Motorcycle Club Leaders Arrested

Auckland, New Zealand (December 2, 2020) - Senior leaders of the Comanchero MC and The Rebels MC have been arrested and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash seized following a raft of armed police raids across Auckland and Christchurch.

Police have arrested 12 more people today as part of Operation Cincinnati and located drugs, some of which was ready for sale, and a shotgun after executing 24 search warrants

Police searched 21 properties across Auckland and three in Christchurch

New Zealand Customs staff, Armed Offenders Squad members, Asset Recovery Unit and Police Dog Section staff assisted police with the searches. 

It follows the first phase of Operation Cincinnati in October when 26 people were arrested and kilos of drugs was seized, along with multiple firearms and more than $10 million in assets.

Police said the nine-month investigation, run by the National Organised Crime Group, targeted a core group that are alleged to be involved in the importation, distribution and manufacture of methamphetamine and MDMA, and other drugs in the two cities.

Today’s arrests include a leader of the Comanchero MC, who allegedly formed a partnership with a senior member of The Rebels MC in Christchurch, with both allegedly running drug distribution networks in their areas, police said in a statement. 

A further 10 motorcycle clubs members and their associates have also been arrested in relation to their alleged roles in the network, which saw drugs and cash transported between the two cities, police said.

National Organised Crime Group acting Detective Inspector John Brunton said police were determined to target the leaders and key members of these “criminal gangs” involved in illicit drug distribution, intimidation and violence.

“We want to reduce the harm these gangs are causing in our communities,” he said. “I also want to acknowledge the great work carried out by the Operation Cincinnati team, who are committed to preventing organised crime of any sort impacting on our communities.”

Those arrested today are aged between 20 and 42 and will appear in Auckland District Court in the coming days on various drugs-related charges.

SOURCE: ExBulletin 

Bandidos Clubhouse Search Results in Charges

Devonport, Australia (December 2, 2020) - Three members of the Bandidos motorcycle club have been charged following a search of their clubhouse in East Devonport yesterday. 

Police conducted a search at the clubhouse where a quantity of stolen property, a firearm, ammunition and a small quantity of drugs have been located. 

As a result of the search a 36 year old man, a 33 year old man and 25 year old man who are all members of the Bandidos motorcycle club have been charged with a number of offences including consorting, wear prohibited insignia and contravene the conditions of a notice.

The 25 year old man has been bailed to appear in the Devonport Magistrates Court on 19 January 2021. The 36 year old man and the 33 year old man have been held for court.

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Mongols MC Boss Granted Bail

Melbourne, Australia (November 26, 2020) - The head of a Melbourne Mongols MC already out on bail has been granted it again after he was arrested today. Mongols boss Toby Mitchell was arrested by the Echo Taskforce following an incident that took place in Melbourne on November 15 event. He was knocked unconscious during an early hours brawl at Queens Bridge Square in Southbank.

Earlier in the night he had been partying at Soho Bar. CCTV footage shows Mitchell walking with a group of friends along the Southbank promenade and engaging in a verbal altercation with a man sitting on the ground who he then punched in the face twice. 

Mitchell was pulled away by his group of friends, but he approached that man again and that’s when the he was struck unconscious. The Mongols leader was charged with affray and committing an indictable offence while on bail. He faced the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court via video link, and was granted bail for the second time in less than eight weeks today. The leader was in court last month, also on assault charges but released on bail. 

Toby Mitchell

The alleged serious assault occurred outside a cafe on Domain Road in South Yarra on October 4. Police allege he struck the male to the head three times. As part of his bail conditions Mr Mitchell was not to associate with any members of the Mongols. 

SOURCE: 9News

Hells Angel Member Faces Gambling Charge

Burnaby, B.C., Canada (November 26, 2020) - A full-patch member of the Hells Angels motorcycle club and three other men have been charged with illegal gambling after an investigation by B.C.’s anti-gang agency. The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit searched Big Shots Café, at 3980 East Hastings St. in Burnaby, on July 4, area residents said.

This week, a charge of being “found in a common gaming or betting house” was laid against café owner Francisco Batista Pires, as well as Jay Arnold Franco, Richard William Kosterman and Andrew David MacFarlane. Pires is a longtime Hells Angel member, currently with the Nomads chapter. 

The provincial court database confirmed that Pires appeared in Vancouver provincial court Wednesday on the charge. The other three accused are scheduled to appear on Friday. CFSEU’s media officer, Sgt. Brenda Winpenny, said Wednesday that she couldn’t yet comment on the case.

The date of the alleged offence is June 18, 2020. Sources say the charge relates to illegal gambling that, allegedly, was going on in the back of the business.

Corporate records indicate that Pires incorporated Big Shots on June 10, 2004 with another man. The second director was replaced by Hells Angel member Rob Alvarez on January 1, 2005, the records state. Alvarez ceased being a director on June 8, 2008, though the City of Burnaby 2020 business licence lists both Pires and Alvarez as café operators.

An earlier drug trafficking conviction of Pires was cited in a recent B.C. Supreme Court ruling against the director of civil forfeiture’s attempt to get three Hells Angels clubhouses forfeited as instruments of criminal activity.

Justice Barry Davies accepted that Pires and others had used the East End clubhouse for trafficking on three occasions, but said that alone “does not establish that the East End Clubhouse was used in the past as an instrument of unlawful activity.”  The B.C. Civil Forfeiture Office is appealing Davies ruling, which allowed the them to retain control of the East End and Kelowna clubhouses and returned the Nanaimo clubhouse to the local chapter.

Pires, now 57, and Hells Angel member Ronaldo Lising were convicted in 2001 of conspiracy to traffic cocaine and sentenced to 4½ years in jail. They appealed and lost, first in the B.C. Court of Appeal and in November 2005 in the Supreme Court of Canada.

At their 2001 sentencing, Justice Kenneth Smith found the two men were joint operators of a wholesale cocaine business that supplied two well-known Vancouver strip bars. He said the two bikers were “criminals in the true sense” because they walked down a criminal path “deliberately and for selfish reasons.”

SOURCE: Vancouver Sun