Dutch Bans Hells Angels MC

Utrecht, Netherlands (May 29, 2019) BTN — Dutch judges on Wednesday banned the motorcycle club Hells Angels and ordered all its chapters to close in the Netherlands, as authorities continue a clampdown on so-called outlaw motorcycle clubs.

"The Hells Angels is a danger to the public order," the court in the central Dutch city of Utrecht ruled.

"The Hells Angels sees itself as a one-percenter club, a club of outlaws," said the court, citing a slogan used by motorcycle clubs rejecting the authority of national laws or societal norms.

"It's a club where there's a culture of lawlessness and the authorities are kept outside their doors," the court added in a statement.

The court referred to a number of patches or so-called "colours" on the cut-off vests of the Hells Angels, called "cuts", saying "they are handed out to members who commit (serious) violence."

"The Hells Angels' profile is that of the largest and most powerful motorbike club. They believe other clubs should listen to them and that leads to long-running conflicts."

Dutch prosecutors, who have been trying for more than a decade to get the club banned, referred to an incident in the southern town of Kerkrade where a cafe frequented by rival motorcycle club, Bandidos MC was set on fire in 2015.


In another incident the following year, Hells Angels were involved in a massive brawl in the restaurant of a Rotterdam hotel, allegedly with members of another rival club. Shots were fired.

"These incidents portray an image of violence by and against the Hells Angels," the court said.

The banning of the club founded in the late 1940s in California, is the latest in attempts by Dutch authorities to shut down motorcycle clubs often involved in crimes such as drug and arms trafficking.

The same court in Utrecht in 2017 banned the Hells Angels' arch-rivals, the Bandidos, for similar reasons.

Judges also banned homegrown club Satudarah last year, saying it too "has been involved for many years in criminal activities including violence against other motorcycle clubs, manufacturing and trafficking in narcotics, the illegal possession of weapons and extortion."

SOURCE: DutchNews.nl

Firefighter fired because of Hells Angels membership

Amsterdam, Netherlands (May 23, 2019) BTN — An Amsterdam firefighter was fired for the first time because he is a member of a controversial motorcycle club, the Hells Angels. According to fire brigade commander Schaap, this is incompatible with a public function. The Hells Angels are not prohibited in the Netherlands, but there is a lawsuit against them.

Commander Schaap said last year that members of motorcycle clubs do not belong in a fire department. At that time it was not yet certain whether they could be expelled from the corps, such as with the police. "Membership of a motorcycle club does not mean that you cannot extinguish a fire," it was said. That is why he investigated what can be done about it.

Letter of resignation

Het Parool has the letter of resignation in which it says: "We find it undesirable that you are knowingly and unknowingly in environments with persons whom you can know that they are committing more or less structural crimes, advocating for it or publicly expressing it. " The board believes that employees should realize that they are part of the Amsterdam-Amstelland Fire Brigade 24 hours a day.

The dismissed man has been a member of the Hells Angels for around twenty years and has been working for more than 25 years with the fire department. He finds his dismissal unfair and therefore goes to court.

His lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops calls it very careless that the letter of resignation has been leaked to the press. The letter is sensitive to privacy and that is why the firefighter was surprised to see him partially in Het Parool this morning. In addition, Knoops finds the argumentation wrong. "The man has had an excellent track record all these years."

Strategy

The lawyer also finds the timing very remarkable. Next week's verdict in the lawsuit against the Hells Angels. "It seems like a strategy to put the Hells Angels in a bad light."

The Dutch Ministry of Defense announced yesterday that their declaration of conduct is being withdrawn because they have links with motorcycle clubs such as Satudarah or the Hells Angels. There is a good chance that this will lead to their dismissal.

SOURCE: NOS

Police on alert as Hells Angels come to town

Surrey, South East England (May 22, 2019) BTN — Up to 3,000 Hells Angels motorcycle club members  are expected in East Surrey for a three-day event culminating in a 700 motorcycle ride out to Brighton.

The ride out, which is the culmination of Hells Angels Motorcycle Club's (HAMC) ‘Euro Run’, is expected to cause major disruption in East Surrey and Sussex on Saturday June 1 while police have also warned motorists to expect a large number of bikers in the area for the duration of the event.

It is the first time the three-day event, between May 30 and June 1, has been held in the UK and is being done so to mark the 50th anniversary of the HAMC in the country.

Officers from Surrey Police and Sussex Police have had leave and rest days cancelled to cover the event, and others, in what is set to be an extremely busy week for police.


Assistant Chief Constable Nev Kemp, who is leading policing operations for both Surrey and Sussex during the period, said: “We are approaching an incredibly busy time with lots going on and thousands of visitors expected across both counties.

SOURCE: Surrey Live

Cafe shut down after fight between rival clubs

Plainville, Connecticut, USA (May 22, 2019) BTN — Central Café has been ordered to close indefinitely after police say a fight broke out between two motorcycle clubs, resulting in motorcyclists fleeing the scene in an unsafe manner.

Plainville Police Chief Matthew Catania reported that two similar incidents have occurred at the bar recently and stated that “it is not likely that we have seen the last of this type of behavior at this location,” according to a letter to restaurant permittee Shirley Papallo from Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle Seagull.

