MONTREAL — An 11-month murder trial for 12 Hells Angels and associates ended abruptly Thursday when nine of the accused pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

One by one, the nine men stood in the large glass-enclosed prisoner's box at the packed courthouse and answered "guilty" when Quebec Superior Court Justice Rejean Paul asked them to answer to a charge of gangsterism, two counts of drug trafficking and a charge of conspiracy to commit murder.

The charges relate to crimes committed between 1995 and 2001, when the Hells were locked in a deadly turf war with rival gangs for control of the lucrative drug trade in the Montreal area.

In exchange for their pleas, the Crown dropped the first-degree murder charges against the nine men.

The three remaining accused, Jean-Richard Lariviere, Pierre Laurin and Gregory Wooley, will face new trials on the first-degree murder charges.

Paul was effusive in his praise for the 12 jurors, who had been hearing evidence sporadically since Oct. 21.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your colossal work here is finished," Paul said as he dismissed them.

He told them the plea bargain would spare them from having to continue with a trial that would have produced 200 witnesses and cost several million dollars.

He said justice was served for both the accused and society.

The accused were rounded up in March 2001 during a police raid on the Hells aimed at destabilizing the gang in Quebec.

The Quebec government built a special courthouse next to the Bordeaux jail in Montreal's north end to handle the mega-trials for the 42 people who were charged after the raids.

Andre Vincent, the lead prosecutor in the case, defended the mega-trial system as "the only way to proceed."

"It is the Crown's case that all these individuals made a group, a gang, to commit crime and avoid being caught by police," Vincent said outside the court. "Will it be preferable to have 42 trials or try to make one trial? That is the question."

Defence lawyer Martin Tremblay, who represents Lariviere, said his client was happy with Thursday's outcome even though he was not part of the deal.

"It's much less complicated," said Tremblay. "It was a good experience but it's complicated with 12 (accused)."

The nine accused involved in the plea bargain were to return to court Sept. 22 for sentencing arguments.

Further details about the deal can't be reported under a publication ban that remains in effect until sentencing.