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

Shots Fired At Clubhouse Sparked Killing

New York City, NY, USA (October 7, 2020) - The assassination of a Bronx motorcycle club leader was retaliation for someone opening fire on the Hells Angels new Bronx headquarters, prosecutors revealed Wednesday.

Hells Angels members Frank “Loose Cannon” Tatulli, 58, and Sayanon Thongthawath, 29, were arrested July 22 for for allegedly shooting Francisco Rosado, the head of the Pagan’s Motorcycle Club’s Bronx chapter. 

Rosado, 51, was shot dead in a parking lot at Holland Ave. and Boston Road in Allerton about 3:20 p.m. on May 2, near the Bronx building where he worked as a super. He was shot in the head, neck and back. Another Pagan, identified as Javier Cruz, 42, was shot in the arm, officials said. 

Two masked suspects were caught on disturbing video jumping out of their Jeep Cherokee and opening fire on the two men. 

Related | Media Blames Hells Angels for Shooters 

Related | New Hells Angels Clubhouse Upsets Nosy Neighbors 

Related | Former Hells Angels MC Clubhouse Sold 

 
The Pagan's have been deemed an outlaw motorcycle club by federal authorities, and several of its members have been linked to drug dealing, violence and death, officials said.

Tatulli and Thongthawath were arrested on July 22 on charges of murder, manslaughter, attempted murder and assault charges A third suspect, Anthony Destefano, 27, a member of Satan’s Soldiers, was also arrested and charged with manslaughter and conspiracy. 

Francisco Rosado

The motive at the time was unknown.

A Bronx grand jury recently indicted Tatulli and Thongthawath on murder charges. Both are being held without bail on Rikers Island awaiting their next court date.

“The defendants allegedly shot the two victims, in retaliation for a January 2020 shooting outside the Hells Angels headquarters on Longstreet Ave. in the Bronx,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a statement Wednesday. 

“The defendants allegedly conspired and carried out this horrific violence in a residential area, near a busy intersection in broad daylight. These retaliatory shootings hurt our communities and must stop.”

SOURCE: New York Daily News