“Based upon the foregoing, DCP finds that public health, safety and welfare imperatively requires emergency action … and orders your café liquor permit suspended immediately and premises closed,” Seagull wrote in the letter. Papallo did not immediately respond to email requests for comment.

The incident Catania referred to occurred on May 16, 2019, when police responded to a fight at Central Café, 54 West Main St.

The letter says “Up to twenty motorcyclists were observed fleeing the premises at high rates of speed and driving over lawns, driving down the wrong side of the road, and driving around other vehicles in an unsafe manner, all while disobeying officers’ signals.”

Police noted that some of the individuals were seen wearing leather jackets and vests indicating membership in the two motorcycle clubs the “Diablos MC” and the “Outlaws MC.”

Inside the bar, one patron was found bleeding from a deep laceration on his head and a human bite on his arm. He refused to provide police with information beyond saying he was hanging out before being “jumped.” A second patron police believe to be an associate of the Outlaws MC was bleeding slightly from a head laceration and refused to cooperate with police.


The letter says an anonymous source told police that members of the Outlaws MC were on the outside patio when a “significant number of Diablos MC members” pulled into the parking lot and attacked the Outlaws.

All available officers were called to secure the building, where several Outlaws MC members remained, yelling obscenities at police. Upon more suspected Diablos arriving and watching police from the road, mutual aid from three surrounding towns was requested.

In an email Catania wrote to Town Manager Robert Lee, which is quoted in Seagull’s letter, he wrote, “It is common knowledge at this point that (Central Café manager Robert Papallo) has friends in the Outlaws motorcycle gang. His actual involvement with the gang has yet to be determined.”

SOURCE: WFSB News

Club member found dead

Detroit, Michigan, USA (May 21, 2019) BTN — Police are investigating a man's death at a motorcycle club Tuesday morning on Detroit's west side.

Detroit Gentlemen Motorcycle Clubhouse 

It was about 10:50 a.m. when the victim, described as "older," was found dead inside Detroit Gentlemen Motorcycle Club on the 14800 block of Grand River, said Latrice Crawford, a Detroit Police Department spokeswoman.


The victim was found with a gunshot wound, lying dead in a pool of blood. A motorcycle believed to have belonged to the victim was found on fire, parked behind the club.

SOURCE: The Detroit News

Hells Angels MC members arrested

Lisbon, Portugal (May 21, 2019) BTN - Portuguese police arrested 17 members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club on Tuesday on suspicion of organised crime activity, authorities said.

Around 150 officers, including anti-terrorism personnel, took part in raids on homes and commercial establishments across Portugal, the Judiciary Police (PJ) said in a statement.

TV channel SIC reported homes were searched in the capital Lisbon, the country’s north and the Algarve in the south where thousands of bikers gather every year for an international motorcycle event.

Police confirmed 17 men belonging to the Hells Angels and aged between 29 and 52 were detained and expected to appear in court on Wednesday, charged with criminal association - which in Portugal is punishable by up to five years in jail.

One police inquiry has focused on a March 2018 incident in which Hells Angels members allegedly attacked a rival motorcycle club and neo-Nazi associates as part of a turf war for control of illicit weapons and drug trafficking.

Dozens of Hells Angels motorcycle club members were arrested four months later and described by Portuguese police as “extremely dangerous” with long criminal records and involvement in violent organised crime.

SOURCE: New Straits Times

Bandidos MC member admits threatening informant

San Antonio, Texas, USA (May 10, 2019) BTN — A member of the Bandidos motorcycle club pleaded guilty Thursday to retaliating against an informant after he threatened to kill a witness who helped the feds convict the motorcycle club’s top two leaders. Albert DeLeon, 45, made the threat on Feb. 22 against the witness, whose name hasn’t been released, at a local H-E-B store.

“He was a personal friend of the witness and felt horribly betrayed, and let off some steam when he confronted him at the grocery store,” DeLeon’s lawyer, Jesse Rivera, said in an interview.

Several informants — most of them former members of the club from San Antonio who got reduced sentences for their crimes — testified last year at the three-month trial of then-national president Jeffrey Fay Pike of Conroe and ex-national vice president John Xavier Portillo of San Antonio.

The organization’s leaders were sentenced to life in federal prison in September after being found guilty of crimes that included racketeering conspiracy, murder, extortion and drug dealing. The trial gave a vivid look inside the Bandidos’ secretive operations.

It also delineated attacks the Bandidos plotted or carried out on rival bikers as the club flexed its muscle to protect what it considered its home turf — the state of Texas. The trial also shed light on internal bickering that resulted in a split of the Bandidos in North America with its numerous chapters in Europe and Asia. Government witnesses testified that the leading dissidents were violently ousted on orders from Pike.

DeLeon’s plea agreement said DeLeon made eye contact with the witness inside a local HEB.

DeLeon called another Bandidos member to the scene. Together, they approached the witness outside the store as he was in his car, and DeLeon mouthed off, according to court records. The statements included: “Get out, you’re going to die today,” “You’re a (expletive) snitch, we saw you on the news,” “It’s your fault everyone in the club went down,” I”m going to (expletive) kill you,” and “Jeff and John went down because of you.”

