Hit over the head with a chair and allegedly choked by members of the Finks, Hells Angels bikie Mark Nelms yesterday denied any 'bad blood' between the two rival clubs.
Mr Nelms, chairman of the United Motorcycle Council of Queensland, was called as a defence witness in the sentencing of fellow Hells Angels member Troy McKever Stewart.
Stewart pleaded guilty in the Southport District Court yesterday to wounding with intent to maim Finks member Ross Thomas.The guilty plea comes more than three years after the infamous Royal Pines 'ballroom blitz' shootout which broke out during a kick-boxing tournament on March 18, 2006, at Carrara.The two rival gangs are believed to have come to blows over former Finks nominee Christopher Hudson who had 'deserted' them and joined the Hells Angels.During the brawl, three people were shot, two were stabbed and more than $40,000 damage was caused to the ballroom.The court was told 36-year-old Stewart shot Mr Thomas in the right shoulder as fights erupted across the ballroom following an initial argument between Finks member Nick 'The Knife' Forbes and Hudson.Yesterday, Mr Nelms told the court he was hit with a chair over the head and then a bottle before being pulled to the ground by two Finks members who had their hands around his neck, trying to choke him."I had difficulty breathing, my welfare was of concern to me -- I was being choked. There was a bang and the pressure came off, the weight came off me," he said.
The court was told one of the men was Mr Thomas and the 'bang' was the shot fired by Stewart.Mr Nelms suffered a cut to the head and some bruising but never made a complaint to police as he did not know who had attacked him.He said although media had reported there was 'bad blood' between the two gangs, this was not true.
"The Finks and the Hells Angels are not enemies."Mr Nelms said he believed the fight broke out over Hudson leaving the Finks.The sentencing was adjourned until November 27 for a psychologist's report to be prepared for Stewart who was remanded in custody.

Hells Angels saw their "death head" logo on a Mambo sweatshirt, they reached not for the baseball bats of stereotypical bikie lore, but for their lawyers, in a bid to protect their intellectual property. The Australian has revealed that Gazal Corp - Mambo's previous owner - has been forced to apologise to the motorcycle club, following a hard-fought legal stoush which began in the federal Magistrates Court late last year. As part of a confidential settlement in favour of the bikies, Michael Gazal, managing director of Gazal Corp Ltd, penned an apology to the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corp (Australia) Pty Ltd, for manufacturing and selling the garments. "Gazal would like to publicly acknowledge the Hells Angels' intellectual property rights in its trademarks and artistic works, and the considerable reputation it has in those trademarks and artistic works, a reputation which stems from a long history of use both in Australia and internationally," the apology, obtained by The Australian, reads. The offending garments were a child's hooded sweatshirt and a sugar-pink mini-skirt.

Brandon J. McConville pleaded guilty in Tofino provincial court Monday to uttering the threats.Judge Brian Klaver ordered McConville to leave the Island by midnight Nov. 3, pay a $500 fine, serve two years probation and submit his DNA to the national data bank.
Klaver also prohibited McConville from owning or possessing weapons for five years.
Provincial Crown counsel David Kidd said the incident took place at a local campground Aug. 14.Kidd said some tourists found a vehicle parked in a campsite, which they had reserved.Soon, McConville – accompanied by two others – pulled up to the site, threatened to shoot the tourists with a shotgun, and claimed to be a member of the Hells Angels, said Kidd.McConville then “peeled out” of the campground, he added.Police later located McConville but found no shotgun, said Kidd.He said the tourists did nothing to provoke the situation.McConville was not represented by counsel and said nothing during his appearance.

Christopher Sweeney, 39, of Lynn, Mass, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of one count of second-degree battery after three counts of first-degree battery and a charge of aggravated riot, with enhancement for engaging in a violent criminal group, were dismissed. Sweeney was one of six Hell's Angels involved in an attack on rival Bandidos motorcycle gang members out of Texas on July 20, 2007. Attorney Tim Parker said that Sweeney was handed a five-year suspended sentence, with payment of a $4,000 fine and court costs, and that his bond of $25,000 is to be returned to the bondsman. The attack could be interpreted as an ambush, as a Bandido witness stated that the Hell's Angels indicated they wanted the Bandidos to pull over in the area of Gingerbread Antiques. Roy Lee Anderson, 44, of Green Forest, was convicted on charges of second-degree battery, misdemeanor driving while intoxicated, driving on a suspended license and speeding, and violations of refusal to submit and no seat belt. He was sentenced to six years in prison with three years suspended, with credit for 30 days in jail. Meanwhile, charges in a separate case against him from February on Carroll Road 6151 were dismissed. In May, Anderson was driving a mini-van at 75 mph in the Twin Bridges area and pulled off on Carroll Road 801, where an officer determined that he had failed to appear on the February charges and a breath test showed a reading of .196. While in the patrol car he yelled and complained about Green Forest police, and an altercation erupted in which an officer was injured. While charges in a 2008 hot check case against David Dewayne Martin, 38, of Aurora, Mo., and Berryville, were dismissed, he was handed a 36-month sentence, with 18 months in prison suspended, and 18 months to be served in a Regional Punishment Facility on a 2005 hot check case. The case had been modified to include an additional check for $239.80. Originally he was charged with writing 14 bad checks to various Berryville businesses between Sept. 9 and Oct. 25, 2004. A charge of aggravated assault on a family member against David Edward Baker, 20, of Harrison, was reduced to third-degree domestic battery, and a charge of aggravated assault was dismissed. Baker was given credit for 69 days served in jail and ordered to have no contact with his estranged wife except for child exchange. He is to also pay a $1,000 fine, with $250 suspended, $150 in court costs, $100 to the public defender and a $20 booking fee. On June 18, Baker caused a traffic accident, risking the death of or injury to his wife, when he grabbed the steering wheel while she was driving between 50 and 60 mph in the vicinity of Smokin' Hillbilly BBQ on U.S. 62 East. The vehicle slid sideways, colliding with a car behind them driven by Kelley Stockstill.
In 2008 Baker had been charged with third-degree domestic battery in Boone County, which was later dismissed. Timothy Holland, 22, of Golden, Mo., pleaded guilty to fraudulent acquisition of a controlled substance, a Class D felony, and was placed on two years of probation with opportunity to have his criminal record expunged. He is to also pay $26,395 in fines, fees and costs.

Carianne Taffar, 34, of Berryville, pleaded guilty to third offense driving while intoxicated, driving on a suspended license and careless and prohibited driving, after charges of no insurance and no seat belt were dismissed. She was sentenced to 180 days in jail with credit for two days, with a 30-day drug and alcohol treatment program following and allowing for work release. She was also ordered to pay a $2,000 fine with $1,000 suspended, along with $440 in fines, fees and costs.

In a 2007 case, Brittany Jo Dawn Bailey-Doss, 35, of Berryville admitted to allegations of a petition for revocation on a 2007 hot check conviction, along with a 2009 charge of fraudulent use of a credit card. She was ordered to report to Drug Court or serve 10 years in prison.

Doss' 2007 case involved 29 bad checks totaling $19,838.93 with fees, while her 2009 case involved the use of her grandmother's debit card.

Mark Anthony Marinez, of Berryville, pleaded guilty to third-degree domestic battery, second offense, and was placed on three years probation with credit for of 45 days in jail and permitting work release. He is to also pay a $1,000 fine with $200 suspended, $150 in court costs, $100 to the public defender and a $20 booking fee.

Marinez was arrested in May 5 in connection with an assault on his wife on Hwy. 21 North, apparently over her use of a telephone. He had previously been convicted of third-degree battery in Van Buren, Sebastian and Crawford counties in 2004 and 2006.

James Vernon Holderfield, of Eureka Springs, pleaded guilty to interference with court-ordered custody, a Class A misdemeanor reduced from a Class C felony, and was handed a deferred sentence of 30 days in jail and payment of $420 in court costs, fine and booking fee starting on Nov. 25, and due within 120 days.

Holderfield was arrested in March, along with Rebecca Judith Christian, 39, of Eureka Springs, after they took three children in the custody of the State of Tennessee, and brought them to Carroll County Damon Lee Fuson, 31, of Berryville, was arraigned on charges of residential burglary and theft of property from a residence in King's Hill Estates in January.
While the case was initially filed in the county's Western District, it was transfered to the Eastern District. Fuson was allegedly involved in the theft of 75 DVD's and an SKS Model 172 assault rifle. The case of Anne Nicole Beatty, also known as Tania Machick, 27, of Holiday Island and Fayetteville, was transferred to Drug Court. Her original charges involved second-degree forgery of 10 checks totaling $5,025. Tania Machick is an actual person residing in Florida who visited Fayetteville during the winter holidays of 2007-08, and whose residence was burglarized with several individuals' check books and credit cards being taken. Charges of residential burglary, battery, criminal mischief and interference with emergency communications against Korey Ace Morrison, 23, of Eureka Springs, were dismissed. Also dismissed were charges of second-degree battery, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by certain persons against John Alan Brewington, 42, of Berryville. Already charged with two counts of theft of property arising from her involvement in a Fall 2008 cattle rustling case, Kimberly Dawn Trumbley, of Berryville, was arraigned on an additional charge of hindering apprehension.

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"Do me. Do me first. I want to go out like a man."

THE VICTIMS
John 'Boxer' Muscedere, 48
Luis 'Porkchop' Raposo, 41
George 'Pony' Jessome, 52
George 'Crash' Kriarakis, 28
Frank 'Bam Bam' Salerno, 43
Paul 'Big Paulie' Sinopoli, 30
Jamie 'Goldberg' Flanz, 37
Michael 'Little Mikey' Trotta, 31
Six members of a Canadian motorcycle gang have been convicted of murdering eight fellow bikers found shot to death in deepest Ontario. John "Boxer" Muscedere told his killers: "Do me. Do me first. I want to go out like a man." Muscedere, who was betrayed by his best friend Wayne Kellestine, was one of eight men shot dead in a barn in Ontario. Their bodies were found on 8 April 2006 in three cars and a tow truck which had been dumped in a field near the town of Shedden, 14km (10 miles) from where they had been killed. Ironically several of the men - suspects in another murder case - had been under surveillance by the Ontario Provincial Police only hours earlier. All eight were associated with the Bandidos, one of North America's most notorious biker gangs and second only in power to the Hells Angels worldwide.
The motive for the bloodshed lay in a deep schism that had developed within the Bandidos' Canadian chapters. The victims were members of the Toronto chapter, who were sponsored by the gang's Scandinavian wing but were not recognised by the Bandidos' head office in Texas. Peter Edwards, a journalist with the Toronto Star and expert on the case, explained: "There was a chapter based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, who came under the auspices of Toronto. "But Winnipeg were not granted full patches by Toronto. They effectively had no job security and they grew really frustrated." The killers were led by Michael Sandham, a former soldier and police officer who became president of the Winnipeg chapter. He tried to claim that he had actually been working undercover for the police, but was unable to explain why he had initially denied being at the scene. Sandham was helped by Kellestine, an Ontario native who was allied with the Winnipeg chapter. The victims were lured to their deaths in his barn, after being told they would meet to settle their grievances. When police arrived, they found blood smears and pieces of flesh amid the detritus of a biker party - beer bottles on a table and Confederate and Nazi flags hanging on a wall. Kellestine and five of his buddies were arrested. Three years later they finally went on trial. The star prosecution witness was another Bandido, known only as MH, who testified about the events leading up to the killings. MH, who hailed from Winnipeg, told the court the original plan was to "pull the patches" of the Toronto members, effectively throwing them out of the Bandidos.
But Kellestine then decided they would have to kill all eight.
MH described a messy and farcical situation in which Kellestine frequently changed his mind about whether or not to let his rivals live and at one point allowed Muscedere to call his wife as long as he "didn't say anything stupid". He broke down as he described the stoic reaction of one of the men, Frank "Bammer" Salerno. "Bammer went to shake my hand. I didn't do it," said MH.


THE KILLERS
Wayne Kellestine, 60
Michael Sandham, 39
Dwight Mushey, 41
Marcelo Aravena, 33
Frank Mather, 35
Brett Gardiner, 25
MH said Kellestine had been promised that in return for carrying out the killings he would be named Canadian president of the Bandidos and could start up his own chapter based in nearby London, Ontario. But Mr Edwards, who has covered the trial, said the killers were disorganised and bungling. "They were at the very bottom rung of biker gangs. Some were in their 40s but still lived with their parents. They were not making any money, many of them had been rejected by the Hells Angels and half of them didn't even own a motorbike," he said.
Mr Edwards says they were forced to dump the cars with the bodies in because they were "too cheap to buy enough gasoline". "They didn't even set fire to the bodies or the cars," he says.
The massacre, and Thursday's convictions, have left the Bandidos effectively defunct in Canada. According to Mr Edwards, there is very little public sympathy for the victims because they were bikers, and Canada has seen a lot of biker wars in the past.

Hells Angel convicted in July of illegal possession of a loaded semi-automatic weapon has been denied bail on a series of other charges, including drug trafficking and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Peter Leask denied the bail request by John Virgil Punko, who was a member of the East End chapter of the Hells Angels when he was arrested in June 2005 after a massive police undercover operation.There is a ban on publication of details of Thursday’s bail hearing at the Vancouver Law Courts.Punko, 43, has been in pretrial custody for more than four years. He was sentenced to 15 months in jail in the summer for possessing a loaded Smith & Wesson, as well as a consecutive sentence of four years for counselling a police agent to do damage to a Surrey home where Punko was trying to collect a large amount of money from a man.Punko told the police agent to “Go by and light it up,” which was a reference to a drive-by shooting intended to send a message.“The circumstances of this offence are chilling,” Justice Selwyn Romilly said in his July reasons, noting that Punko was previously convicted of issuing a death threat against a Crown prosecutor at a Hells Angels trial.Because of the amount of pretrial custody already served, Punko was eligible for release on the conviction. But he will now be held until after the new trial is completed. It is set to begin Dec. 7 and is expected to last several months.
Punko’s parents were in the public gallery Thursday. He turned to them from the prisoner’s box after bail was denied.A bail hearing for co-accused Randy Potts, 49, continues Friday. Again, Leask ordered a ban on publication of details from the hearing.Potts was also convicted along with Punko in July.Romilly imposed a seven-year sentence on Potts for controlling an arsenal of four grenades, four silencers and six automatic weapons, including a loaded Colt .45-calibre semi-automatic pistol, an Intratec 9-mm machine pistol, a sawed-off Ruger .22-calibre semi-automatic rifle, a Franchi .22-calibre semi-automatic rifle, a Voere bolt-action rifle and a .44-calibre Ruger revolver.Romilly found Potts was holding the weapons for the East End chapter of the Hells Angels.The judge pointed out that the silencers that fit the guns suggested an “evil purpose.”“A group of men could wreak havoc on short notice,” he said of the weapons cache.The judge said the offences were very serious and he wanted to send a message “that the possession of these types of weapons, particularly grenades, will not be tolerated in this society.”
Last year’s lengthy trial, and the counts Potts and Punko currently face, both resulted from a two-year $10-million police investigation called Project E-Pandora that has led to a series of convictions against Hells Angels and associates.
Despite the summer convictions, a jury acquitted Potts and Punko and two others on several of the counts, including extortion, uttering threats and committing crimes in association with, or for the benefit of, a criminal organization, the East End Hells Angels.Both Punko and Potts are facing another criminal organization count on the current indictment, as well as a count each of possession of stolen property.

The annual Nelson Bays poker run in March attracted over 200 motorcyclists this year and some sponsors said there had been no problems and they would continue their support.Patched members of the Red Devils, an associate club of the Hells Angels, Nelson Bays area commander Inspector Brian McGurk said.Police this month sent a letter to sponsors, informing them of a gang connection in an effort to stop the event.One sponsor had already indicated it would not renew its support, McGurk said.
"The event is a stunt by an organised criminal group to carry out a legitimate activity and they are not needed or wanted in this town," McGurk said.However, Murray Thorn, of Motueka's Murray Thorn Motorcycles, said he was concerned the police letter tarnished some members of the local community.Some of the organisers had been customers for years and it was not fair that they were being targeted by police, he said.Riwaka Hotel publican Peter Beauchamp said he would support the event again if the organisers produced a balance sheet and banned club patches.
Sponsors had a right to know the amount raised for charity.The Red Devils declined to comment.

victim of a shooting outside a Hell’s Angels motorcycle club last Thursday is expected to recover from his injuries, according to Stephen McCausland, a spokesman for the Maine State Police. Gary Watson, 63, of Madison was rushed by LifeFlight helicopter to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor on Thursday after he was shot in a driveway off Route 23 in Canaan.McCausland said Monday that Watson’s injuries were not expected to be life-threatening. Asked about the investigation into the incident, McCausland said detectives still were pursuing leads in an effort to identify the assailant. They also are working to establish the motive for the crime, including whether a rival motorcycle gang was involved.Lt. Gary Wright, who leads the state police criminal investigation division, told the Bangor Daily News last week that involvement by a rival motorcycle gang was “something to consider based on the circumstances.” McCausland confirmed Monday that Watson was a member of the Hell’s Angels club where he was shot, but declined to answer detailed questions about the shooting.
“There’s not much new to report at this point,” said McCausland.
Watson was found at about 5:30 p.m. in the driver’s seat of his truck, which was parked broadside across Route 23, known locally as Hinckley Road. A neighbor who came to Watson’s aid said she heard multiple gunshots and saw bullet holes in the rear window and driver’s side mirror of Watson’s truck. She said Watson, whom she knows, had been shot in the neck.
The crime occurred in the driveway of a Hell’s Angels clubhouse, which Wright said has no mailing address. Watson was shot outside a heavy chain-link gate that separates the clubhouse from the road.

Police in Nelson are warning sponsors of a motorcycle charity event not to support the event because it is a cover for gang-related activity.Inspector Brian McGurk says a feeder gang for the Hells Angels, the Red Devils, is using the event to establish itself locally.Inspector McGurk says he has written to sponsors about the event and at least one sponsor says it will withdraw its support.

Spray of bullets from a car in the city’s Amager district last night marked the fourth shooting in five days in the capital.No one was injured in last night’s incident, in which one or more automatic pistols were fired from a silver-grey sedan on Bremensgade, a street close to the Lergravsparken metro station.A burned-out Saab closely matching the car’s description was found later that evening in the city enclave of Frederiksberg.The incident comes in the wake of three other recent shootings in the city.On Monday night, a man was shot in the back and chest in the city’s Nørrebro district when between 10 and 20 shots were fired at an internet café. On Sunday, three youths were targeted by shots fired at their car, also in Nørrebro.And again in Nørrebro on Friday last week, a single shot was fired at a vehicle later found to belong to a Hells Angels member.
Many politicians and residents are becoming impatient with the situation, which has also begun to threaten the safety of innocent citizens.‘We have to acknowledge that there have been many instances where totally innocent bystanders have been hit,’ Poul Hansen of Copenhagen Police said.Police are now stepping up patrols in areas they consider shootings are likely to take place.

One of Australia's most notorious motorcycle clubs is planning to visit Perth in big numbers next week.Police say they have intelligence that The Finks are planning a motorcycle run into WA.The Finks, first set up in Adelaide, do not have a WA chapter, but are well established in the other mainland states.Superintendent Jim Migro from the Gang Crime Squad said police would be out in force while The Finks visited."Should this group decide to disregard the laws of this state, there will be a very swift and firm response," he said.Superintendent Migro was tight-lipped about when The Finks - which have about 200 members across Australia but a small presence in Perth - would be in town, but there are reports of the group being in Perth next weekend.He would not say whether Finks members would be arriving in Perth by plane or by motorcycle.Police have also spoken to the owners of several clubs and pubs across town - including the WA branch of the Australian Hotels Association, briefing them about the motorcycle club's imminent arrival."There has been consultation with the liquor industry through the local liquor accords and we are working very closely with them," Superintendent Migro said.When asked why Finks members were coming to Perth, he replied: "I suggest you should ask them.

Tyler Barrix fled police Aug. 23 on U.S. 131. Troopers tried to stop him at around 9:30 p.m. near I-96. Police said the driver was speeding and the bike had defective equipment.When Barrix sped away, more troopers joined the chase. He tried to pass a police car, but crashed into it and fell on the road's shoulder.Barrix and his passenger, a 19-year-old from Wyoming, were taken to a hospital where they were treated and released.

Police yesterday identified the motorcyclist who allegedly led police on a chase that ended with hero cop Richard Decoatsworth shooting the biker's friend, who police said had commandeered the cycle and tried to ram officers Tuesday night.
Jose Colon, 33, of Palethorp Street near Diamond, was charged with fleeing police, recklessly endangering another person, gun offenses and related crimes in the 8:38 p.m. incident at A Street and Lehigh Avenue in Kensington.His friend Jay James, 18, who lives on the same block of Palethorp Street, already had been charged with fleeing police and with related offenses.The incident began when two cops spotted a man with a gun riding on a motorcycle near A Street and Indiana Avenue.Decoatsworth and his partner on the Highway Patrol gave chase and watched Colon toss his gun near Mascher and Dauphin streets, police said.Colon then pulled over on Hagert Street near Amber, but kept the motorcycle running, police said. The Highway Patrol cops got out of their cruiser, but James, who was standing on Hagert Street, allegedly jumped on the motorcycle and tried to mow down the officers.Decoatsworth opened fire and wounded James in the thigh. Police found James shortly after in the emergency room at Hahnemann University Hospital.The two officers were uninjured. Decoatsworth, 23, was shot in the face by a shotgun-toting thug in Southwest Philadelphia two years ago. He recovered and rejoined the force.In February, his bravery was rewarded with a seat next to first lady Michelle Obama during a presidential speech in Washington.

James Bedsole was taken into custody, authorities said he told them he had been involved with the Warlocks motorcycle club since May.Investigators said the victim, Chad Brickey, had gotten into a fight with members of the Warlocks in a bar and intentionally rammed his truck into a bike.Authorities said Bedsole jumped into another truck with Holguy Louissant, a security guard, and chased the victim down and shot him in the back of the head.Detectives said he was wearing a Warlocks jacket and a patch indicating that he is a Warlocks member in training."In order to become a full-fledged, patch-wearing member, it will take a lot of time and trust," Apopka Police Department spokesman Steven Popp said."He is not a member of this club, and nothing about this has anything to do with Warlocks," Warlocks attorney Rodger Butcher said.Police said, according to Florida law, the Warlocks are a gang, and Bedsole is a member because he admitted to criminal-gang membership, adopted the style of the dress and associated with known criminal-gang members.Bedsole is jailed in Seminole County and charged with first-degree murder.

