Hells Angels MC still fighting for their clubhouse

Nanaimo, BC, Canada (April 10, 2019) BTN — A lawyer for the Hells Angels suggested Tuesday that a civil-forfeiture case against the motorcycle club was motivated by a desire by the RCMP to get “bad guys,” and had nothing to do with concerns about the club’s Nanaimo property.

The comments were made by lawyer Joseph Arvay during the second day of his questioning of Phil Tawtel, the executive director of the provincial civil-forfeiture office. Arvay was asking Tawtel about a referral document in which the RCMP recommended in 2007 that the Hells Angels clubhouse in Nanaimo should be targeted for civil forfeiture.

A lawyer for the director objected to Arvay’s questioning based on the document and the witness was asked to leave the courtroom while the lawyers argued the matter. Arvay told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Barry Davies that he was going to ask the court to draw the inference that from the police perspective at least, the RCMP referral was much more about simply going after the motorcycle club than any real concern about the property.

He accused the director of looking for “whatever hooks” are available in the applicable legislation to go after the property.

Arvay said that although the RCMP referred to a possible beating in the clubhouse and the discovery of some guns inside the premises, the major basis for the referral was that the clubhouse was a “booze can” and operating without a liquor licence. “That was the hook,” he told the judge. “But the fundamental reason for recommending this civil forfeiture is: These are bad guys, you should go after them.”

Brent Olthuis, a lawyer for the director, objected to the questioning on the basis that it was calling for hearsay from a witness on the motivation of the RCMP as the referring agency. “I say you can’t do that. You simply cannot do that,” Olthuis said.

Olthuis also objected to the questioning on the basis that it was not relevant to the issues in the case. But the judge said that in “general terms” he agreed with Arvay and noted that in canvassing the constitutional issues being raised in the case, he needed a “full factual matrix” to make a final decision. “The director has opined that the Hells Angels are a worldwide organization with criminal purposes and that the clubhouses act to facilitate that role,” said the judge.

“To deny the defendants the right to examine the basis upon which these proceedings were commenced, and the interaction between the RCMP and the director, would render the constitutional question something to be decided in a factual vacuum. That will not occur.” The judge said that he agreed it might be difficult to determine the motivation of the RCMP, but added that what was relevant in the case was the actions taken by the director in response to the RCMP referral.

The long-running case saw the civil-forfeiture office launch its lawsuit seeking forfeiture of the Nanaimo clubhouse in 2007. The director alleges the clubhouse is an “instrument of unlawful activity” and that it’s an asset that should be forfeited to the government.

In 2012, the office filed another lawsuit seeking the forfeiture of two more Hells Angels clubhouses — in Vancouver and Kelowna.

The trial is expected to continue Wednesday.

SOURCE: Times Colonist 

MC partially blamed for skyrocketing real estate

Ontario, Canada (March 22, 2019) BTN —  A new report by an international anti-corruption organization is taking aim at Canadian real estate, showing the ways that illegitimate funds can and are entering the economy, and driving home prices up in cities across the country, including Toronto.

“Domestic criminals have known for decades that Canada is ‘la la land’ for financial crime, but word has spread internationally too,” says the publication from Transparency International Canada (TIC). “Canadian real estate has attracted the attention and money of corrupt government officials and organized crime syndicates from across the globe.”

According to the watchdog, they began focusing on Canadian real estate markets in 2016 after it Canada was revealed to be an alleged haven money laundering in the “Panama Papers,” a trove of confidential financial documents leaked to the press in 2015.

Investing and hiding money in Canada’s real estate market, according to the report, is called “snow washing.”

The real problem, says TIC, is that of transparency, or rather opacity — so much so it’s actually the name of the report. Ontario’s current laws allow private corporations to purchase property without revealing the names of its directors, as well as often times, the source of the money.

The report’s “central case study” involved an analysis of 1.4 million GTA home sales and 1.3 million mortgages, dating back to 2008. In doing so they “identified billions of dollars in property acquired by anonymous owners with money of unknown origin.”

Much of the report deals in the abstract. Outlining the various loopholes in policy that could allow for criminal elements to take advantage of Ontario and Canada’s laws around purchasing real estate. It does not, however, hold back in citing examples of those who have been caught in the act using a corporate cover for their own dirty money.

According to the report, CLJ Everest Ltd is an Ontario company that was used to acquire a sprawling rural estate in Burlington for “disgraced fund manager and alleged fraudster” Clayton Smith, who used it to misappropriate at least $5 million in investor funds for personal use.

Omid Mashinchi, a former realtor and convicted money launderer in the US, used Mashinchi Investments Ltd, a BC-registered company, to acquire residential properties in Vancouver and Toronto, some of which were then leased to criminal associates, according to the report.

 Outlaws Motorcycle Club Property 

Another example includes an Etobicoke residential property, bought by 953667 Ontario Ltd. that would go onto serve as the Toronto clubhouse of the Outlaws motorcycle club. The report says, “court documents show that the club held several residential properties through numbered Ontario companies, which it used to further its criminal operations.”

Obscured corporate buyers, both legitimate and otherwise, have acquired $28.4 billion in GTA housing since 2008. “The vast majority of those companies are privately owned, with no information on their beneficial owners,” says the TIC.

These companies are also increasingly relying on cash purchases, the rate of which has been rising steadily over the past 10 years.

The report says cash transactions accounted for nearly half of corporate purchases in 2018. In fact, in the GTA alone $9.8 billion in housing was acquired by companies using cash purchases. TIC says much of these were able to bypass safeguards that track information on the source of the funds and its owners.

SOURCE:  Daily Hive

Hells Angel MC member killed in shooting

Mississauga, Canada (March 12, 2019) BTN — A full patch member of the Hells Angels motorcycle club was the victim of a fatal shooting Monday in a Mississauga plaza that sent bystanders scrambling for cover in what was described as a "chaotic scene." The shooting outside a popular gym comes amidst a massive shuffling amongst the Hells Angels in Ontario, multiple sources said.

Peel Regional Police are investigating whether a burnt-out car found in the area was the shooter's getaway vehicle. A senior Hells Angels member from London, Ont., has recently moved to the Niagara Region to bolster the club there while Keswick-area Hells Angels have moved to Ottawa, multiple sources said.

