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

Hells Angels MC Clubhouse Searched

Surrey, BC, Canada (November 22, 2020) - Surrey RCMP executed a search warrant overnight Friday at the Hells Angels Hardside clubhouse in connection with a gun investigation. Mounties continued with the search Saturday at the rented rancher in the 18000-block of 96 Avenue.

The search is connected to the arrest Friday morning of Gurpreet Dhaliwal, a prospect with the Hardside chapter and an associate named Meninder Dhaliwal, who is linked to the Brother Keepers club. Gurpreet Dhaliwal was a passenger in an SUV allegedly driven by Meninder when it collided with a sedan Friday just after 8:00 a.m. near 180th and Golden Ears Way. 

Surrey RCMP said in a news release Friday that “the driver of the SUV fled the scene on foot while the passenger, who had minor injuries, remained at the scene.”

“As the investigation unfolded, the officer observed a handgun inside the SUV and subsequently arrested the passenger for possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose. The driver of the sedan remained at the scene and had minor injuries,” Cpl. Joanne Sidhu said. “At approximately 10 a.m., the driver of the SUV was located and apprehended with the assistance of the Integrated Lower Mainland Police Dog Services.”

Sidhu said the driver was arrested for failing to remain at the scene of a collision, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose. She did not release the identities of either suspect. “Both the driver and the passenger of the SUV are known to police and are believed to have ties to organized crime,” Sidhu said.

RELATED | Hells Angels Clubhouse Targeted

Sidhu also said Friday that “the investigation is ongoing as officers work to determine the circumstances that led to the collision.”  Neither Dhaliwal has yet been charged in the current investigation into the firearm.

Retired Vancouver police biker specialist Brad Stephen said Saturday that “it’s not common for a Hells Angel member or prospect in B.C. to carry a firearm.” Speaking generally, Stephen said they would only do so “if they feel for some reason they need to defence themselves personally or there is a threat against the club.”

And he said in several previous cases of members or prospects who’ve been caught with firearms, they not only faced charges, but also repercussions from their biker brethren. “They’re held accountable and they have to explain themselves to the club,” said Stephen, who spent 20 years investigating motorcycle clubs.

The Hells Angels opened the Hardside chapter in March of 2017 — the 10th HA chapter to start since the motorcycle club set up in B.C. in 1983.

SOURCE: The Province 

Trial Set for Hells Angels Prospect

Kelowna, BC Canada (November 21, 2020) - A Kelowna Hells Angel prospect who's charged with assaulting a woman will go to trial next spring. In August, 43-year-old Jason Townsend was arrested and charged with simple assault and assault by choking, for an alleged incident that occurred in the early hours of Aug. 7 on Kelowna's Yates Road.

"Frontline officers immediately attended the scene and found the male suspect had fled the residence prior to police attendance," said Kelowna RCMP's Const. Solana Pare at the time. "Officers spoke with the female victim who had been assaulted and suffering non-life threatening injuries."

On Thursday, Townsend's two-day trial was set for May 3, 2021. 

The Vancouver Sun's Kim Bolan reported that Townsend had become a Kelowna Hells Angel prospect in the fall of 2019, after his former club, Prince George's Renegades motorcycle club, disbanded. A prospect is the final stage before members become full-patch members of the Hells Angels.

Townsend's former Facebook profile photo shows him wearing a jacket with red and white patches that say “PROSPECT” and “KELOWNA.”  Townsend remains out of custody after he was released on $1,000 bail following his arrest.

This is not Townsend's first run-in with the justice system. In 2014, he was sentenced to three years in jail for a 2013 assault on two men and a woman outside a Prince George nightclub, but the BC Court of Appeal took a year off his sentence in 2015.

RELATED | Hells Angels Associate Set For Trial

Townsend's trial will begin on the same date as the trial for another man affiliated with the Kelowna Hells Angels. Colin Bayley will face trial in Kelowna's Supreme Court for an aggravated assault charge stemming from a May 2019 incident that allegedly put a 41-year-old man in hospital. Kelowna RCMP described Bayley as a "known associate" of the local Hells Angels. His trial has been delayed several times, but it's now scheduled to also begin on May 3. He is also out of custody on bail.