Ex-cop and former Bandido Michael Sandham has testified he wants to bring everyone to justice involved in the killing of eight bikers near Shedden. Defence lawyer Clay Powell suggested Sandham's motives in the weeks before and after the bodies were found near Shedden were not so noble. "'I have survived the massacre and I, Michael Sandham, will become King Bandido in Canada,' — that was your plan from the start," Powell who represents accused Wayne Kellestine during a blistering cross-examination. "You started it, raised the flag and said 'Here I am.'" Sandham, in his seventh day in the witness box, disagreed with Powell's assessment, sticking to his version that he was more of a bystander than a participant in the shootings. Powell didn't buy it and pointed out the holes in Sandham's explanation.
He couldn't understand why Sandham, a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces, and member of the East St.Paul police department and professed to wanting to be a police informant, couldn't bring himself to go to the police about what happened at Kellestine's farm on April 8, 2006. Powell pointed to times when Sandham could have gone to the police weeks earlier after the meeting at Peace Arch Park in British Columbia when Sandham said there was an order given to Kellestine from the American world headquarters to kill John (Boxer) Muscedere and Luis (Chopper) Raposo.
Sandham said he had assurances from Kellestine he was not going to carry out the order. And he said he had heard bikers talking about killing people before. There were other times he could have easily gone to the police, Powell noted, particularly when two officers came to his house after the shootings to ask him questions.
Sandham said he thought he left "a big hint" that he might be willing to talk.
After the shootings, Sandham travelled to Houston to meet El Presidente Jeff Pike, the world leader of the Bandidos, he said, to confirm Pike gave the kill order.
Sandham said he told Pike he wasn't there when the men died because he was afraid he was walking into "a trap.” "You're the only one in this whole shooting match to tell the truth," Powell quipped. "You had no more intention to go to the police than fly to the moon." His biggest chance, Powell said, was during the police interview after Sandham's arrest where OPP Det. Sgt Michael Bickerton "gave you every opportunity" to tell what happened. Instead, Sandham said he wasn't at Kellestine's farm more than 200 times because he was afraid the police would charge his wife. Powell's initial attack on Sandham's credibility came by way of a Winnipeg Sun newspaper article on Sept. 20, 2005. Sandham has told the jury the Winnipeg Bandidos didn't know he had been a police officer and had swallowed his lie that he had only been an auxilliary constable at a small, rural police force. Powell referred to the story about the arrival of the Bandidos in Winnipeg and the surpise twist that the president was Sandham who "was an East St. Paul police officer." "Were these guys stupid?" asked Powell referring to the other Bandidos in the Manitoba club. He denied that his resignation from the police force was because he had attended an Outlaw motorcycle club funeral. Powell went through the other jobs he had — security and private investigation before he was a police officer, then tattooing, a gravel pit, home renovations and auto disassembling after being a police officer. But he wanted to become a police informant, he said by infiltrating outlaw motorcycle clubs. He chose the Bandidos after researching 1%er clubs and began to communicate with them by e-mail. None of the original people trying to start the Bandidos in Winnipeg were among those charged in the deaths of eight Toronto-area Bandido bikers on April 8, 2006, he said. Powell went over the events before April 8, 2006, remarking that Sandham "and his group of thugs" headed to Ontario to carry out the orders given to him by the Americans and Canadian Bandido Dave Weiche. Powell said the "patch pulling" could have gone peacefully had Sandham not shot Raposo. Sandham said it was self defence, but it was up to the jury to decide. "That's too bad for you," Powell said. And he questioned how Sandham could have been walking around Kellestine's farm without a gun while men were being killed all around him. He suggested Sandham was terrified the Toronto Bandidos had discovered he had been a police officer and knew they had sent two men to Manitoba to kill him. And when the dust settled at Kellestine's farm, all the men who knew his secret were dead. "It all adds up — eight dead and you and your happy band of thugs drive back," Powell said. Sandham disagreed, saying there were other Bandidos who knew he had been a police officer. Then why not go to the police, Powell asked. "That's not what happened, sir," Sandham said repeating he wanted to get the confirmation from the top of the Bandidos. "I don't know what difference it makes," Powell said. "It makes all the difference, sir," Sandham said. Powell didn't buy it. "I put it to you that you had a weapon and killed more people than Chopper that night,” he said. Sandham disagreed.

NAKED Florida man was pulled over on his motorcycle and charged with what turned out to be his FIFTH drink-driving offence.Florida Police said the man could not explain where he was coming from or why he was naked.

NAKED Florida man was pulled over on his motorcycle and charged with what turned out to be his FIFTH drink-driving offence.Florida Police said the man could not explain where he was coming from or why he was naked.

San Francisco police arrested two men after a triple shooting that left two men dead near a pizzeria in the city's Mission District this afternoon, according to police Sgt. Wilfred Williams.The shooting was reported shortly after 4 p.m. near Papa Potrero's Pizza, located at 2700 24th St., Williams said.Three men were shot, and one was pronounced dead at the scene. The other two men were taken to San Francisco General Hospital where one of them succumbed to injuries suffered in the shooting, according to Williams.The third victim suffered injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening, Williams said Within 10 to 15 minutes of the shooting, two men were arrested in close proximity to the scene of the shooting, he said.9:19 PM: A second person has died after a triple shooting in San Francisco's Mission District this afternoon, according to police.The shooting occurred at about 4 p.m. near the intersection of 24th and Hampshire streets, according to police.Three people were shot, and one of the victims was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The other two victims were transported to San Francisco General Hospital where one of them succumbed to injuries suffered in the shooting, according to police.
No information was immediately available about possible arrests in connection with the shooting, police said.6:20 PM: San Francisco police are investigating a shooting in the Mission District this afternoon that left one person dead and two others injured.The shooting occurred at about 4 p.m. near the intersection of 24th and Hampshire streets, according to police.One person was killed in the shooting, while the two others were transported to San Francisco General Hospital, police said.
No arrests have been made and no suspect information was immediately available, according to police.

The former club president and his partner were ready to defend serious charges against them at Darwin Magistrates Court last Wednesday, but found out the Crown prosecutor had asked for the hearing to be put off.has walked free from court on serious charges after police botched their case against him.Ian Grant Hogan, 52, and his partner Neiko Odgers, 30, were charged with aggravated assault, entering a dwelling with intent to commit a crime and Mr Hogan was also charged with going armed with an offensive weapon in another alleged incident.Mr Hogan, a former Hells Angels club president, and Ms Odgers arrived at court last Wednesday to find the prosecution had asked for the hearing to be put off. Prosecutor Katya Sharafeldin told the court last Monday the police officer in charge of the case, Tanya Woodcock, had told her Mr Hogan was in hospital. But when Ms Sharafeldin raised this in court, Mr Hogan was incredulous.He said he had been in hospital a week earlier but Senior Constable Woodcock had visited him at his home on the weekend and knew he was not still in hospital. After adjourning for a few hours, Ms Sharafeldin told the court Constable Woodcock knew Mr Hogan was not in hospital, but had not updated Ms Sharafeldin. All the charges were withdrawn.Outside court, Mr Hogan said he was relieved the charges had been dropped, but claimed he was the victim of continued harassment by police.But he said this had nothing to do with the Hell's Angels.''I don't want the Hell's Angels to be brought into this,'' he said.
He said if the charges were re-laid, it would be a ''miscarriage of justice''.
Magistrate Greg Cavanagh told Ms Sharafeldin he hoped that she would ''never be put in a position like that again''.''I trust that you will have some strong words to Constable Woodcock about the necessity to keep the court fully informed when making decisions of a judicial nature,'' he said.

plea deal in the Mongols motorcycle gang case has been filed, one week after The Associated Press challenged a federal judge's decision to seal the previous agreements. The U.S. attorney's office has declined to say how many other people have pleaded guilty and to what charges, but a document filed Friday says Abram Wedig admitted to one charge of racketeering. An indictment filed in October against 79 Mongol members says the gang engaged in murder, torture and drug trafficking. A judge granted prosecutors' request that the initial plea agreements be sealed to protect defendants from retaliation. The AP had argued the public deserves to know the cases' outcomes, and supporting evidence should be presented in open court if there's reason to seal them.

Police have arrested 46 people in a crackdown against drug operations linked to the Hells Angels and the trade in contraband tobacco.A combined force of Montreal police, Quebec provincial police, RCMP and Kahnawake Mohawk Peacekeepers fanned out Wednesday armed with arrest warrants.Montreal police say 43 men and three women were arrested in the 36 raids, some of which took place on the Kahnawake reserve near Montreal.Cops seized quantities of cocaine, marijuana, and ecstasy as well as contraband tobacco, guns and cash.Those arrested face charges including gangsterism, drug trafficking, fraud, receiving stolen goods and conspiracy.Montreal police say the operation began in 2007 following tips received by city police concerning a network of drug traffickers who also sold contraband tobacco.

Three people were injured in a weekend brawl outside a Millcreek Township tavern.
Millcreek police described the incident as a confrontation between rival motorcycle gangs in the parking lot at Last Shot Bar & Grill, 3064 W. 12th St.Between 15 and 20 people were involved in the fight, which began Saturday night a little before 11 p.m., police said.The names and conditions of the three people who were injured weren't available. Police were still investigating today.

The Chosen Few v the Kingsmen: Last summer, several Chosen Few members dragged a Kingsman off his motorcycle on Buffalo’s East Side, clobbering him with an ax handleThe next day, a Chosen Few member was run off the road and shot at as he rode through West Seneca. A few weeks later, state police arrested a Chosen Few member with 31 deadly pipe bombs, which they said he intended to use to blow up a Kingsmen clubhouse. And last Friday, two Kingsmen blasted the Chosen Few’s clubhouse on Main Street in Depew with 12 rounds from an AK-47 assault rifle, police say. The escalating violence prompted investigators in a Safe Streets Task Force on Thursday to round up 20 members and associates of the Chosen Few, in hopes of preventing the violence from getting much worse. While supporters of the Chosen Few say they are nothing more than hardworking family men who love their motorcycles, Depew police Capt. Mark Mediak applauded the arrests. “This is a good day, one of the best days in the village,” Mediak said. “We’ve been dealing with [the Chosen Few] on a regular basis since they came here more than 10 years ago. The defendants — many of them in their 40s and 50s with scruffy beards, tattoos or long pony tails—were arrested early Thursday on felony racketeering conspiracy charges. According to acting U. S. Attorney Kathleen M. Mehltretter and FBI Special Agent Laurie J. Bennett, the men allegedly conspired to commit bombings, arsons, assaults and murders of their rivals. Federal agents also alleged that Chosen Few members were behind the April 2004 firebombing of the clubhouse of another biker gang, the Lonely Ones, on Martin Road in Blasdell. They alleged that the firebombing was intended to kill people who were sleeping in the building, but no one was hurt. “We want a safe community. We don’t want innocent bystanders to get caught in the crossfire between these gangs,” Bennett said. The task force has been keeping a close eye on the Chosen Few since last summer. In August, agents installed court-authorized listening devices and tiny hidden cameras inside the Chosen Few’s Depew clubhouse, a fortresslike former bank building with a walk-in vault, where illegal weapons were stored. The feds said they watched and listened as Chosen Few President Alex Koschtschuk and other club leaders denounced the Kingsmen and made plans for violent attacks. “If you’re a Kingsman, you’re going to go down,” Koschtschuk allegedly said in the clubhouse last August, ranting because the Kingsmen had vandalized a Chosen Few tent at a “Bikes and Blues” gathering. “We’re not going to play games with these guys . . . We’re taking them down . . . Baseball bats, whatever you want, however you want.” Koschtschuk, 58, a stocky man with a gray beard and gray hair slicked back into a pony tail, was arrested at his Alden home early Thursday morning. He appeared in court wearing a black T-shirt that featured the likeness of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and the words, “Chosen Few M. C. — Ride It Like You Stole It.” A leader of the Chosen Few since at least the early 1980s, Koschtschuk was identified by police as a State Thruway Authority employee who is currently off work because of a disability. He pleaded not guilty during a brief appearance before U. S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy. FBI Agent James A. Jancewicz said Koschtschuk and other Chosen Few leaders encouraged members to use death threats, beatings, guns and explosives against the Kingsmen. “The Chosen Few are in a violent war with the Kingsmen, and it promised to get a lot more violent,” Jancewicz said. “The latest incident on Friday made us move more quickly to take the case down because we were worried about an explosion of violence.” While violence between the Chosen Few and the Kingsmen dates back to at least 1997, when a shootout occurred at a West Seneca tavern, Jancewicz said the rivalry really began to heat up last August. After several incidents between the two gangs, Chosen Few member Michael Segool talked about extreme violence against one Kingsman, just after a meeting that federal agents recorded in January. “We break every one of his fingers, we break his hands, we break his [expletive] legs, everything,” Segool said, according to court papers. “ ’Cause . . . the only way he’s gonna stop is if you crip him so bad.” “Something’s got to be done with these guys,” Koschtschuk allegedly told members at that day’s meeting. Members and associates of the Kingsmen have created trouble, too. Last Friday, Depew police arrested two alleged Kingsmen, after almost a dozen shots were fired at the Chosen Few clubhouse with an assault rifle believed to be an AK-47. The shots apparently were fired just a few minutes after midnight.
“There were no persons present in the building, as it turned out,” Mediak said. “They just drove by and sprayed the front of the building, as well as some windows and doorways.” Officers charged William R. Slater, 47, of Depew, and Robert L. Salczynski, 46, of Kenmore, with criminal possession of a weapon and criminal mischief, according to police reports. A similar incident occurred last Aug. 9, when someone in a passing pickup truck fired shots at the clubhouse. No arrests have been made in that incident, but other officials have said Chosen Few members believe that incident was connected to their feud with the Kingsmen. Depew Police Chief Thomas Domino said many people who live near the clubhouse have complained about the noise and traffic violations from Chosen Few motorcycles but are afraid to push the issue.
Main Street in Depew is more run-down and less vibrant than many village main streets. It’s dotted with modest homes, an old yellow-brick apartment house, one boarded-up and burned-out house and some commercial buildings with For Sale signs.
Reaction to the Chosen Few was mixed Thursday afternoon among the neighbors and people walking by the clubhouse. “In the summer, it was loud because of their bikes,” said Lia Knoer, 20, who lives two doors away. “Other than that, they were nice. They really did keep to themselves. You can understand why.” But that seemed to be a minority view. Others seemed less worried about the motorcycle roars and more concerned about the violence, especially the drive-by shots fired last week.
“I was at my friend’s home, I heard the shots, and it freaked everyone out,” said Catie Kotowski, 15, who stays in a house near the clubhouse. “It’s just unsafe here.
“The Chosen Few brings a whole different personality to Main Street,” Catie added. “They’re a gang, basically. With all the drama they cause, I think if they were gone, it would be a lot better.” Her friend, Shannon Bartz, 15, lives a few doors away and across the street. “It’s unsafe for all the kids around here, with the shootings and the violence they cause,” Shannon said.
Another neighbor refused to talk with a reporter. “I ain’t getting shot for nobody,” the middle-aged man said. Police said six illegal guns were recovered Thursday from the walk-in vault at the clubhouse. Three other illegal guns — two of them illegally modified to make them fully automatic — were found in Koschtschuk’s Alden home.
Assistant U. S. Attorney Anthony M. Bruce identified the following defendants in addition to Koschtschuk and Segool, 25, of Buffalo:
Alan Segool, 48, of West Falls; James Lathrop, 56, of Alden; Bradley Beutler, 36, of Depew; Clyde Utz, 50, of Alden; Brion Murphy, 52, of Attica; Gerald Rogacki, 47, of Alden; Matthew Watkins, 33, of Elmira Heights; Dennis Rogowski, 43, of Cheektowaga; Norman Herzog, 43, of Lackawanna; Lionel Carter, 53, of Belmont; Gary Phillians, 44, of Angola; Paul Roorda, 48, of Buffalo; Robert Treadway, 41, of Depew; Martin Whiteford, 37, of West Seneca; Charles Kuznicki, 38, of East Aurora; Robert Geiger, 42, of Medina; Donald Diana, 47, of Depew; and Robert Summerville, 46, of East Aurora. Geiger, who wore a big tattoo with the words “Trust No One” on his forearm, was identified by police as a state corrections officer. Alan Segool was identified as a former Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority police officer who now — like Koschtschuk — works for the Thruway Authority. The Safe Streets Task Force is made up of investigators from the FBI, State Police, the U. S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, Buffalo police, Amherst police, Cheektowaga police, the Erie County Probation Department and the state Parole Division.
Bennett also thanked Lancaster police, Depew police and other agencies that supplied officers for Thursday morning’s arrest raids.
A large number of friends and family members came to federal court to support the defendants Thursday, and two of them spoke to The Buffalo News in defense of the men. “They’re all good guys. A lot of them are educated and have phenomenal jobs,” said one of the women, who identified herself as Beutler’s fiancee but would not give her name. “They live, eat and sleep for their motorcycles [but] they aren’t criminals. I had 10 cops pointing guns at me and my daughter’s heads at 6:01 in the morning.”
“Why aren’t the Kingsmen here?” said the other women, who also declined to give her name. “The Kingsmen have done a lot of things that weren’t retaliated for.”
Authorities said they have charged Kingsmen members in several incidents and the investigation is still continuing. Attorney Paul J. Cambria said he spoke to Koschtschuk after his arrest and may represent him. Jancewicz said there are about 25 Chosen Few members in Western New York and about 50 Kingsmen.

Entire membership of the NSW Hells Angels has been targeted, the commander of the gang squad, Detective Superintendent Mal Lanyon, said.The home of the Hells Angels' City Crew president, Angelo Pandeli, was searched, as was his chapter's Petersham clubhouse.
Mr Rees said yesterday he would give police even tougher laws if necessary."This cycle of violence and intimidation we have seen will end in one way and one way only - under terms set by my Government and the police commissioner," he said. But at least one provision in the laws is to clean up the legislation his Government passed early last month.Under that legislation, once a criminal gang was proscribed, its members would have to be served with control orders; the new bill means a public notice in a newspaper will be sufficient.The Deputy Commissioner, Paul Carey, said bikie gangs were recruiting members from young street gangs, including the Muslim Brotherhood Movement and the Parra Boys, and the legislation was about preventing this practice.But the president of the Criminal Defence Lawyers Association, Phillip Boulten SC, doubted whether the new laws on recruitment could be enforced. "It will be difficult to detect, prove and enforce," Mr Boulten said.

Christopher Wayne Hudson, on the run from police after a drug-fuelled rampage, was chained up while he was punished. Senior members used a blowtorch to remove a Hells Angels tattoo from his arm. Speaking for the first time, a Hells Angels insider said the ritual torture was punishment for bringing shame on the club. Hudson surrendered to police with a heavily bandaged arm after two days on the run. "Look at the bandage, it goes right up to the elbow . . . it's a burns bandage," the insider said. Hudson is serving 35 years for killing lawyer Brendan Keilar and shooting Dutch backpacker Paul de Waard in June, 2007.

Law enforcement officers are investigating a motorcycle gang called the Invaders in connection with the 2007 deaths of two St. Louis-area men and the disappearance of the third.The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Sunday that court documents showed that for more than a year investigators have suspected members of the gang of killing 39-year-old Randy Greenman, and 36-year-old George Whitter.The two vanished in September 2007 and their mutilated bodies were found weeks later dumped in two locations in Missouri and Illinois.A motive for the killings is unknown and the two men were not believed to be gang members.

uncovered a stash of weapons including a tommy gun, an AK-47, hand guns and Tasers, along with police uniforms and a bullet-proof vests. Man alleged to have links to a bikie gang has been charged with weapons offences following an all-day raid in Sydney's south yesterday.Police from the Gang Squad and the Australian Crime Commission began searching the unit at Kogarah around 7:30am yesterday.The bomb squad was also called in to investigate a number of items found at the scene. A 20-year-old man was later arrested at a cafe in Sydney's CBD. He has been charged with possessing more than three unregistered firearms and will face face Parramatta Local Court later today. Police would not confirm which bikie gang the man is alleged to have links with.They say an investigation into the sale of drug-making chemicals led to the raid. Police have formed Strikeforce Mandur to investigate further.The NSW Government congratulated police for their work in the raid, which Police Minister Tony Kelly says was part of the ongoing Operation Raptor."It is the tip of the iceberg," Mr Kelly said. "However, the police have come a long way."

"They have already arrested more than 80 outlaw motorcycle gun members and they are continuing to do that."

Alexandros Macris associate of the Notorious crime gang has been charged after drugs and two loaded guns were found in his Bentley and home on Sydney's North Shore, police say.Police attached to Strike Force Raptor, formed this year to crack down on bikie gangs, charged Alexandros Macris, 27, with numerous firearm and drug offences.Officers raided Macris's apartment in Vista Street, Mosman, a short time after 2am today.They seized $8350 cash, a silver .22 Jennings brand pistol and a .38 Colt pistol - both loaded - two types of steroidal agent, Xanax pills as well as marijuana and 178 tablets police believe to be ecstasy.Police also seized a black Bentley sedan, with one of the loaded guns and ammunition inside.Macris appeared briefly at Manly Local Court this afternoon, and was remanded into custody ahead of an expected bail application at Central Local Court tomorrow.Dressed in blue tracksuit pants, a grey Champion brand jumper and with close-cropped black hair, Macris made several hand gestures to a man sitting in the public gallery during the few minutes he was in court.The other man made hand gestures in return, but outside court denied he had anything to do with Macris.Strike Force Raptor, which is attached to the State Crime Command Gangs Squad, was established after the bikie brawl at Sydney Airport last month, which resulted in one man's death.It has so far made more than 50 arrests, targeting the illegal activities of outlaw motorcycle gang members and their associates.

State Opposition leader Ted Baillieu has also declared Victoria could become the bikie capital of Australia if tougher anti-bikie laws weren't enacted.According to The Herald Sun, the Finks gang has inquired about property in Ballarat to use for a clubhouse.bikie gang may set up headquarters in Ballarat have rung police alarm bellsInspector Gerry Rudkins of Ballarat Police said if the reports were true, it may be of concern if a bikie gang came here."Any group of people currently involved in crime we would be watching very closely," Insp Rudkins said.It is believed Ballarat is currently the headquarters of one bikie group, the Bandidos, which Insp Rudkins said could pose potential problems if the Finks also based themselves here."It may cause some conflict between the two groups."Mr Baillieu said Victoria needed to take the same stance as South Australia, which was trying to make the Finks a banned organisation by claiming some of its members had been involved in crime. New South Wales and Queensland are looking at similar legislation."I am critically concerned that the government's approach on anti-bikie laws runs the risk of turning Victoria into bikie headquarters, because we have the lowest common denominator legislation," Mr Baillieu said in Ballarat yesterday.
The Finks operate mainly in South Australia and Queensland, but are believed to be looking for a Victorian base due to its lack of anti-bikie laws.

Most dangerous gangs in Australia include The Rebels with 2000 members. There are also the Gypsy Jokers, Coffin Cheaters, Bandidos, The Black Uhlans and the Finks described as the most disorganised but most violent, according to Professor Arthur Veno, author of The Brotherhoods.Though disputed by most bikie clubs, the National Crime Authority has reported that the main source of income for bikie gangs is the importation of firearms, dealing amphetamines and pot, counterfeiting, tax evasion, extortion, money laundering and trafficking in stolen goods. And former Bandidos insider and police informant Steve Utah, now in hiding, says he was even involved in wildlife smuggling.Bikie gangs consequently fight for control to conduct business in their territory and violence even extends to women, historic gang differences, inner-club politics and personal feuds.

Gypsy Jokers
Estimated members: 120-150*
Territory: Chapters in WA, Vic, SA and NSW.
Violence: In 1994, 15-20 Jokers severely bashed an Adelaide publican and waiter. Minh Van Pham was beaten unconscious and permanent injuries included intellectual impairment and memory loss.
- In 1984, Jokers waged a two-year war with the Comancheros.
- WA’s former chief detective Don Hancock and his mate were blown up by a car bomb in 2001, planted by a Gypsy Joker.
Death: In 2000, Gypsy Joker Billy Grierson was shot by a sniper in Kalgoorlie and there were allegations that Don Hancock was the shooter.

Coffin Cheaters
Estimated members: 200-300*
Territory: Three chapters in Perth, two chapters in Vic, two in NSW and two in QLD. Plus there’s three Norwegian chapters.
Violence: In the 1970s, five Cheaters were convicted of raping a rival club president’s girlfriend.
- In 1976, the Cheaters nearly beat two Resurrected members to death and raped the president’s 19-year-old girlfriend. Six members were convicted of assault, burglary, wounding, theft and rape.
- In 2000, a court heard that Cheater Mark Hinchcliffe convinced his wife to murder her lover Michael Wright.
Deaths: A Cheater tried to attack three girls hiding in the closet and was shot dead by an 18-year-old girl .
- In 1998, Cheater Mark Chabriere was blasted to death in Perth.

Notorious (bikies without bikes, who are known to wear T-shirts and Nike shoes )
Estimated members: approximately 24-30. Made up of mostly Pacific Islanders and Middle Eastern men from Sydney’s West. Members are senior former members of the now-defunct Nomads Parramatta chapter.
Sydney
Violence: In March of this year, a solicitor who had represented members of Notorious had a gun held to her head in bed, while intruders ransacked her house.
-Last week, it was alleged that jailed Notorious members punched on with a jailed Bandito in Sydney’s Parklea prison.
Deaths: In 2008, Todd O'Connor, a former Nomads bikie who was said to have been a founding member of the Notorious gang, was shot dead in a Sydney back street. Another ex-Nomads bikie who switched allegiance to Notorious was the victim of a car bombing in Sydney’s North Shore.