Peel Region paramedics and heavily-armed tactical officers with police dogs responded to gunfire at 700 Dundas St. E. near Cawthra Rd., just before 11:20 a.m. on Monday A 32-year-old man was rushed to a trauma centre with life-threatening injuries, according to Peel paramedics. Police said he died in hospital. His name has not yet been released. "It's a chaotic scene and we're just waiting in the car," tweeted Joyce Clarissa, who was visiting St. John the Baptist Anglican Church across the street. Clarissa said she saw at least two people running into their vehicles as police were responding to the scene. "They're taping off the whole plaza," she said.


The plaza houses Huf Gym, the Floor Shop and other businesses. The shooting occurred near the gym. Olga Rosa Heron, who owns the gym, said the victim ran into her facility for help after he was shot. Huf Gym employees "helped him out and hopefully they can be an asset to the investigation as well," she said. Peel Const. Iryna Yashnyk said police were investigating a scene near the Bank of Montreal at Dundas St. E. and Tomken Rd., in relation to the shooting. "As far as suspect information, we know that there was one male running east on Dundas towards, which we now know is what we believe is a second associated scene," Const. Bancroft Wright told reporters.

The elite Hells Angels Nomads chapter returned to the Ottawa area this year, three years after the chapter was abruptly dismantled. The Nomads are considered an elite group who require little direction. The Ontario Nomads had run into conflict with Quebec Hells Angels, sources said. The Hells Angels have about 175 Ontario members and 450 members across Canada.

SOURCE: The Star

Hells Angels MC targeted in early morning raids

Quebec, Canada (February 14, 2019) BTN —  A total of 32 people were arrested in a series of early morning raids on Thursday targeting drug-trafficking networks in eastern Quebec and New Brunswick with alleged ties to the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.

The raids, conducted by the Sûreté du Québec, were carried out in 20 different communities across the two provinces, including in the Lower St. Lawrence region, the Gaspé and the Magdalen Islands.

Among the objects police seized were jackets bearing Hells Angels insignia. (Sûreté du Québec)

The SQ says that, in a period of just four months, the trafficking network brought in $2.4 million, of which $250,000 was given directly to the Hells Angels as a distribution tax.

"The Hells Angels control the territory and allowed networks to sell drugs. Those networks then paid a tax based on the quantity of drugs sold," SQ spokesperson Capt. Guy Lapointe said at a news conference in Quebec City.

"The Hells Angels have a monopoly, which they maintain with a regime of fear, violence and with their colours."

Among those arrested were prominent members of the New Brunswick Hells Angels chapter, police say.

They are still searching for four other alleged participants in the network

The people who were arrested today will appear in the courthouses of the Magdalen Islands, Percé, Rimouski and Quebec City.

Among the objects police seized were:

Six kilograms of cocaine.

More than 232,000 methamphetamine tablets.

More than $640,000.

23 firearms.

Three vehicles.

Eight vests with Hells Angels insignia.

Officers from the SQ's organized crime squad and its North Shore branch were involved in the raids, she said.

The operation, launched in August 2018, is called the Oursin project. More than 150 police officers participated in the investigations.

SOURCE:  CBC

Forfeiture fight ends for the Outlaws MC

Ontario, Canada (February 8, 2019) BTN — It’s been two decades since the investigation began, 16 years since the charges were laid and a decade since the Crown began moving in court to keep the proceeds of crime seized by police.

But only now, 20 years later, a judge’s order has finally settled the loose ends left from a controversial police crackdown that all but dismantled the Outlaws biker club in Ontario.

Police officers lead away two people arrested in a 2002 multi-force raid on an Outlaws clubhouse

After all that time and effort, however, all that’s left are a few crumbs — far less than what it cost taxpayers and defendants to complete the litigation.

“We wouldn’t want to rush these things,” defence lawyer Gordon Cudmore, who represented the late Floyd Deleary in the Outlaws prosecution, said sarcastically of how long it took to finish the civil case.

Of the 47 bikers charged in the sweeping 2002 investigation, only Londoner Clifford Tryon, arrested in the raids but whose charges were later dropped, was still hanging in to get back seized property.

Tryon was a director and officer of a numbered corporation that owned the London and Windsor Outlaw clubhouses. He soldiered on after his fellow bikers bailed and fought for the remains of the club, arguing the Crown couldn’t lay claim to the items and that his Charter rights were breached.

At issue for Superior Court Justice Heather McArthur was what was left from six fortified clubhouses, including one on London’s Egerton Street, plus such items as petty cash, biker colours and a Nazi flag.

The courts ordered the clubhouses demolished in 2009, after they’d sat empty and fell into disrepair.

Once the sites were sold and the taxes and utilities paid up, all that was left was a mere $238.97 — only enough, as defence lawyer Scott Cowan said, to cover one fancy dinner.

That was forfeited to the Crown, along with $21.58 in change and $115 in bills found in the Egerton Street clubhouse and any other spare change lying around the other properties.

Outlaw vests, patches, jewelry and any clothing depicting the skull and crossbones logo weren’t returned. But a swastika flag signed by all the Outlaws, and other “white power” items and items for private or decorative use, were given back.

Tryon agreed the gun holsters, shotgun shells, other ammo, bear spray, throwing knives and bullet-proof vests shouldn’t be given back, but won his argument that a decorative knife and two swords should be.

Cowan said he figures the government shed no tears over how long the case took. Ontario’s Civil Remedies Act is “designed to make crime not pay,” he said.

“If it takes a long time to sort these things out, I don’t think the government is terribly aggrieved because that main message still gets through.” said Cowan, who represented one of the last two bikers in the criminal case, Luis Ferreira, where the charges were dropped.

The police had searched 50 sites and seized an avalanche of property. Most of the defendants gave up fighting for their property years ago, its value not worth the legal cost of the fight.

Ferreira gave up seven years ago trying to get back his truck and motorcycle, Cowan said. The truck, left sitting in a yard as the case dragged on, had basically “disintegrated.”

Cowan noted the standard of proof in the civil cases is different than in criminal cases, meaning different weight can be applied to the evidence.

The Crown pointed to the 13 convictions on criminal organization charges as proof the Outlaws were a criminal organization. Cowan noted the 13 convictions were all guilty pleas, many made after the accused were offered time-served deals that would spring them from custody.