DeLeon also pulled a handgun from his waistband and “cocked it” to put a round in the chamber, but put the weapon away when other shoppers looked toward them, the plea deal said. The witness quickly left the scene.

DeLeon faces up to 20 years in prison, without parole, when Biery sentences him in August.

SOURCE: My San Antonio

Former Hells Angels MC president goes to court

Manitoba, Canada (April 30, 2019) BTN — The former president of the Manitoba Hells Angels is taking the Correctional Service of Canada to court for allegedly infringing on his "right to life, liberty and security of person" when it reclassified his security threat level and moved him from a minimum-security unit to medium.

Dale Jason Sweeney, 48, is currently serving the remainder of a 10-year prison sentence at Stony Mountain Institution for his role in a cocaine trafficking ring. He was arrested in March 2012 as part of a Winnipeg police investigation dubbed Project Flatlined and later pleaded guilty to instructing someone to commit an offence for a criminal organization and possession of property obtained by crime.

Manitoba Justice seized hundreds of thousands of dollars in property and cash from Sweeney's Autumnview Drive home, including a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

Police raided Sweeney's Autumnview Drive home in 2012 and seized a number of items, including a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Sweeney was sentenced to 10-years in prison for instructing someone to commit an offence for a criminal organization and possession of property obtained by crime.

In a March 2019 affidavit filed in the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench, Sweeney said in the summer of 2015, while serving his sentence at Stony Mountain, the correctional service assessed him to be a minimum security risk and he was moved to a minimum-security unit of the prison.

Sweeney said he participated in offender programming and has had "no serious disciplinary offences of any kind." Despite that, in August 2018 his security threat level was increased and he was sent back to a medium security unit.

Police raided Sweeney's Autumnview Drive home in 2012 and seized a number of items, including a Harley Davidson motorcycle. 

Sweeney was denied parole in 2017.

His lawyer says he is up for parole again in June. "This is the second time that this has occurred with Mr. Sweeney," said Sweeney's lawyer, StephanThliveris.

In 2017, a few months before Sweeney was to appear before the Parole Board of Canada, his security level was increased from minimum to medium and as a result, his parole was denied, said Thliveris. Sweeney will be up for parole again in a few months, and Thliveris alleges his client's security level was increased in an effort to thwart his application.

Allegations 'completely fabricated': lawyer 

"Every time his parole comes up, all of a sudden there's these security intelligence officer reports that allege all these shenanigans, for lack of a better phrase, and they increase the security classification," said Thliveris.

Thliveris said there is no substance to the allegations, which he said include accusations of drug trafficking. He said if the correctional service had any evidence against Sweeney, his client would have been charged under the Criminal Code, or at the very least would have faced institutional charges.

"It's our position that these are completely fabricated charges, which is done in a deliberate attempt to get as much time out of him, to make him serve as much time as possible, and really just trump any sort of chance he has before the parole board," said Thliveris.

In 2017, Sweeney filed what's called a writ of habeas corpus application to fight his security level reclassification. His lawyer said when the matter appeared before a judge, the Attorney General of Canada conceded its case and signed a consent order.

Within 72 hours, his client was back in a minimum-security unit where he remained until he was moved to a medium-security unit last August, said Thliveris.

"I've been doing work with inmates for the better part of a decade now, I've never quite seen anything as egregious as this. They're really doing everything they can to hamper his ability to have a proper parole hearing and be able to present his position properly," said Thliveris.

'People get killed all the time' In January, Sweeney filed another writ of habeas corpus application.

The writ of habeas corpus is very serious, said Thlivaris. The deprivation of liberty is the moste severe punishment in Canadian society, which doesn't have the death penalty, so placing someone in an unnecessarily high security classification is "a major no no," he said.

There is a vast difference between life in a minimum-security unit versus medium security, he said. In minimum, inmates have an abundance of freedom and are able to move around the unit with ease. There is no wall or fence forcing offenders to stay to a certain area. They are even allowed to cook their own meals.

In medium security, life is a lot more dangerous and the environment is more restrictive, said Thliveris.

"You'll go to lockdown and people get killed all the time in medium security. This is often not reported in the papers, because they don't want people knowing about it," said Thliveris.

Sweeney still a Hells Angel 

This is not the first time Sweeney has served time in prison. He was convicted of discharging a firearm with intent after a brazen 2001 daylight shootout with a rival gang member on Portage Avenue. He's also been convicted of assault, break and enter and commit mischief, attempt to obstruct justice and attempting fraud under $5,000.

According to parole board documents, despite spending the past few years in prison, Sweeney is still a member of the Hells Angels. In 2017, he told the parole board that he plans to leave the motorcycle club when his is "able to quit face to face", and that he needs to do it "with a handshake" when he is released from prison.

Sweeney's writ of habeas corpus application is scheduled to appear in court on May 13, about a month before his next parole board hearing.

If Sweeney's parole application is successful, he will be out of prison at the end of June, said Thliveris. Otherwise, he said his client is up for statutory release in December after serving two-thirds of his sentence. 

SOURCE: CBC