Comancheros
Estimate members: 80-100
Territory: Three chapters in Sydney.
Violence: In 1983, the Comancheros called a meeting with the Loners motorcycle club to call a truce. Instead, the Loners were met by two carloads of Comancheros and beaten and forced to surrender their club emblems.
- In 1984, the Comancheros and Bandidos were involved in the Milperra massacre, a bloody shoot-out on Father’s Day which left seven people dead, including two Bandidos and an innocent 14-year-old girl.
- In March 2009, it was reported that the Comancheros were responsible for bashing the brother of a Hells Angels member to death with a metal bollard at Sydney airport. Four men have been charged over the brawl.
Deaths: In 1999, the tortured body of Commanchero Peter Ledger was dumped at his estranged wife’s Sydney home. Comanchero ‘Sergeant-at-Arms’ Ian Raymond Clissold was jailed for manslaughter over Ledger’s death
- A total of four Comancheros died during the Milperra massacre.

Bandidos
Estimated members: 250 -400 nationally and 2000 – 2500 worldwide.
Motto: F–k the world. We are the people our parents warned us about.
Territory: A total of 24 chapters in NSW, Qld, SA and Vic. Worldwide, there’s chapters in Europe, North America and Asia.
Violence: In 1995, Cairns bouncer Jason Tyler was allegedly lured from a nightclub to the Bandidos clubhouse and shot in the leg. A sock was stuffed down his throat and he was kicked to death.
- In 2000, drug runner and Bandidos associate Milad Sande, cousin of Danny Sande, the president of the Blacktown Bandidos chapter, was allegedly murdered on the orders of a senior Bandido, according to Dead Man Walking.
Deaths: In 2001, Kurri Kurri Bandidos president Rodney Partington was killed when a bomb blew up in his hands at a Gypsy Jokers compound.
- Former Bandido Russell Oldham, the prime suspect in the point-blank shooting murder of Bandidos Sydney president Rodney Monk, put a gun to his head in knee-deep surf in Sydney’s Balmoral Beach.
- Bandidos Sergeant-at-Arms, Sasha Milenkovic and two fellow Bandidos members were shot dead execution-style by two Rebels members in the basement of a Sydney nightclub in 1997.
- In 1984, two Bandidos died in the bloody Milperra massacre.

Hells Angels
Estimated members: 150-250 including their Nomad allies and 2000-2500 members worldwide.
Territory: Charters in Darwin, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. Internationally, there’s chapters in North America, South America, Europe, Russia, South Africa and New Zealand. Nomads
Motto:: Three can keep a secret if two are dead.
Violence: - In 2006, five Hells Angels barged their way into a Kings Cross nightclub. After a bouncer questioned them, he copped a bullet, as did a woman waiting in line.
- In 2006, Angels and Finks fought at a kickboxing tournament on the Gold Coast among 1600 spectators. Christopher Wayne Hudson, who had defected from the Finks to the Angels, was shot in the throat, stomach and back, while two other Angels were stabbed.
- In 2007, Hudson fired six rounds of ammunition from a handgun at his model girlfriend Kaera Douglas and two bystanders who came to her aid. One bystander died at the scene. Hudson received a life.
- Last month, Angels member Peter Zervas was shot in the shoulder, chest, abdomen and foot. A police source has alleged that the shooting was orchestrated by the Comancheros.
- This month, Hells Angels have put a $100,000 contract on Comancheros president Mick Hawi after his alleged involvement in the Sydney airport brawl.
- Hells Angel leaders from the US have ordered their Australian club to restore the gang's tough reputation by shooting at any rival Comanchero member "on sight".
Deaths: In 1998, Hells Angel David Newham was murdered in Sydney in a drive by shooting.
- Last month, Angels associate Anthony Zervas was blugeoned to death by metal bollards at Sydney Airport, allegedly by members of the Comancheros.

Rebels
Estimated members: 2000 members; they’re said to be Australia’s largest bikie gang.
Territory: Estimated to be 70 chapters across Australia.
Violence: Bandidos Sergeant-at-Arms, Sasha Milenkovic and two fellow members were all shot dead execution-style by two Rebels in a Sydney nightclub in 1997.
- In 1997, the Rebels were linked to the shooting death of housewife Jane Thurgood Dove, who was chased and shot in front of her children at her home. The real target of the hit was another blonde woman in the same street.
- In 2000, a Rebels nominee was charged with the murder of a couple in the ACT.
Deaths: 1999 was an especially brutal year for the Rebels: three members were shot dead in an Adelaide ambush; former Rebel Sergeant-at-Arms Paul William Wheeler disappeared; and Rebel Paul Summers died in a machine-gun ambush while asleep at the Rebels’ clubhouse in Gosford, NSW.
- In 2001, convicted amphetamine dealer and Rebels associate Terry Falconer was abducted while on day-release from Silverwater prison and his dismembered remains were found in a river.
- Last month, two senior Rebels members were shot dead in Canberra, with a long-time Rebels member claiming shootings were a result from a bitter love triangle.

Finks bikie remains in custody after being arrested at an Outlaw Motorcycle Gang clubhouse on a series of robbery and assault charges that stem from alleged crimes at Tweed Heads, Coffs Harbour and Byron Bay.The alleged victim in two of the matters is the same man.Robert Kingsley Corowa, 27, from Banora Point, was refused bail by a Lismore Local Court magistrate yesterday despite his Gold Coast Potts Lawyers legal representative stating his client denied all charges.Corowa, who appeared wearing a black T-shirt with 'Finks' emblazoned across its back, was heard to swear 'F..k' from the dock when Magistrate Jeff Linden refused the bail application.Corowa, a construction worker, is charged with the following Coffs Harbour matters from August 2008: assault inflicting bodily harm in company on Raymond MacMaster; affray; remaining in a building at Sandy Beach with intent to commit an offence; stealing $280 from a house; and taking a 1999 model Toyota Landcruiser without consent.He also faces unrelated charges from South Tweed Heads on November 28, 2008.They are: robbery in comp- any with Danilo Jnr Fadera and demanding property - $1000 - by force in company with intent to steal from Corey Bok. The Tweed Heads charges include the theft of two laptop computers. A further charge at Byron Bay on June 16, 2006, relates to demanding property with menaces with intent to steal an Xbox 360 console from Corey Bok.In his unsuccessful bail application, Corowa's lawyer said his client worked in construction around Northern NSW and on the Gold Coast and was the carer for his mother who suffered a severe form of arthritis.He said Corowa's priors were for traffic and theft matters and he denied the allegations which would be 'contested vigorously,' and it would be onerous for his client to remain in custody until the matters were heard.The Potts lawyer said his client had been aware of the charges and his behaviour by not attempting to flee the area was not the action of a man guilty of an offence.Magistrate Linden said the alleged police facts before him 'indicated a history of stand-over tactics' where the well being of people was in jeopardy. The Coffs Harbour offences were adjourned for mention at Coffs Harbour Local Court on June 1, with the Tweed and Byron offences adjourned for mention at Lismore Local Court on June 2.

Judge ordered a member of the Pagans motorcycle gang to stand trial in connection with the death of a White Oak man at a North Versailles bar.The victim of a shooting outside a North Versailles bar tried to drive away after being shot, crashing into a wooded area. Police said Kevin Doolin Jr. was with three other bikers who got into a gunfight with 33-year-old Albert Kolano at Longview Lounge on Greensburg Pike.
Several Kolano family members showed up for the suspect's preliminary hearing Friday in municipal court -- including Kolano's brother, Anthony, who was at the bar the night of the shooting.Anthony Kolano testified at the downtown hearing Friday that he saw Doolin shoot Albert Kolano.Doolin, 43, of Pittsburgh's Sheraden area, remains held at the Allegheny County Jail on a homicide charge.

George Kozma, 34, and Alex Taouil, 33, both from New South Wales, are facing charges including false imprisonment. Two men with alleged connections to the Comancheros bikie gang have been granted bail after being charged over a violent home invasion in Melbourne earlier this month.It is alleged they were part of a group that attacked a man at Elwood two weeks ago. The court heard police found their alleged victim bound and gagged on the floor of his apartment, with bruising and a broken nose. It is believed the men are closely linked to the Comancheros bikie gang.

Arrested another Canadian member of the Hell’s Angels biker gang allegedly implicated in drug trafficking and murders in his country and who hid in Dominican soil, which brings to three the number of detainees from that country in less than 24 hours. The Drugs Control Agency identified the Canadian as Aurele Brouillete, apprehended last night in an exclusive residence in the tourist town Cabarete, Puerto Plata province (north). Brouillete’s detention occurs just hours after the arrests of the alleged Hell’s Angels Marc Readman and Steve Rainville, also in Cabarete, as part of a simultaneous sweep in Canada, Mexico, France and Dominican Republic against members of the criminal group, on charges of murdering at least 22 bikers of a rival gang.

Arrested 156 Hells Angels biker gang members and their associates after conducting more than 80 investigations going back to 1995.
Steven Chabot, Quebec provincial police's deputy director general, said Thursday that the gang members face charges including first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and gangsterism.Police also seized five Hells Angels bunkers throughout the province and claim they shut down the biker gang's East Coast operation.Police from Quebec, New Brunswick, the Dominican Republic and France were involved in the investigations.

Jihad Murad, 23, was arrested on Tuesday afternoon during a raid on his Prospect home, in western Sydney, over the fight early on Sunday morning.The brawl allegedly began after Murad was refused entry to Kings Cross' Vegas Hotel.Murad, whom detectives allege is a member of the Notorious outlaw motorcycle gang, was later charged with affray.Magistrate Vivien Swain granted Murad bail during an appearance at Blacktown Local Court on Wednesday, on condition he report to police daily, stay away from Kings Cross, and not approach or contact any employee of the Vegas Hotel.He is due to reappear at Blacktown Local Court on April 21.Murad is the latest arrest by Strike Force Raptor, set up after a fatal bikie brawl at Sydney airport last month.More than 20 bikie gang members have been arrested and charged over various drugs, weapons and assault charges in the past three weeks.

"We will also seize five bunkers of the Hells Angels," Guerin said in a phone interview from Laval, Que. "We will seize the Montreal chapter ... we will have also the south chapter that is in Longueuil, we will also have the Sherbrooke bunker, the Trois-Rivières bunker and the Quebec City bunker, too."
Arrested 156 people as part of a major strike against the Quebec Hells Angels, with more than 1,200 officers taking part in a series of pre-dawn raids on properties across the province. The Sureté du Québec says the Project SharQc raids have targeted suspects who have allegedly been involved in crimes -- including various drug and gangsterism offenses, as well as various murders -- that took place between 1992 and 2009. Police say they have linked the alleged crimes to five Hells Angels chapters in Quebec. The raids, led by SQ officers, are designed to put the provincial Hells Angels out of business -- at least for the time being. The majority of arrests have occurred in Quebec, though five male suspects -- all in their 40s and 50s -- were nabbed in St. Leonard, N.B. One person was arrested in France and four others in the Dominican Republic.
Laval police spokesperson Daniel Guerin told CTV Newsnet that in addition to the arrests on Wednesday, officers had also executed 177 warrants and seized selected properties in Quebec.
RCMP Sgt. Claude Tremblay said the suspects who were arrested in New Brunswick would be flown to Montreal on Wednesday. Unspecified guns and drugs were seized from the New Brunswick suspects, whom police allege are involved in bringing drugs from the United States and into Canada. "New Brunswick is the corridor to the Maritimes and everything comes through our highways and we have a lot of small airports through the region," Tremblay said. "There's a lot of trafficking going on. It's mostly related to underground crime and a lot of it is run by the Hells Angels." Guerin said the raids were part of a three-year investigation into the Quebec Hells Angels, which involved prosecutors and 200 police officers. Police arrested both active and "retired" Hells Angels on Wednesday, Guerin said, because of their alleged involvement in 22 murders, drug trafficking, conspiracy and gangsterism offenses. Investigative reporter Julian Sher, who has co-authored two books about the Hells Angels, called the Wednesday morning raids a "huge" accomplishment for police.


"It has to be a devastating impact to the Hells Angels, regardless of how it turns out in the courts," he told CTV.ca in a phone interview on Wednesday morning.

"Just the fact that the police can pull this off again sends a message." The scope of Wednesday's raids indicates that the police used intelligence to undertake them, he said. "The police are getting smarter and better," said Sher. "They are using the only tool that is effective against organized crime and that's infiltration and intelligence, and they've learned that lesson."
James Dubro, an organized crime expert and journalist, said the larger worldwide Hells Angels will take steps to maintain the group's influence in Quebec. "The Hells Angels controls all the biker groups in this country. They will come to the aid of their brothers," he told CTV Newsnet on Wednesday. The SQ will hold a press conference about Project SharQc in Montreal on Thursday morning. Sher said the Hells Angels currently have 400-450 members scattered across Canada. Last month, police arrested 10 people in "Operation Baladeur" -- a series of raids that saw 11 people arrested in connection with alleged criminal offenses that relate to Quebec's notorious biker war of the 1990s. In February, "Operation Axe," a raid involving 700 police officers, targeted suspected biker and street gang members in Ontario and Quebec. Forty-seven people were arrested, some of whom police alleged were Hells Angels members. According to its official website, the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club first formed in the United States in 1948. Since then, the Hells Angels have formed chapters around the world including in Canada, Australia, South Africa, as well as in South America and Europe. The Hells Angels are believed to have been in Quebec since the late 1970s.
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Two men and a woman linked to the Rebels outlaw bikie gang have been charged over a brawl at a Sydney casino, police say.Two groups of patrons used glasses and chairs as weapons when the fight broke out at Star City casino early on Sunday.When security staff threw them out, the brawl involving 20 men and women continued in the street outside until police arrived just after 1.30am (AEST).
Police, with help from the riot squad, brought the brawl under control, arresting 10 men and a woman, while others fled the scene.
It is alleged six of the men, aged between 22 and 35, as well as the woman, have links to the Rebels.The 26-year-old woman from Shalvey, in Sydney's west, was charged with affray and bailed to appear at Downing Centre Local Court on May 5.A 20-year-old man from Punchbowl and a 21-year-old from Riverwood, also in the city's west, were also charged with affray.The pair were granted bail to appear at Downing Centre Local Court on May 4.Police released without charge another six men allegedly linked to the Rebels pending further inquiries and a review of CCTV footage.Another two men, both aged 20, were also released without charge.A crime scene was established at the Pyrmont Street casino, and several items were seized for forensic investigation.

10 outlaw motorcycle gangs meet in western Sydney on Saturday.
Officers from Strike Force Raptor, the dog squad and Polair swooped on a licensed premises on the Great Western Highway, in Prospect, about 12.30pm (AEST). Police allege the muster gathering was attended by high-ranking members of bikie gangs, including the Rebels, Bandidos, Finks, Outcasts, Black Uhlans, Phoenix, Christian Motorcycle Club, Gypsy Jokers, Life Death, and Loan Wolves. About 70 members and their vehicles were searched. Three men will appear in court at a later date after being charged with possessing a prohibited weapon, possessing a prohibited article and custody of a knife in a public place. Head of the gangs squad Detective Superintendent Mal Lanyon said that police have advance knowledge of planned events by outlaw motorcycle gangs. 'And we will continue to be proactive in ensuring the law is enforced, and to prevent criminal activities or any breaches of the peace which may possibly arise as a result of these gatherings,' Det Supt Lanyon said in a statement. A police raid on Friday at a house in Airds, in Sydney's southwest, resulted in the arrest of 49-year-old Comanchero member Ricky John Perceval (Perceval) and the seizure of seven licensed firearms, $140,000 of the illegal drug ice and $200,000 in cash.
Gang colours and a Harley Davidson motorcycle were also confiscated in the raid. Perceval faced Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday and was refused bail over four drugs charges, one count of possessing a prohibited weapon, and two counts of dealing with the proceeds of crime. The matter was adjourned to Liverpool Local Court on Thursday, where the Comanchero will apply for bail. Det Supt Lanyon allege Perceval's arrest had broken up a significant drugs operation. 'It obviously shows that it was a large-scale operation,' Det Supt Lanyon told reporters. Perceval was one of two men with alleged bikie links to appear in Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday. James Wilson, 46, an alleged Bandidos associate, was granted bail after being charged with dealing with the proceeds of crime, possessing a prescription substance, steroids, and driving while unlicensed. Police searched Wilson's car after stopping him at a random breath test at Heathcote, in southern Sydney. Appearing via video link and representing himself, Wilson said the money seized was acquired legally. He was granted bail under strict conditions and will appear next in Kogarah Local Court on Tuesday, April 14. Since a fatal bikie brawl at Sydney Airport on March 22, police from Strike Force Raptor have arrested more than 20 people with links to bikie gangs.

70 members of the Rebels, Bandidos, the Finks and seven other clubs had gathered at a hotel in western Sydney when the Gang Squad and officers attached to Strike Force Raptor descended on them yesterday."It got smashed by the jacks," a club source said.
Three people were charged with possessing weapons or prohibited items, police said.The meeting was believed to involve middle-ranking members of Sydney clubs who were planning for a historic summit this week among the chiefs of all the NSW clubs.Coming after a meeting in Queensland last weekend, the summit was planned to restablish a code of conduct which has disappeared in recent years. That code is believed to involve a moratorium on public displays of violence, including an end to drive-by shootings and attacks on members' businesses and workplaces.But the outlaw club members were caught off-guard by the raid at the Prospect Hotel in Prospect yesterday, with some thinking they had the tacit support of police in their attempts to broker peace."It's a bloody disgrace, it's a bloody travesty," the source said. "If they get intel on a location about a group of clubs meeting to try to help calm this situation down, why would they break it up?"Gang Squad commander Superintendent Mal Lanyon, said: "We will continue to be proactive in ensuring the law is enforced, and to prevent criminal activities or any breaches of the peace which may possibly arise as a result of these gatherings."Another club source issued an ominous warning, suggesting the "iron-fisted" approach police have adopted could backfire. "There is a plan B, one law enforcement don't know about. The clubs will de-patch and no one will know who's from where."
Yesterday's raid comes as sources reveal that Mahmoud "Mick" Hawi's time as king of the outlaws may be coming to an end, with the Queensland meeting that voted on a new code of conduct also deciding his day was over.Hawi, the Comanchero national president, has been widely condemned following his alleged involvement in last month's Sydney Airport brawl, in which Hells Angels associate Anthony Zervas was killed.Senior members of more than a dozen clubs have voted to oust the 28-year-old Bexley man.

Two alleged Rebels - Jason Anevski, 23, and Daniel James Isbester, 22 - were taken into custody at gunpoint after allegedly attempting to sell almost 1.3kg of cocaine and speed to undercover police at a Sydney McDonald's restaurant.Three men with alleged links to the Rebels and Comancheros have been charged with supplying cocaine and speed after police on Tuesday raided eight NSW properties and arrested six people after a four-month covert operation.
They faced drug charges in Newtown Local Court on Wednesday before being remanded in custody to appear at Sydney's Central Local Court on April 14.A third man, a 37-year-old alleged Comanchero, was arrested at Hurstville in Sydney's south and charged with supplying a commercial quantity of cocaine.Police expect to lay more charges as officers from the gangs squad and various strike forces target bikies, as well as the state's drug manufacturing and distribution networks.Assistant Commissioner Catherine Burn described the raids as extremely significant in establishing a link between organised crime and bikie gangs.

The Rebels, may be forced to cancel its 40th anniversary celebrations in Brisbane as tough new anti-bikie laws are drafted by the Bligh Government.Due to be held at its Albion clubhouse, which has risen from the ashes after being firebombed in a bikie war two years ago, the Rebels' party has been postponed and may not take place at all due to the incoming legislation.Based on laws already in place in South Australia and New South Wales, the proposed measures would make it illegal to associate with an organisation deemed to be involved in criminal activity.The Rebels' Frodsham Street clubhouse was rebuilt after being torched on March 27, 2007, by senior members of rival club the Bandidos during a bitter inter-club feud.Completed recently, the modern timber building is a significant improvement on the Rebels' previous premises, which were left gutted by the $120,000 arson attack.The firebombing was said to have been committed by the Bandidos as retribution for an earlier clash between the two gangs at Bribie Island and the defection of several high-ranking Rebels to the Bandidos in 2006.Four men, including Bandidos' Brisbane chapter president Blair Raymond Thomsen, vice president Ivan Glavas, sergeant-at-arms Kenneth James Whittaker and gang associate John Debilla were last year jailed for a combined total of 15 years after pleading guilty to the arson.With the clubhouse out of action, the Rebels last year held a function at the nearby Brothers Rugby Club and used a shed at the rear of the property as a makeshift Brisbane chapter clubhouse. The Rebels, along with other outlaw clubs, have been on the receiving end of a heavy police crackdown on bikie-associated crime, particularly in New South Wales, where anti-bikie laws were introduced last week following the bashing murder of a man at Sydney Airport.In the latest incident, two men allegedly linked to the Rebels were arrested at gunpoint on drugs offences in the Sydney suburb of St Peters yesterday.With strict measures pending in Queensland, clubs are reportedly using the state as a testing ground for a new era of inter-gang diplomacy.A group called the United Motorcycle Council, including senior members of most Queensland clubs, has reportedly been formed to promote mediation instead of violence to sort out inter-club feuds and is being used as a model for southern clubs.

Union official and alleged outlaw motorcycle member Christian Birch,
38 was carrying a loaded gun while riding a black Harley Davidson motorbike in full Hells Angels colours. Officers from Strike Force Raptor pulled the man over on Garden St, Alexandria about 4.45pm (AEDT) on Friday. Hell's Angels bikie charged with firearm offences was disqualified from driving and was on L-plates when he was pinned to a Sydney road and arrested in a dramatic daytime operation, a court has been told.The Hells Angels member and a woman arrested later were charged with gun and drug offences. 'It will be alleged the disqualified driver was wearing full Hells Angels colours when he was stopped by police, and was in possession of a loaded firearm,' a NSW police statement said. Police from Strike Force Raptor and the State Crime Command Gangs Squad also raided two homes at Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, and Wyndham Street, Alexandria after the arrest.
Officers seized a shotgun, a bulletproof helmet, a large amount of ammunition, Hells Angels colours and a large amount of liquid thought to be a derivative of GBH during the Alexandria raid, police said. Police also seized drug paraphernalia and substances believed to be prohibited drugs in the Darlinghurst raid.
The Hells Angels member, from Alexandria, has been charged with two counts of possessing a prohibited firearm and one count each of possessing a loaded firearm in a public place, not keeping a firearm secure, possessing ammunition and driving while disqualified. He has been refused bail to appear at Parramatta Local Court on Saturday. Police say they expect to lay more charges at a later date. The woman was arrested during the Darlinghurst raid and issued with a field attendance notice for possessing the drugs ice and GBH. She will appear at Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on April 27. Inquiries are continuing after both raids.

Body of murdered Bandidos motorcycle club member Paul (Big Paul) Sinopoli was so large that a woman who saw it from a distance originally thought it was the remains of two people, court heard today."To me, it looked like two forms," retired dairy farm Mary Steele said today at the mass murder trial of six men connected to the Bandidos Motorcycle Club.Her comments focused on the morning of Saturday April 8, 2006, when she and her husband Russell (Rusty) found four abandoned vehicles on their property near the hamlet of Shedden, about a half hour's drive west of London.Steele told the Bandidos mass murder trial that she and her husband called 911 immediately after they saw the vehicles, around 7:45 that morning.
They watched from a distance as an officer looked inside an Infiniti sport utility vehicle that held the body of Sinopoli, 30, curled in a fetal position in its hatch area."I could hear the word 'body,'" she recalled. "I thought, 'That's two bodies.'"
Her comments came in the first degree murder trials of Wayne (Weiner) Kellestine, 59, of nearby Iona Station; Frank (Frankie) Mather, 35, of no fixed address; Winnipeggers Michael (Taz) Sandham, 39, Marcello (Fat Ass) Aravena, 32, Brett (Beau) Gardiner, 24, and Dwight (Big D) Mushey, 41.Each of the men faces eight first-degree murder charges.Also found dead in the vehicles abandoned on the Steele property were the bodies of Luis Manny (Chopper, Porkchop) Raposo, 41; George (Pony) Jessome, 52; George (Crash) Kriarakis, 28; Frank (Bam Bam, Bammer) Salerno, 43, all of Toronto; John (Boxer) Muscedere, 48, of Chatham, Ont.; Paul (Big Paul) Sinopoli, 30, of Sutton; Jamie (Goldberg) Flanz, 37, of Keswick; and Michael (Little Mikey) Trotta, 31, of Mississauga.Mary Steele said she and her husband tried to peek inside the Infiniti and the three other vehicles, but could see nothing because the windows were tinted.She said they took pains not to disturb the crime scene, something they've learned from watching the television series CSI."My husband and I watch CSI so we decided we weren't going to touch anything," she told the court.The vehicles weren't on their property the previous night, she said. Their dog didn't hear any prowlers and their security alarm system on their property wasn't activated that night, she told court."My first thoughts were, 'These cars were stolen,'" Mary Steele said.