The main witness in the case, a police agent who infiltrated the club, claimed there was criminal activity involving drugs, weapons and stolen goods. That witness’s evidence was challenged at a preliminary hearing where the criminal organization charges were ordered dropped.

Ontario’s attorney general revived the charges through what’s known as a preferred indictment.

As the case trudged on, Cowan and Toronto lawyer Jack Pinkofsky represented Ferriera and former national Outlaws president Mario Parente, the last two accused against whom charges were dropped in 2009 after the police agent said he wouldn’t take part in the trial.

The Outlaws breakup was seen as a major test of what were then new criminal organization laws.

None of the Outlaws had a trial, but a high-security courtroom was built in London for the case. The courtroom has since been used multiple times, including for the Bandidos massacre trial after eight bikers were executed in rural Elgin County over an internal club power struggle.

SOURCE:  London FreePress

Alleged Montréal Hells Angel member nabbed

Montréal, Québec  (February 6, 2019) BTN — An alleged member of the Hells Angels’ Montreal chapter is expected to appear before a judge at the Montreal courthouse on Wednesday after having avoided arrest in an organized crime investigation for 10 months.

In April last year, the Sûreté du Québec alleged Daniel-André Giroux was a member of the gang’s Montreal chapter, which is now more than four decades old. The SQ had just arrested dozens of people in Project Objection, a lengthy investigation into four drug trafficking networks throughout Quebec that had tentacles that reached into Ontario and New Brunswick.

Giroux, 48, was one of several men who could not be found when members of the Escouade nationale de répression du crime organisé (ENRCO) carried out arrests and search warrants. On Tuesday, the Sûreté du Québec tweeted that Giroux was arrested in Dominican Republic and that he is expected to be formally charged at the Montreal courthouse on Wednesday. The provincial police force noted that Giroux was on Quebec’s 10 most wanted list before the arrest was made.

Giroux faces five charges in Project Objection including two counts related to drug trafficking, another two alleging he committed crimes for the benefit of a criminal organization and conspiracy.

He was charged on an indictment along with 11 other people, including three other full-patch members of the biker gang; Michel (Sky) Langlois, Louis Matte and Stéphane Maheu. In October, Maheu, a member of the gang’s South chapter, ended his run on the lam and pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, gangsterism and conspiracy on the same day he made his first court appearance and was sentenced to a six-year prison term, the longest sentence in Project Objection so far.

SOURCE: The MontrealGazette

Loners MC clubhouse have some concerned

Cornwall, Ontario (January 26, 2019) BTN – There may be at least one motorcycle club that has quietly set up a clubhouse in Cornwall, in the heart of Le Village.

According to the building’s owner Wolfe Vracar, the Loners Motorcycle Club moved into its current location in the basement of a building on Montreal Road just over a year ago, in December of 2017.

A few motorcycles parked outside the door believed to be leased by the Loners MC in Cornwall, Ont. 

Originally founded in Ontario decades ago, the Loners is a one-percenter club and advertises the fact by including a “1%” symbol alongside its main patch. Other clubs that claim to be one percenters include the Hells Angles, Satan’s Choice, the Lobos among many others.

“The term one percenter derives from the belief that the remaining 99 per cent (of motorcycle riders) are law-abiding citizens,” explained Cornwall Community Police Service Staff Sgt. Rob Archambault, of the criminal investigation division.

A local news source began investigating the possibility of a Loners MC clubhouse in Cornwall after being told by another tenant in the building who has since moved out. That tenant said the Loners’ presence downstairs was the reason for the departure. 

The new source also spoke to some of the residential tenants of the building, who said they didn’t know much about the motorcycle club in the basement other than the fact they could be very noisy.

Vracar acknowledged he had rented the basement to the Loners MC.

When asked why he was comfortable having a one-percenter club as a tenant, Vracar said he tries not to prejudge people, and noted they have been good tenants for the past year. He refuted the concerns of his former tenant, saying he believed that tenant left for business reasons.

“I could put them out any time that I want, but they have been very respectful and there haven’t been any issues of any kind. I don’t paint anybody black until they do it themselves,” said Vracar.

On Wednesday, someone answered the door to the basement unit said to be leased by the Loners. He confirmed he was a club member, but said he did not know where the person who signed the lease was or when that person would return to the clubhouse.

He was also asked to pass along an interview request. Word of Vracar’s tenants came up as CCPS was increasing its enforcement efforts and officer training to deal with motorcycle clubs as part of a new initiative that has been dubbed “Project One Percent.”

In late November, the CCPS received a nearly $100,000 from the provincial government’s Civil Remedies Grant Program to help fund Project One Percent in Cornwall. The official description of the initiative’s goal was to “help to decrease outlaw motorcycle gang activity.”

“We are using this money for a variety of different things within the service and within the community,” said Archambault. “We are going to provide training to our officers in recognizing different criminal elements, we will also be reaching out to our community and business partners in the community to provide them with the ability to observe, notice and report criminal activity. ”

When asked outright if the CCPS was aware of any one per cent motorcycle club in Cornwall, including the Loners’ possible presence on Montreal Road, Archambault would not comment on any specifics, but said CCPS is aware of the presence of biker gangs in the city.

“We are aware of many possible locations where motorcycle gangs might be frequenting, but we are not at liberty to say what the locations are that we suspect,” he said, explaining that to share any detailed information or confirm knowledge of a specific club could jeopardize any investigations that might currently be underway.

Archambault said motorcycle clubs can be involved in the same illicit activities that other organized crime groups are. This includes smuggling everything from drugs to humans, which is a prominent issue in Cornwall.

“In Cornwall, we suspect the main source of their criminal activity is likely drug trafficking,” he said.

The CCPS’ street crime unit has the issue well in-hand, said Archambault, and there’s no reason for the public to be worried. But the police are encouraging anyone who does see something suspicious or concerning to call and tell them about it.

SOURCE: Standard Freeholder

Witness says he hired Hells Angels MC for hit

Vancouver, B.C. (January 16, 2019) BTN – A key government witness at the trial of Mexican Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman testified in New York this week that he met with Canadian Hells Angels on behalf of the cartel to arrange the hit of a drug dealer.

