia and within his own uh mob family in Philadelphia because of podcasting endeavors that he embarked on in in 2023, I was talking about you know, a security strategy that Joey Merlino was enacting, where he was getting different leaders of non-La Cosa Nostra groups, black mobs, biker clubs, um possibly some cartel linked to people. And it it was a a way to kind of hide without hiding. You know, if you're running around with someone like Marty Robair and you're not being secret about it and people see you out at a restaurant or at a cigar bar and if somebody in the Italian mafia was looking to do Joey Merlino harm being around Marty Robair is currency. Having a connection to the Pagans outlaws, the Hells Angels that's something that can protect you. Having, you know, we've talked I've talked about it before, Joey's you know, still hangs around with a lot of those junior black mafia guys. When he's in town, when he's in Philadelphia and he needs security, Tracy Mason is there, you know, helping him run security. So, he's he you know, Mar Joey Merlino ain't no dummy. Um he's he's very reckless in a lot of his behavior, but there's a method to that madness and he knows how to watch his back and I think some of who he's surrounded himself with and who he goes out with whether or not those outings are reported or not word gets spread around. So, I buried the lead a little bit. So, about 2 years ago when I'm when I'm doing both of those you know, I'm I'm I'm all in on both of those reporting narratives. I did a story about Joey and biker bosses. How he knows uh Jack who is one of the big powers in the Outlaws, how the Gorilla the the Pagans guy in Philadelphia has always been a close friend of his, and how he is now, meaning now was in 2024, uh he's in the company socially of a powerful Hells Angels boss. I did not mention Marty Roberge. I did not mention anything about Canada. I just said a Hells Angels boss. Joey Merlino and Snuff, his sidekick for his podcast, do some type of I don't know if it was a YouTube or a Instagram or a TikTok where they're discussing some of my reporting and and trying to push back on it. And Joey Merlino looks right at the camera and says, "Scotch talking about me hanging out with a Hells Angel. He's talking about Marty Roberge." And I don't know who Marty Roberge is. I've never met the guy before in my life. But I guess he's some boss in in in Canada. And it just didn't pass the smell test, man. You threw the name out. I didn't throw it out there. Uh I doubt that Joey Merlino would have any idea who Marty Roberge was unless he had met Marty Roberge. I don't think Joey Merlino would have been pronouncing his name correctly. If he just saw it written, he would have been saying Marty Rob Robert. And I didn't say anything about Canada. So, that to me was was uh a tell by Joey, and um I wanted everybody, you know, all my sources and everybody that I talked to in Canada to know that this didn't come from me. I didn't put that on blast. That came from Merlino. So, um And it's you know, I don't know how or if that plays into what's going on in Florida with this murder investigation. Um I haven't heard anything that directly implicates >> [snorts] >> actual Italian mobsters. I've I've heard about Hells Angels and I've heard about Albanians that are tied to Hells Angels and Italian mobsters. Um one of the Albanians is tied into the Genovese uh out of the Bronx. One of the Hells Angels is a told is a shot caller um somewhere on the East Coast. I don't want to get too specific, but he's somebody that comes from Canada and is friends and I'm told business partners with Marty Robaire. But when Marty Robaire comes to South Florida, this Hells Angels boss from the East Coast is often with him. Um so there was there was a a body. And then the body uh is a guy that I I guess was in some type of business relationship with Hells Angels West Side Albanians and mobsters from Philadelphia. Now, I don't know if that means Joey Merlino or not, but I'm told that the the Philly mob might have had some role or some um some link to this business relationship that went awry and somebody ended up dead. And now the investigation has ramped up in the last month. Search warrants went out. Someone I'm told might have cut a cooperation deal. And the day the search warrants went out, which were August 3rd, was the same day Marty Robaire's best friend, right-hand man, vice president and street boss for the Montreal Hells Angels, Stephane "Steff" Proulx, disappeared. And we have been reporting that Steff Proulx is most likely dead. That he was killed by the Hells Angels for a combination of things. One of them possibly being talking out of school, possibly with law enforcement. And I don't believe in coincidences. So, I know that the FBI and other members of federal law enforcement in the US have gone around with these search warrants and have warned everybody that's involved in this that they should be worried for their safety and not because of the Italian mob angle of this, but because of the Hells Angel angle on this. So, you know, I again, I don't feel comfortable going deeper into what I know about that case. I think I've given people enough to kind of chew on until we we learn more. It's very possible that it's an investigation and people look into it and and nobody's arrested. It happens all the time. Um you know, grand juries are convened and you know, people are hit with subpoenas and hit with search warrants and at one point in time it might look like there's no way that that person is avoiding a charge in that case and then for whatever reason a case doesn't come. So, I don't want to talk I don't want to name names or or talk more granular on this until we know there's an actual case. I know there's an investigation. I know there's a body. I know that search warrants have gone out and and DNA swabs have been taken. I know that there's talk that one of the central players in this entire conspiracy alleged conspiracy is kind of cooperation. I know that people in the Philadelphia mob orbit and the Florida mob orbit and in the New York mob orbit are aware of these rumors of cooperation and are you know doing their best to to C Y A cover their ass cover your ass. Um and and bracing for the possibility that this thing could be a a nuclear bomb. But we're not there yet. But I think it it it's this it's this result of Marty Robear maybe not being as disciplined not being as buttoned up with these American mafia leaders as he is with everybody else. And not you know again this this guy is this guy is global. He's a worldwide. He's dealing with crime bosses in every country on the planet. And maybe because of his admiration or uh the allure that he's always had with the Italians in the United States, maybe he let his guard down. Maybe that's why we're here talking about a potential murder investigation with somebody that's very close to Marty Robaire right in the thick of things. So, that's the episode. Hope everybody enjoyed it. Please like, share, and subscribe. Original Gangsters News Network and podcast. We're here 24/7 365 breaking down all the latest breaking news when it comes to the North American underworld, bikers, mob bosses, drug kingpins. We got it all. We got moles spread out all across North America giving us information on an almost minute-by-minute basis that we're taking and we're vetting and then we're bringing to you raw and uncut. We don't spin here. We give it to you um in its most pure form and then it's kind of your job to to make what you will of it. But we're not here to to spin narratives. We call balls and strikes. Hope everybody enjoyed this episode. Marty Robaire you know there's no doubt that uh he's the most riveting crime lord in the game right now. And he's he's flying close to the sun on this. He's he's close to the flame. Let's see if he gets burned. Original Gangsters News Network and podcast uncovering the underworld one city, one region, one country at a time. Please like, share, and subscribe. I'm Scott Bernstein. I'm out.