In a BC Supreme Court decision from last spring, a judge ruled against the BC Civil Forfeiture Office's attempts to seize Hells Angels clubhouses in Kelowna, Vancouver and Nanaimo. Throughout the lengthy trial, the B.C government identified 14 members of the Kelowna Hells Angels since the chapter was started in 2007. At the time of the 2018-19 trial, the province also identified one prospect and two official “hangarounds.”

The province is appealing the decision.

SOURCE: CASTANET

Cops Concerned About Increase in MC Activity

Nova Scotia, Canada (November 20, 2020) - Police in Cape Breton say at least two motorcycle clubs are recruiting on the island and their memberships are increasing. Police say they have reason to suspect a new clubhouse is also being established in the Coxheath area. 

 

Motorcycle clubs first started cropping up on the island in 2015 and Constable John Campbell of the Cape Breton Regional Police Service said growing activity is tied to a flourishing drug trade.

Four known Motorcycle Clubs

"Right now we have four motorcycle gangs: the Outlaws, the Black Pistons, the Highlanders and the Salty Souls," Campbell said. "There's a huge market here for cocaine right now and they'll take any opportunity they can to make money for their club, for their organization, and it's strength in numbers."

Campbell said clubhouse members often portray themselves as good neighbors and motorcycle enthusiasts. "They do fundraising for different events or for special causes," he said. "They want that to stick out in people's minds so that when the police do enforce them, then the community is wondering, 'Why are the police bothering these decent people?'"

Police educating the community

Cpl. Andy Cook, an organized crime expert based in Prince Edward Island, led an education session Thursday for members of the downtown Sydney business community. Additional meetings were held with representatives of Membertou First Nation, the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional Centre for Education and community development organization Bay-It-Forward in Glace Bay.

Cook said crime groups are intrinsically linked to violence. He warned against buying, or even wearing, clothing that supports criminality. "They put money into their coffers that they can use for other things," he said. "And it spreads their message into the community."

In recent months, Cape Breton Regional Police executed at least three search warrants and seized more than $130,000 in drugs, cash and weapons tied to motorcycle clubs.  Robert Walsh, the acting police chief, said his department is proposing a signage campaign that would ban people from wearing outlaw club logos in business establishments. 

Police will also be approaching the Cape Breton Regional Municipality in hopes of creating a bylaw to ban such emblems on municipal properties. “By being proactive and partnering with our community, we can better prevent these organizations from establishing themselves here,” Walsh said.

Business owners concerned about criminal activity were told by Walsh that there is “safety in numbers.” Cops warn members of the public not to confront or engage with someone suspect of motorcycle club activity.

SOURCE: CBC

Police Raid Hells Angels Clubhouse

Lahti, Finland (October 31, 2020) - Police confiscated drugs, weapons and explosives during a sweep of motorcycle clubhouses on Friday. According to Detective Superintendent Pälvi Suokas of the Häme police department, the operation targeted the Hells Angels motorcycle club.

In Lahti, about 100 kilometres north of Helsinki, authorities searched premises rented by a new motorcycle club called Red Roots. A preliminary investigation determined that the facility is now used by the Hells Angels. Other sites were searched, including a Hells Angels clubhouse in the eastern city of Lappeenranta.

Police said they detained an unspecified number of people on Friday. Three of them were prospective Hells Angels members who this month had been granted “hang-around” status, the first step toward full membership.

 

The Häme police department led the operation with extensive cooperation from the Southeast Finland, Helsinki, Eastern Uusimaa and Western Uusimaa police departments as well as the National Bureau of Investigations and the Criminal Sanctions Agency. Police declined to provide more details, citing the ongoing preliminary investigation. 

The Finnish News Agency STT reported in September that a new motorcycle club called Red Roots had been established in Lahti. Police first observed motorcyclists wearing Red Roots vests and insignia last spring.  Police say that Red Roots dissolved in August, splitting into two groups. Since then both groups have been involved with the Hells Angels, officials say.