Gruesome photos of the men's bullet-riddled, bloodied faces were shown during the testimony of OPP Const. Ross Stuart in the trials of six men connected to the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, who are charged with the largest mass murder in modern Ontario history.
Mr. Justice Thomas Heeney of the Superior Court of Justice cautioned people in the high-security courtroom before the photos were shown."These photos – some of them – will be of a gruesome nature," the judge warned. "Steel yourselves for them."
Court earlier heard that Durham Regional Police surveillance officers had no way of knowing that murders were going on – virtually under their noses – the night eight Greater Toronto Area Bandidos bikers were murdered."From where they were, all seemed quiet," Elgin County Crown Attorney Kevin Gowdey told the trial, which started yesterday.In his opening remarks to the jury, Gowdey noted that some of the men who were murdered on the night of April 7-8, 2006 were themselves suspects in the murder of Shawn Dowse of Keswick.The victims drove to the Iona Station farm of Wayne (Weiner) Kellestine, 59, a fellow member of the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos, which was nicknamed "The No Surrender Crew," Gowdey told court."They (Durham Regional Police) carefully followed some of the deceased right up to the Kellestine farm," Gowdey said.
Kellestine lured his fellow members to his farm, about a half hour's drive southwest of London. Members of the Winnipeg probationary chapter of the Bandidos were waiting there, court heard. There were deep tensions between the Winnipeg probationary chapter of the Bandidos and the Toronto chapter, with the Toronto chapter opposing the promotion of the Winnipeggers to full club status, Gowdey said."Wayne Kellestine was actively encouraging the Toronto (area) members to attend his farm," Gowdey continued. "They were told that it was really important.""They were supposed to go back (to Toronto) that night," Gowdey continued. "They never did."
Throughout that night, Kellestine sang, danced and prayed as he helped slaughter his clubmates, one by one, Gowdey said.
"There was no gun-fight," Gowdey said. "There was no flurry of bullets ... One by one, the Bandidos were led to their deaths."
Kellestine faces eight charges of first-degree murder, along with Winnipeggers Marcello Aravena, 32, Brett (Beau) Gardiner, 24, Michael (Taz) Sandham, 39, and Dwight (Big D) Mushey, 41; and Frank (Frankie) Mather, 35, of no fixed address.The bodies of the Toronto chapter members were found early in the morning of April 8, 2006 in vehicles abandoned on a country road about a 10-minute drive from Kellestine's farm, court heard.In the vehicles were the remains of George (Pony) Jessome, 52; George (Crash) Kriarakis, 28; Luis Manny (Chopper, Porkchop) Raposo, 41; Frank (Bam Bam, Bammer) Salerno, 43, all of Toronto; John (Boxer) Muscedere, 48, of Chatham, Ont.; Paul (Big Paul) Sinopoli, 30, of Sutton; Jamie (Goldberg) Flanz, 37, of Keswick; and Michael (Little Mikey) Trotta, 31, of Mississauga.
They were all members or associates of the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos."Only one of The No Surrender Crew is with us now: Wayne Kellestine," Gowdey told the jury. "He set up the plan to ambush the Toronto Bandidos, his own chapter."Kellestine was briefly promoted to president of the Canadian Bandidos after betraying his Toronto clubmates, the court heard.Gowdey told the jury they can expect to hear from a Winnipeg biker who became a police informer and who was with the killers the night of the murders."He was not charged," Gowdey said. "He will be here as a witness in this trial."
Gowdey said the original plan was to kick the Toronto bikers out of the club, which bikers call "pulling patches." The order to do this was given to Kellestine from officers from the Bandidos headquarters in Texas in a meeting in B.C. a month before the murders, Gowdey said."Head office was upset," Gowdey said, reportedly because of a lack of communication from the GTA members.
Kellestine suspected this could end in bloodshed, and armed members of the Winnipeg probationary chapter with guns when they arrived at his farm in late March 2006, Gowdey said."Pulling the patches was a big deal," Gowdey said. "It represented taking their power away."

Raymond Desfosses, a high-ranking member of the notorious West End Gang, and Frederic Faucher, former leader of the Rock Machine, which merged with the Bandidos outlaw gang.were amongst the Ten people were arrested in Quebec on Thursday and one woman was being sought in connection with dozens of murders linked to outlaw biker gangs over a 25-year period.Charges against those arrested include murder, attempted murder and conspiracy. Operation Baladeur (Walkman) targeted suspects allegedly connected to biker gangs and organized crime, primarily in the Montreal and Quebec City areas.
Provincial police say the investigation focused on 28 cases of murder and 13 of attempted murder between 1978 and 2003.
Police said three of those killed were innocent, while two others were killed by mistake.Most of the killings happened between 1994 and 2002 as the Hells Angels and Rock Machine gangs battled over drug turf."This is major," provincial police spokesman Lt. Francois Dore told a news conference."They're all players in big criminal organizations. They're linked to the Rock Machine, the Hells Angels and the (Montreal) West End Gang."Police say the roundup was partly based on information provided by Gerald Gallant, a contract killer who turned police informant.Dore said Gallant had been under surveillance in April 2005 when investigators were able to obtain a DNA sample he left on a restaurant glass.The sample linked him to a 2001 slaying in Ste-Adele, in the Laurentians north of Montreal, Dore said."Unfortunately by then, he had left Quebec for Europe," Dore said. "He was arrested in May 2006 as part of a sweep targeting cloned credit cards."Quebec police went to Switzerland to question him a month after that."Gallant decided to co-operate with police," Dore said.The hit man is currently serving a life sentence for the Ste-Adele killing.A couple of high-profile names are among those arrested, including Raymond Desfosses, a high-ranking member of the notorious West End Gang, and Frederic Faucher, former leader of the Rock Machine, which merged with the Bandidos outlaw gang.

One of the people arrested on Thursday is charged with 16 murders.

Police scooped up the suspects in early morning raids in Trois-Rivieres, Warwick, St-Jerome and Quebec City. Arrests were also made at a federal prison in Donnacona, near Quebec City.

They were to be arraigned in Quebec City via videoconference later on Thursday.

Trooper recorded the license plate numbers of motorcycles Jan. 22 at the Capitol. State Patrol Sgt. Freddy Williams said it was done because troopers saw members of outlaw motorcycle gangs who were “flying their colors” – wearing clothing or apparel emblazoned with their gang’s name.Williams said some were members of the Bandidos and Gypsy Jokers, both motorcycle gangs. He said those gangs have participated in organized criminal activity and have a “proven history of violence against each other and other people.”
Williams said the trooper recorded license plate numbers in a nonintrusive manner so the patrol would have a way of finding out who was present, “should any violence have occurred.”

Hells Angels's Guildford chapter pulled in behind the hearse to ride shotgun.Anthony Zervas was bludgeoned to death in a brawl that broke out between the Hells Angels and Comancheros motorcycle gangs at Sydney Airport last Sunday.18 motorcycles lined up in front of the Euro Funeral Services building in Roselands to farewell one who was not one of their own.He was 29. He died fighting besides his brother, Peter, a big wheel in the Hells Angels, as bikies battled in the airport.It was a family thing. His father Phillip rode with the Hells Angels for years. But Zervas's death has focussed attention on the biker subculture and the ongoing internecine battle to control businesses, legal or otherwise.The Sydney bikie fraternity pretty much ignored the service, although a handful Bandidos showed.
Only about 200 people attended Euro Funeral Services in a rough part of Canterbury Road where boarded-up shops are predominant.
Scores of police surrounded the parlour and were scattered along Zervas's last ride to Rookwood cemetery, and a few locals gathered across the street. They had heard Alan Jones spruik the funeral on morning radio."He was a good bloke," said a local man wearing a T-shirt bearing the words 'Chopper Escort Services'. "Nah, it's not Mark Read, we do weddings and formals."The funeral ceremony was standing room only and short. Many left for a cigarette or a phone call. Most of the 30 or so men wearing Hells Angels "colours" did not bother going inside. There was an exodus as a civil celebrant, Ron Bevis, read Psalm 23 and the verse "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil."
After the funeral the Hells Angels's Guildford chapter pulled in behind the hearse to ride shotgun. Derek Wainohu, the president of the Guildford chapter, and the Angel who was on the flight before the airport brawl, headed the run. At the cemetery as Greek Orthodox priest Father John Grillis spoke, Peter Zervas moved quickly to support his mother as she collapsed.The priest walked away. The bikies gunned their Harleys.

Sunday's brawl, in which Anthony Zervas, 29, was bludgeoned to death, involved the Comancheros and the Hells Angels. Four Comancheros were refused bail in a Sydney court on Wednesday on charges of affray stemming from the brawl. Qantas has defended its security response at Sydney airport after a man was bludgeoned to death shortly after disembarking from a flight.
A brawl erupted in the airport after senior bikies from rival gangs left a Qantas flight from Melbourne on Sunday. A Qantas spokeswoman said some of the men had been boisterous at the beginning of the flight, but there was no reason to notify ground staff on arrival.
"It was early on in the flight," the spokeswoman said on Thursday.
"They raised their voices, they were asked to quieten down and they did, so there was no reason to notify ground staff." The head of the Comancheros Mick Hawi on Thursday criticised NSW police over their response to escalating bikie violence.

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A 28-year-old man died in hospital from severe head injuries.Police said about 15 gang members were involved in the fight, which was witnessed by about 50 people.Witnesses described how the gang used the metal bollards in the check-in area as weapons.“They started grabbing the metal poles that break up the check-in area and swinging them almost like swords at each other’s heads,” Naomi Constantine told Australia’s ABC news.“I saw one of the men lying on the ground and another man came up with a pole and just started smashing it into his head.”Local police chief Peter Williams called the attack a “disgraceful act perpetrated by a group of cowards”.
“A group of males have exited a plane and they were met by another group of males who we believe may be other motorcycle gang members,” Detective Inspector Williams told reporters.

Travelers watched in terror as warring Hells Angel bikers brawled through Australia's largest airport Sunday as a suspected Comancheros gang member was beaten to death with metal barrier poles.The melee erupted in the main domestic terminal at Sydney Airport when a group of men suspected of belonging to a biker gang was apparently ambushed by a different gang.Police Detective Inspector Peter Williams said 15 men were engaged in the violence, which rampaged from the ground floor up one level to the departures hall before most of the men fled."They came running through picking up the big metal barrier poles and swinging them like swords at each other," witness Naomi Constantine told the Australian Broadcasting Corp."I saw one of the men lying on the ground and another man came up with a pole and just started smashing it into his head," she said.Williams said one man died in a hospital from head injuries after the brawl.Four men were arrested, Williams said. The others escaped, some of them by stepping into taxis, local media reported. No charges were immediately laid.

"A group of males have exited a plane and they were met by another group of males who we believe may be other motorcycle gang members," Williams told reporters. "A fight ensued, the fight moved through various parts of the terminal to the ultimate location where the man was deceased."

Police did not identify the gangs suspected to be involved in the violence.
Gang violence in Australia is rare on such a public scale, though authorities warn a biker war may be emerging in Sydney.There have been a string of drive-by shootings into houses and a tattoo parlor, and last month an explosion went off outside a fortified Hell's Angel's clubhouse, damaging property but causing no injuries.

Outlaws Motorcycle Club, Wilkes-Barre chapter. Twenty-two of the club’s members and associates were charged Wednesday with various drug-related offenses.Robert Muntz, 42, who was among those charged, is an associate of the club. He is currently jailed on $250,000 bail on delivery and manufacturing of methamphetamine charges, arrest records show.Muntz could face additional criminal charges pending state police lab results, said Deputy State Attorney General Tim Doherty, who said a warrant was obtained to determine if the residence was being used to manufacture methamphetamines.According to the criminal complaint affidavit, Muntz met with Joseph “Skidmark” Janick, 44, president of the Wilkes-Barre chapter Outlaws motorcycle gang, at Muntz’s residence to purchase methamphetamine.Janick was a major sub-dealer of cocaine for Ronald Molnar, 37, and John Ricci, 36, associates of the biker gang, arrest papers state.Members of the Attorney General’s Office, along with Nanticoke police, noticed several chemical substances and paraphernalia believed to be linked to meth inside Muntz’s residence during his arrest Wednesday, said Nanticoke police Capt. Detective William Shultz.“When we arrested him, we noticed that there was some meth on a platter inside his home,” Shultz said. “There was an odor of methamphetamine and chemical substances.”Agents shut the place down and evacuated a family and two other residents living in the building, Shultz said. A specialized state police hazmat group is investigating and finding additional chemical substances.The three-story apartment building is located on the corner of Fairchild and West Green streets, which was taped off in yellow police line tape.
“We’re taking every precaution necessary to be sure that things don’t go awry,” said county District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll. “It’s a densely populated area. It’s pretty shocking to think something like this may be going on right here in this neighborhood.”

Mario Parente, 60, former president of the Outlaws motorcycle club who faced 17 charges and Luis Ferreira, 33, facing nine charges, walked out of the Middlesex County court house free men.The trial, before Superior Court Justice Lynda Templeton, was to begin in two weeks and last several monthsSmith told the judge the "principal witness" in the case "has advised us that he is no longer prepared to testify at the trial." Smith said the witness's evidence was essential for the Crown's case. Parente and Ferreira were two of dozens of people charged in Sept. 25, 2002, and brought to London as part of Project Retire, a joint police investigation targeting the motorcycle club. Forty-eight were convicted of both criminal code and drug charges. Fifteen more pleaded guilty to criminal-organization charges. Dubbed the "most significant crackdown ever" on outlaw bikers in Ontario, Project Retire rounded up 65 per cent of the total membership of the Outlaws -- 35 current and four former members -- when more than 500 officers swooped down on biker clubhouses or homes of members in 11 cities Sept. 25, 2002 , laying charges ranging from attempted murder to drug trafficking. They also arrested three members of the Outlaws' puppet club, the Black Pistons, two of whom were from Hamilton.Eighty Hamilton police were involved in the simultaneous 4 a.m. raids on seven addresses, including that of Mario Parente, national president. He was charged with trafficking and assisting a suspect wanted for attempted murder in connection with a shooting in London.The three-year investigation made use of informants who were established gang members, and had started before the Hells Angels moved into Ontario in December 2000. At that time, the Outlaws -- the second-largest outlaw motorcycle gang in the country -- were perceived as one of the biggest threats, Detective Inspector Don Bell, head of the OPP's biker enforcement unit said at the time.

The Outlaws, which have been active in Ontario for 25 years, shared turf with two other internationally recognized outlaw gangs -- the Bandidos and the Hells Angels. The Bandidos were targeted in raids in June the same year.

Project Retire raids involved 13 police forces across the province, were conducted simultaneously with raids in the United States. Ontario police seized 32 motorcycles and three trucks, along with dozens of firearms including an AK47 assault rifle and a Mack 10 machine gun.Police also obtained $1.6 million worth of drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy and marijuana. Thirty-seven people have been charged wi th participation in a criminal organization.

large gathering of motorcycles and cars drew Fresno police to M and Inyo streets downtown, where officers a gang member for allegedly possessing an assault weapon.Sgt. Dennis Lowry said officers found a .45-caliber MAC 10 machine pistol and 30 rounds of ammunication in the car of Jerome Freeman, 29, of Fresno.Freeman was taken to Fresno County Jail on charges of being a felon with an assault weapon

Police are keeping a close eye on South Philadelphia after a bar brawl sent members of a motorcycle gang to the hospital on Thursday.
A fight broke out inside Quattro Bar and Grille, on 13th Street near Shunk, at 11:24 p.m. Though the nature of the dispute is unclear, pool cues were shattered and plenty of blood was spilled, investigators said.Four people were taken to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital for treatment and a fifth was taken to Methodist Hospital, police said. All were treated and released.Among the injured were members of the Road Runners motorcycle gang and at least one alleged member of the 10th and Oregon gang, said a law-enforcement source familiar with local gang activity.The bar was shut down by the Department of Licenses and Inspection yesterday for a fire-code violation, said Lt. Frank Vanore, a police spokesman. *

One of two Hells Angels bikers acquitted of trying to kill rival club members pleaded guilty Wednesday to a drug charge, and state prosecutors dropped the remaining charge against the pair, ending a case that started Aug. 8, 2006, in South Dakota's Black Hills. John Midmore, 35, of Valparaiso, Ind., pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge of having a trace amount of cocaine in his system when he was arrested.

Two Gypsy Joker bikies have been jailed for bashing a man outside a Gosnells nightclub.Dean Alan Adams and Peter Floyd Robinson, both aged 44, were today sentenced by Judge Roger Macknay in the Perth District Court.Adams was sentenced to 18 months jail but was made eligible for parole and could be released after nine months. Robinson, who Judge Macknay said played a leading role in the attack, was jailed for two years and three months and also made eligible for parole.Both sentences were backdated to February 4, when the men were taken into custody after being found guilty of attacking Petera Heta Haimona outside the Cactus Club with a club, a metal wheel brace and a piece of wood in the early hours of May 12, 2007.In sentencing, Judge Macknay said the attack was “unjustified and unnecessary”.

Jay Anthony Dobyns says he and his family have received continual "threats of murder, rape, assault, torture, general violence and brutality," but instead of protecting them, the government has responded with a smear campaign. Hells Angels even offered to pay members of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang and the MS-13 street gang to kill Dobyns, according to his federal lawsuit.
Dobyns has been a special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) for more than 20 years. After spending nearly two years with the Hells Angels, his true identity as a federal agent was revealed. His undercover work allegedly led to numerous search and arrest warrants and the federal indictments of at least 16 Hells Angels members for RICO violations."ATF has refuse to adequately protect or defend Dobyns and family from the threats coming from the very criminals and alleged syndicates that ATF encouraged Dobyns to investigate," the suit claims.He says his house and belongings were destroyed by arson on Aug. 10, 2008, which also put his wife and kids' lives in jeopardy."In a demonstration of an extreme example of a United States government agency abandoning an employee," the lawsuit claims, "Dobyns's supervisors at ATF have subjected and are subjecting Dobyns to unheard-of malicious reprisals including, but not limited to, ATF's refusal to investigate the arson of Dobyns's home and naming Dobyns as a suspect in the arson of Dobyns's family home and attempted murder of his family with no evidence or investigative activity to support the charge."He is suing the government for mismanagement of threats and breach of contract, claiming the ATF's lack of post-investigation protection effectively ended his career as an agent.
A Hells Angels member in Tucson allegedly told Dobyns that he'd been tracking his family, and that Dobyns would "run from the (Hells Angels) for the rest of his life" and that he was "going to get hurt." "Dobyns's entire chain of command ignored the threats," the lawsuit claims. "Dobyns's supervisors immediately conspired to initiate a smear campaign against Dobyns claiming that Dobyns was acting outside of approval and authority at the time of the threat."
The plaintiff claims the ATF also received a copy of a handwritten letter in which a Hells Angels member, who was incarcerated for a beheading, threatened to arrange and videotape the gang rape of Dobyns' wife.Dobyns and his family demand more than $4 million in damages, plus $1.85 million in salary and benefits.

RAP song glorifying the violent activities of the Finks motorcycle gang has been described as an "anthem of evil" by Police Minister Michael Wright.The theme song brags about many of the high-profile incidents gang members have been involved in.
Some of the violent incidents described in the song include the 2006 Gold Coast brawl with the Hells Angels, the 2007 Tonic nightclub shootout with the Rebels and the 2004 city bus tour that resulted in fights at four nightclubs. It is not known who penned the lyrics, which have been obtained by the Sunday Mail, or which band performed the professionally recorded song. Besides bragging about violence and attacking rival gangs, the lyrics describe the Finks as an "invincible empire" made up of "sharp shooters and hard hitters". Criminal lawyer Craig Caldicott, who represents several Finks members, yesterday said the gang had distanced itself from the song. He said several senior members he had contacted had confirmed they were aware the song had been circulated and were "concerned". "The Finks deny they produced, commissioned it or had anything to do with the production of these lyrics," he said.

"They have tried to find out who was the author and have been unsuccessful. They are extremely unhappy with it being out there because it wasn't their work".

Sources have told the Sunday Mail attempts have been made to retrieve CDs of the song distributed among members and in criminal circles.

They said the gang hierarchy was concerned at the song's content being made public while it was fighting a police application to the State Government to have the gang declared a criminal organisation under the new Serious and Organised Crime (Control) Act.

After being provided a copy of the lyrics, Mr Wright said if the CD had been produced by the Finks it was "an outrageous admission of some abhorrent incidents around our state and glorifies thuggery and crime in the extreme". "It is an anthem of evil and clearly highlights what this Government has always maintained, that outlaw bikie gangs aren't harmless knitting circles made up of kind and caring individuals, as they claim," he said. "Criminal bikie gangs are not gentle, kind, fatherly individuals who lead blameless lives. "The fact is these criminal bikie gangs are involved in illegal drugs, murder, extortion and other forms of violence and intimidation. "To glorify violence, intimidating behaviour and shootings in this way just goes to show our laws - designed to disrupt criminal activity of bikie gangs, dismantle their organised crime networks and discourage others from setting up chapters in South Australia - are on the mark". The lyrics of the song are in stark contrast to the image of the club portrayed by Mr Caldicott while defending the looming declaration order. In a January 28 letter to Attorney-General Michael Atkinson, Mr Caldicott said the club was made up of "grandfathers, union members and gainfully employed people" and urged him not to launch proceedings against it. Mr Atkinson will decide this month whether to grant the police application. If approved, it will give police the power to stop gang members from associating.

New South Wales Police say three men who were shot last night were all members of the Nomads bikie gang.The three were inside their newly-established clubhouse at Marrickville in Sydney's inner south, when several masked gunmen burst in and opened fire, shooting the three men in the torso and legs.Detective Superintendent Mal Lonyan from the New South Wales Gangs Squad says the Nomads members have been withholding information from police about the circumstances of the shooting.But he says it is fair to assume that the masked gunmen who shot them were members of a rival bikie gang.He says it is not unusual for members of bikie gangs to operate in a "cone of silence", but that at this stage police believe a rival gang is behind the violence."Again it's very early in the investigation to speculate on who might be responsible but I think it's a reasonable assumption to assume that the persons that we're looking for might be affiliated with another outlaw motorcycle gang," he said.

