FBI investigating Pagans MC bar fight

Pittsburgh, PA (November 20, 2018) BTN — The district attorney of Allegheny County has questions about several undercover Pittsburgh police officers who got in a drunken brawl while on the job. Last week, Stephen Zappala decided to withdraw all criminal charges against the members of the Pagan Motorcycle Club.

Bar fight scene at Kopy's Bar

The fight, which was caught on surveillance video on Oct. 12 at Kopy’s Bar, involved members of the Pagan Motorcycle Club and undercover officers.

Related | Charges dropped against Pagans MC members in  bar fight

Related | District Attorney: Police not submitting evidence against Pagans MC in bar fight

Related | Pittsburgh Mayor defends drunken cops who started fight with Pagans MC members

Related | Pagans MC: Bar owner says cops would not leave MCmembers alone

Related | Pagans MC: District attorney waits on critical info from cops 

Related | Pagans MC: Attorneys say new video shows cops started bar fight 

Related | Pagans MC: The cops were drunk and started the fight

The Federal Bureau of Investigation along with the Citizens Police Review Board are  investigating the incident. "We had a lot of questions and not a lot of answers. I don't think they committed a crime," Zappala said.The cops that were involved are still on duty.



SOURCE: WPXI

Cop's claim their winning the war on Bikies

Queensland, Australia (November 19, 2018) BTN — Police claim they are winning the war on bikies, but they admit the motorcycle clubs will never be completely defeated. As the second anniversary of the Labor Government’s revamped anti-gang laws looms, the state’s bikie-busting top cop says bikie bosses are handing in their colours and fleeing the state.

A member of the Mongols MC stands with his motorcycle

Detective Superintendent Roger Lowe revealed police were providing protection for bikies wanting to leave violent gangs. “Patched” gang membership across the state has plummeted from 1158 in 2013, when the Newman Government ushered in the controversial VLAD laws in response to the infamous Broadbeach bikie brawl, to about 700 now. Supt Lowe, who heads the Organised Crime Gangs Group, says police are using the new legislation to score significant victories in the ongoing battle with bikies involved in violence and drug trafficking. Hundreds of bikies have been charged or hit with criminal consorting notices which could see them jailed for three years. Ten have been charged with habitual consorting.

Taskforce Maxima boss Supt Roger Lowe

More than 50 gang members have been charged with participating in a criminal organisation, which carries a mandatory seven-year jail term. Supt Lowe said police were using the anti-consorting laws to launch pre-emptive strikes against the gangs, while the ban on bikies wearing colours had taken away one of their main lifestyle lures – the ability to flaunt gang membership and intimidate the public.

More than 30 bikies have been charged with wearing gang paraphernalia in public. “The fact that they can’t ride (as patched bikies), they can’t have clubhouses and can’t wear their colours is a significant victory for the community,” Supt Lowe said. “There’s not that overt presence any longer that causes fear and concern to the public. “They can’t be in licensed premises or standing out the front causing fear and intimidation.” Supt Lowe said raids targeting the Rebels bikie gang in Mount Isa earlier this year had led to the club president handing in his colours and leaving town.

Not even jailed bikies are escaping attention, with a Mongols member recently charged with trying to recruit new members behind bars. “(Bikies) still exist in Queensland, I don’t think they’ll ever go away,” Supt Lowe conceded. “But our absolute main objective is limiting their ability to expand and be involved in serious and organised crime ... we’ve made some terrific inroads.”

 SOURCE: The Courier Mail

Hells Angel MC member found dead under bridge

Vancouver, British Columbia (November 19, 2018) BTN —  A full-patch Hells Angel MC member with the Hellside Chapter was found murdered under the Golden Ears Bridge Sunday.

Chad Wilson, a former Hells Angel in San Diego, then Haney, joined the clubs’s newest chapter when it formed last year. Some of his buddies had reported him missing the night before his body was found in the 20000-block of Wharf Street, Postmedia has learned.

