McHenry County, Illinois, USA (April 22, 2019) BTN — Gary Gauger awoke early the morning of April 8, 1993, to a heavy rainfall beating on the windows of his Richmond home, dampening his plans to transplant seedlings on the family farm.
While Gauger went back to sleep, two members of the Outlaws motorcycle club made their way to the motorcycle repair shop that Gauger’s father operated in a garage near the farm. Although Outlaws members James Schneider and Randall Miller were responsible for robbing and murdering Ruth and Morrie Gauger that day, it would take law enforcement three years to come to that conclusion.
In the meantime, Gary Gauger was pinned for his parents’ murders and sentenced to death by lethal injection. After serving 3½ years in prison and nine months on death row, his conviction was overturned in 1996.
Exonerated McHenry County men weigh in on proposed legislation
Gauger was aided in his appeal process by Northwestern University Law Professor Lawrence Marshall, who founded the Center on Wrongful Convictions. “The police get a theory on what happened and they don’t seem to care if it doesn’t match the facts,” Gauger said. “They just work on their theory.”
Illinois Innocence Project co-founder Bill Clutter asked Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul last week to support legislation that would create a “conviction integrity unit” to investigate innocence claims. A statewide unit in Illinois would benefit counties that don’t have the funds to implement their own conviction review boards, or simply don’t see enough claims of actual innocence to justify an integrity unit, Clutter said.
Today Gauger, 65, lives on a farm just yards away from the site of his parents’ murder. He leads a quiet, secluded life with his wife, Sue Reckenthaler, and their dog, Diego. “This is my home,” Gauger said Wednesday. “I’m not going to let those guys run me out of my home.”
Gauger’s case is one of two in McHenry County in which perjury or false accusations, official misconduct, and false confessions have led to convictions and subsequent exonerations since 1989, according to the National Registry of Exonerations.
Mario Casciaro was convicted in March 2013 of killing Johnsburg teen Brian Carrick. He served 22 months in the Menard Correctional Center on a 26-year sentence before the Second District Appellate Court overturned his conviction in September 2015.
Although he doesn’t feel McHenry County is “progressive enough” for its own integrity unit, the area would benefit from a statewide effort, he said. “McHenry County specifically is probably a little bit too small right now, but in the future, if there’s continued growth in the population, I imagine there should be an independent conviction investigation unit,” Casciaro said.
Illinois has a history of wrongful convictions. Former Gov. George Ryan labeled the state’s system of capital punishment “haunted by the demon of error” when he halted executions in 2000.
By the time Illinois abolished the Death Penalty in 2011, wrongful death sentences imposed on 20 people had been reversed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
The Illinois Second District Appellate Court, which includes McHenry County, saw 445 criminal appeals in 2017, according to the Administrative Office of Illinois Courts. Of those,
393 cases were disposed.
In Cook County, where former state’s attorney Anita Alvarez created a Chicago-based conviction integrity unit in 2012, the office receives about 150 applications annually from those convicted of felonies, but many do not meet criteria for review, spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said.
Seventy convictions have been reversed since 2017, Simonton said.
A similar system in Lake County successfully helped exonerate Jason Strong, a man previously convicted of killing Carpentersville resident Mary Kate Sunderlin. “I thought, ‘Man what’s going on?’ This doesn’t happen,” Strong said. “This is like what happens only in the movies.”
For a case to be considered by Lake County’s panel, the defendant’s claim must contain new evidence that was not known at the time of trial, previously untested evidence, or some other affirmation of innocence. Strong is a proponent for the conviction integrity panel that helped exonerate him, and attributes its success to objective thinking within the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office.
“I admire that, and I think that if you have that kind of quality in a prosecutor then you’re going to get a better integrity unit,” Strong said. Both Gauger and Casciaro generally are proponents for conviction integrity units. Gauger’s experience, however, has left him with doubts about whether McHenry County could handle a unit of its own. “How do you get politics out of McHenry County?” Gauger said. “It’s difficult.”
Casciaro has also been critical of how McHenry County prosecutors handled his case, going as far as to call State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally “delusional.” Kenneally has stood by his office’s handling of the case, and said he’s a proponent of taking every reasonable step to prevent wrongful convictions. The state’s attorney is reserving judgment on the idea of a statewide conviction integrity, however, until he can review an actual Attorney General Office’s policy.
In an email Tuesday, Kenneally cited an analysis by University of Utah law professor Paul Cassell to emphasize his belief that people often overlook the context surrounding wrongful convictions. Cassell estimated the wrongful conviction rate in the U.S. to be between 0.016% and 0.062%, Kenneally said.
“In other words, the criminal justice system gets it right in more than 99.9% of the cases,” he said. “In a system where, in keeping with basic democratic rights, the fundamental decision-makers are ordinary, everyday and imperfect human beings, this is incredibly good.”
Tampa, Florida (April 19, 2019) BTN — Sunday night, a car turned into the path of motorcyclist Mike Tapp on Dale Mabry Highway. To avoid a collision, the biker braked hard and lost control, throwing him and his passenger to the pavement.
The biker died and the passenger, his longtime girlfriend, was seriously injured. The driver of the car didn't stop and the Florida Highway Patrol is looking for the person who was behind the wheel.
Mike Tapp, Boston Mike to his friends, hugs friend Gina Henry in December after buying the 2016 Harley Davidson Street Glide at left. Tapp, 49, was killed Sunday when a driver turned into his path while he was riding on Dale Mabry Highway. [Courtesy of Andrew Mora]
It's the kind of crash that would have angered Mike Tapp and spurred him to action.