Following a stand-off with police, a member of the Pagans motorcycle club shot himself in the face early Monday morning at Eland Downe townhouses.Police Chief William Mossman said that Jarrod Scott Guest, 29, of the 3700 block of Eland Downe, shot himself in the face after pointing his gun at a Phoenixville police officer around 1 a.m. Feb. 23.Mossman said that his department was dispatched to the 3700 block of Eland Downe after receiving a phone call from Guest's father around 10:45 p.m. Feb. 22."He called his father and told him to call the Phoenixville police. He said he wanted the Phoenixville police to come to his house, and that there was a body in his house," said Mossman. "He elluded that he would kill himself."A known member of the Pagan motorcycle club, Mossman said that his department knew of Guest and that he had firearms in his residence."We've been dealing with him for a few months," he said. "He's been having trouble with his wife sine last summer. We knew there was a recent protection from abuse (PFA) order filed."Mossman said that Guest received a phone call from the Spring City Police Department regarding a domestic situation, to which that and other personal problems that he was experiencing apparently set him off."We knew he had a permit to carry, but it was revoked due to the recent PFA. We treated this like it was a barricaded gunman situation," said Mossman. "When it arises, we surround the building, secure it, establish a perimeter and begin communication."Sgt. Brian Marshall, a trained and certified critical incident negotiator, arrived on scene and began a phone conversation with Guest. "We wanted to talk him out and have it be a peaceful resolution," said Marshall.
Mossman said that Guest was talking to Marshall for about a half hour."(Guest) was very aggravated," he said. "He was upset and he made it abundantly clear that he was going to shoot it out. He was going out in a blaze of glory. He did everything to taunt us. He was extremely rude, and very profane; however, (Sgt. Marshall) kept talking peacefully to him."Not only did police have to deal with the uncertainty of the situation, where officers were stationed around the house in case Guest would attempt to leave, but they had to endure 25-degree temperaturesWhile Marshall was negotiating with Guest, the Chester County SWAT team arrived.Mossman said that he had one of his officers deflate the tires of Guest's pickup truck so he couldn't use it to escape.Around 12:55 a.m., Mossman said Guest walked out of the townhouse and into the parking lot."(Guest) walked up to my officer and pointed a .40-caliber Glock pistol at him," he said. "They were approximately 10 feet apart, and he pointed it right at him."The officer raised his rifle and ordered (Guest) to put his gun down. After a brief stand-off, Guest lowered his gun. Within seconds, Guest brought the gun up to his chin and fired."Police and emergency medical personnel began immediately life-saving procedures on Guest.He was transported via West End Ambulance to a waiting helicopter, where he was airlifted to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.Mossman said that as of Monday afternoon, Guest was upgraded from critical condition, but remains in a coma in the hospital's intensive care unit.At the time of the incident, Lt. Thomas Sjostrom said that Guest was the only person at the residence."No one in the vicinity had to be evacuated," said Sjostrom. "We checked the house for anyone. We knew he has a child. We checked everywhere and the house was cleared and secured. It went down really quick."
Mossman said that prior to their arrival, Guest destroyed a lot of property inside the house."He took a baseball bat to a lot of his stuff," he said. "We recovered the baseball bat. He did a lot of damage inside."On Monday, police secured an arrest warrant for Guest and continued their investigation at the scene.

Although a member of the Pagans motorcycle club, Guest had limited contact with law enforcement prior to this year. He was arrested on driving under the influence charges in Downingtown on Jan. 20, and was scheduled for a preliminary hearing on March 9.

Upon his release from the hospital, he is facing charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and firearms not to be carried without a license from Monday morning's incident.Mossman said that he is extremely proud of the way his department handled the situation."They did a helluva job," he said. "We were standing out there for hours in cold temperatures. They handled it flawlessly. My entire command staff and officers were out there for over three hours. No citizens were hurt. No officers were hurt. The only person who was hurt was the one who did it to himself."During the incident, Mossman said he maintained contact with Mayor Leo Scoda."The mayor was informed periodically and kept appraised of the situation," he said. "We had the full support of the mayor's office during the incident."Assisting at the scene were the Phoenixville Police Department, Schuylkill Township Police Department, East Pikeland Police Department, Spring City Police Department, East Vincent Police Department, the Chester County SWAT Team, Chester County Command Vehicle and North Penn Goodwill Service.

Neatly arranged in one farmer’s lot in the community of Shedden, Ont., were four vehicles, stuffed with the bodies of eight men with bullet holes in their heads.
Following the discovery on April 8, 2006, an aerial photograph circulated widely through the media depicted one of the slain men, his body curled in the trunk of a car, wrists pinned in front of him. The victims were said to be connected with the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, an U.S.-based outlaw motorcycle gang. Killed were six full-fledged Bandido members: George Kriarakis, 28, John Muscedere, 48, Luis Manny Raposo, 41, Frank Salerno, 43, Paul Sinopoli, 30, and George Jesso, 52. Muscedere was believed to be the gang’s Canadian president. Police soon announced they believed the backyard of residents in this tiny community, just west of London, had been made a dumping ground. On Monday, jury selection is to begin at a London superior court for the trial of six men accused in the killings, which was the biggest mass slaying in modern Ontario history. The six accused, arrested more than two years ago, are each charged with eight counts of first-degree murder. Charged are Wayne Kellestine, 59, and Frank Mather, 35, both of Dutton-Dunwich, Ont., Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address, Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 32, and Dwight Mushey, 40, all of Winnipeg. The trial is expected to last six months.

The Hells Angels, will ride into the city on Saturday.Gang members are expected to party in the city's night precincts near where former member Christopher Hudson went on a shooting rampage in July 2007.Sources have told the Herald Sun up to 200 of the gang's members will be on the streets in its first show of force since Hudson shot three people, killing father of three Brendan Keilar.Bikies from NSW began arriving at a Preston hotel yesterday, ready for the event.Police Det-Supt Paul Hollowood said Angels East County branch sergeant-at-arms Peter Hewat had promised there would be no violence. Det-Supt Hollowood said it was not the main national run and a smaller convoy of riders was expected in the city."If you're talking of numbers of upwards of 200, our understanding is it will be a run but not a large one," he said. "We are aware of what they are doing and where they are going."We have been given assurances it will be peaceful. It's during these runs that bikie groups behave at their best."He confirmed police would not be giving gang members an escort into the city, as the force did in October when the Bandidos rode in convoy from Geelong to the CBD.It's expected bikies will ride from the East County chapter in Craigieburn, around the peninsula and into the city.Dutch backpacker Paul de Waard, who was one of three people shot during Hudson's shooting rampage at the corner of William St and Flinders Lane in 2007, said he was not opposed to bikies descending on the city."I know a lot of Australians must hate bikies because of what they do," he said."But I know it was Chris Hudson who was the one who did it."Jim Douglas, the father of shooting victim Kaera Douglas, also said he did not care where the bikies rode.It is expected the gang will hit bars and strip clubs in the CBD but it is not known if they have booked a hotel in the city. It is also not known if any surveillance will be in place.Police Association secretary Greg Davies, who is opposed to police escorts for bikies, said large numbers of bikies were an intimidating sight."It's a sad day when Melbourne is now known as the holiday destination of choice for Australia's outlaw motorcycle gangs," he said."When the Hells Angels are given the keys to the city, just like their adversaries the Bandidos, you don't know what to expect."An increased police presence is absolutely necessary. Whether numbers are available is another question."We can only hope the police force has used all their intelligence resources to be ready for any eventuality that may arise."Bikie violence has escalated in the past three years. In the latest turf war break-out, Bandidos enforcer Ross Brand was shot dead outside their Geelong clubhouse last October 22. Three men have been charged with murder.
The Angels are probably the most commercial outlaw bikie outfit in the worldThey are widely credited with bringing amphetamines to Australia after Angel Peter John Hill brought back the recipe from club counterparts in Oakland, California, in the 1980s.

Tattoo artists who draw gang symbols could be stuck with a fine and see there licenses revoked.The bill's author, state Sen. Martin Sandoval, D-Chicago, wants to cross out the growing influence of street gangs across Illinois.But already the measure is drawing the ire of civil libertarians."The notion we're going to do anything serious in reducing gang violence in limiting a tattoo artist is somewhat ludicrous. There isn't a street in Illinois that will be safer if this bill were to become law," said Ed Yohnka, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Kankakee had a rash of apparent gang-related violence two weeks ago with three shootings over three days."I don't think there's a way someone can rationally reach the conclusion that a tattoo of some symbol -- seemingly vague and undefined in this case -- can be figured out in terms of any sort of threat," Yohnka said.Sandoval acknowledged concerns that the legislation could infringe on the right to free speech protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.He said he hopes to soon retool the legislation to address those concerns."I have all the confidence in the world that we do not want to abridge anyone's constitutional rights. But we also want to take a very hard position on deterring crime and gangs," he said.
Roger Kilman, owner of Roger's Tattooing & Body Piercing in Bradley, said he disagrees with the law but would follow it if it passed."Really it's not my place to say what they can and can't have. Even if I personally stopped giving gang tattoos, all they're going to do is go to somebody in their basement or one of their members," he said.Kilman said he has applied gang tattoos and covered them up throughout the 25 years he's been in business.

Hells Angels have promised retribution following Wednesday's bombing of their clubhouse in Crystal St, Petersham, it is not even clear the gang members know who was behind it.Creating this confusion, police suspect, are gangs attacking rivals in underhanded attacks - not as a declaration of war - but to provoke battles between other gangs.The only suitable explanation involves the emergence of a new gang on Sydney's streets.The gang - Notorious - contains some of the most violent criminals in Sydney. They are breaking all established rules to punch out their own turf.Now, with the job having started, they are preparing to expand across Australia. It will undoubtedly stir interstate gangs to pick up their weapons.Notorious represents the changing face of the modern bikie gang. For starters, few of them ride bikes.Also gone from many are the beer guts and bushranger beards.Most of all, gone is the rebellious lifestyle that created the outlaw motorcycle gang culture after returned American soldiers struggled to reintegrate with society following the end of World War II.Today's bikie is familiar with a barbell. He is clean cut and highly tattooed, but, most of all, he is about drugs and money. They are almost all criminals.As well as the amphetamine trade, which is the bulk of their business, they have expanded into other illegal avenues for profit.

Cars are stolen and chopped - sold for parts or shipped overseas. Extortion has become popular, with victims kidnapped and sold back for a ransom. Standover scams are another earner - shopkeepers forced to pay protection money.

But the biggest change in today's bikie gang is the turn to multiculturalism.This is no small step.It began 10 to 12 years ago as the gangs moved deeper into crime and their emphasis shifted away from sharing the outlaw lifestyle to selling drugs.Gone was the racist doctrine.Soon, the dominant criteria became earning potential.If he earned, he was in. If not, no good.It changed the whole gang culture.Soon enough, old-style established gang members started walking away from their colours.They didn't want to share their clubhouse with Islanders or Lebanese.And as they disappeared, the old rules began to fade.Where the gang lifestyle had previously been kept within gangland, now everybody became fair game. Bullets began being sent into homes where children slept. Bombs were detonated where anybody could be walking past.This also sent many old-school bikies into retirement.Nowadays the old bikie gangs remain in structure only.There is a national president and each chapter has its own chapter president.Under the chapter president is the sergeant at arms, responsible for discipline. Below him is the road captain, responsible for leading the runs.Bikies can wear their colours only when they are on club business, and never anywhere else.These are the rules Notorious are living by and upsetting at the same time.After Wednesday's bombing police could hardly wait to take a look inside the Hells Angels clubhouse. Yet for a long time they were unable to, forced to wait because they did not have a warrant.
Meanwhile, the Hells Angels turned up but also could not get in to hide whatever it was they did not want the police to see.While they had every right to enter their clubhouse, they had no right to enter the police crime scene, inside of which sat there clubhouse.

Rebels bikie gang members are among four men arrested in an operation police say has smashed an extensive drug distribution network based on the New South Wales central coast.Officers seized 6000 ecstasy tablets worth an estimated $180,000, along with three vehicles which investigators allege would have been used to distribute the drugs. About 7.30pm last night, armed special operations officers arrested two men, aged 22 and 36, at Killarney Vale as part of ongoing investigations into the alleged manufacture and supply of the illicit drugs commonly known as speed and ecstasy, by members of the Rebels motorcycle gang. Two other men, aged 32 and 27, were arrested at Newcastle Airport and Wyee Point. Four homes were raided at Mannering Park, Killarney Vale and Wyee Point. The arrested men, who face a range of drugs and firearms charges, are each due to appear in court at Wyong or Newcastle today.Gangs Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Mal Lanyon said the arrests follow an 11-month investigation into the alleged drug network and more arrests were expected.

Hells Angels clubhouse has been blown up and shots fired into a nearby tattoo parlour in Sydney's inner west.Emergency services responded to reports of a loud explosion and gun shots at Petersham at about 2am (AEDT) on Wednesday, police said.
Officers arrived at a premises in Crystal Street, reported to be a Hells Angels clubhouse, to find it extensively damaged.Several shots were also fired into a tattoo parlour on nearby Parramatta Road.No injuries were reported at either the clubhouse or the tattoo parlour. Witnesses told police two males drove from the scene in a dark green four-wheel drive which was last seen travelling west along Parramatta Rd.Police said Crystal Street would remain closed for several hours between Parramatta Road and Margaret Street while investigators conducted their inquiries.

Chad Wilson and John Midmore were found not guilty in November of attempted murder against five people associated with the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, but they still face charges for conspiracy to commit murder.Both men have reached agreements with prosecutors to resolve the matter and are scheduled to plead guilty to some charge Wednesday morning in Sioux Falls.Wilson, a 33-year-old Canadian resident who was living in San Diego on a tourist visa, is scheduled to plead guilty the same day to a federal gun charge in Rapid City. His lawyers filed a motion with the court today seeking to postpone that hearing

Arrested the president of the Santa Barbara chapter of the Hells Angels on Friday night in connection with a road rage incident earlier this month, officials said.
Archie Schaffer, 35, of Oak View was booked into the Ventura County Jail after being arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, brandishing a firearm from a vehicle and street terrorism, according to Ventura County sheriff’s officials.
Investigators said Schaffer intimidated a group of motorcyclists driving along Highway 33 near Casitas Springs on Jan. 16, riding so close behind them that one driver was forced into oncoming traffic. Schaffer allegedly also brandished a gun at a driver. A witness riding behind the vehicles captured the incident on film, according to sheriff’s officials.Schaffer’s bail was $100,000, sheriff’s officials said.

Hells Angel Paul Fontaine jury found him guilty of murdering a provincial prison guard and the attempted murder of another. But the verdict, rendered in sixth day of deliberation, comes with a few questions hanging over it as serious problems with the trial arose while the jury was sequestered. Defence lawyer Carole Beaucage did not comment on the verdict but possibly has one or more avenues for an appeal. Fontaine, 41, was found guilty of the first-degree murder of provincial prison guard Pierre Rondeau and the attempted murder of his colleague Robert Corriveau. The murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence with no chance at parole for 25 years.On Sept. 8, 1997, both Rondeau and Corriveau were ambushed after two gunmen fired shots into the inmate transport bus in which they were riding.Before the verdict was rendered, Beaucage made his latest attempt at a mistrial after learning a juror communicated with a special constable at the courthouse while the jury was deliberating. Jurors are not supposed to have contact with the outside world while deliberating. The exchange, reportedly through an e-mail, involved a lottery number but it highlighted a series of problems that arose with the jury during the most crucial stage of the trial. One involved an experiment one juror did in his spare time to see if a person could climb on to the front bumper of an inmate transport bus and fire a gun. The juror discussed his failed experiment with one of two other jurors outside the deliberation room. Jurors are instructed not to discuss the case among themselves outside of deliberations. Beaucage demanded a mistrial on Thursday after learning what happened but Superior Court Justice Marc David decided giving the jury a refresher on the rules would suffice. Outside the courtroom, prosecutor Randall Richmond said he was happy with the jury’s verdict.

“(The jury) sent us a message that we did our work well,” Richmond told reporters.

Even if Fontaine successfully appeals the jury’s verdict he still faces 11 charges filed against him in 2001 when most of the fellow members of the Hells Angels’ now-defunct Nomads chapter in Quebec were rounded up in Operation Springtime 2001.
The charges are related to events that transpired during the biker gang war between 1994 and 2001. Included among those charges are two counts of first-degree murder, of rival biker gang members, and two of attempted murder. Fontaine was in hiding when Operation Springtime 2001 was carried out and managed to avoid justice for seven years. He went into hiding either shortly before or sometime after the Hells Angels learned that Stephane (Godasse) Gagne, one of the gunmen who took part in the ambush, had turned informant after he was arrested on Dec. 5, 1997. Despite being one of the most wanted men in Canada he avoided capture until May 27, 2004.

15 people indicted on federal charges involving the distribution of large amounts of marijuana.According to the indictment, between 1994 and the present, Stephen Patrick Morris, 46, and 14 others were involved in a conspiracy to distribute in excess of 1,000 kilograms marijuana. According to court records, the defendants were part of a motorcycle gang called the “Invaders Motorcycle Club” which was has chapters in several states, including Missouri, Illinois, Indiana. The investigation, which was led by DEA, covered activity of the defendants in Arizona, Texas, Indiana and elsewhere as well as St. Louis City, St. Louis County, Jefferson County, St. Charles County and Phelps County in Missouri.Each defendant was indicted on one felony count of conspiracy to distribute in excess of 1,000 kilograms of marijuana and a forfeiture count, which, if convicted, will require the forfeiture of proceeds and property derived from the illegal activity. The grand jury alleged a money judgment in the amount of $7.5 million representing the total amount of proceeds obtained from the sale of marijuana during the course of the conspiracy.All defendants convicted of conspiracy to distribute in excess of 1,000 kilograms of marijuana face a penalty range of 10 years to life in prison and/or fines up to $4 million.
Others who were indicted were Edward John Boroughf, 39, St. Louis County; Robert Allen Turner, 60, Dupo, Illinois; Victor Dwayne Ashworth, 48, Warrenton; William Arthur Bellmore, 53, Jasper County, Illinois; Gerald Wayne Dragich, 55, Jefferson County; Donald Steven Emory, 49, Jefferson County; Michael Shawn Ashworth, 44, St. Louis County; Daniel Charles Inman, 54, St. Louis County; Timothy Jay Bartruff, 51, St. Louis County; Timothy James Rappleano, 43, Boone County; Raymond Edward Bodway, 36, St. Louis County; Gary Wayne Null, 35; Boone County; Ronald A. Young, 51, St. Louis County; and Shane L. Rohlfing, 31, St. Louis County.United States Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway commended the work on the case by the Drug Enforcement Administration, St. Louis County Police Department, Jefferson County Police Department, Richmond Heights Police Department, St. Charles County Sheriff’s Office, Phelps County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

250 members of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang roared into Red Deer, Alta., and took over the rival Grim Reapers in a patch-over ceremony.A federal police agency had issued dire warnings about the notorious gang's arriving in Alberta.
The Criminal Intelligence Service Canada described the Hells Angels as the largest outlaw motorcycle gang in the country. The group is involved in the illegal drug trade, prostitution, fraud and extortion. A few years ago there were 34 chapters across the country with a total of about 500 members.Police in Alberta went so far as to set up roadblocks, stopping every biker coming into Calgary to see if they were affiliated with the Hells Angels.The gang's prominence has faded in recent years, especially in Calgary, where the focus has been on the bloody battle between two street gangs that often settle their differences with a shootout in the street.
But police say the Hells Angels are still operating under the radar in the city, relishing the cloak of anonymity that all the street-gang violence is providing them.
"They're still very much here," said RCMP Cpl. Jerion Hildebrand, part of the Calgary Integrated Intelligence Unit. "And they're still involved in activities but they know better and they don't want the heat that all the gunfire in the streets create.They do things quietly and in-house and take care of business without attracting a lot of outside attention. They know better, they've learned their lesson. They know that route doesn't cause them anything but grief from the law enforcement community and the general public."While the public may be focused on the violence in the streets, police are still devoting resources to the Hells, said Calgary Det. Doug Greaves, another member of the Integrated Intelligence Unit.
"There is negative attention going to the gang violence that is out there and right now they're flying under the radar," said Greaves."We do have resources that are strictly working on the Hells Angels and other organized crime groups, so the Calgary police and RCMP are not just focusing on the street gangs."Like any well-run corporation, the Hells Angels has evolved into an efficient organized crime conglomerate."If you look at the whole picture, they dabble in everything," explained Hildebrand. "They deal with everybody as far as other crime groups go, and the activities are constantly evolving and changing. They diversify. Some are generalists, some are specialists."It's like a multinational corporation. They'll deal with who they need to deal with and sometimes will buy from this supplier or sell to this buyer and it changes."Cathy Prowse spent 25 years with Calgary police before joining the University of Calgary as an expert on criminal gangs. She said the Hells Angels have gone well past the point of wanting to be in the public spotlight."They structured over time to become, according to the CISC Canada, a bonafide criminal organization," said Prowse. "That's part of it. It's the invisibility of organized crime.They very much have a definite infrastructure, division of labour and they make a lot of money and there is more insulation. They're not gone. They're just doing business more out of the public limelight - that's how organized crime prefers to operate."

Jury in the Paul Fontaine Hells Angels murder trial briefly stopped delibrating for about 20 minutes this morning.They sought clarification from the judge as to what 'conspiracy' meant.Justice Marc David then replied that a 'conspiracy' meant agreeing to a common project to acheive an illegal end, and which involves two or more people.Fontaine is on trial for the 1997 murder of prison guard Pierre Rondeau, and attempting to murder another guard.

Court has sentenced a bike gang member to 35 years in prison for killing a rival biker in 2004 for stealing his motorcycle. John Price, 37, was convicted by a jury in November of first-degree murder with a firearm and two counts of witness tampering. According to King County sheriff's deputies, he beat Donald Jessup with an axe handle and shot him in the face. Jessup's body has never been found. King County sheriff's deputies say Price believed Jessup stole his Harley-Davidson motorcycle and was trying to sell it back to him for $800.

Escalating warfare between immigrant and biker gangs in and around Copenhagen.
When victims of shootings are admitted to hospital, their comrades often turn up and threaten personnel. “We can handle the desperation of relatives. But comrades in arms are a major problem. They go overboard. They shout and cause disturbances and are also a safety risk for other patients,” says Rasmussen. She says that attitudes have shifted from the previous view that hospitals were safe havens. “Previously, hospitals were places where patients were protected by personnel, and where people walked around quietly and calmly,” says Rasmussen, who wants extra funding for conflict management and security. A new survey from the Danish Nurses’ Organisation shows that violence and threats are a general daily problem for nurses. One in four nurses was subjected to threats from either patients or relatives last year. Almost one in five was subjected to violent episodes while working. “This is unpleasant and completely unacceptable. It is an extra stress factor that affects nurses when they go to work,” says Rasmussen.

Guildford headquarters of the Hell's Angels was being used as an illegal bar and also that reputed criminals could be found operating from there.Gangs squad commander Detective Superintendent Mal Lanyon said it was the first time such a judgment had been obtained for an outlaw motorcycle gang clubhouse. "To put the impact of this declaration at its most basic level, it allows police to enter the clubhouse 24/7 without a warrant to ensure compliance with the Restricted Premises Act," Supt Lanyon said.The Supreme Court declaration complements operational strategies already being undertaken as part of Operation Ranmore, which was set up last year to target criminal activities by bikie gangs."(Clubhouses like these) are often in residential areas so we would also appeal to local residents to call Crime Stoppers with any reports of illegal activity," Supt Lanyon said."All information will be treated in the strictest of confidence."Under legislation enacted more than 65 years ago, police were granted the orders in the Supreme Court that the Broughton St, Guildford premises known as the Hell's Angels clubhouse be categorised as restricted premises.According to the 1943 Act, an application can be made on the grounds of suspicion of any drunken, disorderly or indecent conduct, drugs or liquor being sold or supplied illegally or that criminals and/or their associates are attending, have attended or are likely to attend the premises.

