Editing Rock Machine Motorcycle Club (section)

==The first incarnation==
In approximately 1982, Salvatore Cazzetta was a member of the SS, a [[White supremacy|white supremacist]] motorcycle gang based in [[Pointe-aux-Trembles]], on the eastern tip of the [[Island of Montreal]]. Fellow SS member [[Maurice Boucher]] became friends with Cazzetta and as leaders of the club, the pair became candidates to join the Hells Angels when that club expanded into Canada.<ref name="julian">{{cite web |url=http://www.julianrubinstein.com/hell.html |title=Highway to Hell |publisher=Julian Rubinstein |access-date=2012-02-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110703005354/http://www.julianrubinstein.com/hell.html |archive-date=2011-07-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[Réjean Lessard]], the president of The Sorel chapter of the Hells Angels suspected [[Laval, Quebec|Laval]] chapter was interfering with drug profits through personal use of products intended for sale.<ref name=BikerWars/> In the Lennoxville massacre, five members of the Laval chapter were killed.{{sfn|Langton|2010|p=89-90}} Divers located the decomposing bodies of the victims at the bottom of the [[St. Lawrence River]], wrapped in sleeping bags and tied to [[Barbell#Plates|weightlifting plates]], two months after the party.<ref name="julian"/> The event became known as the "[[Lennoxville massacre]]," and its extreme nature earned the Quebec chapter of the Hells Angels a notorious reputation. Cazzetta considered the event an unforgivable breach of the outlaw [[Ethical code|code]] and, rather than joining the Hells Angels, in 1986 formed his own club, the Rock Machine, with his brother Giovanni and Paul Porter.{{sfn|Langton|2010|p=92}} The journalist Jerry Langton: "The Cazzettas and Porter recruited a number of street toughs-including a few former Outlaws and guys who had been rejected by the Hells Angels-to form a new group called the Rock Machine. In the beginning they were a gang, but not a motorcycle gang. Of course, the Cazeettas, Porter and a few others rode Harleys, but the vast majority didn't".{{sfn|Langton|2010|p=92-93}} Cazzetta spoke fluent French, English and Italian and had contacts with the [[Rizzuto crime family]], the [[West End Gang]], and the [[Dubois Brothers|Dubois Gang]].{{sfn|Lavigne|1999|p=16}} Giovanni Cazzetta would hold the position of second-in-command. Only Salvatore would hold more influence.<ref name="julian"/>

Future Rock Machine National President [[Frédéric Faucher|Fred Faucher]] later said, "Sal once told me, 'Those guys (Hells Angels), they operate their club in such a way that I didn't want to join them'".<ref name="julian"/> The founding members of the Rock Machine were Salvatore Cazzettta, his younger brother Giovanni and [[Paul Porter (biker)|Paul "Sasquatch" Porter]].{{sfn|Langton|2010|p=92}} Other founding members included, [[Johnny Plescio]], Andrew "Curly" Sauvageau, [[Renaud Jomphe]], Gilles Lambert, Martin Bourget, Richard "Bam Bam" Lagacé, Serge Pinel and several others. The majority of the Rock Machine were former members of the Merciless Riders, the Executeurs and the SS.{{sfn|Lavigne|1999|p=16}} The Rock Machine made its living via the sale of narcotics and other prohibited goods. As the Rock Machine charged considerably less for cocaine than the Hells Angels, the gang won much market share in the Montreal area.{{sfn|Langton|2010|p=93}} The Hells Angels had been badly weakened by the [[Lennoxville massacre]], which to the convictions of a number of Hells Angels in the late 1980s.<ref name="Economist">{{cite news
  | title = Hells Angels, crime and Canada
  | newspaper = The Economist
  | date = 26 March 1998
  | url = http://www.economist.com/node/158794
  | access-date = 2016-11-30
  | archive-date = 2016-08-12
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160812041052/http://www.economist.com/node/158794
  | url-status = live
  }}</ref> Initially Rock Machine members chose not to wear Hells Angels-style leather vests that could easily identify members, and instead wore rings displaying an eagle insignia (this would last until 1995, with the adoption of three-piece vests).<ref>Martineau, Pierre ''I Was a Killer for the Hells Angels'', McClelland & Stewart Ltd., 2003 ({{ISBN|0771054920}})</ref>

[[File:Rock Machine rings.png|thumb|Gold ring given to members of the Rock Machine]]

[[File:The Rock Machine Motorcycle Clubs original patch.png|thumb|The Rock Machine's first patch (1995)]]

The official Rock Machine club motto is "''A La Vie A La Mort''", or "To the Life Until Death". The club the possesses a patch that reads "RMFFRM" which stands for "Rock Machine Forever, Forever Rock Machine",  an extremely common thing among outlaw motorcycle clubs.<ref name=BikerWars/>

In April 1992, Giovanni Cazzetta was arrested by police and charged with trafficking narcotics, police found him to be in position of three kilograms of cocaine worth around $120,000 (modern equivalent when adjusting for inflation of $246,000 US). He was forced to plead guilty to four charges the following spring and was sentenced to four years in prison. Giovanni was released in 1997 and briefly participated in the conflict that was to come.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://www.oocities.org/wiseguywally/GiovanniCazzetta.html|title=Giovanni Cazzetta|website=Oocities.org|access-date=4 April 2022}}</ref>{{self-published inline|certain=yes|date=April 2022}} Marice Boucher, was released after finishing a forty-month [[Sentence (law)|sentence]] for armed [[sexual assault]], joined the Hells Angels and was subsequently promoted within the club's ranks. The Hells Angels and Rock Machine co-existed peacefully for many years, a situation that, according to police officials, was due to Boucher's respect for his friend, Cazzetta and the latter's connections with the [[Rizzuto crime family|Quebec Mafia]], the only [[organized crime]] group that the motorcycle gangs were unwilling to attack.<ref name=BikerWars/><ref name="julian"/>