A friend of the couple, Andrew Mora, is now offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the identification of the driver. If Tapp were around, his friends say, he would light up Facebook with the reward offer, determined to do his part for members of his biker family. But the 49-year-old Tampa father was the motorcyclist killed in the crash, and his longtime partner, 46-year-old Kymberle Meade, is still in the hospital.
"He really was a pillar," said Mora, owner of Moramoto, the motorcycle dealership where Tapp bought the 2016 Harley-Davidson Street Glide he was riding Sunday. "If someone were in need, he would be the first to help."
Known as Boston Mike for his native city, Tapp had lived in Florida for many years. He and Meade had been together nearly three decades and had children together.
Tapp was a proud member of the American Outlaw Association, one of the biggest motorcycle clubs in the country, his friends said. Law enforcement considers the Outlaws a criminal gang, but Tapp was far from a menace to society, Mora said. For Tapp, the club was about camaraderie centered on a shared passion for riding.
When a friend needed a hand, Tapp would help spread the word, taking to Facebook and banging out public posts in all capital letters. Most days, he'd wake up early and send friends messages with irreverent memes and the latest news in the biker scene.
"He was the one of the funniest, most humble guys I've ever met," Mora said.
Tapp had worked a variety of jobs over the years, from fueling planes at a local airport to manning phones at corporate call centers, said friend Morley Henry, 35. Tapp and Meade often hosted cookouts where Tapp served up his signature chicken marsala.
"He was that personality who walks into a room and everything lights up," said Henry, a motorcycle technician at Moramoto. "It didn't matter was mood you were in, put a smile on your face. He went out of his way to make everybody happy."
In December, Tapp traded in his old Street Glide with 90,000 miles on the odometer and bought a 2016 model, Mora said. Within a couple of months, he put about 10,000 miles on that bike.
On the night of the crash, Tapp and Meade were riding north on Dale Mabry when the driver of a small, light-colored sedan heading south turned across their path to head east on West Idlewild Avenue, just north of Bill Currie Ford, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Troopers released footage of the crash caught by a surveillance camera at the Volvo dealership across Dale Mabry, but the camera is too far way to determine the make and model of the car.
"You can see clearly the action of that car caused the crash even though they didn't collide," said Sgt. Steve Gaskins, a spokesman for the Highway Patrol.
It's unclear what, if anything, the driver would be charged with if identified, however. Troopers would have to confer with the Hillsborough State Attorney's Office, Gaskins said.
Mora said the driver should come forward. Otherwise, he's hoping his reward will provide an incentive to someone who knows something.
"We'll never have closure," Mora said, "so the only thing we can possibly have is justice."
Edwardsville, Georgia, USA (April 12, 2019) BTN – Former Alton resident Brandon Chittum may spend the rest of his life in prison after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, but the victim’s mother has an additional punishment in mind.
“He will burn in hell,” said Elizabeth Kovach, the murder of victim Courtney Coats after the hearing. “It’s been a very long time, too long; I’m so happy he was convicted on all three counts.”
Chittum, 35, a former member of the Alton Outlaws motorcycle club, was found guilty Monday of dismembering a human body and concealment of a homicidal death, in addition to the murder charge. State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons said his office, including assistant state’s attorneys Crystal Uhe and Lauren Heischmidt have been fighting for the victim and her family.
“After five long years fighting to get this case to trial, it is a great relief to know the remaining half of this murderous duo has finally been held fully accountable for this most gruesome crimes against this innocent young woman. This case is a most terrible example of the real-life destruction caused by an alcohol and methamphetamine-fueled life of violence.
He was charged after the Nov. 23, 2013, murder of Coats.
Her boyfriend, Patrick Chase, then violently choked her to unconsciousness, then slit her throat. Chase and Chittum, on a 12-hour bender of liquor and methamphetamine, then dismembered her remains, put them in trash bags and dumped the bags in the Illinois River near Hardin. The bags were found along the store in Greene County.
Chittum, who was charged on Dec. 20, 2013, finally faced trial after five years’ delay caused by an appeal, multiple defense continuances and changing of defense attorneys.
Police investigated the case for 27 days as a missing person. Chase eventually confessed and lead authorities to the spot at which the body was found.
In prison, Chase radically changed his appearance and testified in Court that Chittum was sleeping the entire time he, Chase, was choking, cutting and dismembering the victim.
Assistant State’s Attorney Crystal Uhe argued it is unlikely a man could sleep through such a horrific event. She also noted that Chase’s room mate, Brian Northcutt, was advised to leave the apartment, then returned to find Chittum awake, not wearing a shirt. The water was running in the bathroom, and Chittum told Northcutt to leave again.
“There are things going on here you don’t need to know about,” Chittum said, according to Northcutt’s testimony.
During his testimony, Chase was asked why Thursday was the first time he mentioned to Uhe that Chittum was not involved in the killing. “It slipped my mind,” Chase said.He admitted Chittum drove the body to the Joe Page Bridge, where it was dumped.
He claimed he liked when he detailed in a police interview the way Chittum “coached” him through the death process. Defense attorney Evelyn Lewis suggested the jury may find her client of concealment, which carries a much lighter sentence that murder or dismembering a human body.
She said the idea that the member wanted to “put her out of her misery” amounts to a “mercy killing,” which she termed “a crazy story.”
“Courtney’s death took a terrible toll on so many people around her and, indeed, on our entire community,” Gibbons said Monday in a press release. “I pray this verdict will grant some peace to everyone who knew and loved her and to the Citizens of Madison County.
We can all sleep much safer knowing he will never walk the streets of our community again.”
The murder charge carries a sentenced of between 20 and 60 years in prison. The dismembering charge carries a sentence of between six and 30 years in prison. He has a previous conviction for felony aggravated domestic battery and a misdemeanor conviction for battery and domestic battery.