Greater Toronto Area Hells Angels were ordered to stand trial on a variety of criminal organization and drug trafficking charges.The ruling came yesterday in a Scarborough courtroom, as Justice Gail Dobney of the Ontario Court of Justice upheld most of the charges laid 21 months ago at the end of a massive police project against the biker club.Among the 11 men ordered to stand trial was Robert Donald (Donny) Petersen, 61, Ontario spokesperson for the Hells Angels.Petersen, a former social worker, has often irritated police with his public comments that Hells Angels are merely motorcycle enthusiasts.No date has been set for the trials.Six of the bikers remain in custody, pending bail hearings over the next month.Petersen, who operates an east-end motorcycle shop and writes books on motorcycle technology, faces the sole charge that he "did contribute to the activities of a criminal organization to commit the indictable offence of trafficking in a controlled substance."Others ordered to stand trial were Larry Pooler, Lorne Campbell, Douglas Myles, John Neal, Ian Watson, Sean Dwyer, Mehrad Bahman, Omid Bayani, Mark Bodenstein and Vincenzo Sansalone.Several of the accused belonged to the Angels downtown chapter, which met in a bunker-like clubhouse on Eastern Ave. near Logan Ave. The clubhouse has since been seized by police.Pooler, who operated a Lindsay tattoo parlour and pool hall at the time of the arrests, belongs to the downtown Toronto chapter.He faces charges of possessing the painkiller Oxycodone and money obtained through crime.He is acting as his own lawyer and remains under strict house arrest.There is a publication ban on evidence heard in the pre-trial proceedings.
The bikers were charged after much-publicized police raids across the GTA, as well as in Vancouver and New Brunswick.At the time of the arrests, police announced a full-patch member had betrayed the club by working as an undercover agent for 18 months.Petersen's bail conditions included an order not to associate with any of the co-accused, anyone with a criminal record or anyone connected with what police call an "outlaw motorcycle gang."Dwyer, of Cambridge, was freed on bail after the April 2007 arrests on conditions that included surrendering his Hells Angels club vest and not wearing club insignia.Other conditions included an order that he not go to any premises where the principal business is selling alcohol and that he must answer his phone on the first eight rings.

full-patch member of the Manitoba Hells Angels has been unsuccessful in having his conviction and sentence thrown out.Ian Grant took his case to Manitoba's highest court. He wanted his 15-year sentence overturned, claiming it was not appropriate considering the crimes he was convicted of. Grant appealed... claiming the judge violated his right under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to a fair trial. That was dismissed.

Four men arrested in connection to the non-fatal shooting of a suspected Hells Angels member in November were sentenced in Humboldt County Superior Court Tuesday afternoon to terms ranging from three years in prison to 180 days in jail. All four men, three of whom were found to be card carrying members of the Mongols Motorcycle Club, pleaded guilty in a plea agreement offered during their preliminary hearing, after evidence surfaced that the victim -- Robert Thompson -- may have fired first.
Deputy District Attorney Ben McLaughlin said although there are no current plans to charge Thompson as a felon in possession of a firearm, the matter is still under investigation. The accused gunman in the case, 28-year-old Mongols gang member Eric Gunner Lundin, was sentenced by Judge Dale Reinholtsen to three years in prison for felony charges of assault with a firearm and participating in a criminal street gang. Lundin's attorney, Glenn Brown, said his client will likely serve "a little over two years." Dustin Liebes, a 36-year-old who the prosecution named as the president of the area Mongols chapter, was sentenced to one year in jail with five years probation. Shasta County resident Eric Garcia, 28, was also given a one year jail sentence with five years probation. Both men had pleaded guilty to participation in a criminal street gang, and both were granted 110 days time served.

487 Ortono Ave. in Oshawa, was once one of the toughest-to-enter addresses in the Greater Toronto Area, until heavily armed police barged in and seized it in September 2006.Back when it was run by the bikers, if you wanted to get inside, you had to pass under security cameras and hidden listening devices, and be granted entry by someone on the other side of a steel-plated, windowless door.
The folks on the other side of the steel door were nicknamed "The Assylum Crew" for their wild behaviour.A member and a former member are currently facing murder conspiracy and counsel to commit murder charges.Another member is behind bars for smuggling cocaine through Pearson International Airport. Yet another Assylum Crew alumnus began serving a seven-year prison term in October, after pleading guilty to plotting the murder of his own brother over drug trafficking turf.A fifth former member, club secretary Steven Gault, is deep in a witness protection program, after being paid more than $1 million by police to work as an agent against his former biker brothers.The photos of the bikers' former hangout show it to be a little messy, but far cleaner than your average frat house. The untidy look is likely from the police search two years ago, when police seized some $14,000 hidden in the bungalow's walls. On the main floor, photos show a grey velour couch, facing a little bar and a flat screen television, which looks to have a 32-inch screen.It's likely your eyes are drawn upwards to the plaques and photos on all the walls, each with the winged skull "death head" insignia of the Hells Angels, the world's largest outlaw motorcycle club.There's even a cuckoo clock on the wall with a Hells Angel death head, the club's copyrighted logo.On one wall is a framed patch from the old Satan's Choice club, which was absorbed into the Hells Angels eight years ago, and tribute photos of former members, now dead. There's also a black leather vest with a patch with the words "Assylum Crew," and T-shirts with the words "Montreal" and "Trois Rivieres," demonstrating how the Oshawa chapter is particularly tight with Hells Angels there.Upstairs the atmosphere becomes decidedly more businesslike.
Photos of Hells Angels chapters from around the world fill the walls. On a filing cabinet, by the computer, are pictures of prospective Ontario members and telephone numbers, attached by magnets.One of the names on a post-it on the filing cabinet is that of "Shakey Dave," for David Atwell, the former sergeant-at-arms of the Downtown Toronto Hells Angels chapter. Atwell is now in a witness protection program, after informing on his old clubmates.There are also Assylum Crew membership cards, with the phone numbers of each member, and similar cards for the Hells Angels chapters from Sudbury, Keswick, North Toronto, Niagara, Thunder Bay, Saskatoon, London, Denver, Simcoe County and Prince George, B.C.Other paperwork close to the computer includes a payment chart, showing how members' $100 monthly dues were split several ways, including payments to defend the club's trademarked logo and the Big House Crew, the nickname for members who are behind bars.Filed in the upstairs office are email addresses for the national secretaries in each country or region in the Hells Angels world.Also in the office are photos of every Hells Angel member in the world, in 190 chapters from Oakland, California to Auckland, New Zealand, Costa Del Sol, Spain and West Rand, South Africa.Those photos allowed chapter members to check the identity of any visitors who dropped by claiming to be Hells Angels members. Hells Angels members have the right to drop into any clubhouse in the world and be welcomed as a "trusted equal."In the office, there's also an old inter-department delivery envelope from the Durham Regional Police Service's biker intelligence report, which contains photographs and information on members of the Satan's Choice, Para-Dice Riders and the Vagabonds Motorcycle Gangs. The document dates back to before the Satan's Choice and Para-Dice Riders folded into the Hells Angels, but it was always considered a sensitive police document, and so it was never included in routine court disclosure proceedings.Other paperwork in the upstairs office includes copyright agreements to make sure no members or people producing souvenirs such as jewellery privately profit from the club's colours or its death head logo.At the back of the bungalow is a more public bar area, with an "AFFA" banner across the ceiling, standing for "Angels Forever, Forever Angels."Tables have ashtrays, indicating the bar wasn't in compliance with provincial antismoking laws for drinking establishments. Behind the bar are monitors, for checking who's outside the bungalow. A baseball bat tucked under the bartender's stool also suggests this isn't your average watering hole.

Silver revolver was found lying next to a Hells Angels member who was hit in a non-fatal shooting outside an Old Town bar in early November. On the early morning of Nov. 8, medical responders found 43-year-old Robert Thompson bleeding in the Third Street intersection. Thompson was shot several times in the incident, and according to testimony given by a Eureka police detective, a .22-caliber revolver was found lying next to him, with a single shot expended. The four men charged in the shooting appeared in Humboldt County Superior Court Monday on the first day of their preliminary hearing. According to testimony given by investigators at the hearing, witnesses at the scene notified police the shooter, who had been wearing a black baseball cap, had sped away in a dark-colored van. A van was found later that night, and authorities arrested Eric Gunner Lundin, 28, Dustin Christopher Liebes, 36, Brad Lee Miller, 26, and Redding resident Eric Dean Garcia, 28. All four have pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, assault with a firearm and participating in a criminal street gang. Inside the van, investigators reportedly found a disassembled semi-automatic handgun, and Lundin in possession of a black baseball cap. Eureka Police Department Detective Todd Wilcox, who testified at the Monday hearing, said that during an interview just after his arrest, Lundin denied any knowledge of the event. ”I asked him ... what had happened tonight,” Wilcox testified. “He said he hoped that I could tell him.” From early on in the investigation, authorities have speculated the shooting may have resulted from a rivalry between two biker gangs, The Hells Angels and the Mongols. So far, investigators have not released evidence linking the four suspects to a motorcycle gang. The four suspects have been booked into the Humboldt County jail. Lundin, Liebes and Miller are held on $500,000 bail, while Garcia is held on $500,000 plus an additional $10,000 stemming from an arrest warrant out of Manteca. The preliminary hearing is expected to last through Wednesday.

Niagara Hells Angels president Gerald Ward's product was top-notch. Eighty-five to 91 per cent pure. "I never even tried it, I'm like, I'm trying not to touch it," Steven Gault said, laughing about the potency at Ward's Quaker Road house in August 2005. Gault, a member of the Oshawa chapter, paid $42,000 in cold, hard cash for 1.1 kilograms. Business was brisk for the new Niagara chapter. The grip of cocaine on addicts doesn't loosen in rough economic times. The Hells Angels' product was a guaranteed money-maker. Tens of thousands of dollars were being traded for kilograms of coke in Niagara parking lots. Like any CEO, Gerald Ward was consumed with the complex issues of his market. Supply and demand. Pricing. Quality control. Eliminating competition. That last part was easy. The power of the patch kept potential entrepreneurs in check. "They have complete control of the coke dealing in the whole Niagara region," a Hells Angel-turned-police-agent said later in court. "Anyone steps in there, they'll kill him point-blank. You don't play with their game. So ... all their lives are built upon drug dealing." The Hells Angels may have had a monopoly on Niagara's drug trade, but Ward prided himself on the quality of his product.

Hells Angel told the cop he was sharing information with he'd alert the officer of any threats and expected the same in return, a jury has heard.The unusual pact is described in notes made by a Durham police officer who had conversations with Remond (Ray) Akleh in 2003. Mr. Akleh, on trial in Whitby along with Oshawa Hells Angels president Mark Stephenson, has testified he talked to the officer after several clashes with bikers in Oshawa led him to fear for his life."I believed I had somebody watching my back," Mr. Akleh testified in Superior Court Tuesday morning.
Mr. Akleh and Mr. Stephenson have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to commit murder and counselling to commit murder, charges arising out of what the Crown alleges was a plot to kill a Woodbridge biker with ties to the rival Bandidos gang. The Crown's key witness in this trial was Steven Gault, a police agent who infiltrated the Oshawa Angels to gather information about drug dealing among bikers.Mr. Gault testified he was working on that project when he was approached in June 2006 by the men now on trial, to carry out a hit against rival biker Frank Lenti.Mr. Akleh has testified he began talking with the Durham officer soon after Mr. Gault was convicted of threatening the cop. He said the men had something in common; Mr. Akleh testified he also feared Mr. Gault, whom he had identified to fellow bikers as a police informant. The accusation resulted in Mr. Gault threatening to kill Mr. Akleh and increased tensions between Mr. Akleh and the Oshawa chapter of the Angels, jurors have heard. Mr. Akleh has testified he left Oshawa to join the Angels' Nomads chapter in Ottawa and moved his family from Durham Region to the Cobourg area.
Mr. Akleh said he began talking with the officer, a member of the Biker Enforcement Unit, in 2003, sharing information about Mr. Gault and other bikers. He said he promised the cop he'd let him know of any threats the officer might face from Mr. Gault or the bikers.The officer's notes of that conversation indicate Mr. Akleh "would expect the same from us," jurors heard.Mr. Akleh testified Tuesday he was extremely worried about his safety at the time."People were telling me . . . I was going to get killed," he said.The testimony came during the third day of cross-examination of Mr. Akleh by Crown counsel John Scott; Mr. Akleh first took the stand in his own defence Dec. 8. Mr. Scott has challenged Mr. Akleh's testimony about threats posed by Mr. Gault and other bikers, and attempted to portray the defendant as a loyal soldier who would kill for the Hells Angels.The trial, before Justice Bruce Glass, continues.

Ventura County Superior Court jury on Tuesday found a member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club guilty of assault with a deadly weapon likely to cause great bodily injury in connection with a bar brawl in Newbury Park.Judge Kevin DeNoce set sentencing for Brandon Thomas Mundell for Jan. 28.Mundell, 28, a San Fernando Valley resident, is facing nine years and four months in prison when he is sentenced, according to prosecutor Derek Malan.Mundell, who was out on $180,000 bail, was taken into custody after the verdicts were read.Jurors also found Mundell committed the crime for the benefit of, in association with, and at the direction of the Hells Angels. Jurors also found true that the Hells Angels are a criminal street organization.Malan said that as far as he knows, this is only the second time that a California jury has found the Hells Angels were a criminal organization. He said the first time was in King County, where the Hells Angels' Fresno Chapter was accused of assaulting with deadly weapons another motorcycle club in that city.
Malan said in an interview that the gang-related finding against the Hells Angels by jurors is something that happens only infrequently because witnesses are afraid to testify against the club. In Mundell's trial, Malan said one witness recanted his testimony and said he didn't recall a single thing about the bar fight.
The prosecutor credited the testimony of sheriff's deputy and gang expert Jeremy Paris for convincing the jury that the Hells Angels were a criminal street gang.
The jury found Mundell guilty of driving while intoxicated after the 2006 bar brawl and injuring a Ventura County sheriff's deputy. Jurors also said Mundell's blood-alcohol level was higher than .08 percent, which is the benchmark for legal intoxication.Mundell was found not guilty of three counts of exhibiting a weapon, a knife. Malan said in an interview that he had told the jurors during the trial to find Mundell not guilty because he believed there wasn't enough evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.Mundell is a member of the Hells Angels' San Fernando Valley chapter, and he and two other bikers went to the now-closed Take Five Bar and got into a fight with patrons at 1:40 a.m. Jan. 19, 2006.The prosecutor said the men went to the bar — allegedly frequented by members of a rival group, the Mongols — to challenge them to a fight. The Mongols, who are said to have a chapter in Camarillo, were apparently not at the bar that night.Mundell's lawyer, Dino Inumerable, declined to comment.Inumerable, however, argued during closing arguments in the trial that it was Mundell who defended himself against the bar patrons because he feared for his life.Inumerable told jurors the prosecution wanted them to believe that his client used a four-inch knife to take over an entire bar that could have been "potentially infested" with rival gang members and that he set out to do it with the help of two bikers who weren't even Hells Angels.Malan said Mundell is still facing similar assault with a deadly weapon charges stemming from a bar fight in Simi Valley in 2007. He said a person was stabbed and Mundell was with two Hells Angels associates.

Fresno man who accused a Hells Angels motorcycle gang member of setting his house on fire, but was later convicted of being the arsonist, was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison and fined $100,000.Jason Morgan's punishment prompted one of his relatives to confront defense lawyer Robert Sherman Wynne in Fresno County Superior Court."Get your hands off me," Wynne said before bailiffs separated him from Morgan's relative. Prosecutor Roger Wilson said the relative was Morgan's father. Morgan, 35, had been free on bail. Once Judge Gary Hoff advised him of his right to appeal, he was handcuffed and taken to jail for this pending trip to a California prison.A jury on Oct. 21 convicted Morgan of two felony counts of arson and two felony counts of filing a false insurance claim, Wilson said.Morgan suffered burns on his legs and arms in a fire at his home at 2106 N. Fruit Ave. on June 15, 2007, and claimed he had been assaulted by a member of the local chapter of the Hells Angels.Fresno Fire Department investigators, however, found several places in his car and home where the fire erupted and said it was the work of an arsonist.Morgan could have been sentenced to eight years in prison.Wilson said Morgan deserved more prison time because he put his neighbors in harm's way. "One neighbor was sleeping when this happened," Wilson said after Wednesday's hearing. "He battled the fire until firefighters arrived."The fire caused about $130,720 damage to the home and to a car for which Morgan was still paying, Wilson said.Morgan was a key witness in the trial, which spanned several weeks."Basically, he said he didn't do it," Wilson said. Morgan's testimony seemed far-fetched, he said.Morgan said he usually sleeps in a bedroom with his puppy Betty, a pit bull-boxer mix. On the night of the fire, he testified, he woke up to find Betty missing.He went outside and saw a figure near his car and the dome light on. Morgan testified the man appeared to be a local Hells Angels member -- someone he had met recently at a local rock concert.Morgan said he confronted the man, Wilson said. He testified that he was hit on the back of the head, perhaps with a shovel. When he awoke, he saw a cigarette wrapped in a tissue inside his car. "As he tried to grab it, he said, the car blows up, knocking him unconscious again," Wilson said.Morgan testified that when he woke up, he saw firefighters battling the blaze. The puppy was later found safe in a detached garage that also housed a new motorcycle, Wilson said.Wilson said investigators later learned that Morgan, a computer tech, had delinquent bills, and had recently met a woman on the Internet. He was planning to move to Colorado."The burns on his legs and arms suggest he lit the fire," Wilson said. "There was no other person involved."Wynne could not be reached for comment.

Hells Angel Gerald Ward, the president of Niagara's chapter,found guilty yesterday of directing others to commit crimes as part of a criminal organization. A mobster with a motorcycle. At one time, he had it all. For a decade, Ward ruled an empire on wheels from his fortified bunker in Welland. Cocaine and cash flowed liked wine. A loyal band of brothers did his bidding. He felt untouchable. Beyond the law. How did it all go so wrong? In a way, the Hells Angels owe a debt to Ken Murdock. Not that the mob trigger-man could have known it at the time. Not that the Angels actually care. In 1997, years before Ward wore the Angels' death's head patch, Murdock fired three shots. Three shots for two men. Their mafia empire was left as cold as their corpses.Murdock's first shot was in the spring of 1997 after pressing the barrel of his 9 mm gun to the back of the head of Ontario's kingpin of crime, Hamilton mafioso Johnny Papalia ... "Pops" to those who knew him. He controlled the drug trade from Steeltown to Fort Erie. Murdock turned his head away when he squeezed the trigger. Murder at close range is a messy business. Two months later in Niagara Falls, Murdock looked his next victim in the eye. He lured Papalia's chief lieutenant, Carmen Barillaro, to his own front door. Murdock named the rival family that hired him and fired twice. Two men got the hard goodbye and a mob died. Murdock took a payment he could snort straight up his nose. Looking back, Niagara Regional Police Det. Sgt. Shawn Clarkson can't help but wonder how the Hells Angels got so lucky. Today, he hunts killers as part of the NRP homicide squad. He used to be a biker cop, a job he took after working on the task force that brought Murdock down. He saw the aftermath. No one rose up to command Papalia's mob or take control of the local underworld. Niagara was wide open. There was no mention of the bikers at Murdock's 1998 trial, but the murders were happy coincidences for the Hells Angels. "There was nobody to stand up to the Hells Angels the way Barillaro or Papalia would have. Papalia, even though he was 73 when he died, he wouldn't have put up with that," Clarkson said. With the mobsters dead, Clarkson said, the Angels struck quickly.
"I mean, Stadnick was in Hamilton for years and nothing. Then suddenly they put things together." Stadnick is Walter Stadnick, known to his fellow bikers as Nugget. Former national president of the Canadian Hells Angels; presently serving 20 years for conspiracy to commit murder. He's well known in the biker world for two things. The first is for being badly disfigured in 1984 after a Catholic priest crashed into a Hells Angels motorcade in Quebec. The other is that, for more than 20 years, Stadnick wore the Angels' death's head logo alone in Ontario. He lived in a sea of biker gangs united by two things: A love of money, and a loathing for the Hells Angels. In Quebec, bullets and high explosives were the problem-solving tools of choice. The Angels waged a turf war with the rival Rock Machine, with innocent bystanders in the crossfire. More than 100 people were murdered, mostly criminals. At least 10 citizens were killed by stray bullets and shrapnel. For Ontario bikers, the Quebec war was an embarrassment. Above all else, they wanted to turn a profit. Live the easy life on the backs of addicts. Bathing the streets with blood and bullets was bad for business. Better to share the pie than kill each other over it. The murders of Barillaro and Papalia opened the doors to change everything. By 1998, Ontario's homegrown biker gangs were living on borrowed time. They just didn't know it. That summer, the most notorious Hells Angels chapter in Quebec, the Sherbrooke chapter, arrived in Niagara Falls. They earned a murderous reputation for wiping out another Quebec chapter. Police found their victims in the St. Lawrence Seaway, wrapped in chains and shackled to concrete blocks. Stadnick rode from Hamilton to party with them. But there was no rest for the wicked. Amid the booze, sight-seeing and frolicking with topless women in an outdoor hotel pool, the Angels took care of business. In what local police called a "biker summit," Stadnick met with a powerhouse of Niagara's underworld. Gerald Ward. Known to friends and foes alike as Skinny. Ward, with more than 20 criminal convictions to his name, had a rap sheet longer than the legs attached to his ponderous 6-foot-5 frame. Drug trafficking. Assault. Weapons smuggling. Those were just his convictions. Ward beat three murder raps. A judge once exiled him from his home town of Welland during an attempted murder case. Ward was cleared of that, too. But Ward wasn't a biker. He didn't wear colours. Like traditional mobsters, Ward kept a low public profile while conducting business. Clarkson said outlaw biker gangs like the Hells Angels are the only organized crime groups that wear a sign on their backs telling everyone who they are. "That has a benefit for them because it builds their reputation. But it also attracts the full attention of the police," he said. Still, Ward was a known and feared man among known and feared men. He had what the Angels needed. A network. Connections. "These guys were what I guess you could call the criminal elite," Clarkson said of Ward and his associates. If Ward had the connections, the bikers had the rep ... what Clarkson calls "the power of the patch." The very name, Hells Angels, is enough to make would-be rivals leave town or take up knitting. "Even if they don't do anything, the Hells Angels is a brand. People know not to fool around with them," Clarkson said. It's a public brand. Putting on a Hells Angels vest means stepping out of the shadows and announcing to the world what you are. Completely backward thinking for a career criminal like Ward. Then again, Stadnick wasn't taking no for answer. The power of the patch was enough to compel even a man as hardened as Ward. "I don't think (Ward) really wanted to do it, but I don't think they gave him a choice," Clarkson said. "It was either ... he joined up, or the Hells Angels would bring in 10 guys from Quebec to do it. That would be the last thing he'd want." Even as Stadnick and Ward spoke, the RCMP was busy prognosticating. The Angels would attempt to wipe out their rivals, spreading the chaos in Quebec to Ontario, they said. It made great headlines. It was also dead wrong. The Angels, for whatever else they are, weren't that stupid. They didn't have the the muscle to fight a street war with Ontario bikers. So they did what many cops didn't expect: they made peace with their hated rivals. The year after the Papalia and Barillaro murders, the Angels signed an official peace agreement with the Outlaws, whose Canadian operations were based in St. Catharines. Similar treaties were soon signed with the Rock Machine and the Bandidos in the U. S. The deals didn't extinguish old vendettas or inter-gang hatred. Violence was still a staple of the biker world. But a full-out war was now out of the question. The Angels were set to invade Ontario without having to fire a single shot.

Robert J. Shannon of Maple Ridge, B.C., pleaded guilty in a U.S. district court in Seattle Tuesday to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana, and conspiracy to engage in money laundering. He faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.According to the RCMP, Shannon, 38, is an associate of three Hells Angels chapters: Vancouver, Haney and Mission.The original indictment charged that Shannon was acting from Canada as "the principal overseer of the North America narcotics transportation group for the (Hells Angels) organization."The three-year undercover investigation netted 770 kilograms of cocaine, 3,175 kilograms of B.C. bud and up to $3.5 million.Devron Quast of Abbotsford, B.C., had previously pleaded guilty in November to drug and money laundering charges relating to the case.
The pair were arrested in Ferndale, Wash., in June after several recorded meetings with undercover agents.The smuggled drugs were stashed inside hollowed out logs on trucks, in false walls in cargo containers and vehicles, inside large PVC pipes in loads of lumber products, and in a propane tanker, according to court documents.

