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Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club
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Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club
Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club (SCMC) is a Canadian outlaw motorcycle club. Once the dominant outlaw club in Ontario, with twelve chapters based in the province, and another in Montreal, Quebec, at its peak strength in 1977. Satan's Choice grew to more than 400 members by 1970, making it the second largest outlaw motorcycle club in the world, behind only the Hells Angels.
The club was involved in the first major outlaw biker conflict in Canadian history, when it engaged the country's second largest club, the Popeyes, from 1974 to 1976. Satan's Choice's power began to diminish during the late 1970s, with some of the club's chapters "patching over" to the Outlaws in 1977. The remaining chapters would eventually become members of the Hells Angels, along with most of the other major outlaw clubs in Ontario, in 2000. In 2017 the club was reactivated briefly but quickly shut down. In 2025 the club was reactivated by Harley Davidson Guindon, son of former President Bernie Guindon.
The founding chapter of the first iteration of Satan's Choice was established in 1956 in Toronto, usually hanging around Aida's, a downtown restaurant. This version of the club was small in size, only numbering about 45 members, and had a very casual, non-criminal focus at the time. Don Norris, the president of the club, described its activities as "party, party, party". In 1956, Harry Paul Barnes of the Black Diamond Riders started a biker war against Satan's Choice. Barnes said of the biker war: "The first time I invaded their clubhouse I had to. They were invading our property".
The Satan's Choice club led by Don Norris was forced to disband in 1962 following attacks from the rival Black Diamond Riders led by Harry Paul Barnes, who beat them in street fights and humiliated the group by stealing their patches. Barnes invited Satan's Choice bikers to attend a party that was an ambush. Barnes forced Satan's Choice to disband at gunpoint. Barnes told the media at the time: "We took all their crests and told them they couldn't exist any longer. I wiped them out twice, the Choice". Phantom Riders president Bernie Guindon subsequently revived the name and patch of the disbanded club as a way to enrage the Black Diamond Riders. Guindon had sought vengeance on the Black Diamond Riders ever since the 1962 brawl known as the "Battle of Pebblestone", where they defeated the Golden Hawk Riders (with Guindon a member at the time). While this initial club disbanded in 1962, it served as the namesake for a new Satan's Choice, a 1965 alliance of four regional motorcycle clubs: the Phantom Riders of Oshawa, the Canadian Lancers of Scarborough (modern Toronto), the Throttle Twisters of Preston (modern Cambridge), and the Wild Ones of Port Credit (modern Mississauga).
Guindon became the president of this newer, larger version of Satan's Choice, and later their national president as the group expanded. He had promoted the merger of the four clubs to end the attacks of the Black Diamond Riders, arguing if the four clubs were united, it would have such an overwhelming numerical superiority that it would ensure that the Black Diamond Riders would not dare attack them anymore. Guindon respectfully sought and received permission from Norris to use the name and patch of the former Satan's Choice. Norris recalled: "I could hardly contain my enthusiasm. I loaned them my old chest as a sample and told them where they could be made. For aiding in the new beginning, I was presented with a new set of colors". The group regulated itself somewhat differently from most motorcycle clubs such as the Hells Angels, using a series of bylaws instead of a single written constitution or charter.
This new Satan's Choice started out much the same as the original, a group of young men simply wishing to escape from society and its rigid norms and expectations. Satan's Choice members were not serious criminals, if they committed any crimes at all. The newly founded club gained fame in Toronto thanks to the 1965 documentary film Satan's Choice. Charismatic and handsome, Guindon was the "star" of the documentary directed by Donald Shebib. Prior to the 1960s, Toronto had a very staid image of "Toronto the Good", a city whose people were mostly hard-working, conservative God-fearing Protestants of British descent, a bastion of Victorian values that was prosperous, safe and well run, but also rather boring and conventional. A British visitor to Toronto in 1896 stated: "Sunday is as melancholy and suicidal sort of day as Puritan principles can make it". In the 1960s, it was common for young people to Toronto to embrace a "hip" image, choosing ways of life that were quite contrary to the traditional Anglo-Protestant Victorian values that had previously defined Toronto, which were viewed by the young people as conformist, dull and stifling. The outlaw biker subculture came to be seen as a symbol of rebellion and freedom with many of the younger people having a very romantic and idealized image of the bikers, who were admired for their "authenticity". Bikers were viewed as dangerous men who were, however, "cool" and "hip" in their rejection of "Toronto the Good" values. One young woman interviewed in the documentary said she liked riding with Satan's Choice because they were "not phony" and were "real". The Ontario outlaw biker subculture was violent, but in the 1960s the violence was usually limited to brawls and it was most unusual for bikers to kill each other. The unwillingness of outlaw bikers to testify against one another in court following their code made it difficult for the authorities to prosecute them for their frequent street fights, which contributed to their "cool" image as men who successfully broke the law. Shebib said of Satan's Choice in 1965: "It was a lot of booze, broads, and bikes. It wasn't organized crime as it became. But I don't think you wanted to cross them".