Edwardsville, Georgia, USA (April 5, 2019) BTN – Murder defendant Brandon Chittum was allegedly standing behind his best friend, Patrick Chase, coaching him on how to strangle Courtney Coats during her murder in 2013, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
“Do it harder; do it quick,” Chittum was allegedly telling Chase, as he was choking his girlfriend to “put her out of her misery,” Assistant State’s Attorney Lauren Heischmidt told the jury in her opening statement. “The defendant was behind Chase, coaching him, giving him tips.”
Brandon Chittum
Chittum, 35, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, a count of dismembering a human body and concealment of a homicidal death. Coats went missing in late November 2013. Chase has since pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 60 years in prison.
Chittum, formerly of Alton and a former member of the Outlaws motorcycle club, has been in the Madison County Jail awaiting trial since December 2013. Testimony at trial was that Chase was a member of the Black Pistons motorcycle club , which was like a “farm club ” for the Outlaws. Chittum said during a recorded interview that the two became friends when they were members of an alcohol recovery group.
Heischmidt said Tuesday that Coats and Chase were in an argument at their home in the 2500 block of College Avenue, and Chase pushed her, causing her to hit and badly injure her head. Chase said he wanted to “put her out of her misery,” so he and Chittum allegedly dragged her into a bedroom, where the first attempt at strangling her failed.
The prosecutor said that Chittum felt for Coats’ pulse and told Chase she was not dead. They then dragged her into a bathroom, where Chase slit her throat. Chittum then allegedly said, “Now she’s gone,” Heischmidt told the jury. “They senselessly, violently and brutally murdered her,” the prosecutor said.
She then described how Chittum allegedly called his wife and asked to borrow her car. She then drove it to Alton and left, and the two suspects then cut up the body, placed it in bags and took the remains up to the Joe Page Bridge near Hardin. The remains were found near, and in, the Illinois River in Greene County.
When Coats’ mother, Elizabeth Kovach, began to notice her daughter was not contacting her, as she always did, she reported her missing. Police launched a 27-day search for Coats, but an investigation led the a confession by Chase, who led authorities to the remains. Crime scene specialists from Illinois State Police then performed a detailed search of the College Avenue apartment where the murder took place.
Investigators found blood in the bathroom. “Scratched into the soap scum in the bathtub was the word, ‘Help,’ Heischmidt said. The prosecutor said Chittum will say he left before the murder and returned to Collinsville, but phone records from Chittum’s phone showed he was in Alton, then in East Hardin, then in Alton.
Defense attorney Evelyn Lewis said her client went to sleep on the couch during the killing. “Brandon did not kill her. He wasn’t even aware of it.” She claimed Chase told police that Coats injured her neck, yet there is no evidence of a neck injury. She said Chittum never called police about the incident because “he was in the Outlaws, and he was afraid what was going to happen to him.”
Testimony in the trial began Tuesday. The trial may last into next week.
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.
Dayton, Ohio, USA (March 17, 2019) BTN — Former Outlaws Motorcycle Club leader Harry ‘Taco’ Bowman’s was laid to rest at Bear Creek Cemetery Saturday.
About a thousand members of the club came into town to honor their one-time leader. The ceremonies started at the Montgomery County Fair Grounds with a 24 hour viewing on Friday followed by a funeral service and burial Saturday morning.
“There were thousands of people here today. We had a thousand on motorcycles, we had cars everywhere,” said Montgomery County Sheriff Rob Streck.
The ride from the Fair Grounds to the cemetery proved to be a difficult task for law enforcement. Streck said deputies from his office, Trotwood Police officers, and troopers from Ohio State Highway Patrol made it as smooth as they could.
He apologized for the inconvenience it posed to other drivers, though.
“At one point west third street from the 49 connector was at a standstill because there were so many vehicles trying to turn onto union to get to the cemetery,” he said.
Bowman was the club’s international president in the 1990’s and died in federal prison from cancer.
He at one point was on the FBI’s top ten most wanted list. According to FBI reports, Bowman was convicted on multiple murder charges, including ones stemming from contracted bombings on rival clubs.
The Outlaws are a 1-percenter motorcycle club. That means they separate themselves from the American Motorcyclist Association's statement that 99-percent of all motorcyclists are law abiding.
Despite the club’s reputation, Funeral Director Kevin Rogers said they were respectable.
“We've actually done about four other Outlaw funerals,” Rogers said. “Every time I've ever worked with them they've been nothing but great.”
Bowman is from Michigan and died in North Carolina.
He chose Dayton as his final resting place.
“The answer they gave me as to why they chose Dayton is because Bear Creek Cemetery is where a lot of his outlaw brothers were already buried,” said Rogers.
Dayton, Ohio, USA (March 15, 2019) BTN — Harry Joseph "Taco" Bowman, the former president of the Outlaw Motorcycle Club who was on the FBI's top ten most wanted fugitive's list, will have his funeral on Saturday at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds.
Bowman's funeral is scheduled for 10:30 a.m.
A procession from the fairgrounds to Bear Creek Cemetery on North Union Road in Madison Twp. will begin at 12 p.m.
Sheriff's Deputies will be shutting down North Union Road to Hoover Avenue in Trotwood for the funeral.
Additionally, deputies will also partially close down Infirmary Road from the Montgomery County fairgrounds to SR-35 for the procession.
Related | Outlaws MC: Harry "Taco" Bowman dead at 69
Montgomery County Sheriff Rob Streck said officers are not expecting any safety issues but given the size of the crowd and the reputation of the group, they do have contingency plans in place.
"There's always concerns when you have get large groups of people who have been known to be violent. They do not try to hide that fact," Streck said. "(But) We don't have any chatter of suspected violence, we don't have any indications that other clubs are going to try and cause trouble at the event."
