The Ontario wing of the Hells Angels has put up a billboard on a Toronto highway as part of a new public relations campaign.

The motorcycle gang says they want to "right the wrongs" done to them by the "government-controlled" media.

The Angels' PR campaign comes amid an ongoing trial in Barrie, Ont., north of Toronto, in which the Crown is trying to prove that the Hells Angels are a criminal organization.

If prosecutors succeed, the gang's powers could be severely limited.

The billboard reads: "Still fighting for democracy and freedom" and directs people to their website. There, the gang claims that stories written about them in local and national papers "tell you everything-- but the truth."

They say they've been made the "bogeyman for all of society's ills" while such issues as "government corruption and immigration-fed crime... are hamstrung by self-interest and reverse racism."

They say they are engaged in a business that is "absolutely legal" yet are targeted by prosecutors and victimized by police.

But Yves Lavigne, the author of Hells Angels at War, says the organization is nothing but a group of criminals.

The Hells Angels are particularly angry with the new anti-gang laws.

They say the laws threaten all Canadians because they can be used to "railroad innocent people," calling the law "a monstrous attack on freedom."

Under the gangsterism laws, first used in 2001, participating in a criminal organization can mean up to 14 years in prison. The law was passed in 1997 to help put an end to Quebec's bloody biker war that's claimed 150 lives.

Those convicted of the crime must serve at least half of their total sentences rather than being able to apply for release after completing a third of their sentence.

The gang says they've decided to use their "right to free speech" to tell their side on stories written about them.

Montreal reporter Michael Auger is appalled by the campaign.

He was shot while covering the gang war.

"It's a plain insult to all the victims of organized crime in Canada," he said.

With files from CTV's Denelle Balfour