Gladiators MC: Member charged with animal cruelty and growing weed

Grafton, NSW, Australia  (October 16, 2018) BTN — A life-member of the Gladiators motorcycle club has been charged after Raptor North located prohibited drugs and weapons, and the RSPCA seized animals from a property near Grafton, NSW Police say.

On September 30, 2018, officers from the Criminal Groups Squad’s Strike Force Raptor North and Coffs/Clarence Police District attended a rural property at Lanitza for the purpose of a Firearms Prohibition Order (FPO) search.

While attempting to locate the subject of the FPO – a 36-year-old man – officers located a small cannabis crop growing on the property.

They also located a .303 rifle in long grass a short distance from the main homestead. It has been seized for forensic and ballistic examination.

Further, Raptor North located a number of animals that appeared to be malnourished, had limited access to clean water, and some were locked in small cages or confined to small spaces. They also located deceased animals on the property.

A crime scene was established and following an extensive search, officers seized ten cannabis plants, cannabis, cocaine, various calibres of ammunition, a firearm scope, fireworks, and a sling shot.

Police also contacted RSPCA NSW, who attended, seized the animals and commenced an investigation.

Following extensive attempts to locate the man, he was arrested at Grafton Police Station just before 10 am Monday 15 October 2018.

He was charged with fail to provide reasonable care to animal, fail to provide water to animal, four counts of contravene firearms prohibition order, three counts of possess ammunition without authority, contravene weapons prohibition order, cultivate prohibited plant, possess prohibited plant, and two counts of possess prohibited drug.

The man was granted strict conditional bail to appear at Grafton Local Court on Monday 19 November 2018.

Investigations are continuing.

Strike Force Raptor was established in 2009 and conducts proactive investigations and intelligence-based, high-impact policing operations to prevent and disrupt conflicts, and dismantle any network engaged in serious organised criminal activity.

SOURCE: Mirage News

Pagans MC: The cops were drunk and started the fight

Pittsburgh, PA  (October 15, 2018) BTN — Four members of the Pagans motorcycle club are facing charges after brawling with undercover police officers in a South Side bar last weekend. Video of the brawl at Kopy's quickly surfaced and spread on social media.

According to the criminal complaint, members of the Pagans came into the bar on South 12th Street, and one of the club members realized who the police were and blew their cover.

One of the club members became hostile and detectives tried to control the situation, the complaint said.

Bruce Thomas, one of the men charged, disputes those claims. He told Pittsburgh's Action News 4 that the undercover officers were visibly intoxicated and initiated the encounter.

"Next thing you know, one of them said something disrespectful, and one of our guys got mad and we never knew they were cops," Thomas said.

Video from the fight shows Thomas being taken down by one of the undercover officers.

"I got handcuffed, kicked in the ribs, and kneed in the back and the spine," Thomas said. "I didn't even hit anybody. We didn't think police would be in a bar drinking."

Surveillance video from the bar was turned over to Pittsburgh police.

Pittsburgh's Citizen Police Review Board is investigating the force used and the demeanor of the officers during the incident, and is asking anyone with information.

SOURCE: Pittsburg Action News

Mongols MC: Members converge downtown for meeting

Palm Springs, California (October 11, 2018) BTN — If you see more police on the streets of Palm Springs this weekend, it's because the Mongols Motorcycle Club is coming to town.

The motorcycle club will hold a membership meeting at the Hilton Hotel in Downtown Palm Springs, prompting police to increase their presence as part of what Palm Springs police Lt. Frank Browning calls "an abundance of caution."

Police wouldn't comment on their plans, but Browning, in a post on the social media site Nextdoor, said the department is expecting several hundred members of the Mongols to hit the streets this weekend.

"We have sought out the assistance of numerous police agencies to ensure everyone’s safety, and security remains a priority," he wrote.

The Mongols have had a contentious relationship with the law and with their rival club, the Hells Angels MC. They are considered an "outlaw" motorcycle club, similar to the Bandidos, Pagans and Hells Angels groups, police say. 

The labels "outlaw" or "one percenter" among motorcycle clubs originates from the time of the 1947 Hollister Riot in Hollister, Calif., after which the American Motorcycle Association sought to distance itself from clubs that participated in violence by issuing a statement claiming that 99 percent of motorcyclists were law-abiding citizens, while 1 percent were outlaws.

"There's a difference between biker clubs and outlaw clubs," said Thomas Barker, an expert on outlaw motorcycle clubs. "It doesn't necessarily mean they're criminal."

