Snitch testifies against Hells Angels Member

Police snitch testifies at Project Forseti trial for Hells Angels member

SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA ( December 5, 2016) — A drug dealer turned police snitch took the stand Monday for the first time in connection with Project Forseti, a months-long drug investigation that targeted the Hells Angels and Fallen Saints Motorcycle Clubs in Saskatoon.

Snitch Noel Harder told the court he arranged to get a kilogram of cocaine from Robert Allen, a full-patch Hells Angels member who is on trial, accused of trafficking cocaine between Sept. 1 and Dec. 15, 2014.

Some of the confiscated items during the bust

In his opening statement, federal prosecutor Doug Curliss said with Harder’s help, police intercepted text messages and recorded conversations between Harder and Allen. The information proves Allen offered to get large amounts of cocaine from Hells Angels associates in Ontario and give the product to Harder to distribute, Curliss said.

When speaking in person, the men often used hand signals to describe the drug deal because Allen was paranoid about being recorded, Harder testified. That’s why many of the audio recordings have gaps in the conversation, he said.

A Fallen Saints MC vest along side a Hells Angels MC vest sits as evidence  

Harder said they would write notes that would be ripped up and flushed down the toilet, and code language was often used in text messages.

Curliss asked Harder about a text message in which Allen mentioned a “moving guy” he paid to “move” to Saskatoon who didn’t show up when expected. Harder said what Allen actually meant was that the cocaine never came because the transport person disappeared.

Although the drug transaction never happened, offering to sell drugs is still a crime, Curliss noted in his opening remarks.

Court heard Allen offered to sell cocaine to Harder at a cheaper price while taking a $5,000 cut from every kilogram that was sold.

Curliss said the discussions around this arrangement took place “over a significant period of time.” On the stand, Harder decoded messages that used construction lingo to describe the cocaine deal and sports references to talk about Oxycodone pills that Harder sold Allen.

He also described moments in the audio recordings when he or Allen would use hand signals. The motion of dealing cards referred to the drug deal, and drawing a rectangle in the air indicated a block of cocaine, he said.

Rob Allen beside his Harley - Davidson Motorcycle

Defence lawyer Morris Bodnar argued Harder’s notes — which filled in the gestures — should not be admissible because there’s no way to prove they took place. Justice Grant Currie ruled he would decide how much weight to give the evidence after the trial is over.

Harder said Allen initially approached him to start a “support group” for the Hells Angels after the Outlaws Motorcycle Club started gaining traction in the drug trade. The Fallen Saints Motorcycle Club was formed and Harder became vice-president.

That led to discussions about trafficking cocaine, which began when Harder was still in the drug businesses, the trial heard. He agreed to become a police snitch after he was busted with guns in March 2014, but he didn’t become an official rat snitch until Sept. 20, 2014.

SOURCE: Saskatchewan Star Phoenix 

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Feds warn of increase of Outlaw Bikers in Florida

“We've seen them Outlaw Bikers riding colors with their jackets on. 

MARATHON, FL ( December 3, 2016)The FBI warned local law enforcement last month that Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs are increasing their presence in South Florida, especially in the Keys.

And their presence has been particularly noticed at popular Motorcycle events like the Peterson Poker Run, held annually throughout the island chain in September.

“We’ve seen in the last couple of years, during events like the Peterson Poker Run, an increase in Outlaw Bikers participating,” said Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay. “We've seen them Outlaw Bikers riding colors with their jackets on. Historically, you haven’t seen that.”

“Colors” for motorcycle clubs generally are a three-part arrangement of patches depicting the club name and its location.

The FBI in November sent a memo to Keys law enforcement agencies stating that various Motorcycle Clubs are trying to gain territory in South Florida. The Outlaws MC, regarded as the dominant Motorcycle Club in the region, likely would respond by making efforts to increase its presence and influence, according to the memo.

A member of the Black Pistons MC and Outlaws MC at an event

Ramsay said the document warned of an increased incidence of Outlaw Motorcycle Club activity in the Keys, and that there could be “conflicts between club members.”

“The information put out was an FYI and to be aware and mindful,” Ramsay said.

Nora Scheland, an FBI spokeswoman, declined to comment on the warning.

City of Key West Police Department Chief Donald J. Lee said that his department also received information about Outlaw Biker Clubs would take part in the Poker Run, but he would not elaborate on which agency shared the intelligence.

“We are constantly sharing intelligence information with other law enforcement agencies, but, in the interest of public safety, do not disclose active intelligence information,” Lee said.

“As far as shared information regarding Outlaw Biker activity, we were made aware both before and during the Poker Run, that there was a chance biker gangs would be in attendance,” Lee said. “This is not the first year they’ve come to the Keys for Poker Run, by any means.”

Ramsay said life for Motorcycle Club members has changed over the years. No longer are the organizations’ membership made up solely of men whose only job is in the club.

“It used to be that groups like the Outlaws and the Pagans were made up of guys whose sole job was being involved in criminal enterprises,” Ramsay said. “They didn’t have day jobs.”

Now, he said members have “dual roles, dual lives. They’re trying to blend into two different societies.”

Indeed, a member of the Outlaws MC involved in a barroom brawl in Key West during the Poker Run in September also is a Hillsborough County firefighter.

“A lot of them are just bad guys,” Ramsay said. “But others are also firefighters or something else, riding with their friends.”

SOURCE: Florida Keys News

Sentence of former Pagans MC National Prez overturned

Court overturns conviction, sentence of former leader of Pagans MC

WESTMORELAND, PA ( December 3, 2016) —  Police can't use a single search warrant to repeatedly send a wired informant into someone's home, a state appeals court ruled Friday in overturning the conviction and sentence of the former head of the Pagans Motorcycle Club.

The ruling effectively suppresses all the evidence in the state's prosecution of Dennis “Rooster” Katona, 50, said Katona's lawyer, Paul Boas. While the Superior Court order remands the case back to Westmoreland County for a new trial, it's more likely the state will appeal the decision, he said.

“If they choose not to appeal, the case is over,” Boas said.

Katona could ask a judge to release him on bail pending any appeal. He is serving 40 to 80 months in prison for his 2014 conviction on drug charges.

“I fully anticipate we will file an appeal,” said deputy state Attorney General Michael M. Ahwesh, who prosecuted the case.

The state has two appeal options — requesting a new hearing before a nine-judge panel of the Superior Court or requesting a hearing before the state Supreme Court.

Dennis “Rooster” Katona

In a 2-1 ruling, judges Kate Ford Elliott and Jacqueline O. Shogan said a 1994 Supreme Court decision requires a judge to approve a search warrant when a wire informant enters someone's home as opposed to meeting them on the street, in a car or in a restaurant.

Based on that decision and subsequent state law, “a separate finding of probable cause was required for each in-home intercept.”

Judge Eugene B. Strassburger disagreed. He said requiring police to seek a judge's approval each time they sent the informant into the home would be a burden and the judge approving the order should be able to set the warrant's timeframe.

Most constitutional protections, including the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizures, are supposed to be “burdensome,” Boas said. It is burdensome to get a warrant, read a suspect the Miranda warnings, pick a jury and hold a trial, he said.

“This is a democracy,” Boas said. “It's not supposed to be easy. We're in big trouble the day law enforcement stops complaining about how hard it is for them.”

SOURCE: Trib Live