The witness, Guzman’s former right-hand man Alex Cifuentes, said the hit on the dealer was never completed, according to the New York Times and other media outlets covering the trial. Cifuentes, a Colombian, provided no details of who in the motorcycle club he contacted.

Sgt. Brenda Winpenny, of the anti-gang Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, said Wednesday that the testimony about a link between Canadian Hells Angels and Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel is not startling news to law enforcement.

“It is no surprise that this information is coming to light, as the arms of the Hells Angels, especially Canadian Hells Angels, are far-reaching locally, nationally, and internationally,” Winpenny said. “The scope of their criminal involvement in the drug trade and other ventures is global and, as we’ve seen time and time again, there is almost always violence associated to it.”

In his 2018 book Hunting El Chapo, former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Andrew Hogan described Guzman’s deep links to Canada and B.C. in particular.

Hogan said Sinaloa cocaine would be moved across the Arizona border and up to the Washington-B.C. border “where the loads would be thrown on private helicopters. The birds would jump the border and drop the coke out among the tall lodgepole pines of British Columbia.”

In this Jan. 19, 2017 photo, authorities escort Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, center, from a plane to a waiting caravan of SUVs at Long Island MacArthur Airport, in Ronkonkoma, N.Y.

“Chapo’s men had connections with sophisticated Iranian organized-crime gangs in Canada,” Hogan wrote. “A network of outlaw bikers — primarily Hells Angels — were also moving his cocaine overland and selling it to retail dealers throughout the country.”

Hogan also said he and the other officers working on the special task force to capture Guzman “were caught off guard by his deep infiltration of Canada.”

He noted that Guzman had a young Sinaloa man set up as a college student in Vancouver in about 2009 “to run his drug distribution and money collection throughout Canada.”

The Vancouver Sun reported on some of Guzman’s cartel connections in B.C. in 2014. His cartel contacts in Metro Vancouver were dropping off hockey bags stuffed with hundreds of thousands of dollars destined for Guzman’s U.S. bank accounts. 

One of the B.C. men later convicted in California in the Sinaloa case was connected to Montreal’s West End gang and some B.C. Hells Angels, according to court documents obtained at the time.

Former RCMP Supt. Pat Fogarty said Wednesday that the Hells Angels had “a continuous working relationship” with other Canadian organized crime groups and with Mexican and other cartels.

Through their connections, the groups “facilitated the transport, distribution and financial requirements for cocaine distribution in Canada,” said Fogarty, now CEO of the Fathom Research Group.

Hells Angels spokesman Rick Ciarniello did not respond to a request for a comment on the testimony at the Guzman trial.

SOURCE: Vancouver Sun

Police raids linked to the Hells Angels MC

Montreal, Canada (January 9, 2019) BTN – More than 150 police officers were mobilized early Wednesday morning in a series of raids in eastern Quebec and New Brunswick.

The operation targeted a suspected drug-trafficking ring that police say is directly linked to high-ranking members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club.

Investigators from the Sûreté du Québec’s anti-organized crime unit carried out 35 searches, police said. However, no arrests were made. Police say the drug-trafficking network is particularly active in the Bas-Saint-Laurent, Gaspé and Îles-de-la-Madeleine regions.

Ann Mathieu, a SQ spokesperson, said police searched 15 homes, two businesses and 18 vehicles.

In Quebec, searches took place in Longueuil, Brossard, Drummondville, Scott, Ste-Marguerite, Mascouche, Blainville and St-Jérôme.

In New Brunswick, RCMP officers took part in the operation in Edmundston and Ste-Anne-de-Madawaska.

SOURCE: Atlantic CTV News

Police arrest Hells Angel MC member during raid

London, Ontario (January 8, 2019) BTN — One person remains on the lam, yet two people were arrested and a slew of items was seized — including drugs and three Hells Angels vests — during police raids in London over the weekend.

Police are still looking for a 27-year-old woman, but made the two arrests and seized the drugs during raids on Saturday morning in London.

Provincial police executed the search warrants with the help of the Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau, the Biker Enforcement Unit, London police’s Guns and Drugs Section, and the RCMP.

Between two homes on Wharncliffe Road North and Springmeadow Road and a storage locker on Scanlon Street, officers seized $15,400 worth of cocaine, 12 Percocet pills, two Tasers, brass knuckles, drug packaging, weigh scales, cell phones, cash, and three Hell’s Angels vests.

27-year-old female suspect sought and 2 people charged after 154 grams of cocaine, other drugs, weapons and Hell’s Angels vests seized by #OPP, @lpsmediaoffice and @RCMPONT in London. If you can help, call 1-888-310-1122 or @CSOntario anonymously 1-800-222-8477. pic.twitter.com/RTPKnjvYlx

— Ontario Prov Police (@OPP_News) January 8, 2019

Sean Burger, a 47-year-old London man and known Hell’s Angel member, has been charged with possession of cocaine and Percocet for the purpose of trafficking, possession of a firearm or ammunition, and possession of a prohibited device. He appeared in court Monday.

Jessica Boloshetshenko, a 33-year-old London woman, has been charged with possession of Percocet and unauthorized possession of a weapon. She’s expected to appear in court Feb. 15.

Police say they continue to search for a 27-year-old woman.

SOURCE: Twitter

Date set for Devils Army MC president

Victoria, B.C. (December 27, 2018) BTN — The president of the Devils Army Motorcycle Club in Campbell River will find out Jan. 10 if he will be released on bail. Richard Ernest Alexander was charged in October with the first-degree murder of mixed martial arts fighter John Dillon Brown in March 2016.

The 30-year-old Saanich man was found dead inside his car near the west side of the one-way bridge to Sayward, about 75 kilometres northwest of Campbell River, on March 12, 2016.

Alexander, 63, applied to be released on bail during a four-day hearing held in early December in B.C. Supreme Court. The judge reserved her decision until Jan. 10. A two-week preliminary inquiry is set for September.

Brown, a father of four, was last seen alive on March 11, 2016, leaving a home in Campbell River in his 2009 Honda Accord. Alexander was arrested after a joint investigation by B.C.’s anti-gang task force, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of B.C. and the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit.

The Special Enforcement Unit said the investigation involved more than 200 police officers.