In Satan's Choice, Guindon together with the rest of his club professed to reject materialism as they maintained that the only possessions they held dear were their motorcycles. In the documentary, Guindon and the rest of his club claimed to be rejecting what they called the mindless conformity of Canadian society. That Guindon and his followers were rigidly conforming to the code of outlaw biker subculture that originated in California in the late 1940s apparently escaped them. Shebib's documentary, with its sympathetic picture of Satan's Choice as "rebels" against "Toronto the Good" values, gave them an immense amount of publicity in 1960s Toronto. Through the values of outlaw biker subculture that celebrated violence, macho masculinity and the acquisition of wealth contrasted with the counterculture values of the hippies, the two subcultures saw themselves as fellow outcasts from Canadian society, and hippies tended to glamorize outlaw bikers as the 1960s progressed.
Although Guindon and his gang were often into trouble with the law owing to their frequent brawling with other outlaw bikers, in general Satan's Choice were not involved in organized crime in its early years, engaging only in petty crime. One of the first reports in the media about Satan's Choice was a story in the Toronto Star on 29 August 1966, reporting "Five arrested in motorcycle rumble". The report stated: "A policeman had a guitar smashed over his head during a brawl in a local hotel cocktail lounge Saturday after two motorcycle clubs ganged up on a musician. Police say about 12 members of the Golden Hawk Riders and Satan's Choice were out to get even with a musician after he fought with a Golden Hawk Friday and kicked over his motorcycle". Reports such as this were typical of the media reports about Satan's Choice in the 1960s, which rarely mentioned serious crimes. Police raids in the 1960s discovered that Satan's Choice members possessed guns, brass knuckles and marijuana, the latter which were as much for their own use as to sell. One policeman stated about Satan's Choice in the 1960s: "They were rough guys, for sure. But they weren't gangsters; we'd pick them up for little things-simple assault, vandalism, trespassing, public drunkenness, that sort of thing". By contrast, Sergeant John Harris of the Hamilton police believed that Satan's Choice were always involved in organized crime, saying: "Guindon had a right-hand man named Arnold Kelly, who was never a member, never wanted to be. He made his money in construction and owned a resort north of Orillia... But he arranged everything – drug deals, beatings, shootings – he was probably more dangerous than Guindon himself".
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Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club
Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club (SCMC) is a Canadian outlaw motorcycle club. Once the dominant outlaw club in Ontario, with twelve chapters based in the province, and another in Montreal, Quebec, at its peak strength in 1977. Satan's Choice grew to more than 400 members by 1970, making it the second largest outlaw motorcycle club in the world, behind only the Hells Angels.
The club was involved in the first major outlaw biker conflict in Canadian history, when it engaged the country's second largest club, the Popeyes, from 1974 to 1976. Satan's Choice's power began to diminish during the late 1970s, with some of the club's chapters "patching over" to the Outlaws in 1977. The remaining chapters would eventually become members of the Hells Angels, along with most of the other major outlaw clubs in Ontario, in 2000. In 2017 the club was reactivated briefly but quickly shut down. In 2025 the club was reactivated by Harley Davidson Guindon, son of former President Bernie Guindon.
The founding chapter of the first iteration of Satan's Choice was established in 1956 in Toronto, usually hanging around Aida's, a downtown restaurant. This version of the club was small in size, only numbering about 45 members, and had a very casual, non-criminal focus at the time. Don Norris, the president of the club, described its activities as "party, party, party". In 1956, Harry Paul Barnes of the Black Diamond Riders started a biker war against Satan's Choice. Barnes said of the biker war: "The first time I invaded their clubhouse I had to. They were invading our property".
The Satan's Choice club led by Don Norris was forced to disband in 1962 following attacks from the rival Black Diamond Riders led by Harry Paul Barnes, who beat them in street fights and humiliated the group by stealing their patches. Barnes invited Satan's Choice bikers to attend a party that was an ambush. Barnes forced Satan's Choice to disband at gunpoint. Barnes told the media at the time: "We took all their crests and told them they couldn't exist any longer. I wiped them out twice, the Choice". Phantom Riders president Bernie Guindon subsequently revived the name and patch of the disbanded club as a way to enrage the Black Diamond Riders. Guindon had sought vengeance on the Black Diamond Riders ever since the 1962 brawl known as the "Battle of Pebblestone", where they defeated the Golden Hawk Riders (with Guindon a member at the time). While this initial club disbanded in 1962, it served as the namesake for a new Satan's Choice, a 1965 alliance of four regional motorcycle clubs: the Phantom Riders of Oshawa, the Canadian Lancers of Scarborough (modern Toronto), the Throttle Twisters of Preston (modern Cambridge), and the Wild Ones of Port Credit (modern Mississauga).