Hells Angel Hal Bruce Porteo, a Vancouver member of the notorious motorcycle gang who sings under the name Hal Heffner.A Vancouver Sun investigation has uncovered dozens of online photos and videos featuring Porteous, sometimes in Angels colours, posing with scantily clad women and partying with friends. Other images show him backstage with pop stars Fergie, Rihanna and Swollen Members.He promotes himself as an "old school gangster" in music videos for such songs as Do Ur Time, Living Large and the self-titled OSG. He's draped in gold chains and surrounded by flashy cars and women in bikinis.One of the men featured with Porteous in some of the photos and a video is Robert J. Shannon, a Maple Ridge trucker who pleaded guilty this week in Seattle to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana, as well as money-laundering. The U.S. alleges the drug ring operated for the benefit of the Hells Angels.Police and criminologists say the gangster imagery of Porteous's music and the fact he is a real-life full-patch member of an alleged criminal organization make for a disturbing mix.Criminologist Darryl Plecas of the University of the Fraser Valley said the "messaging" in Porteous's songs can entice youth to the gang lifestyle."This particular kind of negative messaging just can't be good news," Plecas said Wednesday."The more people are exposed to what could be called negative definitions and negative experiences, you increase the probability that you are going to end up in crime. The name of the game is to reduce the number of negative influences.

"There is no lack of flash in Porteous's OSG video, which starts in black and white with the boy being taken into the limo and introduced to men dressed in Mafia-like suits, sunglasses and hats. When the video moves to colour and modern times, Porteous raps while a bundle of cash flies through a counting machine.
Some of the lyrics from his songs include:"I solve all my problems with a loaded gun," "Double-cross me and you'll run for your life," and "Basically, my attitude is f--k authority."Plecas said some may argue the lyrics are irrelevant, but he argues, "If they are not influential or not important, then why have the lyrics at all?"

Simon Fraser University school of criminology director Rob Gordon said Porteous's imagery is "over the top.""He is not trying to sell the Hells Angels like they try to sell the Hells Angels with the toy drive," he said of the bikers' annual charity event.Instead, the videos are promoting "a combination of violence, sex and gang culture," Gordon said."It boils down to what impact it has on kids that look on this stuff."Porteous did not respond to online requests for an interview about his music and his relationship with Shannon, the man sitting in a Seattle jail awaiting his sentencing hearing next March.Nor did Hells Angels Vancouver spokesman Rick Ciarniello respond to an e-mail request for comments on Porteous's music career or the U.S. allegations that Shannon's drug ring was linked to the biker club.
The Vancouver Angel, who is listed as a goldsmith on the land title for his Maple Ridge home, is selling his debut CD Living Large on his website.He says the luxury home featured in the OSG video is his house."All the things you will see are not movie-making magic, it is my life," he said on the website. "The cars, the girls, the bling are all normal parts of my everyday. All the cars are either mine or my friends, the bling ---- I make!!! YES it's All REAL!!!"He also says he and his friends "live large - we drive the best rides, with gold and diamonds profilin,' the babes are all lined up We're never goin to STOP!"Porteous is featured on the site with members of the band Swollen Members, with whom he says he has performed.
The Sun reported in 2003 that several Hells Angels members and associates were featured in a Swollen Members video.At the time, full-patch member Damiano Dipopolo said he was a close friend of Shane Bunting, a.k.a. Mad Child, one of the group's lead singers."He was putting the videos together and asked whether we wanted to be in them. We just showed up and volunteered our time," he said, stressing that his club had no business relationship with the rap group.According to property records, Porteous lives in a Maple Ridge home assessed this year at $705,000.His name surfaced in a Federal Court of Canada case earlier this year as one of 42 Hells Angels, relatives or associates being targeted for special audits by the Canada Revenue Agency. The government dropped its demand for detailed financial information after the bikers challenged the CRA in court.Porteous was flying back from Brazil with fellow Vancouver chapter member Rick Conway when they were met at Vancouver Airport by a revenue agent and two cops, court documents said.Porteous "was extremely unhappy to be served at this location and tried to get into a verbal confrontation," the agent later wrote in his file memo. "Porteous made a reference that we were cockroaches which should be stepped on."Porteous was also named in a 2004 trial of Rick Mandi - a Hells Angels prospect at the time - who was convicted of beating a man he believed had stolen marijuana belonging to Porteous.

Porteous's move into the rap music world isn't surprising considering the relationships in the U.S. between some rappers and gangs, Sgt. Shinder Kirk of the B.C. Integrated Gang Task Force, said Wednesday.

"It was just a matter of time before these guys would look at opportunities to earn legitimate money and certainly at some point influence others," Kirk said.He said it is no secret that kids living in poverty or facing other risks are susceptible to imagery promoting the gang lifestyle, whether in songs, video games or movies.
"Certainly the music, the lyrics, the status of someone involved in the music industry, can play a significant part in an individual's makeup and how it manifests itself in a social setting - in other words, encouraging criminal behaviour," Kirk said. "When someone is blatantly associated to a group that may be involved in criminal activity, that possibly compounds the effect."

clubs in the Philadelphia area have been blamed with gang violence and organized crime and have participated in drug trafficking, extortion, and various other illegal acts, sometimes for higher criminal organizations (including the Scarfo crime family). Several of their members have been identified by law enforcement as indulging in organized crime, and in fact some have been convicted, of crimes including murder, assault and drug trafficking. They are especially known for conflicts with members of other motorcycle clubs, including the Pagans and the Breed. There are also reports of this group spreading out into different cities, such as Cleveland, New York, and Boston.Another “Warlocks Motorcycle Club” was established some time in 1967 has its grand daddy chapter based out of Florida. Their National website lists on it seven plus chapters in Florida, South Carolina, one in Virginia, one in West Virginia, as well as international affiliations including one in Lincolnshire, England, one in Germany, they also support a chapter consisting of incarcerated members and one of members that have died, The Freebird Chapter. At one time they had a “Nomad” chapter set up in Florida but apparently consisting of members with no set home. Naturally, considering they are nomadic.

Seven members of a motorcycle gang convicted of murdering a Hells Angel on the M40 have been jailed for life. Their victim, 35-year-old mechanic Gerry Tobin, was shot in a "ruthlessly planned ambush" in August last year. He was returning from the Bulldog Bash biker festival to London when he was shot by members of a rival gang.
The judge at Birmingham Crown Court told the men they would each serve minimum terms of between 25 and 30 years for the "appalling murder". Mr Justice Treacy told the defendants, who are all members of The Outlaws biker gang: "A totally innocent man was executed with a firearm in broad daylight on a busy motorway for no reason other than that he belonged to a different motorcycle club than yours." The court heard although Sean Creighton and Simon Turner fired the shots from a Rover car, the other defendants played a part in the "cold-blooded, premeditated, almost military plan".
Creighton, 44, from Coventry, described as president of the south Warwickshire Outlaws, will serve a minimum of 28 years and six months after pleading guilty to murder and firearms offences. Gerry Tobin was a decent man, the judge said Simon Turner, 41, from Nuneaton, was said to be the gang's sergeant-at-arms, and was given a minimum term of 30 years for murder and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life. Malcolm Bull, 53, of Milton Keynes, will serve 25 years and Dean Taylor, 47, of Coventry, will serve 30 years. Both were convicted of murder and a firearms offence in the seven-week trial. Karl Garside, 45, Dane Garside, 42, and Ian Cameron, 46, all of Coventry, were also found guilty of murdering Mr Tobin. Karl Garside was given a minimum term of 26 years, Dane Garside 27 years, and Cameron was told he must serve at least 25 years in jail. None of you has showed the remotest feeling, consideration or remorse Mr Tobin was described in court as a "fully-patched", or fully-initiated, member of the Hells Angels. He had been riding back from the festival near Long Marston, Warwickshire, to his home in Mottingham, south-east London, when he was hit by a bullet which lodged in his skull. Mr Justice Treacy added: "Gerry Tobin was a decent man of good character. He was a total stranger to you. "The utter pointlessness of what you did makes his murder more shocking." The gang were all handcuffed in the dock after the judge said police had received intelligence that Creighton planned to attack Bull, believing he had given information to detectives. Outside the court there were about 100 members of The Outlaws and dozens of armed police while the sentencing hearing took place. In sentencing the seven men, the judge also spoke of the effect Mr Tobin's murder had on those closest to him. He said Mr Tobin's parents had found it difficult to come to terms with the fact their only son had been "cold-bloodedly executed". And he said the life of Mr Tobin's fiancee Rebecca Smith, 26, had been "utterly changed".
"She had hoped to marry him, have a family life with him, to have children with him," he said. The judge added: "None of you has showed the remotest feeling, consideration or remorse for what you did." The court heard that several of the gang had previous convictions. Turner was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1993 for throwing petrol over a stranger and stabbing him to settle a debt. Dane Garside had been involved in an axe attack in 1990 and various assaults while his brother Karl had convictions including battery, taking a knuckleduster to court and grievous bodily harm. Taylor was charged with aggravated burglary after being involved in a biker-related incident in 1984. He and seven other men had travelled to Leicester with three sawn-off shotguns over a dispute with the Hells Angels.

Frederick Donahue became the final biker to take a plea deal in the melee that left three dead, dozens injured and marred the annual Laughlin River Run motorcycle rally.Donahue, 43, of Rodeo, Calif., pleaded guilty to one charge of violent crime in aid of racketeering, during a brief appearance before U.S. District Judge James Mahan in Las Vegas, a court clerk said.Donahue remained in federal custody pending sentencing Feb. 23. He is expected to be sentenced to no more than five years in prison, said Natalie Collins, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Gregory Brower.Donahue's lawyer, Alan Kaplan of San Francisco, declined comment.Donahue acknowledged shooting Mongols motorcycle club member Alexander Alcantar in the April 2002 brawl inside Harrah's casino. But he pleaded guilty to an extortion allegation under the terms of the plea agreement.Alcantar, 35, of Los Angeles, also was stabbed but recovered from his wounds. He was sentenced last January to 18 to 45 months in a Nevada state prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the slayings of Hells Angels members Robert Tumelty Jr. and Jeramie Bell.Prosecutors say Bell fatally stabbed Mongols member Anthony Salvador Barrera, 43, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
Donahue was a fugitive for six years before surrendering to federal authorities in Las Vegas last July. His plea on Friday avoided trial in February, and made him the seventh Hells Angels member to take a plea deal in the case.
The pleas each involved admissions that the men conducted a criminal "enterprise" across state lines. But it spared the entire Hells Angels club from being branded a criminal enterprise.Six other Hells Angels members pleaded guilty or no contest in October 2006 to federal charges of violent crime in aid of racketeering, battery. Most were sentenced to about 30 months. Charges against 36 other Hells Angels members were dropped.Alcantar was among six Mongols members who pleaded guilty in November 2007 to various state felony charges. They avoided trial in state court on charges including murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, battery and assault that could have carried sentences of up to life in prison. Most were sentenced to prison terms ranging from two and a half to five years.

Police from the Queensland Police Service’s Outlaw MotorCycle Gang Taskforce, codenamed Hydra in conjunction with police from North Queensland Region executed 17 search warrants on addresses in Mt Isa, Toowoomba and Brisbane this morning.
Nine people have been charged with a total of 29 offences following today’s closure of a six month operation targeting the alleged trafficking of methylamphetamines.
Operation Golf Sunburn commenced in June this year. During the course of the operation it is alleged police seized 1.4 kilograms of high grade methylamphetamines, cannabis, steroids and a car. The charges include:
42-year-old Parkside man being charged with one count each of trafficking dangerous drugs (methylamphetamines), supply dangerous drug (methylamphetamines), stealing and possess property used in connection with a crime and two counts of threat to injure.
A 35-year-old Parkside woman charged with one count each of trafficking dangerous drug (methylamphetamine), supply dangerous drug (methylamphetamine), possess dangerous drug (methylamphetamine), possess tainted property and possess property used in connection with a crime.
A 48-year-old Winston man charged with one count of possess dangerous drug (cannabis).
A 20-year-old Mt Isa man charged with one count of possess dangerous drug (cannabis).
A 36-year-old Mornington man charged with one count each of possess dangerous drug (methylamphetamine), possess dangerous drug (cannabis) and permit premises.
A 21-year-old Mt Isa man being charged with one count each of possess dangerous drug (cannabis) and tainted property.
A 43-year-old Waterford man being charged with one count each of possess dangerous drug (methylamphetamine), possess dangerous drug (cannabis) and possess utensil.
A 36-year-old Mt Isa man being charged with one count each of possess schedule 1 dangerous drug (methylamphetamine) exceed schedule 3, supply dangerous drug (methylamphetamine), posses dangerous drug (methylamphetamine), permit premises, possess utensil (charged September 2008).
A 37-year-old man being charged with one count each of possess dangerous drug (methylamphetamine), possess steroids and state false name (September 2008).
Police Minister Judy Spence congratulated all police involved. “This is a great effort by all police involved and demonstrates that the Police’s Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Taskforce –codenamed ‘Hydra’ is making real inroads into crime of this nature in Queensland.” Detective Chief Superintendent Mike Condon of the Queensland Police Service’s State Crime Operations Command said the closure of today’s operation is significant. “The Outlaw Motor Cycle Gang Taskforce codenamed ‘Hydra’ was specifically established to target the illegal activities of outlaw motorcycle gangs in Queensland. Interrupting these activities is a major priority for the Queensland Police Service and one we will continue to focus on.” “Today’s operation was a collaborative effort – one that involved the work of many police, including those who gathered intelligence to the officers out in the field executing the warrants. The assistance given to us in this operation by police in the North Queensland Region also resulted in the success.” Chief Superintendent Condon said. Inspector Warren Webber, Queensland Police Service’s Regional Crime Coordinator for Northern Queensland Region said today’s arrests will have a major impact.
“Nine people on 29 charges, including possession, supply and trafficking of dangerous drugs is a good result and one that will clearly impact on these alleged crime networks operating throughout the state.” The 42-year-old man is due to appear in Mt Isa Magistrates court tomorrow. The other 8 will face court in the coming weeks.

Three men and a woman have been charged over a pub brawl in Sydney's south-west.
Officers were called to the premises at Raby about 7:30pm (AEDT).
It is believed the fight broke out after three members of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gang and a female associate refused to leave the hotel. Acting Inspector Greg Inger says the woman allegedly punched a senior constable in the face."The three Outlaw Motorcycle Gang members and the associate were arrested," he said."As they were being arrested, the female associate assaulted one of the police officers.
"They were subsequently brought back to Macquarie Fields Police Station where they were charged with assault, affray and failing to quit a licensed premises."All four will appear in Campbelltown Local Court next month.

killing of a Bandidos motorbike member and up to 10 shootings could be expected before the score is settled, a bikie expert says. Arthur Veno, who is an ex-motorbike gang member, author and Monash University lecturer, said he expected the Bandidos to go on a recruitment drive to wage a vengeance attack for the slaying of Torquay's Ross Brand this week."Retribution will occur but it depends how public the retribution will be," he said. "These wars, disputes or turf battles were out of the public eye until 1972 when three Hells Angels were killed."If a group of people have it on their mind to kill each other (it will happen)."Brand was shot in the head during a drive-by attack outside the Bandidos clubrooms in Balydon Court, Breakwater, about 6.10pm on Wednesday night.A Geelong West man, aged 34, was discharged from hospital yesterday after he was shot in the buttocks, thigh and forearm.Brand's criminal record includes drug convictions and firearms charges.
Mr Veno said the fact Victoria Police had established a permanent taskforce to look into the recent spate of bikie shootings, made it clear authorities did not want a repeat of Melbourne's bloody gangland war."This particular incident looks to be drug driven or driven by the distribution of drugs," he said."How big can it get? There could be about five to 10 hits to sort out this situation and any drug distribution network will be minimised by a series of arrests by Victoria Police."
Mr Veno said local street gangs and others involved in the drug trade could be scoured to join the Bandidos as a show of force."A recruitment drive is likely if it's a club-based thing," he said.Mr Veno said many Bandidos had become successful businessmen allegedly through laundering their drug money.

The testimony from Chad Wilson, 33, of San Diego, came as defense lawyers finished their case Monday. They called Wilson and three other witnesses.Hells Angels biker accused of shooting five rivals at Custer State Park in 2006 told jurors he would have been killed had he not fired at Outlaws Motorcycle Club members surrounding his truck. Lawyers will give closing arguments Tuesday, and then jurors will start deliberating.If Wilson and John Midmore, 35, of Valparaiso, Ind., are convicted of one or more of the five counts of attempted first-degree murder against them, they also could be found guilty of commission of a felony while armed.Prosecutors said the two tried to kill five Outlaws members and acquaintances.But Wilson testified he was ambushed by the Outlaws, fired in self-defense and did not intend to kill Thomas Haas, Allen Matthews, Danny Neace, Claudia Wables and Susan Evans-Martin.
"If I wouldn't have shot back, they would have kept shooting me until I was dead," Wilson testified.Wilson said he was in his pickup, with Midmore driving, when they stopped at the resort Aug. 8, 2006, on their way to a strip club.Midmore smoked a marijuana joint as Wilson got some sun, then the two went into the convenience store without their shirts on.When they were inside, a member of the Outlaws recognized Wilson's Hells Angels tattoos, so he tried to get back to the truck without being noticed further and wait for Midmore to return from the restroom.Wilson said he could see the Outlaws gathering so he tucked a handgun in his waistband and put on a shirt."I was terrified. I wasn't afraid. There was nine of them and two of us."When Midmore got back, he pulled the truck ahead to leave but was stopped at the exit by an Outlaws member who walked in front of the pickup and another who stepped behind.
Wilson said he got out, walked around the rear and one of the Outlaws, Nathan Frasier, pulled out a handgun and dropped it, so Wilson said he raised his hand, lifted his shirt to show the gun and yelled "whoa" before seeing a flame from a gun by Outlaw Lon Baillargeon.Wilson said he bent over, pulled out his gun, loaded a bullet in the chamber, stood up and started firing, then saw Frasier fire a shot.
"One thing led to another and I just didn't stop," Wilson said.He said he got back into the passenger's side and jammed his foot on the gas. Wilson said he threw his handgun along the road, then discarded two other guns along a logging trail after concluding nobody was following them.The two men abandoned the truck and were arrested that evening after asking an off-duty park ranger for a ride.Wilson said he was afraid because weeks earlier at a Hells Angels event in Cody, Wyo., and then at Sturgis he was told law enforcement officers warned the club that Outlaws were targeting the rival group.On cross-examination, Wilson acknowledged that neither man nor the truck was hit with gunfire. He said it was a coincidence he had guns in the truck and didn't know the Outlaws were camped nearby, 70 miles from Sturgis."I didn't expect to run into nine Outlaws in the middle of nowhere," he said.Thomas Streed, a professor of human behavior and retired investigator, testified it's human nature for a person who feels threatened to empty a gun and quickly discard it.
Streed said the allegation that the Hells Angels ambushed the Outlaws doesn't make sense because Wilson used a handgun when two rifles were hidden in the truck and there was no structure."I see chaos. I see sloppiness. I disorganization. I see spontaneity and absolutely no evidence of planning," he said.A broken foot pedal on the truck, a full bottle of water and an empty Haagen Dazs wrapper all support Wilson's testimony that he hit the gas from the passenger's seat when he jumped back in and the two men had stopped for a snack, Streed said."One of the most shocking things to me is why would you bring ice cream to a gunfight?"The other defense witness Monday was Dr. Michael Baden, chief forensic pathologist for the New York State Police and star of HBO's documentary "Autopsy," who said the gunshot injuries support Wilson's version of where the Outlaws were standing.Wilson said he's from San Diego but previously lived in Seattle. He is a Canadian citizen and member of a Hells Angels chapter in San Diego. Midmore, who lives in Indiana and Canada, has dual citizenship in Canada and Australia and is a prospect of a British Columbia, Canada, chatper.Judge Gene Paul Kean denied defense motions to dismiss the charges but acknowledged some inconsistencies in the testimony."I agree there's some ripe and wonderful factual issues that are going to be argued by the attorneys," he said.

POLICE have arrested two men from the Rebels Motorcycle Club after a raid on its Victorian headquarters.Police investigating the murder of rival bikie gang Bandidos member Ross 'Rosco' Brand, executed a search warrant at 10.45am (AEDT) on Sunday.
The 51-year-old Brand was shot dead outside the Bandidos' Geelong clubhouse on October 22.Police said a 25-year-old man from the Geelong suburb of Norlane was arrested over a breach of parole."As part of the operation, detectives have arrested a 25-year-old Norlane man, who is associated with the Rebels motorcycle gang, in relation to a breach of parole," a Victoria Police spokeswoman said."The investigation into the homicide is still continuing."The man was returned to custody with the Office of Corrections.A second man, 34, was also arrested.He was later released pending a summons for firearms-related offences, police said.The search of the Rebels' Edol Place clubhouse followed revelations on Friday that CCTV footage of the shooting last month shows two vehicles may have been involved.Police believe the shots were fired from a white Toyota Hilux dual-cab utility truck.A second vehicle, a white Hyundai Terracan station wagon, could be seen outside the clubhouse 10 minutes earlier.Police are investigating whether the fatal shooting outside the Bandidos clubhouse last month may have been the work of the Rebels Motorcycle Club or an inside job by other Bandidos members.

WANTED Paul Merle Eischeid one of America’s most dangerous criminals.
Originally from Council Bluffs, Iowa, Eischeid, 36, was a Charles Schwab stockbroker before he joined the Hells Angels motorcycle gang in Phoenix, Ariz.
He is wanted in connection with the savage beating and stabbing death of a Phoenix woman in 2001, a murder believed to have been committed by several members of the notorious gang.
Cynthia Garcia, 44, was intoxicated when she “mouthed off” to some Hells Angels at their clubhouse in Mesa, Ariz., where she would routinely hang out, according to reports. She was assaulted by some members and warned to keep quiet about it. When she refused, she was viciously attacked, beaten and stabbed. The attackers then threw Garcia into the trunk of a car and drove to a remote location of the desert, where they continued to stab the woman as she lay dying.
It was one of the most grisly murders in recent American criminal history, U.S. Marshals service director John F. Clark said of the crime.
Click here for photos.
Two years later, Eischeid was one of 50 Hells Angels members and associates nabbed in a sweep of motorcycle gang violence in Phoenix. Although he was implicated in Garcia’s kidnapping and murder, a judge allowed him to be released on bail to await trial because he was holding a steady job as a stockbroker and had a relatively clean criminal record, America’s Most Wanted reported.
But after his release, Eischeid somehow removed the tracking device he was ordered to wear, and he fled. He hasn’t been heard from since.
Eischeid is now a fugitive, believed to be roaming the country with help from his Hells Angels cronies. He was added to the Marshals’ list of top 15 most wanted last year.
“He bounces around from location to location wherever there is a [Hells Angels] member that is willing to take him in,” Deputy U.S. Marshal Matt Hershey said.
The U.S. Marshals have not ruled out the possibility that Eischeid is in another country, as his last confirmed sighting places him in Calgary, Canada, last year. Canadian immigration authorities have since issued a warrant for his arrest.
Eischeid blends in easily due to his appearance, which he cares a lot about. He is well groomed, works out often and is rarely seen without clean clothes, according to Hershey. He is extremely talented with finances, and could be working as an online trader.
One conspicuous characteristic of Eischeid’s appearance is his torso, arms and back, which are covered in colorful tattoos.
“[His body] is hard to cover up,” Hershey said.
Eischeid, who also goes by the name Jason Daniel, is a white male, 5-foot-7 and 190 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair. His last name is tattooed across his stomach, and “Hell 666 Bound” is on his lower back. He may be wearing glasses.
The U.S. Marshals have offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to Eischeid’s capture.

Sydney police have charged two outlaw motorcycle gang members with street racing and have confiscated their motorbikes.Officers allege they travelled along the M5 Motorway in the city's west at speeds of more than 150 kilometres an hour at about midnight.Highway patrol officers say the men refused directions to stop and they had to chase them along Milperra Road at Milperra before arresting them.The pair - aged 24 and 36 - were charged with street racing, dangerous riding and speeding.
One of them was also charged with unlicensed riding. They have both been bailed to appear in court next month.

Mongols took the extraordinary step of securing a trademark for their logo. The brandmark is synonymous with trouble, so much so that the US Department of Justice successfully petitioned for, and was granted, control of the trademarked logo. As a result, the government has the right to seize possession of any item bearing the gang’s logo. The landmark case is causing a first amendment fire storm, but I think branding is the really interesting part of the story. First, you have an example of a government taking control of trademark rights and using those rights to enforce the law. Second, you have a great case of a legendary brand — a mark that is associated with a belief system that drives a narrative and a culture. It is a great example of a brand as the centerpiece of a narrative and social conflict. The brand can literally get you arrested–or at least detained.