Bowman, who was serviving a life sentence in federal prison, died on Sunday at the Federal Medical Center in North Carolina. He was 69 years old.
According to the Detroit News, Bowman was considered one of the most infamous motorcycle club leaders in U.S. history. The Outlaws were rivals to the Hell's Angels.
Bowman was placed on the FBI's Most Wanted List in 1998, interrupting what had been a relatively low profile kept by Bowman while serving as leader of the Outlaws.
In 2001, he was convicted in a Federal court in Florida of the murders of several rival club members, firebombings, racketeering and conspiracy among other charges.
He was sentenced to two life sentences plus 83 years.
Bowman had a long-running feud with Hell's Angels leader Sonny Barger over which club was superior.
Several members of the Outlaws were previously interned at Bear Creek Cemetery.
Butner, N.C. (March 3, 2019) BTN — Midwest biker baron Harry (Taco) Bowman died behind bars of cancer over the weekend at 69. The legendary Outlaws Motorcycle Club President ran his empire from Detroit and brought the Outlaws to prominence nationwide, presenting a formidable challenger to Hells Angels founder Ralph (Sonny) Barger as America’s most powerful biker boss at the apex of his reign in the 1990's.
Called “Taco” for his dark complexion and resemblance to someone of Hispanic heritage, Bowman, simultaneously feared, beloved and respected, was serving a life prison sentence in a federal correctional facility for racketeering and murder. He was found guilty at a 2001 trial in Florida, many of the offenses charged being connected to beatings, bombings and coldblooded slayings ordered during the Outlaws ongoing war with Barger’s West Coast-based Hells Angels. Barger and Bowman both took out murder contracts on each other.
Bowman was a gangland chameleon and the consummate underworld politician. He forged strong ties to Detroit’s Italian mafia and Eastern-European criminals in the area and would often shed his long hair, beard and Outlaws “rocker” for a businessman’s cut and three-piece suit in order to build valuable relationships in the white collar world. Living in a mansion on “Mafia Row” in posh Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, he was often chauffeured around town in a custom-designed Rolls Royce and sent his children to an exclusive private school.
When he was elected International President of the Outlaws in 1984, Bowman moved the club’s headquarters from Chicago, where the club was established, to his hometown of Detroit and spearheaded a campaign to take over all of Florida, previously and somewhat currently considered a biker’s no-man’s land, a place where everybody can operate free of territory disputes. A magnetic leader, Bowman also pushed for the diversification of Outlaws street rackets, expanding from an investment structure based primarily on narcotics to a portfolio boasting gambling, loansharking and extortion to augment the drug proceeds.
Upon being indicted in 1997, Bowman went on the run. With the help of the Detroit and Chicago mobs, he avoided arrest for two years. Making it on to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List, he was eventually apprehended in a suburb outside Detroit in the summer of 1999. Years earlier, he had beefed with the Detroit mafia over gambling turf but finessed his way out of a murder contract placed on his head and quickly repaired his bond with local mob chieftains.
Bowman’s downfall resulted from the flipping of his main enforcer Wayne (Joe Black) Hicks, who Bowman assigned the task of overseeing Outlaws activity in Florida and getting other motorcycle clubs in the region in line. Hicks came up through the club’s ranks in the Toledo, Ohio chapter. - Scott Burnstein
SOURCE: The Gangster Report
SOURCE: Death Records
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.
Tampa, FL (February 5, 2019) BTN — A federal arbitrator says
Hillsborough County was justified in firing a Fire Rescue medic who belonged to
the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, noting the negative attention his membership
brought the county.
Clinton Neal Walker, 35, of Bradenton, was fired a year ago
after an internal investigation concluded he had “unwavering loyalty” to the
Outlaws, long considered the state’s dominant motorcycle club.
He was the first Hillsborough employee to be investigated
for gang activity under a series of county ordinances that prohibit membership
in any organization the state or federal government considers criminal,
including the Outlaws St. Petersburg Chapter where Walker was a member.
Arbitrator Charlotte Gold released her ruling in
mid-January, ending a year-long fight by the local chapter of the International
Association of Fire Fighters to save Walker’s job. Her report provided new
insight into biker gang culture within the county’s fire department and
throughout the Tampa Bay area.
“HCFR employees, including chiefs and a fire medic, attended
MC (motorcycle club) events,” Gold wrote, and “many of its members were
ex-military.”
Walker earned a Bronze Star, among other medals and awards,
while in the U.S. Marine Corps. And as a county firefighter he was awarded a
Medal of Valor.
But Walker also had a long disciplinary history and “conducted
himself in a manner that was detrimental to the department,” Gold wrote.
“The conclusion is inescapable that he affected the county’s
standing in the community,’’ Gold wrote in her report. “His behavior ultimately
reflected poorly on the county and his profession in general.”
Walker testified he had resigned from the Outlaws in October
2016, before the county issued a directive prohibiting all employees from
“being a member of or voluntarily participating with any outside gang, as
defined in the FBI’s 2015 National Gang Report.” The ban came two months after
Walker was arrested in Key West for throwing the first punch in a bar fight
that left two employees injured and involved as many as 15 other Outlaws, one
wearing a T-shirt with a swastika on it and others who used racial slurs.
Walker ultimately negotiated a plea deal for the Key West
fight and received a paid suspension from the county for 30 days. He was still
serving that suspension when now-retired Hillsborough County Fire Rescue
Captain James Costa, then president of the Outlaws St. Petersburg chapter, was
shot by members of the rival 69ers Motorcycle Club while riding his motorcycle
in south Hillsborough in July 2017.
According to the report, Costa fired back.
The shooting has since been tied to the shooting death of another Outlaw, Paul
Anderson, in December 2017.
