Tousignant, a "prospect" for the Nomads who disappeared after Gagné's confession, was found murdered, being shot twice and his body then set afire. Tousignant was last seen alive on 7 December 1997 going to see Boucher. Fontaine's boyfriend was Serge Boutin, the chief drug-dealer in Montreal's Gay Village. Unlike Tousignant, Fontaine was kept alive as Boucher wanted to keep the services of Boutin. The corpse of Tousignant was found buried in a shallow grave in the Eastern Townships on 27 February 1998 and his murder was never solved. On 18 December 1997 Boucher was arrested and charged with two counts of first degree murder. Throughout the "guerre des motards", the more powerful and better organized Hells Angels consistently held the upper hand over the Rock Machine, which had previously controlled all of the non-Mafia organized crime in Quebec. In 1998, Jacques Lemieux of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police told "The Economist" that the Hells Angels were seeking control of the drug trade, automobile theft, prostitution, smuggling, illegal gambling and extortion rackets in Quebec. In the same interview, Detective Lemieux said: "Bikers seem a lot more active in Canada than elsewhere, and a lot more violent in Quebec." On 23 August 1998, a team of Rock Machine killers consisting of Frédéric Faucher, Gerald Gallant, and Marcel Demers rode by on their motorcycles and gunned down Paolo Cotroni in his driveway. Cotroni was a member of the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta Cotroni crime family who were the rivals of the Sicilian Mafia Rizzuto crime family. Cotroni was killed partly to gain the favor of the Rizzutos and partly because he was a friend of Boucher. On 8 September 1998, Johnny Plescio—a founding member of the Rock Machine—was at his Laval home watching television when his cable was severed. As he rose to see what was wrong with his television, 27 bullets went through Plescios's living room window, 16 of which struck him. At Plescio's funeral, a flower arrangement appeared bearing the word Bandidos, which was the first sign that the Bandidos biker gang of Texas was taking an interest in the Rock Machine. Disaster struck the Dark Circle, when one of their number, Salvatore Brunnettii, a restaurateur, bar owner and drug dealer, defected to the Hells Angels and gave them a list of the remaining members of the Dark Circle.