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  

Charges dropped against Pagans MC members in bar fight

Pittsburgh, PA (November 15, 2018) BTN— The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office has withdrawn charges filed against members of the Pagans Motorcycle Club in the wake of a bar fight on the South Side last month.

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 | District Attorney: Police not submitting evidenceagainst Pagans MC in bar fight

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

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

Related | Pagans MC: District attorney waits on critical infofrom cops 

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

Related | Pagans MC: The cops were drunk and started thefight

“The video posed problems for law enforcement, as a result of the actions that occurred there. I think that… I was looking forward for an opportunity to start cross-examining the officers,” said defense attorney Lee Rothman.

Photo Credit: KDKA

Following the fight, Rothman’s client, Frank DeLuca, a known member of the Pagan Motorcycle Club, and three other members were charged with aggravated assault, conspiracy and riot.

But the Allegheny County DA’s Office released a statement Wednesday, saying those charges have been withdrawn based on evidence.

The full statement goes on to say they reserve the option to re-file the charges, and acknowledged the uniformed officers who responded to the incident:

“This afternoon our office withdrew all charges filed against 4 individuals in the wake of an altercation inside of Kopy’s Bar on Oct. 12, 2018. The withdrawal of the charges was based on evidentiary reasons and issues and our office reserves the option of refiling. Our office wishes to acknowledge the actions of the uniformed officers who responded to the altercation, doing so in a calm and professional manor despite being faced with a chaotic situation.”

Last month, defense attorneys said it was the undercover officers who should be charged in the incident. The attorneys say the officers were allegedly drunk, brandished firearms and provoked the entire confrontation.

DeLuca was seen in the video being pinned in place against the bar while an unidentified undercover officer repeatedly punched him in the head.

DeLuca’s attorney said Wednesday that his client never should have been charged.

“Those undercover officers acted in a manner that, I believe, was excessive, and that caused injuries to my client,” said Rothman.

The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police issued this statement Wednesday night in response to the charges being withdrawn:

“We respect the District Attorney’s decision to withdraw the charges, with an option to refile later. “The PBP takes all incidents that involve the use of force seriously, which is why we always conduct full reviews when such force is required. These internal investigations are a part of our protocol.

“We also prioritize transparency, which is why we asked OMI and the FBI to further investigate this matter. If it is determined that internal discipline or administrative actions should be taken, such actions will be taken. “The public and our officers deserve an impartial examination of the facts. There are three separate independent investigations regarding this incident, and we continue to cooperate with each of them.”

District Attorney Zappala and U.S. Attorney Scott Brady met last month about opening a possible federal probe into the incident.

SOURCE: KDKA2

Rhode Island grand jury indicts MC members and associates

Providence, R.I. (November 9, 2018) BTN — A statewide grand jury has indicted 41 of 61 people arrested this spring in a state police undercover investigation into alleged assaults, drug-dealing and gun-running by Rhode Island motorcycle club members or their associates.

Guns, drugs and a rocket launcher was seized during the May 23 raids 

The state attorney general’s office released the 171-page indictment on Thursday that listed 424 counts of alleged crimes.

Sixteen others have already waived their right to have their cases presented to the grand jury and pleaded guilty, said Amy Kempe, spokeswoman for Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin.

Some of the weapons confiscated during the May 23rd raids

Four others had their cases referred to the state’s Drug Court or to the attorney general’s Adult Diversion Unit, which serves as an alternative to prosecution for first-time nonviolent felony offenders.

Arraignments for those indicted are scheduled to begin December 5th before Superior Court Judge Robert D. Krause

In the predawn hours of May 23, more than 150 state and federal investigators swarmed through northern Rhode Island, carrying out at least 29 separate raids of homes, businesses and at least one motorcycle club headquarters.

For almost a year beforehand, authorities have said, they had been gathering information through at least one confidential informant and wiretaps on several cell phones used by a Burrillville man about the Pagans Motorcycle Club trying to establish a Rhode Island chapter and that biker rivalries were spawning violence.

Those recorded conversations between Deric “Tuna” McGuire and his associates also led them to believe McGuire was not just a motorcycle club leader but the head of a Woonsocket-based drug enterprise.

McGuire, who is named in the indictment, faces more than 220 counts of narcotics and weapons charges.

Display of items confiscated during Operation Patched Out carried out on May 23rd

The raids produced a stash of weapons and drugs — even one rocket launcher. And they came just weeks after a member of the Massachusetts Pagans was shot on Route 95 in Connecticut.

Mugshots: Operation Patched Out

State police officials said at the time they decided to move in when they did to prevent any further violence.

SOURCE: Providence Journal