Walker was one of about 10 Outlaws who got a call from Costa
and another Hillsborough County Fire Rescue medic telling them that Costa was
being taken to a medical center in Manatee County with bullet wounds.
Though he
wasn’t on duty, Walker dressed in his Fire Rescue uniform and accompanied Costa
into the hospital, taking his motorcycle vest with Outlaw insignia and
initially refusing to turn it over to law enforcement.
“By wearing his HCFR t-shirt at the hospital, he gained
favor for himself in violation of the county’s uniform regulations,” Gold wrote
in her report. “He then proceeded to place the interests of a friend and mentor
— an individual who continued a strong relationship with a motorcycle gang —
over and above those of law enforcement.”
According to the report, Fire Rescue management has known
about both Walker and Costa’s membership in the Outlaws since about 2008. Costa
joined the Outlaws in 2002, and recruited Walker while working as his
supervisor in Sun City Center’s Fire Station 28.
The new rules, and the ensuing investigation into Walker’s
conduct, happened as a wave of bar brawls, bad behavior and execution-style
killings between rival biker gangs swept across the Tampa Bay area, implicating
firefighters in Hillsborough, Polk and Pasco counties.
Tampa, Florida (January 10, 2019) BTN – Court documents that
were recently made public revealed shocking facts about the 2017 assassination
of Pasco Outlaws motorcycle club leader Paul Anderson, who was shot by rival club members on motorcycles in rush hour traffic.
The execution-style killing
put law enforcement on high alert that a motorcycle club war was brewing. It
also led to numerous arrests. Some of the cases are inching toward trial.
While motorcycle clubs are far from their heyday, they’re
still around in the Tampa Bay area. Many may not realize it, but motorcycle clubs actually have a long and dark history in Tampa Bay that includes
everything from from prostitution and murders to a shootout with deputies at
their old Tampa clubhouse near Busch Gardens.
Who are the Outlaws?
The Outlaws, or American Outlaw Association,are the dominant outlaw motorcycle club in
Florida, and one of the “Big Four” biker clubs in the United States (the others
are Hells Angels, the Pagans and the Bandidos). They are classified as a
violent gang by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Biker culture started to emerge after World War II. The
Outlaws formed in Chicago in 1959 and now have chapters in over two dozen
countries. Most of the members can be found throughout the United States,
Germany, Australia and England.
Florida has been home to various Outlaw chapters since the
1960's, and the club has been active in Tampa as early as the ’70s.The most well-documented Outlaw activity in
the state has taken place in Key West and other parts of South Florida.
Outlaws are identified by “Charlie,” the red and black logo
of a skull over crossed pistons, which appears on member’s uniforms.
To be
initiated a patched member, prospective Outlaws must go through a probation
period that includes coming to meetings, also known as attending church.
According to Times archives, the logo is protected “like a valuable trademark.”
One Florida-based member, Stephen Lemunyon, was even accused of beating a man
nearly to death for falsely claiming association with the logo.
Club membership is limited to men who ride cruiser-stye
motorcycles with engines of 1,000 ccs or more, such as Harley- Davidson.
Women
are seen as property. Outlaws have been known to trade female supporters for
items like drugs and force them into prostitution or topless dancing.
The club’s motto is “God forgives, Outlaws don’t.”
Murders, shootouts, firebombings: A history of the Outlaws in Tampa Bay
Outlaws were suspects in dozens of murder cases throughout
the state in the ’70's and ’80's. But members of the club were skilled in
quieting witnesses, and for decades law enforcement struggled to pin charges on
them.
In the 1990's, federal prosecutors concocted a plan to wipe
out the club for good. Instead of trying to nail down individuals for specific
crimes, prosecutors said the Outlaws' crimes, such as murder and extortion,
were “part of an ongoing criminal conspiracy.” This led to several successful
convictions. But the goal to exterminate the Outlaws failed over and over again
— the club is still present in the area.
Some notable moments from the Outlaws' history in Tampa Bay:
In 1976, law enforcement stopped by the club’s Tampa
headquarters, located about two miles west of Busch Gardens, with a narcotics
search warrant. The visit ended with a shootout. Three Hillsborough sheriff’s
deputies and one Outlaw were shot, and one of the deputies was left paralyzed.
In 1983 and 1988, dozens of club leaders were convicted in
Jacksonville and Fort Lauderdale. One was indicted in 1989 for “threatening to
skin the tattoo off the arm of a rival biker," while another allegedly
disemboweled a person who cooperated with police and threw the corpse into a
lake. Though these busts gutted Outlaw membership, the club maintained active
chapters in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Daytona Beach.
From 1995 to 1997, several cases made Tampa the “epicenter
of Outlaws prosecution,” the Associated Press reported. Federal prosecutors won
convictions or guilty pleas from 30 Outlaws from Tampa Bay and South Florida.
At least 20 were convicted on charges of racketeering, drugs and weapons
charges from ’95 to ’97. During the trial at the end of 1997, prosecutors took
aim at the regional leaders of the club to try to eliminate it.
“They’re like cancer," said Terry Katz of the Maryland
State Police in 1995. “If there are any cells left, it will come back, and
regenerate.”
In 1995, Florida had six Outlaws chapters -- the most out of
any state. Sixteen Outlaws from the Tampa, St. Pete and Daytona Beach chapters
were arrested on charges including racketeering, kidnapping, possessing illegal
weapons, running drugs and firebombing a rival club’s clubhouses.
The list of accusations was long and colorful: Jeffery “Big
Jeff” Hal Sprinkle was accused of purchasing a 15-year-old girl “to be his
personal property.” Tampa Outlaws president Edgar “Troll” Ruof was accused of
shooting a man in the head in North Carolina 20 years prior. Other Outlaws
allegedly hired members of the Bandidos motorcycle club to kill a Tampa police
officer.
