Several alleged members of the Quebec Hells Angels snapped in a small village in the Dominican Republic. (SUN MEDIA)

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC — They're impossible to miss, right from the moment you set foot in the small village of Cabarete.

They're on the streets, in restaurants and stores. Even half-hidden by bathing suits, on the beach. You see the same words over and over again: 'Hells Angels Quebec.'

Quebec Hells have literally taken over this small Caribbean town of 15,000. In addition to having a street named after them, they are also making their presence felt in two nearby popular tourist destinations, Sosua and Puerto Plata.

A Sun Media team spent a few days incognito, bearing witness to their influence on the area.

The Angels were in particularly large numbers last week, as they celebrated the accession of the local Los Barracos gang to the rank of Hells Angels prospect.

The biker gang members were crisscrossing the streets, helmet-free, on Harleys with winged skulls, often with a pretty Dominican or Canadian girlfriend seated on the back of the motorcycle.

In Cabarete, they partied in a large red-and-white fortified bunker similar to their former Sorel, Que., headquarters, above which Canadian Hells and Dominican Republic flags are floating side by side.

As a sign of their grip on the city, Sun Media learned, the Hells have managed to convince city officials to rename the street where they chose to reside.

The small street is now named "calle 81" or Road 81. The eighth and first letters of the alphabet translate into HA — or Hells Angels.

As well as having a protective bunker, Sun Media sources were also informed that another building surrounded with barbwire was a rental complex where the Quebec Hells stay.

Since their bloody street war is to blame for some 200 deaths in Quebec, including that of an 11-year-old boy, and the attempted murder of Journal de Montreal journalist Michel Auger, the Hells have been the object of bad press in Quebec and rarely wear their colours in public.

But when they're in their tropical stronghold, the members of the Trois-Rivieres, South or Quebec City chapters make sure they get as much exposure as they can.

For some, every single piece of wardrobe had to feature the club's logo: Leather coat, tank top, T-shirt, baseball cap, belt and shirt.

Even when tanning in their bathing suits, their bikers' tattoos clearly spoke of their allegiance to the gang.

Oddly enough, the other tourists in the village did not appear overly concerned about the gang's massive presence.

At the restaurant, couples in their sixties didn't even hesitate before they sat a few feet from the 25 full-patch Hells who were eating, surrounded with mariachis playing their best merengue melodies.

The rare times when the Sun Media team saw police, street hawkers and child shoeshiners fled. The Hells didn't move an inch.