Back when I was going to school in London, Ont., the big excitement at the Western Fair was when Tammy Wynette brought her hair and farmers brought their Shetland ponies to town. Now the Hells Angels and their fancy choppers have the city in a twist.

A Quebec Hells Angel suspected in a half dozen murders has turned informer. One of the killings he has been given a pass on is the murder of Robert (Tout Tout) Leger, who was popular with Toronto No Surrender Bandido Crew.

More than a decade after two Quebec biker war murders, charges have been laid. Police say breakthrough in forensic testing cracked the case.

Jamie Korne, a Winnipeg biker who was a bit player in the drama that torn apart the Bandidos six years ago, is on the run from police and cocaine trafficking charges.

The parole board in Quebec is struggling to figure what to do with Stephane Faucher, a former deadly Hells Angel who turned informant and then turned on the authorities. How do you tell him that things will be fine when he’s set free?

A pair of London, Ont. men have been charged with torching biker-connected body rub parlours and a strip club connected to outlaw bikers five weeks ago. There are more arrests to be made and tensions haven’t cooled.

In other Angels-related blazes, arson inspectors are investigating the demise of the Calgary clubhouse.

An intriguing line of questioning was shut down at the Picton Inquiry in B.C., as a lawyer wanted to probe potential links between mass murderer Robert Picton and an illegal biker booze can just across the road in Port Coquitlam. The allegation was that the Mounties knew about the Angels’ booze can and that an enemy of the bikers was ground up and fed to Picton’s pigs, along with the women he murdered.

Another interesting twisting in the on-going saga of London, Ont.’s biker battles. Police recently scooped up fugitive Thomas Harmsworth, who was involved in a battle-to-the-almost-death with Wayne Kellestine in 1999. Then, for reasons that remain unclear, they said nothing.

It’s a strange accusation – that police faked the suicide of an Ontario Nomad in Montreal so that the Hells Angel could start a new life somewhere else. It wouldn’t be the strangest thing to happen in the Quebec biker world, but it’s up there.

For all the talk about freedom, there seems something self-destructive about many outlaw bikers. It would be interesting if someone did a study of suicide rates. I’d bet they’re far higher than for the general population. What got me thinking of this is the apparent suicide of an Ontario Nomad in a Quebec jail cell.