According to the Times archives, the 1995 federal trial in
Tampa was one of the most important prosecutions of a biker club in the
country. By the end, a federal jury convicted 14 of 16 members.
In 1996, authorities carried out Operation Silverspoke and
Shovelhead and arrested seven Outlaws on accusations that they were running a
16-year crime scheme. The members were arrested on an 18-count federal
indictment aimed at taking out the upper ranks of the club. Authorities accused
the Outlaws of eight murders, three bombings and 17 drug charges.
St. Petersburg-based Outlaw Christopher Maiale was targeted
for distributing meth and extortion for threats against two people. After the
arrests, U.S. Attorney Charles Wilson said, “We think this eliminates the
Outlaw club as a significant threat to Florida.”
In 1997, four Outlaws went on trial: Maiale, then 36; former
Tampa Outlaws president Clarence “Smitty" Smith, then 53, of Lighthouse
Point; James Evan “Pinball” Agnew, then 45, of Hollywood; and Bobby “Breeze”
Mann, of West Palm Beach. By November, the government had spent nearly $250,000
bringing the case against the Outlaws. The prosecution resulted in four
convictions.
In 2001, international Outlaws leader Harry “Taco” Bowman
received two life sentences plus 83 years in a federal trial in Tampa, toppling
his 20-year reign of absolute power. Bowman became one of the top national and
international leaders of the club in the ‘80's. He was indicted in 1997 and
remained on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list for two years. Authorities
tracked him down while he was visiting family in Detroit in 1999.
Former Outlaws testified against Bowman in exchange for
lighter sentences. A stream of tattooed bikers admitted to blowing up
rival clubhouses and throwing delinquent club members off of motel balconies.
By the end, jurors found Bowman guilty of using clubhouses in St. Petersburg,
Tampa, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Daytona Beach for gang activities. The list
of crimes includes fire bombings, drug trafficking, ordering killings of rival club members, and the transfer of firearms including machine guns and
silencers.
In 2003, Bowman’s successor, James Lee “Frank” Wheeler, was
convicted in U.S. district court in Tampa. He was the second international
Outlaws president to be convicted in Tampa. Wheeler got 16 1/2 years for
racketeering, drug distribution and obstruction of justice. Wheeler’s criminal
record stretches back to 1967. Once again, prosecutors cut deals with former
Outlaws in exchange for information that could be used to put the leader away.
In 2015, a violent shootout involving cops and at least six clubs in
Waco, Texas, left nine bikers dead in a strip mall parking lot and resulted in
the arrest of 177 members. The slayings prompted Tampa Bay Times criminal
justice reporter Dan Sullivan to investigate motorcycle gang culture in Tampa
Bay. He found that biker gangs are still dangerous and widespread in Florida,
though the clubs became more secretive after all of the public attention they
received in previous decades. An expert on biker gangs estimated that Florida
had probably 800-1,000 members. Many have day jobs, from operating strip clubs
to practicing medicine or law.
In September 2016, a bar fight broke out in Key West. About
15 Outlaws members were suspected, including Hillsborough fire rescue medic
Clinton Neal Walker, then 33, of Bradenton.
Walker was arrested and placed on paid administrative leave,
but his actions sparked a series of countywide ordinances that prohibited
Hillsborough County employees from participating in motorcycle clubs or other
gang activity. In a memo, county administrator Mike Merrill said being a member
of a criminal organization was “contrary to the mission of public service.”
Walker had already been placed on administrative leave three
months prior to the Key West fight -- he had joined in another bar fight in May
and brawled with a St. Petersburg police officer.
After the new ordinances were
in place, he became the first county employee to be investigated for gang
activity.
In January 2018, Walker was fired after an internal investigation
revealed he had worn his firefighter uniform while off-duty in order to help
another club member, James Costa, who was shot while riding his bike in July
2017.
Costa was president of the St. Petersburg Outlaws and had recently
retired as a Hillsborough County Fire Rescue captain after the media publicized
his ties to the Outlaws.
December 2017: While idling in his truck at a red light
during rush hour, Cross Bayou Outlaws chapter leader Paul Anderson was executed
by members of a rival gang.
Three members of the 69ers Motorcycle club were arrested on
charges of first-degree murder. According to Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco, Allan
“Big Bee” Guinto had been tracking Anderson in a scout vehicle, while
Christopher Brian “Durty” Cosimano and Michael Dominick “Pumpkin” Mencher
followed on motorcycles. Anderson sat in his vehicle near the Suncoast Parkway
and State 54 interchange.
Cosimano knocked on the truck window to get his
attention before shooting Anderson, deputies said. After the arrests, Nocco said he worried that a war could
erupt between the clubs. “There’s no doubt in my mind there’s going to be more
violence because of this,” Nocco said.
Thousands of bikers showed up for a funeral procession to
honor Anderson.
The three 69ers are still in jail. Two others, Erick “Big E”
Robinson, and Cody “Little Savage” Wesling, were also indicted. If found
guilty, each man would face up to life in prison, Dan Sullivan reported.
The court documents that were recently released showed that
the killing was prompted by a fight at a local brewery between Outlaws and
members of the 69′ers -- who identify their local group as the “Killsborough”
Chapter. The 69′ers were particularly upset because the Outlaws had stolen some
of their uniforms during the fight.
First, the documents state, the 69′ers tried to assassinate
an Outlaws leader by shooting Costa as he drove his Harley across the Sunshine
Skyway Bridge. He was able to escape. Weeks later, the Outlaws clubhouse in St.
Petersburg was destroyed in a fire that the 69′ers are suspected of setting.
Several months later, Anderson was shot and killed.
Times senior researcher John Martin contributed to this
report.