On Aug. 10, 2017, about 60 officers raided the Devils Army clubhouse on Petersen Road in Campbell River in connection with Brown’s killing. The Devils Army, active in Campbell River since 2009, is a support club for the Haney Hells Angels chapter, with five full-patch members and two prospective members, according to the Special Enforcement Unit.

At the time of the raid, Alexander told a Times Colonist reporter: “I don’t know what’s up myself — no comment.” There is no information to suggest that Brown, a semi-pro mixed martial arts fighter, was a member or associate of the Devils Army or the Hells Angels, the Special Enforcement Unit said after the August 2017 search.

Alexander is one of the founding members of the Devils Army Motorcycle Club, which the Special Enforcement Unit described as an outlaw group.

SOURCE: Times Colonist

Police arrest three connected to the Outlaws MC

Brockville, Canada (December 7, 2018) BTN — Brockville police and counterparts from other agencies on Thursday arrested three men in connection with activities of the Outlaws motorcycle club.

Thomas Bell, Norman Cranshaw Rosbottom and his son, Norman Stanley Rosbottom face charges including kidnapping, robbery, assault with a weapon, assault and two other offences relating to organized crime groups, police said.

A 2004 Pontiac and a Outlaws MC vest were also confiscated 

Brockville police officers, with help from the Ontario Provincial Police Biker Enforcement Unit, the Belleville Police Service and Kingston Police Service, executed search warrants at two Brockville residences, police said Friday.

During the raids, police said, officers seized items including Dead Eyes Outlaw Motorcycle Club vests, clothing and related paraphernalia, documents supporting involvement in a criminal organization, a small quantity of cocaine, cellphones, clothing “worn during commission of offences” and a 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix.

“This investigation is ongoing with potentially more arrests and charges forthcoming,” Brockville police said in a media release. The offences all happened here, Brockville Police Staff Sgt. Tom Fournier said. “They happened in the city of Brockville, I would say, from early summer on until (Thursday),” Fournier said. “It’s got to do with the gang activity.”

"Brockville police work in conjunction with other area forces because biker gangs are constantly on the move", Fournier added. City police have been aware of the Outlaws in the area for nearly two years, but, “over the past summer, there’s been a drastic increase” in their activity, he said.

This was the Brockville police force’s second motorcycle club raid this fall. In September, police arrested two other people in connection with drug and weapons offences with motorcycle club links. Four other people were initially sought after that raid, but all eventually turned themselves in to police in Brockville and Kingston.

Brockville police and the OPP biker unit on Friday urged citizens “not to support organized criminal activity, including seemingly harmless activities like purchasing support gear or participating in charitable activities organized by these groups.”

“The presence of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMGs) in any community should be a concern,” a joint police statement added. “Citizens should minimize contact with gang members and report any OMG activity to police in their jurisdiction.”

SOURCE: Ottawa Citizen 

Retired cop testifies about Hells Angels at trial

Vancouver, B.C. (December 5, 2018) BTN — The retired head of the Ontario Provincial Police Biker Enforcement Unit testified in B.C. Supreme Court on Tuesday that Hells Angels paraphernalia and “knick knacks” on display at clubhouses are there to intimidate those who visit.

Len Isnor, who retired last year, prepared a report on the motorcycle club for the B.C. Director of Civil Forfeiture to be used in his efforts to get clubhouses in Nanaimo, East Vancouver and Kelowna forfeited to the provincial government as alleged instruments of criminal activity.

Kelowna Hells Angels president Damiano Dipopolo (center) 

But first, the director must get Justice Barry Davies to determine whether Isnor will be qualified as an expert at the long-running civil forfeiture trial.

A lawyer for the Hells Angels challenged Isnor in cross-examination Tuesday about parts of his report.

“You refer to memorabilia and knick knacks are for intimidation. Just looking at the pictures, which knick knacks are for intimidation in those photos?” lawyer Joe Arvay asked Isnor.

Isnor pointed to a photo and said, “A Hells Angel with the death head on his head on top of a dragon.”

“So someone going into the clubhouse and seeing that is going to be intimidated, is that your point?” Arvay asked.

Isnor replied: “Yes, sir.”

Isnor also said in the report that he believed some children’s books and toys had been placed on an end table inside the Kelowna clubhouse before his court-ordered inspection in order to make it seem family friendly. “This is the first time I have ever seen or heard of an area set up in a clubhouse for children. In my opinion, this was set up because of my inspection of the clubhouse,” Isnor’s report said.

Arvay asked Isnor if it was also possible that the toys were inside the clubhouse because “one or more of the members of the Kelowna clubhouse have children and that they may go to the clubhouse at times.”

Isnor testified that in 23 years of investigating the Hells Angels and other motorcycle clubs, he had never seen children in a clubhouse.

Arvay asked Isnor if he knew that Kelowna Hells Angels president Damiano Dipopolo “has eight children, and he might want to have some toys in the clubhouse when he is there with his children?”

Isnor pointed out that Dipopolo lives in Metro Vancouver.

“This clubhouse is in Kelowna, so I doubt that Mr. Dipopolo is bringing his children to this clubhouse. And the area in which these toys are set up is with the adult type entertainment in there. It just doesn’t mix,” Isnor said. “It doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.”

Arvay suggested that if the Kelowna clubhouse had a children’s play area, that would “distinguish” it from other Hells Angels clubhouses.

“Would you be prepared to concede that if in fact children were allowed into the Kelowna clubhouse and that’s the reason why there are some children’s books and toys, then that would demonstrate to you that you can’t paint with the same broad brush all the clubhouses in the world, right?” he asked.

Isnor said he would “hate to hear” of children being in a clubhouse “knowing how dangerous they are.”

His report also described bullet-proof windows at the East End clubhouse in Vancouver, and said the Kelowna clubhouse had similar-looking windows. He wrote that he thought the Kelowna bikers had emptied out most of the alcohol from the fridge prior to his inspection.

The report also said that most Hells Angels “are no longer passionate about motorcycles, but rather they hide behind the guise that they are an organization of motorcycle clubs.

“Though it is mandatory for all HA members to have a motorcycle, the passion for the motorcycle is secondary to the reputation and criminality of the organization,” Isnor wrote.

The trial continues.

SOURCE: Vancouver Sun

Man arrested over Hells Angels T-shirt wins hearing

Edmonton, Canada (October 29, 2018) BTN — A man arrested by security guards at West Edmonton Mall for refusing to remove a Hells Angels support T-shirt has won a hearing with the province’s law enforcement review board.