Hardside chapter of the Hells Angels, From left, Chad Wilson (formerly of the Haney chapter); Suminder Grewal (formerly of the Haney chapter); and Jamie Yochlowitz (formerly of the Vancouver chapter)

Related | BREAKING: Hells Angels MC on scene after body found under bridge  

Firefighters were first called to the scene about 11:30 a.m. Sunday. They immediately called in the Mounties when they found Wilson’s body.

Friends of Wilson’s, wearing their death head patched Hells Angels vests, soon showed up at the scene.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is working with Ridge Meadows RCMP on the case.

Wilson’s name had not yet been released by police, but fellow bikers and family were already paying tribute to the dead 43-year-old on Sunday night. Wilson was a high-profile and popular member of the Hells Angels and his murder is expected to increase the volatility in the Lower Mainland motorcycle club landscape.

Police are saying only that Wilson’s death was targeted and that he was known to police.

In fact, he was known to police in several parts of the world.

In 2013, Wilson was charged in Spain with B.C. Hells Angel Jason Arkinstall and two associates after police there seized half a tonne of cocaine from a sailboat that had arrived from Colombia.

The Spanish government said one of the B.C. bikers was on the vessel, while the others were waiting in Spain. They were arrested in a restaurant in Pontevedra, a port in the northwest of Spain.

Officials said the drug conspiracy was linked to a member of the San Diego chapter of the Hells Angels – the same chapter that Wilson had joined as a prospect on Jan. 28, 2005. Wilson became a full-patch Hells Angel a year later on Jan. 28, 2006.

Within a few months he was sitting in a jail cell in South Dakota, charged along with fellow HA member John Midmore, with attempted murder for an Aug. 8, 2006 gunfight with members of the rival Outlaws biker club.

Several bikers and passersby were struck. One Outlaw was paralyzed by Wilson.

But both he and Midmore claimed self-defence and were later acquitted.

Video on the Hells Angels put out by the Vancouver Sun

Wilson, however, pleaded guilty in April 2009 of being an alien in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to four years in jail.

In his letter to the judge, Wilson claimed that he would have been killed if he had not shot at the Outlaws when he did.

“To have to go through this nightmare I have been through for the past 983 days…to have people people think I am somehow at fault for the extreme injuries that not just Mr. Neale, but others suffered as well – psychological and physical – that is just outright wrong to do to me,” Wilson complained. “Don’t think for one second that I don’t live with the nightmare in my head.”

He said he had replayed the events that led to the shootout “over and over again in my head.”

“I come up with the same answer every time. If I did not have a gun that day – Auig. 8, 2006 – and I did not shoot back, I would be DEAD!!” he said. “This situation was 100% out of my control. I have the right to defend myself. I want to go home. I have everything great waiting for me, my drilling job, my kids, my wife and my dog and the number one thing, my LIFE!!”

He said being in jail is “true hell that I’ve been through.”

SOURCE: Vancouver Sun

Probate

What happens when you go to sleep at a party

BREAKING: Hells Angels MC on scene after body found under bridge

Vancouver, British Columbia (November 18, 2018) BTN —Police are on scene after a body was discovered beneath the Golden Ears Bridge in Maple Ridge Sunday. The discovery was made just before 11:30 a.m. at Wharf Street and Hazelwood Street.

Police and Firefighters on scene 

RCMP and firefighters have responded and several men wearing Hells Angels insignia are on scene.

Body found beneath the Golden Ears Bridge in #MapleRidge
Posted by The Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News on Sunday, November 18, 2018

More to follow: Surrey Now Reader

Police raid locations targeting motorcycle club members

Montreal, Canada (November 16, 2018) BTN — An anti-drug operation involving five police forces and targeting a motorcycle club linked to the Hells Angels MC saw 14 arrests and as many raids carried out Thursday as part of an investigation sparked by a string of fentanyl overdose deaths in 2017.