Odessa, Florida (December 31, 2018) BTN — The 69'ers
Motorcycle Club is a nationwide organization whose members pride themselves on
being part of the one percent — that is, the small fraction of bikers who shirk
society’s rules.
In the Tampa area, they called themselves the “Killsborough”
chapter. Inductees adopted names like “Pumpkin” and “Durty” and “Big Beefy.” They nurtured what prosecutors say was a criminal enterprise
focused on narcotics distribution. Last year, according to a federal
indictment, they graduated to murder.
A lone Harley-Davidson Motorcycle belonging to Club member
Their target was Paul Anderson.
Anderson was president of the Cross Bayou chapter of the
Outlaws Motorcycle Club, the predominant one-percenter club in the eastern
United States. Anderson’s brazen slaying in December 2017 during rush hour
on the Suncoast Parkway rattled local law enforcement. Sheriff's officials
warned of more violence.
What authorities didn’t reveal, though, was the story of a
deliberate campaign of violent retribution. That tale has since been spelled
out in court documents and transcripts related to the federal racketeering case
against five members of the 69'ers.
It all started when someone stole a couple of vests.
Allan Burt Guinto was a 69'er. They called him “Big Beefy,”
all 250 pounds of him. In a photograph obtained by law enforcement, the Brandon
man stands in a sleeveless black vest with a miniature Confederate flag behind
him and a long white, semi-circular patch on his side reading, “Killsborough.”
The patch, known as a “rocker” is how one-percenters
identify themselves and their clubs. The vests feature the 69’ers logo — a
red-tongued wolf, and often, an interlocked 6 and 9.
Guinto, 27, and another Killsborough member were wearing
their vests the night of April 18, 2017, when they attended a “bike night” at
the Local Brewing Company restaurant in Palm Harbor.
The Outlaws were there, too. And they didn’t take kindly to
the two 69'ers. The pair suffered a beating from a dozen sets of fists and
boots. Then the Outlaws took their cherished vests, according to court
documents.
Word got back to the other Killsborough members. Christopher
“Durty” Cosimano — their president, according to prosecutors — vowed they would
take the lives of two Outlaws in retaliation for the thefts.
Within a few months, prosecutors said, they made their first
try.
It all happened to James "Jimbo" Costa in the span
of 18 minutes one warm, breezy summer evening as he drove his Harley Davidson motorcycle
south across the Sunshine Skyway Bridge then north on U.S 41 into Hillsborough
County. Costa was a captain and a career firefighter with
Hillsborough County. He was also president of the St. Petersburg chapter of the
Outlaws Motorcycle Club, according to law enforcement. He retired from
firefighting in 2016 after news reports about his involvement with the club.
On July 25, 2017, he donned his black leather vest with the
Outlaws' logo — a skull and crossed pistons — and left a meeting in Pinellas
County.
A photograph shows Costa entering the Skyway at 11:14 p.m.
Fourteen seconds later, a white Chevrolet van appeared behind him. The van,
investigators learned, was registered to Cosimano, according to court records. Costa crossed the Hillsborough County line just before 11:32
p.m. and the van sped past. Someone inside fired a gun.
The van made a U-turn, Costa later told sheriff’s deputies,
then more gunshots. Costa ran, bleeding, to a nearby trailer park and called
911. Sheriff’s deputies used the bridge toll records to identify
Cosimano’s van. Deputies took DNA swabs and fingerprints from inside, but made
no arrests. Six days later, Pasco County Sheriff's Office investigators
wrote in a search warrant affidavit that Cosimano planned to assassinate Paul
Anderson.
Sheriff's deputies visited Anderson at home. They told him
they had heard about a hit placed on him. Anderson didn't seem surprised. "Paul advised there were a lot of people that wanted to
kill an Outlaw," according to the affidavit. He repeatedly denied knowing Cosimano, but still had a
message for him. "Tell him good luck," Anderson said, according to
the affidavit.
Deputies also interviewed Cosimano, but he denied knowing
Anderson or plotting against him, the affidavit said. Almost four weeks later, the Outlaws clubhouse in St.
Petersburg went up in flames. Footage played on TV news shows a fireball
engulfing the two-story stucco building on 18th Avenue S. In federal court
documents, prosecutors say Cosimano and Guinto set the blaze. On Dec. 21, 2017, Paul Anderson rode north in his pickup
truck along the Suncoast Parkway.
Department of Transportation toll cameras captured him at
4:53 p.m. as he cruised down the exit ramp to State Road 54. Seconds later, the
same cameras spotted two men on motorcycles, both with their license tags
covered. The riders wore black, their faces covered in bandanas and sunglasses.
One man wore a glossy German military-style helmet. They pulled up on either
side of Anderson's truck as he stopped at a traffic light, waiting to turn
left.
The helmeted man stepped off the bike, walked to the
driver's window and tapped on the glass. Then, before a handful of rush-hour
drivers, he pulled a gun. Bullets shattered the truck's windows. Anderson was
shot five times.
Images of the bikers saturated local news and
prompted a confidential informer to call law enforcement.
The informer told investigators Guinto contacted him after
the murder and asked for help getting rid of the gun. Investigators later
equipped the informer with a hidden camera, which he used to secretly record a
conversation with Guinto. Guinto admitted he had been in a car behind Anderson's truck
before the shooting, according to an arrest affidavit. He said he'd watched
Cosimano shoot Anderson, and that a second man, Michael "Pumpkin" Mencher,
52, was standing by in case anything went wrong. He said he was proud of the
killers, according to the affidavit. Federal agents already had reason to suspect the 69'ers.
Hours after the assassination, they set up surveillance on a
Riverview home rented to Erick "Big E" Robinson, 46. They reported
hearing mechanical sounds, which they suspected to be gang members taking
motorcycles apart. Mencher was later seen leaving the home on one of the two
motorcycles in the Suncoast Parkway surveillance images, investigators said.
