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| Johnny Plescio |
| Johnny Plescio was born in 1964 and became a founding member of the Rock Machine in the mid 1980s. He became known for his strong-arm tactics and was widely respected within the organization. Plescio was arrested in the summer of 1993 on a charge of threatening a Montreal police officer. The trial was delayed until February 18, 1994 because Plescio's lawyer, Gary Martin, was also defending a witness in the case, Eric Toupin, a Rock Machine associate that turned rat after being arrested on drug trafficking charges. |
Agent Michel Chartrand testified that, on July 7, 1993, he overheared Plescio telling two acolytes that he was going to "get" officer Jeffrey Stern. Plescio was sentenced to three months in prison on December 7, 1995. That day, while awaiting sentencing, a fight broke out between Plescio and three Rock Machine and two members of the Jokers, a Hells Angels puppet club. Plescio, Luc Gauthier, Paul Magnan and the Paradis brothers, Paul and Robert, were arrested and charged with disturbing the peace. On June 18, 1997, Johnny Plescio and fellow Rock Machine Frederic Faucher and Robert "Tout Tout" Léger flew to Sweden to attend the Bandidos Helsingborg memory run for deceased members. But Swedish police learned of the trip and, because of their criminal records, refused the Canadians entry into their country. They were detained 24 hours and shipped back to Canada. Plescio and Fred Faucher travelled to Europe again less than a month later, on July 14, 1997, this time with Rock Machine Paul "Sasquatch" Porter. The three attended a bike show in Luxembourg and were seen meeting with high ranking members of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club. But Johnny Plescio didn't live long enough to see his dream of seeing the Rock Machine become a Bandidos chapter. He was riddled with 16 bullets in his Laval home on September 8, 1998. He was 34 years old. A burned car which contained two machine guns was found in the neighborhood. 65 people attended his funeral on September 15 to pay their respects to the fallen Rock Machine leader. Police guarded the entrance of the Loreto funeral home in Saint Leonard and all who entered had to provide identification. Among the visitors, according to police, were Rock Machine Frederic Faucher, "Merlin" Cyr, and Alain Brunette. |