Barker is a former police officer who went on to earn a PhD from Mississippi State University and taught on the subject of organized crime and motorcycle gangs at Eastern Kentucky University for 13 years. 

The label "outlaw" might not be a tell-tale sign that a motorcycle gang is involved in criminal activity, but the Mongols have had plenty of run-ins with the law over the years.

On Jan. 18, the Department of Justice unsealed a 54-count federal indictment against 12 members and three associates of the club's chapter in Clarksville, Tenn., which included charges of racketeering conspiracy and large-scale drug trafficking.

In May 2017, two motorcyclists were gunned down in Riverside. One of the victims, 31-year-old James Duty of Orange, died as a result of the shooting. In a Facebook post, the Riverside Police Department identified the victim, as well as others present at the scene, as members of the Hells Angels, the Mongols' largest rival. The suspect in the fatal shooting, Joshua Herbert, denied affiliation with the Mongols but had the club's name, as well as the "one percenter" logo tattooed on his neck.

"They're the most dangerous motorcycle group in the United States and maybe the world," Barker said, pointing to the group's expansion efforts in Asia and Australia.

Still, Barker said, Palm Springs residents have little to worry about as long as they stay out of the club's way, don't take photos of the members or touch their leather vests.

"Everyday residents don't have anything to worry about," Barker said. "Just leave 'em alone."

Staff at the Hilton in Palm Springs and the neighboring Agua Caliente Spa Resort and Casino said they've had no issues with the group since its members started spending their annual retreat at the Palm Spring hotel in 2013.

"The group itself has come for many years and we've never had any issues with them," said Shannon Anderson, general manager at the Hilton. "They're quite communicative and they're actually one of our best groups."

In previous years, during the gather, the Palm Springs Police Department has arrested several members of the club on felony and misdemeanor warrants, as well as gun-related charges. 

SOURCE: Desert Sun

Hells Angels MC: Murder conviction appeal going to court

Ottawa, Canada (October 11, 2018) BTN — Eighteen years after a Halifax-area man was gunned down for having an affair with an Hells Angels MC members girlfriend, the Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear an appeal in the case against the alleged shooter.

Sean Simmons, 31, was shot in the head in the lobby of a Halifax-area apartment building in October 2000.

Dean Kelsie was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in 2003 and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 25 years.

But the Appeal Court of Nova Scotia ordered a new trial after ruling last year that the trial judge erred in his instructions to the jury, particularly when it came to what the jurors could make of the hearsay evidence of co-conspirators.

The appeal ruling also said the trial judge should have mentioned manslaughter to the jury as an alternative verdict, even though Kelsie’s lawyer didn’t object that it wasn’t.

In a decision issued Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada agreed to hear the Crown’s appeal of that ruling.

“The application for leave to appeal is granted,” the court said.

Kelsie was one of four men who have been convicted of the crime, although only two of those convictions stand; testimony at the trials indicated that it was Kelsie who pulled the trigger, which he denied.

In the Nova Scotia appeal court ruling, Justice David Farrar set out how Simmons came to be targeted.

Sean Simmons, right, was shot in the head in the lobby of a Halifax-area apartment building in 2000.

The Chronicle Herald 

“Mr. Simmons, in the early 1990s, had been closely affiliated with the Halifax Hells Angels and hoped to become a member. By 1993, however, he was targeted for violence by the club and was beaten up twice. The evidence suggested that this was the result of a belief among Hells Angels members that he had had an affair with the mistress of Michael McCrea, the then president of the Halifax chapter,” the judge said in his decision

“As a result, Mr. Simmons and his wife left Halifax and spent several years in New Brunswick, returning at the end of 1998.”

When the Hells Angels learned about Simmons’ return, a hit was ordered, the judge said.

Kelsie’s conviction is the second that has been thrown out in the murder.

In October 2016, the Court of Appeal threw out — for a second time — the first-degree murder conviction of an Ottawa man, Steven Gareau, who claimed he had no idea Kelsie was planning to shoot Simmons when they went to the apartment building on Oct. 3, 2000.

Gareau, who is now in his early 60s, was first convicted in 2004, but it was thrown out eight years later because of different legal errors by a different judge. He was retried over seven months in 2013 and 2014.

In February, a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge stayed the charges against Gareau, saying a third trial would undermine the integrity of the judicial process. Justice Jamie Campbell noted Gareau had served 17 years in prison, endured “two fatally flawed trials” and is confined to a wheelchair and in failing health. 

SOURCE: The Telegram