Paul Sussman claims Edmonton police officers who responded to his 2016 arrest did not take his complaint about the security guards’ conduct seriously, and that he was given the runaround when he later attempted to file a formal complaint.

The Alberta Law Enforcement Review Board (LERB) dismissed the police service’s attempt to have the complaint thrown out as frivolous and vexatious, and took the rare step of awarding Sussman $750 in costs before the matter goes to a full hearing.

Sussman was shopping with his teenage son at the mall on Aug. 28, 2016, when he was approached by mall security for wearing a Hells Angels “support T-shirt.”

Sussman was told to remove the shirt or leave because gang support paraphernalia is against mall policy. He was told if he did not leave he would be removed for trespassing.

Sussman refused because he believed the request was unlawful, the decision states. When security attempted to arrest him, he allegedly became “belligerent and aggressive” and resisted by linking arms with his son to avoid being handcuffed.

Security eventually took him to the ground, arrested him and took him to the mall security office. Two police officers arrived to deal with the case, though no charges were laid in the case.

The officers drove the man and his son to their car. During the ride, Sussman said he wanted to file an assault complaint against the guards but the officers “did not give him the form and did not take his complaint seriously” and told him instead to visit the west division police station.

Sussman went to the station the next day and told an officer at the front desk that he wanted to lay a complaint against mall security. According to the complaint, Sussman was wearing the same shirt and alleged the officer “refused” to help him.

“The appellant (Sussman) was of the opinion that it was because of his shirt,” the decision states. Instead, the west division officer told him to call the police complaint line. When he did, he was told to contact one of the officers who responded to the mall complaint.

Around a year later, Sussman filed formal complaints with city police, claiming the two mall officers and the west division officer failed to properly investigate his complaint. Police Chief Rod Knecht ordered investigations into the complaints but found there was no reasonable likelihood the officers would be convicted of misconduct.

The officer working at west division, however, was given a warning about “providing good customer service to citizens trying to report matters to the front counter.”

Sussman appealed the complaint to the LERB in April. Knecht and the police service sought to have it dismissed as “frivolous and vexatious” but the board disagreed.

The board also ordered each officer to pay Sussman $250, saying costs were warranted because their submissions failed to establish the complaint was made in bad faith and “attacked the appellant unnecessarily and on a personal level.”

The complaint will go to a hearing before the LERB, though no hearing dates have been set. The board hears appeals from both citizens and police officers outside of internal police complaints systems.

SOURCE: Edmonton Journal 

Bacchus MC: Sentencing begins for club members

Nova Scotia, Canada (October 22, 2018) BTN — A justice of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court has reserved his sentencing decision in the case of three members of the Bacchus Motorcycle Club who have been convicted of extortion and intimidation.

In convicting Patrick Michael James, 51, Duane Jamie Howe, 49, and David John Pearce, 44, Justice Peter Rosinski also said that the Bacchus motorcycle club is a criminal organization, the first time that designation has been made in Nova Scotia.

The men were convicted in a trial this summer. The convictions stem from incidents in 2012 involving a man whose identity is protected by a publication ban.

The man tried to open a chapter of the Brotherhood Motorcycle Club in Nova Scotia. It is not an outlaw gang, but it uses vests and patches similar to those worn by outlaw riders.

Man ordered to disband club

When the Bacchus members saw social media posts of the Brotherhood club, they ordered the man to disband the club and destroy the patches. He was to provide proof by showing the shredded patches to Bacchus members.

Later, Pearce and Howe spotted the man at a Bikers Down event. They confronted and threatened him, prompting the man to sell his motorcycles and install a panic alarm in his home.

Sentencing arguments began Monday

In his sentencing submissions, Crown prosecutor Glen Scheuer argued that the criminal organization designation was one reason the sentences should be substantial. He recommended a five-to-six year sentence for James and four-and-a-half to five-and-a-half year sentences for Howe and Pearce.

Scheuer submitted photographs taken from Pearce's Facebook profile which show the man wearing T-shirts and sporting decals on his motorcycle that were supportive of motorcycle gangs.

Scheuer said the social media posts included the phrases "Police and government are very corrupt" and "All cops are bastards." 

Bacchus tattoo in police photos

Patrick MacEwen, Pearce's lawyer, said that wearing clothing that supports these groups is not a crime and the clothes are readily available for purchase by any member of the public.

MacEwen also said that Pearce is showing a Bacchus tattoo with the dates 2010 to 2012 in one of the photos introduced by police. MacEwen said any member who leaves the gang in good standing must put an end date on his tattoo and that's what his client did.

MacEwen and the other two defence lawyers also pointed out that all three men have avoided any further run-ins with the law in six years it has taken the case to make its way through the courts.

He recommended a sentence of six months for Pearce, who was the only one of the three to accept the judge's invitation to address the court.

"Ever since when this happened I do regret that it happened," Pearce said. The Crown had argued that all three men showed no remorse for their crimes.

Trevor McGuigan, the lawyer for James, recommended a two-year sentence for his client.

McGuigan said James has been taking care of his father and breeding rare dogs, while avoiding any further criminal activity. McGuigan said there was no physical violence in this crime.

Pat Atherton represents Howe. He said his client should be eligible for the shortest possible sentence.

Atherton said if it wasn't prohibited by case law, he'd be arguing that Howe get a sentence in the community. Instead, he suggested a one-year sentence would be sufficient.

He questioned a forfeiture order the Crown had requested, saying there was no proof some of the items seized from Howe's home were associated with any crime.

He mentioned a brass ring with a one per cent symbol on it. Gangs like Bacchus and the Hells Angels are known to use the one per cent symbol to identify themselves as the one per cent of motorcycle riders who are considered outlaws.

Rosinski will hand down his decision Nov. 7.

SOURCE: CBC News

Hells Angels MC: Murder conviction appeal going to court

Ottawa, Canada (October 11, 2018) BTN — Eighteen years after a Halifax-area man was gunned down for having an affair with an Hells Angels MC members girlfriend, the Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear an appeal in the case against the alleged shooter.

Sean Simmons, 31, was shot in the head in the lobby of a Halifax-area apartment building in October 2000.