Red Roots was set up to replace the Lahti chapter of the United Brotherhood (UB) club. At the same time an associated group called Redrum was also established, corresponding to a UB affiliate called Bad Union, according to police.

This week Eastern Uusimaa District Court extended a temporary ban on UB’s activities, which was originally imposed in January. Legal proceedings aimed at shutting down UB permanently are scheduled to begin in late November.

UB was launched in 2010 through the merger of three organisations, known as Rogues Gallery, Natural Born Killers and MORE.

SOURCE: Nord News

Cape Breton Police File Firearms Charges

Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada (October 20, 2020) - Two people are facing firearm offences in connection with an ongoing investigation by Cape Breton Regional Police into the activities of so called outlaw motorcycle clubs.

James Robert Osmond Berthiaume, 53, and Jennifer Lynn Chisholm, 50, both of Ben Eoin, are charged with unauthorized possession of firearms, careless use of a firearm and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose. 

They have been released from police custody on conditions and are to appear in provincial court November 30 to enter pleas. Among the conditions of their release, the accused are not to associate with any other members of the Outlaws or Black Pistons motorcycle groups or attend their clubhouses.

The pair were charged after police executed a search warrant in connection with an East Bay Highway property last week. Police seized two firearms, including one that was loaded, ammunition, and clothing affiliated with motorcycle clubs.

In September, regional police made arrests in Glace Bay resulting in charges against three individuals including drug trafficking and weapon possession.

RELATED | Outlaws MC Clubhouse Searched

The Glace Bay arrests are also linked to the Black Pistons and the Outlaws Motorcycle Club.

Police seized more than $120,000 worth of drugs including 600 grams of pure cocaine, cannabis resin, Ritalin and hash. Officers also seized $12,000 worth of cash.

SOURCE: The Chronicle Herald

Hells Angels Want Club Ban Reversed

Haarlem, Netherlands (October 7, 2020) - The ban on the Hells Angels motorcycle club in the Netherlands must be reversed. If the Angels are accused of engaging in crime and violence, it should be attributed to individual members and not to that of the club or other members, Hells Angels lawyers argued in court on Wednesday.

The court in Utrecht banned the club last year, at the request of the Public Prosecution Service. The Angels have appealed against this. 

Lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops said before the court in Arnhem that the Public Prosecution Service is wrongfully portraying the Hells Angels as a criminal organization. Justice, according to counsel, uses a media strategy that relies heavily on "tabloids from the tabloid press and obscure, dubious websites". The image that arises from this is that the Angels pose a threat to public order.

Smear campaign

That image is incorrect, says Knoops. His argument was reinforced in court by contributions from two members of the Angels. They denounced the "smear campaign" that the judiciary would have launched against the Hells Angels in order to kill the club. That campaign is creating a reputation for a collection of "murderers, looters and rapists". The Angels believe that neither themselves nor their club should be the victim of members who engage in crime. "I just go to work with my lunch box," said one of them.

In the procedure that the Public Prosecution has started to have the Hells Angels banned in the Netherlands, it has mapped out nearly 1,500 incidents (worldwide) that must support the main argument for that ban: the Angels are not an association for tough Harley riders, but there is a strong, criminal culture of violence that bother society.

Departments

In its argument before the Arnhem court, the Public Prosecution Service cited, among other things, the liquidation of the Delft criminal Karel Pronk, for which a Hells Angel was convicted in June this year. The judiciary also pointed to escalating conflicts with rival motorcycle clubs and to an ongoing, international drug case in which Angels from Friesland figure as suspects.

The Hells Angels in the Netherlands has eighteen local branches (so-called chapters or charters) with a total of 241 members. The club was founded in the United States in 1948 by mainly former military personnel. About forty years ago the club also became active in the Netherlands.

A few years ago, the judiciary started a renewed offensive to get so-called Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMGs) banned by the courts. A number of cases are still ongoing, against clubs such as Satudarah, Bandidos and No Surrender. 

SOURCE: Haarlem Dagblad