A murder trial began Monday for five Hells Angels members arrested more than six years ago.

The court case was originally due to begin last week but was delayed because a juror had to be excused.

Claude Berger, Yvon Tanguay, Sylvain and Francois Vachon, and Michel Vallieres are accused of murder and conspiracy.

In the past two weeks three of those who were due to participate in the same trial have pleaded guilty, while a fourth man had charges against him dropped.

Christian Menard was released after the charges against him were dropped without any explanation.

Emery Martin was sentenced on Friday to 15 years in prison and then immediately released; the time he had already served while awaiting trial was considered equivalent.

The trials and court cases all began in April 2009 when 156 people, mostly members of the Hells Angels in Quebec, were arrested as part of Operation SharQc.

They were accused of killing or conspiring to kill their drug-dealing competition in the notorious biker war that lasted from 1994 until 2002.

The original idea was to have several megatrials in order to speed up proceedings and allow all of the accused to have a fair trial in court, but as the years wore on dozens of the accused decided to plead guilty instead.

Some pleaded guilty to the original charges they were facing, while others admitted to lesser crimes in a plea bargain.

More than 30 were released in 2011 when a judge ruled they had already spent too much time awaiting trial.

Three people died before their trials could begin.

There are only two people who are still waiting for their court case to begin: Robert Bonomo and John Coates, who have chosen a trial in English.  

The prosecution in this case is arguing that everyone connected to the Hells Angels in Quebec is criminally responsible for the biker war.

It will make the claim that the Hells Angels launched a war against numerous rival criminal gangs starting in 1994, most notably the Rock Machine, to gain a monopoly on the drug market in Quebec.

In order to finance that war, everyone in the organization was asked to pay 10 per cent of their earnings to pay for weapons and pay rewards of up to $100,000 to those who carried out the killings.  There were at least 150 victims. 

The prosecution is arguing that makes the members of the gang guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

The Crown will call two star witnesses to back their claim: Sylvain Boulanger and Dave Fredette. 

Both are former Hells Angels who agreed to cooperate with authorities in exchange for cash and reduced sentences.  They will describe in detail how the gang worked, and how the alleged conspiracy took shape.

The defence, however, argues their clients should not be found guilty by association.

Each lawyer, plus biker Claude Berger who's defending himself, told the jury in their opening statements that it's not because they're members of the Hells Angels that they're automatically guilty of a crime. 

Membership is not illegal, and you cannot be found guilty by association in Canada.

The defence pointed out that having a huge amount of evidence doesn't mean the Crown has a strong case, and that the star witnesses shouldn't be trusted, because they were rewarded for their cooperation with authorities.

A very long trial is expected.