Dean Kelsie was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in 2003 and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 25 years.

But the Appeal Court of Nova Scotia ordered a new trial after ruling last year that the trial judge erred in his instructions to the jury, particularly when it came to what the jurors could make of the hearsay evidence of co-conspirators.

The appeal ruling also said the trial judge should have mentioned manslaughter to the jury as an alternative verdict, even though Kelsie’s lawyer didn’t object that it wasn’t.

In a decision issued Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada agreed to hear the Crown’s appeal of that ruling.

“The application for leave to appeal is granted,” the court said.

Kelsie was one of four men who have been convicted of the crime, although only two of those convictions stand; testimony at the trials indicated that it was Kelsie who pulled the trigger, which he denied.

In the Nova Scotia appeal court ruling, Justice David Farrar set out how Simmons came to be targeted.

Sean Simmons, right, was shot in the head in the lobby of a Halifax-area apartment building in 2000.

The Chronicle Herald 

“Mr. Simmons, in the early 1990s, had been closely affiliated with the Halifax Hells Angels and hoped to become a member. By 1993, however, he was targeted for violence by the club and was beaten up twice. The evidence suggested that this was the result of a belief among Hells Angels members that he had had an affair with the mistress of Michael McCrea, the then president of the Halifax chapter,” the judge said in his decision

“As a result, Mr. Simmons and his wife left Halifax and spent several years in New Brunswick, returning at the end of 1998.”

When the Hells Angels learned about Simmons’ return, a hit was ordered, the judge said.

Kelsie’s conviction is the second that has been thrown out in the murder.

In October 2016, the Court of Appeal threw out — for a second time — the first-degree murder conviction of an Ottawa man, Steven Gareau, who claimed he had no idea Kelsie was planning to shoot Simmons when they went to the apartment building on Oct. 3, 2000.

Gareau, who is now in his early 60s, was first convicted in 2004, but it was thrown out eight years later because of different legal errors by a different judge. He was retried over seven months in 2013 and 2014.

In February, a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge stayed the charges against Gareau, saying a third trial would undermine the integrity of the judicial process. Justice Jamie Campbell noted Gareau had served 17 years in prison, endured “two fatally flawed trials” and is confined to a wheelchair and in failing health. 

SOURCE: The Telegram

Hells Angels MC: Three plead guilty to drug trafficking

Montreal, Quebec, Canada (October 3, 2018) BTN — Three full-patch members of the Hells Angels, including one of the clubs founding members in Canada, and a member of the Repentigny police pleaded guilty to various drug trafficking charges at the Montreal courthouse on Wednesday.

Twenty people in all appeared before Quebec Court Judge Daniel Bédard inside a fifth floor courtroom that was humming with activity throughout the day as almost every remaining case in Project Objection, a major investigation into three drug trafficking networks run by the Hells Angels, came to end only six months after arrests were made in April.

“I’m very impressed,” Bédard remarked at one point as several drug dealers pleaded guilty to charges that will result in them serving time inside federal penitentiaries.

The person who ended up with the longest sentence, a six-year prison term, was Stéphane Maheu, 47, a member of the gang’s South chapter. He had been sought by members of the Escouade nationale de répression contre le crime organisé (ENRCO) since April, but suddenly emerged at the Montreal courthouse on Wednesday.

Despite having been a wanted man for months, Maheu was able to walk around the courthouse freely before he appeared before Bédard and admitted he led a network that sold cocaine and methamphetamine in different parts of Quebec.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of drug trafficking, two counts of conspiracy, and a gangsterism charge. According to a joint statement of facts read into the court record, a group run by Maheu also sold nearly 300,000 methamphetamine pills in the Outaouais region while under investigation. The Hells Angel also assigned two men to run a drug trafficking ring in Cowansville and Granby, but one of the men turned out to be a civilian undercover agent who was working for ENRCO. Maheu received “a tax” on the 42,000 meth pills and 177 ounces of cocaine that were sold in the Eastern Townships.

Maheu was taken into custody as soon as Bédard accepted the guilty plea.

“Everything is perfectly clear,” Maheu said when Bédard asked him if he understood what he was admitting to.

Michel (Sky) Langlois, 72, one of the first men to ever wear the Hells Angels logo in Canada when he became a founding member of the Montreal chapter in 1977, was also done in by the same undercover agent. On Aug. 9, 2017, Langlois and Maheu met with the agent at La Medusa, a restaurant on Drummond St., to discuss the distribution of drugs in the Outaouais region. The agent learned that Langlois claimed to have title over drug trafficking in Petite Nation, a regional county municipality in the Outaouais region and was partners in the nearly 300,000 meth pills Maheu sold as well as six kilograms of hashish.

Langlois was sentenced to an overall prison term of 58 months.

Hells Angel MC member Stéphane Maheu leaves the courtroom during a break in proceedings on Wednesday. Maheu received a six-year sentence after pleading guilty to drug-trafficking charges.

When Bédard asked him if he understood what he was admitting to the septuagenarian biker said “yes” in a long and drawn-out way that left Bédard unimpressed.

“Yeah, yeah,” Langlois said when the judge asked him a second time.

The same undercover agent met with Louis Matte, 52, the other Hells Angel who pleaded guilty on Wednesday, on Oct. 17, 2017 to discuss drug trafficking in Ontario near the Quebec border. Matte gave the agent a sketch of the territory he controlled in Ontario and the agent agreed to pay him a tax on all the meth pills he sold on Matte’s turf. The agent ended up paying Matte $22,000 over the course of four meetings.

Prosecutor Marjorie Delagrave and defence lawyer Gilles Doré made a common suggestion that Matte should be sentenced to a 22-month prison term. Doré asked Bédard to delay sentencing the biker until January because a close relative of Matte’s is very ill.

The last person to plead guilty on Wednesday was Carl Ranger, a member of the Repentigny police who was suspended following his arrest this year. Ranger met with the undercover agent in August 2017 and asked if he could borrow $6,000. The agent said the loan came with a cost and asked Ranger to look up a licence plate number for him in a police database. While on duty, on Oct. 3, 2017, Ranger handed the agent the information he was looking for in exchange for $1,100. Later on, in February, Ranger offered to transport 10,000 meth pills from Lachenaie to Boucherville and returned with $10,000 from a drug dealer. He was paid $1,000 for his work.