Officers from Quebec City, Granby and Laval are also involved in the operation.

Montreal police say there were 12 raids carried out in Montreal, including at a car parts shop on Henri-Bourassa Blvd. E. in Montréal-Est, while two sites were raided in Laval. The focus of the raids was the Minotaures West-Montreal, a motorcycle club affiliated with the Hells Angels that was formed last year.

Members of the support club are alleged to have headed a network that trafficked in cocaine and heroin even though the Hells Angels MC worldwide have a long-established internal rule that states: “All contact or use of heroin is strictly forbidden.”

  

Police officers seized 50 pounds of marijuana, 11 kilograms of cocaine, 75 grams of heroin and roughly 600,000 methamphetamine pills. They also seized an AK47 assault rifle, seven other types of firearms, $122,460 in cash as well as clothing and other items bearing the Minotaures MC logo, the horned head of the beast from Greek mythology.

According to a release issued by the Montreal police, the 14 arrests made on Thursday were part of a long investigation through which 20 other people have already been charged in the past. 

The people arrested on Thursday are expected to appear in court on Friday.

Officers from Quebec City, Granby and Laval are also involved in the operation.

SOURCE: Montreal Gazette 

Devils Diciples MC: Michigan members sentenced to prison

Detroit, MI (November 15, 2018) BTN— The former national president of the Devils Diciples Motorcycle Club, Jeff Garvin Smith, aka “Fat Dog,” was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison.

According to court documents, Smith, 64, of Mount Clemens, was convicted along with the national vice president and national warlord, and three others, for their participation in various criminal acts, including RICO, violent crimes in aid of racketeering, methamphetamine production and trafficking, illegal firearms offenses, obstruction of justice, subornation of perjury and other federal offenses.

“The life sentence imposed on this defendant is a clear indication of the seriousness of the violence he engaged in and how committed the law enforcement community is to stop this kind of organized violence,” said Special Agent in Charge Timothy R. Slater, Detroit Division of the FBI.

“The FBI, our state and local partners and the U.S. Attorney’s offices across the region will not rest until all who would harm the peace and safety of our residents are brought to justice, regardless of where those threats originate."

Awaiting sentencing are four remaining defendants, three from Michigan, who were found guilty by a jury of engaging in a RICO conspiracy, methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct justice, violent crimes in aid of racketeering and various substantive charges.

Those individuals include National Vice President Paul Anthony Darrah, of Macomb Township, Victor Castano, of St. Clair Shores, and David Randy Drozdowski, of Fair Haven, Michigan.

Drozdowski was separately found guilty by a jury of committing violent crimes in aid of racketeering and being a felon in possession of ammunition, while Castano was separately found guilty of obstruction of justice and subornation of perjury.

According to evidence presented at these trials, the Devils Diciples (which is intentionally misspelled) is a motorcycle club with its national headquarters in Clinton Township. For decades, the Devils Diciples operated regional chapters in cities throughout Michigan, Alabama, Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, and engaged in criminal activities to protect the enterprise and for financial gain.

Prosecutors said members are required to own Harley-Davidson motorcycles and are required to follow orders from the clubs’s leadership, including orders to assault, threaten and intimidate others, to transport and distribute drugs, to lie to law enforcement and to hide or destroy evidence.

According to evidence presented at trial, Smith and Darrah were responsible for overall management of the activities of the other Devils Diciples members and chapters, including giving final approval to any activity generally affecting the club as a whole and a individuals, including members and associates of the club, were beaten and robbed, and Smith also participated in this activity directly.

In addition to the four trial defendants sentenced recently, over 50 members and associates of the Devil’s Diciples have pleaded guilty to various crimes as result of this investigation. The investigation further resulted in the seizure of more than 60 firearms and more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition and the dismantling of eight methamphetamine manufacturing laboratories across the country.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the Michigan State Police, the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office and the County of Macomb Enforcement Team, with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office.