They later searched the home and found the second bike, ridden by Cosimano,
they said.
Both bikes had been modified to make them less identifiable,
prosecutors said.
Within days, Cosimano, Mencher and Guinto were arrested.
Months later came a federal indictment alleging murder in the aid of a
racketeering and narcotics conspiracy, among other charges. The indictment
roped in Robinson, whom prosecutors said was in the car with Guinto and helped
dispose of evidence, and a fifth man, Cody "Little Savage" Wesling,
said to be directly behind Anderson's truck. Wesling, 28, was a "prospect," who was seeking to
become a full member of the 69'ers. Before his arrest, he was also a Polk
County firefighter.
Prosecutors discussed seeking the death penalty for the
group but ultimately ruled it out.
All five men remain jailed. If found guilty, each faces up
to life in prison.
Halifax, Nova Scotia (December 21, 2018) BTN — The Hells
Angels have re-established an evolving presence in Atlantic Canada, although
experts say they have not expanded their roster of full-patch members since
first reappearing in the region more than two years ago.
Police and organized crime experts say it's not clear why
the country's most powerful motorcycle club has not found any local prospects
worthy of full membership, but confirm the Angels are retrenching after their
former Halifax chapter was smashed by police in 2001.
Stephen Schneider, a criminology professor at Saint Mary's
University who has written extensively on organized crime, believes the
establishment of a new puppet club in the last year -- the Red Devils -- is a
significant sign of intent.
"The Red Devils is pretty much their sort of AAA
affiliate club internationally," said Schneider. "So this is a signal
that the Hells Angels have not given up and that they are really serious about
their presence in Atlantic Canada."
The Red Devils have set up chapters in Moncton, N.B., and in
Halifax.
The members of the Halifax Red Devils chapter, which was set
up in July, were recruited from two other motorcycle clubs, the Gatekeepers and the
Darksiders, according to RCMP Staff Sgt. Guylaine Cottreau of the Criminal
Intelligence Service Nova Scotia.
"They were known to the Hells Angels and they came from
the already existing support clubs," said Cottreau. "We have no Hells
Angels prospects ... but they still have a good footprint in the province with
their support clubs."
Cottreau said there had been a Nova Scotia prospects
chapter, but it fell below six members this fall, and they've since become
prospects for the Hells Angels in New Brunswick, where a Hells Angels Nomads
club includes some full patch members that were transplanted to that province.
She said in addition to the Red Devils, Nova Scotia has a
series of other motorcycle clubs, including Darksiders clubs in Dartmouth and the
Annapolis Valley, Sedition clubs in Fall River and Weymouth, and Highlanders
clubs in Antigonish, Pictou County, and Cape Breton.
Experts believe the Angels are looking to expand territory
and crack the drug trade in a region with several thousand kilometres of
coastline, which makes it easier to import drugs.
The only so-called group of one percenters -- the elite
outlaw bikers -- in Nova Scotia is the Bacchus Motorcycle Club, which appears
to have reached a detente region-wide with the Angels. It was also declared a
criminal organization in a July ruling by a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge --
a move that has the potential to put a damper on its activities because it
establishes tougher sentencing for crimes carried out to benefit the club.
Meanwhile, a traditional rival group for the Hells Angels,
the Outlaws, has also pushed into the region with support clubs known as the
Black Pistons in Fredericton and in Sydney, N.S., where they set up shop
earlier this year.
The Outlaws and Bacchus also operate in Newfoundland, along
with several Hells Angels support clubs.
"Right now it is peaceful, however they (Outlaws MC) are
the main rival group to the Hells Angels so there is potential there (for
violence)," Cottreau said.
Schneider said he finds it surprising that the Outlaws MC are
trying to move into Atlantic Canada after failing to emerge as a significant
threat to the Hells Angels in Ontario. "They have chutzpah I'll give them that,"
Schneider said. "They are still in there battling and trying to establish
territory."
In Prince Edward Island there are two Bacchus club chapters
and one affiliate chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club. RCMP Cpl. Andy Cook said the Hells Angels are down to six prospect
members from 10 in P.E.I. and none of the bikers are full-patch. He said
stepped up police enforcement likely led to some members leaving the club.
"Some of the incidents were probably not very
attractive to the Hells Angels who are frequently trying to portray themselves
in a positive light in the media," he said.
While it's believed the Port of Halifax is the main prize
coveted by the Angels, police say they're not aware of any activity there. Schneider, who recently completed a study for the federal
government on organized crime in marine ports, said he hasn't seen any direct
evidence either.
"I didn't see any known Hells Angels members working on
the docks in Halifax, but that's not saying they aren't, or there aren't
associates," he said.
Schneider said the Angels' influence has suffered setbacks
through police enforcement actions such as the arrest in July of prominent New
Brunswick member Emery Martin on 10 drug-related offences. However he believes
it was the success of a crackdown years before against the motorcycle club in
Quebec that has had the most impact.
In April 2009, Operation SharQc resulted in 156 arrests and
the closure of several of the biker gang's clubhouses, however many of the
court cases eventually fell through and Schneider said the Hells Angels have
seen a resurgence in Quebec that has implications for the Atlantic region.
"They are in a better position to help Atlantic Canada
establish chapters and puppet clubs. Having the Red Devils set up in Moncton is
significant because they are a Tier 1 puppet group that has long been
associated with the Montreal chapter of the Hells Angels."
Cottreau said police are aware of the emerging threat and
observed a Quebec Hells Angels presence in the region over the summer.
She said police will move to enforce the law against the
Angels where and when they can.
"We are trying to disrupt and dismantle them but it is
a big task. They are a pretty well established organization."