Prosecutor Françis Pilotte asked that Ranger be sentenced to an 18-month prison term. His defence lawyer asked that Bédard delay his decision on the sentence until January as well.

Included among the people who pleaded guilty on Wednesday was Carmelo Sacco, a 36-year-old resident of Ste-Adèle who admitted to being the leader of a methamphetamine trafficking ring that operated in eastern Montreal and the southern part of the Lanaudière region.

Prosecutor Juliana Côté described how accounting records seized in Project Objection revealed the group led by Sacco sold more than 2.5 million meth pills and seven kilos of cocaine between Oct. 7, 2017 and Feb. 18 of this year. The group is estimated to have made $1.7 million in sales during the same period. Sacco was sentenced to an overall prison term of 53 months.

SOURCE: Montreal Gazette

Policewoman intimidated by Hells Angel MC member

Toronto, Ontario,Canada  (September 28, 2018) BTN — An Hells Angel member who allegedly threatened a Montreal policewoman with a camera in the back last summer will have to explain herself to justice.

Earl Noseworthy, a member in good standing of the East Toronto chapter of the "Angels of Hell", was charged with "intimidating a justice system associate or journalist" on September 17.

Hells Angels MC traffic stop

Absent at the Saint-Hyacinthe courthouse for his appearance, 52-year-old Noseworthy was represented in court by his lawyer, François Taddeo.

Party in Montérégie

The alleged events date back to August 10 as 500 members and supporters of the country's Hells Angels converged on Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu, in Montérégie, for their biggest annual gathering, the "Canada Run".

The police had erected some roadblocks to check the identity of the bikers and inspect their Harley Davidson, including one on Highway 20, at Beloeil.

They also took the opportunity to photograph the intercepted Hells in order to update the police information banks, which is a common practice.

As the bikers drove in groups, these checks could take a while before everyone could leave. Almost all of them have been cooperative.

Playing tough

But the taking of photos did not happen quickly enough to the taste of the accused. According to our sources, Noseworthy would have wanted to play tough with the police SPVM responsible for photographing the Hells.

Police officers witnessed the scene. Other Hells Angels MC members too, and all did not find it funny. One of the leaders of the Ontario bikers' delegation allegedly blamed Noseworthy, who was arrested by the Sûreté du Québec and released.

The Accused: Earl Noseworthy

Biker war

The charge against Earl Noseworthy, who lives in Keswick, near Toronto, is punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Judge Gilles Charpentier postponed further judicial proceedings in November.

This offense was added to the Criminal Code in 2002 by the federal government as a result of the murders of two prison guards and the attempted murder of former Montreal Journal reporter Michel Auger during the biker war that killed more than 160 people in Quebec.

Noseworthy is a former member of Hamilton's Satan's Choice, a motorcycle club adsorbed by the Hells Angels in 2000, according to court documents.

SOURCE: TVA Nouvelles

Hells Angels MC poker run stopped by police

Kelowna, British Columbia (September 22, 2018) BTN— Dozens of Hells Angels and associated motorcycle club members were pulled over by police on Kelowna's Glenmore Road Saturday, not long after the riders took off from the Kelowna Hells Angels clubhouse on their annual Poker Run ride.

Upwards of 100 riders were seen pulled over on Glenmore Road, just north of Summit Drive at about noon. Earlier Saturday, the bikers had left from the Hells Angel's clubhouse in Kelowna's North End, on Ellis Street.

The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, B.C.'s anti-gang police agency, is in Kelowna this weekend to support the Kelowna RCMP during the Hells Angel event.

The Kelowna RCMP have yet to comment on the ride, or about their interaction with the riders on Glenmore Road. It's unclear if any arrests were made.

The poker run involves riding to different locations and collecting playing cards. The cards are then used to make a poker hand at the end of the ride.

The Hells Angels set up a chapter in Kelowna around 2006. The gang's clubhouse, while still in use by its members, is the subject of an ongoing BC Civil Forfeiture Office trial in BC Supreme Court in Vancouver.

After several police raids on the property over the past several years, the property's assets were frozen in 2016, pending the outcome of the trial. The BC Civil Forfeiture Office is looking to seize the gang's clubhouses in Nanaimo and Vancouver, in addition to Kelowna, arguing the properties will be used to commit crimes in the future.

The trial, 10 years in the making, is scheduled into December.

UPDATE:

The police traffic stop of the Hells Angel poker run in Kelowna stemmed from some confusion over the correct route by riders, according to police.

Sgt. Brenda Winpenny of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit BC says the confusion over the correct route resulted in the bikers blocking traffic on Glenmore Road.

"An RCMP traffic unit initiated a traffic stop with the lead bikers to address the situation," Sgt. Winpenny said. "CFSEU-BC was present and assisted the traffic unit with the stop."

The CFSEU-BC, B.C.'s anti-gang police agency, are in Kelowna this weekend for the Hells Angel poker run.

"The main objective at these events is to ensure police and public safety and that the participants of the ride abide by the law," Sgt. Winpenny said.

The Kelowna RCMP has not yet commented on the ride or the traffic stop.

SOURCE: Casanet

Saskatoon police to public: Increased presence of Hells Angels

Saskatoon, Canada (September 21, 2018) BTN— Members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club are converging on the city this weekend to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the club's Saskatoon chapter.

The red and white will be flying frequently in Saskatoon this weekend as members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club are converging on the city to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the club’s Saskatoon chapter.

City police say Hells Angels and their associates will be gathering in the city for the celebration and say members of the public can expect to see an increased presence from the motorcycle club from here in Saskatchewan and from right across Canada.

“The Saskatoon Police Service has an operational plan in place and additional policing resources will be on hand to ensure the safety of the public and all those involved,” says the Saskatoon Police Service news release.

This isn’t the first time a large number of Hells Angels from across Canada converged on Saskatoon. In 2012, members of the infamous club converged on the city for the National Run, which saw members from across the country arrive in the bridge city.

Saskatoon Police Services and the RCMP held a press conference to announce drug busts of Hells Angels members and associates on January 15, 2015 in Saskatoon. Members of the club from across Canada are expected to converge on Saskatoon this weekend to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Saskatoon Hells Angels chapter

SOURCE: The Star Phoenix