SOURCE: Click on Detroit

Hells Angels member and wife sentenced to death

Perth, Thailand (November 15, 2018) — A Perth father turned Hells Angels MC member and drugs trafficker and his wife have been sentenced to death in Thailand over a failed bid to smuggle half a tonne of crystal meth-amphetamine through the country to Australia.

Luke Joshua Cook, 35, and his Thai wife Kanyarat Wechapitak were arrested in December at Bangkok International Airport when he returned on a flight from Australia after local police linked him to a plot to import meth into Thailand two years earlier.

The Thai courts sentenced the pair to death for the plan to traffic the crystal meth, also known as ice, with an estimated street value of $300 million. Their sentences are expected to be commuted to life in jail.

Assets linked to the pair worth $800,000 including property, cash and cars are to be forfeited.

Veneer of boats, bars and baht fell apart in Thailand for Perth man Luke Cook. Cook, who is believed to have two children, was born in Duncraig in 1983 and spent part of his childhood in New Zealand and Papua New Guinea before returning to WA as a teenager.

According to a CV he posted on LinkedIn, from mid-2003 he spent several years working as a chef in fly-in, fly-out positions around WA including on a fishing boat and at mine sites, as well as at the Christmas Island immigration detention centre. After meeting his future wife online, he moved to Thailand where he bought a bar in the beach resort town of Pattaya, set up a business importing boats and marine parts and joined the Pattaya branch of the Hells Angels.

Police said that in 2015, Cook took a yacht into international waters off the Thai coast to collect 500kg of meth from a Chinese trawler. The illicit cargo was dumped overboard after the Thai Coast Guard came across the boat on its way back to port.

Although the patrol boat saw a man throwing bags over the side, he escaped in the dim, early-morning light. Four sacks containing about 50kg of the meth were found washed ashore on Mae Ramphueng Beach in Rayong province.

Thai authorities said Cook was given $15 million by high-ranking Australian Hells Angels bikie Wayne Schneider to buy and store the drugs for later shipment to Australia.

After the failed delivery, Schneider — a fugitive who was wanted in Australia on multiple warrants and was deemed at the time to be the biggest importer of narcotics into Australia — demanded his money back. He was murdered in November 2015 by members of his gang, his naked and mutilated body found in a shallow grave by the side of a road in Pattaya.

Cook was convicted and handed a suspended sentence over his involvement in the Schneider murder after trying to help former Sydney gangster Antonio Bagnato flee the country and cross the border to Cambodia. Bagnato was arrested, found guilty and sentenced to death over the murder but the sentence was later commuted to life in prison.

The Department of Foreign Affairs yesterday declined to comment on Cook’s sentencing citing privacy reasons.

Luke Joshua Cook, 35, and his Thai wife Kanyarat Wechapitak

A spokeswoman confirmed “the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to an Australian in Thailand”.

An Australian Federal Police spokesman said that it was not appropriate to comment as it was a matter for the Thai authorities. “The AFP was briefed in relation to this matter following the arrest by Thai authorities,” he said yesterday. “The AFP had no involvement in the Thai investigation that resulted in this man’s arrest and subsequent conviction.”

The arrest of Cook and his 40-year-old wife in December was part of a series of raids by the Thai police in an operation dubbed Clipping The Wings Of Angels as it sought to smash Australian Outlaw Motorcycle Gang-led bikie chapters in Thailand. Several Australians were arrested and deported and at least two remain on the run.

Thai police said the Australian men were involved in drugs, extortion, money laundering, weapons, human trafficking for the sex industry and posed a national threat to security.

An investigation last year found that in Thailand alone, 36 motorcycle club chapters had been established by Australian-led or affiliated gang members, particularly around tourist resort cities of Pattaya, Phuket and Chiang Mai and the capital Bangkok.

Chapters have also been established in Indonesia, Cambodia and Singapore.

SOURCE: The West Australian