Key West, Florida, USA (October 25, 2023) - Rick Ramsay, Monroe County Sheriff is urging the public to be aware of holiday toy drives that are being hosted by the Pagan's Motorcycle Club.
The sheriff seen an ad in the local paper for the "End of the Road Toy Run" by the PMC and LMC - The Pagan's Motorcycle Club and the Legend Motorcycle Club. Ramsey said that both clubs are criminal, outlaw motorcycle gangs that are involved in crime involving drugs, guns and violence in the community.
In his social media message, Sheriff Ramsay says the Department of Justice has labeled the Pagan's as a criminal outlaw gang. Ramsay ended the video by saying “there are great organizations that people can team up with, but PMC is not one of them.”
North Providence, Rhode Island, USA (October 20, 2023) - Two members of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club were in court on charges related to two fires at the same location in Scituate. Prosecutors say the same detached garage off Tunk Hill Road caught fire around midnight on June 29th and 5:00 A.M. on July 6th. Investigators from the state fire marshal’s office said they found accelerant at the scene in both cases.
The defense attorney argued in court that his client was never there. “I haven’t heard that this young man’s anywhere near this place, other than he’s a friend of a guy,” the defense attorney said. “I know you too. Doesn’t mean we’re setting fires.”
Scituate police conceded that they weren’t able to place the accused at the scene, but they believe he’s the one who ordered the other member to set the two fires. Sgt. Matthew King said surveillance footage showed his car at the scene, and he recited text messages between the two men aloud in court.
While a specific motive for the alleged arson is unclear at this time, police allege that he and the victim had a disagreement with one another. Both are due back in court next week for a status hearing.
Pinellas Park, Florida USA (October 18, 2023) - On Tuesday, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office announced two additional arrests in the April 2022 killing of a man that the Mongols Motorcycle Club members believed was a police snitch. Vincent Romanino was booked into a Hillsborough County jail Tuesday and is being held without bond and Joshualee Garcia was booked into a Pasco County jail, according to the Pinellas Sheriff’s Office.
Each faces a charge of accessory after the fact to first-degree felony murder in the fatal shooting of Dominick Paternoster, the Sheriff’s Office said. Both men were members of the Mongols MC when Paternoster was killed, according to the Sheriff's Office. Paternoster, 46, was shot multiple times in his home sometime between 10:20 P.M. on April 27, 2022, and 1:00 A.M. the following morning. His body was found around 4:30 p.m. on April 28.
Around four months later, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri called a news conference on Aug. 29, 2022, to announce the indictment of Paul Mogilevsky on a first-degree murder charge in Paternoster’s death. He said Paternoster, now 49, had been a member of a puppet club for the Mongols MC called the Raiders MC.
— Pinellas County Sheriff's Office (@SheriffPinellas) October 17, 2023
Detectives said members of the Mongols MC believed Paternoster was a “snitch,” but authorities would not confirm whether Paternoster was an informant or not.
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (October 13, 2023) - The Supreme Court of Canada says it will not hear an appeal from the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club over properties the province of British Columbia seized from the club in Kelowna, Nanaimo and Vancouver.
On Thursday, the country's highest court dismissed a leave to appeal from Angel Acres Recreation and Festival Property Ltd. that sought to challenge a decision by a lower court in British Columbia, that said the clubhouses would likely be used for criminal activity in the future.
The Supreme Court gave the go-ahead for the province to sell the three properties, which were seized outright and the locks changed in April. Thursday's ruling ends a 16-year legal saga regarding the clubhouses.
Lawyers representing the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club went to court to stop the province from selling the properties, which it is allowed to do under the Civil Forfeiture Act. The act came into place in British Columbia in 2006 and is meant to "ensure that people cannot profit from unlawful activity or use property in a way that may harm other persons."
The British Columbia's forfeiture office first made a move to seize the Nanaimo clubhouse in 2007, and then attempted the same with the Kelowna and Vancouver clubhouses in 2012. The properties are located at 805 Victoria Road in Nanaimo, 837 Ellis Street in Kelowna and 3598 East Georgia Street in Vancouver.
In its attempt to stop the seizures, the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club initially won a decision in British Columbia Supreme Court in 2020. But, that was overturned in February by the British Columbia Appeal Court, which found there was little evidence the club would have suffered "irreparable harm" if the properties were sold.
At the time, the civil forfeiture office said it would return the contents and belongings in the three clubhouses, as those were not subject to forfeiture. It would then sell the properties.