Guindon became the president of this newer, larger version of Satan's Choice, and later their national president as the group expanded. He had promoted the merger of the four clubs to end the attacks of the Black Diamond Riders, arguing if the four clubs were united, it would have such an overwhelming numerical superiority that it would ensure that the Black Diamond Riders would not dare attack them anymore. Guindon respectfully sought and received permission from Norris to use the name and patch of the former Satan's Choice. Norris recalled: "I could hardly contain my enthusiasm. I loaned them my old chest as a sample and told them where they could be made. For aiding in the new beginning, I was presented with a new set of colors". The group regulated itself somewhat differently from most motorcycle clubs such as the Hells Angels, using a series of bylaws instead of a single written constitution or charter.
This new Satan's Choice started out much the same as the original, a group of young men simply wishing to escape from society and its rigid norms and expectations. Satan's Choice members were not serious criminals, if they committed any crimes at all. The newly founded club gained fame in Toronto thanks to the 1965 documentary film Satan's Choice. Charismatic and handsome, Guindon was the "star" of the documentary directed by Donald Shebib. Prior to the 1960s, Toronto had a very staid image of "Toronto the Good", a city whose people were mostly hard-working, conservative God-fearing Protestants of British descent, a bastion of Victorian values that was prosperous, safe and well run, but also rather boring and conventional. A British visitor to Toronto in 1896 stated: "Sunday is as melancholy and suicidal sort of day as Puritan principles can make it". In the 1960s, it was common for young people to Toronto to embrace a "hip" image, choosing ways of life that were quite contrary to the traditional Anglo-Protestant Victorian values that had previously defined Toronto, which were viewed by the young people as conformist, dull and stifling. The outlaw biker subculture came to be seen as a symbol of rebellion and freedom with many of the younger people having a very romantic and idealized image of the bikers, who were admired for their "authenticity". Bikers were viewed as dangerous men who were, however, "cool" and "hip" in their rejection of "Toronto the Good" values. One young woman interviewed in the documentary said she liked riding with Satan's Choice because they were "not phony" and were "real". The Ontario outlaw biker subculture was violent, but in the 1960s the violence was usually limited to brawls and it was most unusual for bikers to kill each other. The unwillingness of outlaw bikers to testify against one another in court following their code made it difficult for the authorities to prosecute them for their frequent street fights, which contributed to their "cool" image as men who successfully broke the law. Shebib said of Satan's Choice in 1965: "It was a lot of booze, broads, and bikes. It wasn't organized crime as it became. But I don't think you wanted to cross them".
In Satan's Choice, Guindon together with the rest of his club professed to reject materialism as they maintained that the only possessions they held dear were their motorcycles. In the documentary, Guindon and the rest of his club claimed to be rejecting what they called the mindless conformity of Canadian society. That Guindon and his followers were rigidly conforming to the code of outlaw biker subculture that originated in California in the late 1940s apparently escaped them. Shebib's documentary, with its sympathetic picture of Satan's Choice as "rebels" against "Toronto the Good" values, gave them an immense amount of publicity in 1960s Toronto. Through the values of outlaw biker subculture that celebrated violence, macho masculinity and the acquisition of wealth contrasted with the counterculture values of the hippies, the two subcultures saw themselves as fellow outcasts from Canadian society, and hippies tended to glamorize outlaw bikers as the 1960s progressed.
Although Guindon and his gang were often into trouble with the law owing to their frequent brawling with other outlaw bikers, in general Satan's Choice were not involved in organized crime in its early years, engaging only in petty crime. One of the first reports in the media about Satan's Choice was a story in the Toronto Star on 29 August 1966, reporting "Five arrested in motorcycle rumble". The report stated: "A policeman had a guitar smashed over his head during a brawl in a local hotel cocktail lounge Saturday after two motorcycle clubs ganged up on a musician. Police say about 12 members of the Golden Hawk Riders and Satan's Choice were out to get even with a musician after he fought with a Golden Hawk Friday and kicked over his motorcycle". Reports such as this were typical of the media reports about Satan's Choice in the 1960s, which rarely mentioned serious crimes. Police raids in the 1960s discovered that Satan's Choice members possessed guns, brass knuckles and marijuana, the latter which were as much for their own use as to sell. One policeman stated about Satan's Choice in the 1960s: "They were rough guys, for sure. But they weren't gangsters; we'd pick them up for little things-simple assault, vandalism, trespassing, public drunkenness, that sort of thing". By contrast, Sergeant John Harris of the Hamilton police believed that Satan's Choice were always involved in organized crime, saying: "Guindon had a right-hand man named Arnold Kelly, who was never a member, never wanted to be. He made his money in construction and owned a resort north of Orillia... But he arranged everything – drug deals, beatings, shootings – he was probably more dangerous than Guindon himself".