Nicknamed "Bobby T" by friends and family, Thompson was tried twice on suspicion of killing Ragsdale and Carter. A Merced County jury in July found him not guilty of committing the murders, months after his first trial ended in a hung jury. Thompson continues to maintain his innocence in the girls' deaths.He was convicted in 1987 for kidnapping a woman and served seven years in prison. As a result, he is listed as a convicted sex offender on the state's Megan's Law Web site.
Robert Daniel Thompson lay in his hospital bed with gunshot wounds, Eureka police remained tight-lipped Monday about the events leading up to his shooting.
Thompson, a 43-year-old member of the Hells Angels, was acquitted this year of murder charges in the 1986 unsolved homicides of 12-year-old Jodi Ragsdale and 15-year-old Sheila Carter.Eureka Police Detective Sgt. Patrick O'Neill, the investigator handling Thompson's case, said detectives have yet to speak with Thompson. He was transported to UC Davis Medical Center after he was shot Friday at the intersection of Third and C streets in Eureka.Although O'Neill acknowledged speculation that Thompson's shooting may have been due to a rivalry between biker gangs, the Hells Angels and the Mongols, he said investigators haven't confirmed a motive. "We're working the case and every lead that comes in," O'Neill said. "We're looking at every possible explanation for this."Police said four men have been booked into Humboldt County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder in the case. The suspects are Eureka residents Eric Gunner Lundin, 28, Dustin Christopher Liebes, 36, Brad Lee Miller, 26, and Redding resident Eric Dean Garcia, 28.Eureka police responded to the scene after 11 p.m. and found Thompson, who had been shot several times. The suspects were arrested shortly thereafter.Lundin, Liebes and Miller remain in Humboldt County Jail in lieu of $500,000 each. Garcia is being held in lieu of $500,000, in addition to a $10,000 arrest warrant stemming from a court order violation in Manteca.

shooting occurred outside The Shanty in Eureka last night, and may have been tied to a rivalry between two motorcycle gangs. Eureka Police Chief Garr Nielsen said he had only limited information on the matter, but believed the shooting to have stemmed from the longtime battle between the Hell's Angels and Mongols gangs. Nielsen did not say how badly the man was injured. The Humboldt County Coroner's Office said the man was not killed. A bartender at The Shanty, who asked not to be named, said the man who was shot had been in the bar earlier that night for a drink, and was wearing a Hell's Angels T-shirt. But the man was not a regular, the bartender said, and there was no altercation inside the bar. The shooting happened outside the bar, the employee said, and some patrons inside ran out to see what was happening.

Ghost Riders motorcycle gang member faces more than 30 years in prison when is sentenced later this year in King County Superior Court for murder.Thirty-seven-year-old John Price was convicted Wednesday for killing Don Jessup in December of 2004 in Ravensdale in an argument over a stolen motorcycle.Jessup was a past president of a rival motorcycle gang, the Gypsy Jokers. His body has not been found.The Seattle Times reports witness said Price beat Jessup with an ax handle and shot him in the face then wrapped the body in a rug and buried it "up north."The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports Price is known as "Nazi John" because of his tattoos.

Brian Jeffrey was the chapter's "sergeant at arms." Hells Angels Simcoe chapter was found guilty yesterday of trafficking drugs for the benefit of a criminal organization.According to prosecutor Tom Andreopoulos, Brian Jeffrey was the chapter's "sergeant at arms." He pleaded guilty to charges of drug trafficking and to possession of the proceeds of a crime, but not guilty to criminal organization charges on the basis, his lawyers argued, that the Hells Angels are not a criminal organization.

Hells Angel chapter president Mark Cephes Stephenson and fellow biker Remond Akleh, who is a member of the club's elite Nomads unit. Stephenson and Akleh are each charged with directing fellow Hells Angels member Steven Gault to murder Frank (Cisco) Lenti of the rival Bandidos club sometime between June and September 2006.
At the time, it was not known that Gault was being paid by police as an informant.
Akleh's lawyer, Glenn Orr, suggested in his questioning of a police expert that Akleh and Gault were anything but friends before the alleged murder plot."In 2003, Mr. Akleh here accused Gault of being a rat," Orr said in his cross-examination of Sgt. Kenneth Davis of the Ontario Provincial Police-led Biker Enforcement Unit.
Davis told the trial before Mr. Justice Bruce Glass that he didn't know of the accusation, or how the Hells Angels held an arbitration to ease the tensions.
Court was earlier told that Gault once threatened the lives of the wife and children of a police officer who had given him a speeding ticket, and that he gnawed off a chunk of a man's ear in a fight.Police agents like Gault are seldom pillars of the community, court was told."You're not likely to be dealing with the choirboy scenario," Davis said.Hells Angels arbitrations are conducted in private by senior members and losers are warned that there are no appeals and there must be no "bellyaching," court was told.Members are expected to "kiss and make up" after arbitrations, Davis told court.Davis said the Hells Angels are a secretive, insular society with many rules and an extremely low regard for members who co-operate with police."It's an organization of rules," Davis told court. " They're very structured and controlled."Members are even told when it is appropriate to shake the hands of members of other clubs, and when to shun them, Davis said.Members of rival clubs like the Hells Angels and Bandidos may hate each other, but they are united in an even greater hatred for police, Davis said.In an effort to guard against police surveillance, members sometimes pass notes to each other instead of talking during meetings, and then burn the papers once meetings are over, Davis said. Club members sometimes write sensitive comments on white plastic boards during meetings, then wipe the boards clean, he said."That's one of their biggest worries – infiltration by audio or video," Davis added.

Ross Brand, 51, was felled by a bullet to the head outside the Bandidos Geelong clubhouse last Wednesday.Yesterday, a sombre procession of about 100 club members on bikes, and several hundred more in cars, began at the clubhouse where Brand's life was ended, before making its way to the funeral home.Days before he died, Brand — a convicted criminal and known standover man — had joined them at the club's national run from Geelong to Melbourne.Yesterday his coffin was carried in a sidecar of a senior Bandido's bike at the head of the procession.Following was a black Buick with tinted windows and the club motto stuck on the windscreen in flame red: "God forgives. Bandidos don't" — a silent reminder of what Brand's death signifies in the violent world he inhabited.A band of muscly, tattooed Bandido prospects ensured unwelcome visitors, including the media, were kept well away.Police say Brand was a marked man. Members of the rival Rebels bikie gang raided his house last year in a planned ambush, while Rebels believe Brand was responsible for a series of assaults against them in a 2007 turf war.Police say the shooting was a clear attack on the Bandidos, but don't yet know whether Brand was a specific target.

Michael Plante recalled he picked up a bag of guns on Oct. 11, 2004, at the Surrey home of the mother of Hells Angels member Randy Potts, who is on trial with with co-accused Hells Angels members Jean Joseph Violette, Ronaldo Lising and John Punko.Former strip-club bouncer who became a police agent and infiltrated the East End chapter of the Hells Angels testified Tuesday that he collected money from a number of people on behalf of Hells Angels members.
The 28-count indictment alleges the Hells Angels chapter is a criminal organization and that the accused committed such crimes as extortion and uttering death threats "for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal organization, to wit the East End charter of the Hells Angels."Plante, now 41, is the Crown's key witness in the case. He is expected to be on the witness stand for more than a month in the high-security courtroom at the Vancouver Law Courts.
He testified he began meeting Hells Angels members in 2002 while working out at a gym with Lloyd (Louie) George Robinson, then an East End Hells Angels member.
Plante, who has a weightlifter's physique, said he and Robinson began working out the same year at the gym at the East End Hells Angels clubhouse.At the time, Plante said, he was using steroids and providing them to Robinson. He said he used steroids "to become stronger and bigger."The trial heard how Robinson bench-pressed more than 400 pounds at one point, while Plante was the "spotter" to help Robinson if necessary.Plante said he often met other Hells Angels members at the clubhouse. At the time, he was working as a bouncer at the Marble Arch pub, but when it closed down, Robinson got him a job in March 2002 as a bouncer at the Cecil Hotel strip club, he said."[Robinson] supplied the dancers to the bar," Plante said.
He often saw Hells Angels members at the Cecil, wearing their "colours" - the Hells Angels insignia on the backs of their black leather vests - as well as members of other local gangs."It was very gang-friendly," Plante said of the Cecil in those days. "Not just to biker groups, but all gangs."The muscular witness said he had to intervene in many drunken brawls and throw people out of the bar. He was charged about seven times with assault but never convicted.Plante admitted he was convicted of assaulting a man in 1992 at a North Vancouver gym, Empire Fitness. He said the man had an altercation with a friend of Plante, who punched the man in the face.He said he contacted police on July 21, 2003, and offered to become a police informant.At the time, he said, he was in custody after being charged with assault with a weapon and extortion with David Patrick O'Hara, a Mission Hells Angels member at the time.He recalled one Hells Angels member, Potts, had asked Plante to do a "collection" with O'Hara, whose nickname was Crusty.
O'Hara asked Plante and another man to find a man and bring him to O'Hara's Surrey home, which had a big house and pool on 10 acres, along with a large workshop where O'Hara worked on motorcycles used for drag racing, the witness said.
"Our instructions were there was to be no violence," Plante added.He picked up the man at his Vancouver office and brought him to O'Hara's home, where O'Hara took the man into the workshop."I think Mr. O'Hara started beating him," Plante recalled. "I didn't see it personally but I heard the screams." The man emerged bleeding, limping and crying, he said."We were told to take him to his office and get $20,000 from him," Plante recalled of the victim.But once he was back in Vancouver, police showed up and arrested Plante and his co-accused, Christopher George Hackell. O'Hara was also arrested and they were jointly charged.He recalled he was taken to jail in Surrey and was in custody until he was released on $2,500 bail, which was posted by Potts.During his first day in custody, he contacted police and offered to be an informant. Two officers, who eventually became Plante's handlers, told him to call a pager number when he was released, which he did, he said.Plante said he was initially paid $2,000 a month for information supplied to police, which was later increased to $3,000 a month.He said he applied to become an East End Hells Angels member and was accepted into the "program" as an official friend on Sept. 22, 2004.
The witness told a B.C. Supreme Court jury and Justice Selwyn Romilly that he became trusted among Hells Angels members and conducted criminal activity for them, including collecting money and running drugs.Plante eventually became a police agent after signing an agreement that he would be paid $500,000 before testifying in a series of trials, plus another $500,000 after all the cases are complete.
At the opening of the trial last September, prosecutor Mark Levitz told the jury that the Hells Angels is the most powerful outlaw motorcycle gang in the world and its main purpose is to facilitate the criminal activities of its members.The defence has urged jurors to keep an open mind and not prejudge the accused because they are Hells Angels members.

Jacques Beaulieu, 54, a resident of la Reine, a town in the Abitibi region, appeared before a judge via a video link-up at the Montreal courthouse Saturday. He and Steve Carbonneau, a 40-year-old man who appeared in court on Friday, each face six counts in all. They are alleged to have conspired to set a series of arson fires witnessed in Sorel the night the bunker was levelled, after someone drove a fuel tanker truck into the infamous building. They also are accused of setting the bunker on fire, as well as an apartment building in Sorel. The other three counts are for the theft of the tanker truck. The other man who appeared in court on Friday, Stephane Blanchette, 40, is charged with conspiracy, setting fire to the apartment building and possession of incendiary or explosive materials. Blanchette and Carbonneau, described as longtime friends, are both residents of Sorel. Defence lawyer Louis Hout, who is representing all three men, said he intends to ask that they be held in protective custody.All three men have criminal records that include convictions for relatively minor offences. They are scheduled to have a bail hearing on Tuesday.

Bandidos member and a Rebels bikie threw punches at each other amid continuing tension between the gangs. two rival gang members fought in the crowd at the Geelong Cup race meeting. Several hours later, Mr Brand was shot in the head with a gun as he and a bikie friend left the clubhouse, at 6.10pm on Wednesday. The friend received minor wounds. The gunman fired from a white twin-cab ute that sped away.
Bandidos members said of Mr Brand's killing: "It's going to leave a hole in the hearts of his Bandidos brothers." "He was a much-respected member of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club. Ross was a loving father, brother, son and grandson.
"Rosco was the right person for the right job, and was always there to lend a hand and help out in any way he could. "Nothing was too much trouble for our long-time brother who was so cowardly stolen from us." Det-Supt Paul Hollowood said it was too early to label the bikie shooting part of an turf war in Geelong. "It may be something connected to a rival group. It may be something quite internal," he said.
"With the Bandidos, we are aware there has been a rivalry between that particular group and a couple of other groups from the Geelong area over a number of years."
Former Western Australia chief commissioner Bob Falconer, who established an anti-bike gang taskforce in that state, said gangs should be heavily policed. "The cavalry is a long time coming sometimes to help local police, so we just simply put a taskforce together and when they moved we had a team on them," he said. "We had investigation, intelligence and operations, and we sat on them. "They are a special case. They do believe they're outlaws and they have to be treated significantly differently."

Alex Lozano, president of the Mongols' San Bernardino chapter, and members Manuel Armandarez, Rafael Lozano, Ricardo Gutierrez, Andres Rodriguez and Mario Angulo all are charged with attempted murder in connection with the shooting, the document states. Six Mongols are charged with a shooting at a 2005 Toys for Tots charity drive in Norco that injured three people, including a Norco firefighter. The Mongols opened fire after a fistfight with rival Hells Angels members attending the event at the Maverick Steakhouse. Other gang members are charged with causing a riot at a 2002 Ultimate Fighting Match at the Morongo Casino in Cabazon, where people were attacked with knives and chairs as Mongols members began kicking victims with steel-toed boots. Among those arrested Tuesday was Mongols President Ruben Cavazos. In June this year, he claimed that police were infringing on the Mongols' social organization by arresting several members after they nearly shut down Interstate 15 by performing stunts en route to a rally in San Diego. O'Brien said the evidence compiled in the indictment is proof that the gang is not a social club.
"Any social organization willing to use violence poses a significant threat," O'Brien said. "These charges of drug trafficking, murder and mayhem clearly show this is not a recreational club." ATF agents served search warrants at several Inland locations beginning at 5 a.m. Tuesday. At Rafael Lozano's Orange Street home in Redlands, ATF agents broke down a deadbolted door. Agents ransacked the house and said they recovered a gun, ammunition, Mongol clothing and paraphernalia. Lozano had a "Say No to Drugs" sticker on his front door and a sticker of a Redlands police badge. A security camera monitored his front porch as a new Mercedes and a Ford Shelby Cobra sat in the driveway. Lozano had no prior criminal charges in Riverside or San Bernardino counties, other than driving violations. He is charged in the Norco shooting and with methamphetamine sales as part of the Mongols gang.
The raids also hit Los Angeles, Washington, Colorado, Florida and Nevada. In the Los Angeles and Inland areas, authorities seized seven pounds of methamphetamine, about 70 motorcycles and about 71 weapons. The Mongols organization was created in Montebello during the 1970s after Hispanics were excluded from the Hells Angels gang, the indictment states. The club now boasts chapters in Canada, Mexico and Italy on its Web site. Mongols members sell methamphetamine and cocaine to raise money to pay dues to the gang leadership, the indictment states. In exchange, they receive protection from a violent feud with the Mexican Mafia and other criminal street gangs, the indictment states. Mongols award a special skull-and-bones patch to members who commit murders or shootings to increase their status in the club, according to an ATF affidavit. All 71 men arrested were expected to be arraigned in Los Angeles Federal Court and will proceed to a jury trial in their next court proceedings, U.S. Attorney's office spokesman Thom Mrozek said.

The agents were required to live away from their families in homes set up to make it look like they lived a Mongols lifestyle, Hoffman said. Four undercover women ATF agents also were involved in the operation, pretending to be biker girlfriends and attending parties with the agents; women are not allowed to become full members of the gang.“If you go to a party all the time and you don’t ever bring a girl around, it’s kind of weird,” Hoffman said. “Someone might get suspicious.”To be accepted in the gang, the ATF agents had to run errands and were subject to a background check by private detectives.Outside Cavazos’ home in West Covina, about 18 miles east of Los Angeles, a red, custom-modified Harley-Davidson motorbike sat outside. No occupants were home but several police and ATF agents were seen going through items in the house.Cavazos wrote a memoir titled “Honor Few, Fear None: The Life and Times of a Mongol,” published by HarperCollins in June.HarperCollins publicist Sarah Burningham in New York City said she only handles book-related issues for Cavazos, but would forward an e-mail from The Associated Press requesting comment.
At least 22 motorcycles were on display outside the Los Angeles Police Department’s main building Tuesday morning.In 2002, a Mongols member got two to five years in Nevada state prison for his part in a deadly casino brawl with rival Hells Angels during a biker rally. Three people died in the fight.

Ruben Cavazos and dozens of members of the Mongol’s motorcycle gang were arrested on Tuesday by federal agents in six states, after a three-year investigation where undercover agents had infiltrated the motorcycle group.Mongol motorcycle gang members were arrested Tuesday by federal agents in six states following a three-year investigation in which undercover agents had infiltrated the motorcycle gang.
At least 38 members of the Southern California-based Mongol Motorcycle Club were arrested under a federal racketeering indictment that included charges of murder, attempted murder, assault, as well as gun and drug violations, said Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spokesman Mike Hoffman.Sharpshooters stood guard on rooftops as motorcycles were lined up and confiscated during some arrests.
“It’s going to be a large hit to their organization. We are arresting many of their top members,” Hoffman said.The Mongol’s motorcycle gang’s national president, Ruben Cavazos, was among those arrested.Local and federal agents had 110 federal arrest warrants and 160 search warrants that they were serving across Southern California and in Nevada, Oregon, Colorado, Washington and Ohio. “Operation Black Rain” will continue throughout the day Tuesday, agents said.Hoffman said the Mongols had been getting members of Los Angeles street gangs to help in their operations. The Mongols are primarily Latino and formed because the Hells Angels refused to allow Hispanic members.There were four ATF agents that became accepted into the Mongol’s motorcycle gang, having to win the trust of the gang’s top leaders over a period of months, Hoffman said.

A total of 61 members of the Mongols biker gang were detained in a series of arrests that followed a wide-ranging investigation into allegations of murder, hate crimes, assaults, fire-arm violations and drug trafficking.A total of 162 search warrants were executed in California, Nevada, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Florida and Ohio, the Justice Department said. Most of the arrests took place in the Los Angeles area.Investigators seized motorcycles, 71 firearms, one explosive device and a quantity of drugs, including more than six pounds of methamphetamine.The Mongols are an outlaw motorcycle gang that was formed in Montebello, California, in the 1970s, according to justice officials.The group has been battling the Hells Angels motorcycle gang since 2002 when the two groups engaged in a massive riot at a casino in Nevada.Justice officials said the Mongols have also been locked in a violent feud with Mexican Mafia over drug-trafficking activities.The investigation into their activities saw several agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) go undercover to infiltrate the gang, officials told US media. Four female ATF agents were among the undercover operatives, officials said."Today, the leadership of the Mongols, one of the most violent outlaw motorcycle gangs, was taken down," ATF Special Agent in Charge John Torres said in a statement."For three years, four brave and dedicated ATF undercover agents put their lives on the line to infiltrate the Mongols. They made great personal sacrifices to protect our community and we are all extremely grateful."

string of biker-related crimes in the province in the past week are bringing back painful memories for Quebecers of the biker wars of the 1990s.On Saturday night, a tanker truck slammed into the Hells Angels' bunker in the Quebec town of Sorel-Tracy, creating an inferno that gutted the building and led to the evacuation of nearby homes.Firefighters were still on the scene of the wreckage Sunday evening.Two other suspicious fires burned in the town the same night.Last week, about 1,000 kilograms of explosives were reported stolen from a site in the St. Lawrence region.On Oct. 17, 200 kilograms of explosives were found in a Montreal apartment a block away from Quebec provincial police headquarters.The discovery came after three people were arrested and 1,000 kilograms of explosives were found in a van in Mont-Joli, about 350 kilometres northeast of Quebec City.Police allege the three men arrested were involved in biker gangs."The Hells Angels are like a bad Hollywood slasher movie," said investigative journalist Julian Sher in an interview Sunday.
"The bad guys keep coming back for more."Sher co-authored the book "Angel of Death," about the Hells Angels.He said these events should serve as a wake-up call to police and the public.Since the arrest and 2002 conviction of former Angels leader Maurice (Mom) Boucher in the shooting deaths of two Quebec prison guards and the mega-trials in a specially-built courthouse in Montreal that led to the conviction of 18 bikers on various charges, Sher said Quebecers have developed a false sense of security.
The turf war in the 90s between the Angels and the Rock Machine biker gangs caused numerous deaths including that of 11-year-old Daniel Desrochers, who was fatally injured by shrapnel as he was playing near a jeep that was blown up.Sher noted the major police sweep in the province a few years ago took the Angels down but not out, and that membership in the biker gang has always remained stable.
The Angels still have a monopoly on the biker turf in Canada."To go up against the Hells Angels you have to have a lot of guts or a lot of stupidity," Sher said.Saturday's "bold and brazen attack" on the bunker was a message to the entire Angels organization but it's too early to know who sent it, he said."We can't speculate or be alarmist. We can't say it's another biker war."
There were no injuries reported in any of the three fires over the weekend and the investigation by the Quebec provincial police is still in the early stages.
Police say they are looking into the possibility that the three suspicious fires are linked."We have three scenes to analyze," said provincial police spokeswoman Joyce Kemp.
"We're starting the investigative work and the investigation is ongoing."
According to Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, outlaw motorcycle gangs are involved in criminal activities like murder, drug trafficking, prostitution, illegal gambling, extortion, fraud, and theft.The service notes the Angels are the most powerful biker gang in the country with 34 chapters nation-wide.The three most influential biker gangs in Canada are the Angels, the Outlaws and the Bandidos.A rival gang may have perpetrated the attack, said Sher, adding both the Bandidos and U.S.-based Mongols are rumoured to be trying to establish Canadian strongholds.
Whoever it was, Quebecers can expect a reprisal from the Angels, Sher said.
"They don't wait for the police to solve their problems. Sooner or later, where the Hells Angels are there's violence, blood, and danger."

More than a tonne of commercial explosives were recovered in a pair of Quebec police raids yesterday, caches that investigators believe are connected to a biker gang in the province.The investigation began on Tuesday, when 41 cases of explosives - weighing more than one tonne - and detonation devices were stolen from a quarry site in the town of St.-Ulric, said Sergeant Joyce Kemp, a spokeswoman for Sûreté du Québec. A police investigation team focused on the trafficking of firearms, ammunition and explosives tracked the heist and made three arrests in a pair of raids yesterday.Yesterday at about 3:30 a.m., officers cornered a van at a doughnut shop in Mont-Joli, about 350 kilometres northeast of Quebec City, arresting three people and recovering 1,000 kilograms of explosives that they believe are connected to the St.-Ulric heist.Sgt. Kemp said the three men arrested in the early-morning bust were involved in biker gangs, and two of them are from the Montreal area.
Stéphane Fournier, 39, Yvan Perreault, 65, and Sébastien St-Pierre, 29, face charges of illegal possession of explosives, as well as weapons and breaking and entering charges.Later yesterday, another 200 kilograms were found inside an apartment on Montreal's Logan Street, Sgt. Kemp said. Neighbours watched nervously as police taped off a swath of the area, cleared neighbouring buildings and locked down a nearby school. The apartment is about a block away from Quebec police headquarters.
Police believe the recoveries are linked. They wouldn't say which gang they suspect, but explosives have long been a tool of choice of Quebec's Hells Angels, who conducted a bloody turf war in the 1990s with the Rock Machine gang.A turning point in the biker war was the 1995 death of 11-year-old Daniel Desrochers in a car bombing. The culprits were never arrested.In the trial of former Hells Angels boss Maurice (Mom) Boucher, court heard that Mr. Boucher was behind the planting of five inactivated bombs outside Montreal police stations in April, 1999.
The same jury did not hear allegations that the Hells Angels tried twice to plant large bombs in a public place.On Aug. 23, 1996, the Hells Angels tried without success to blow up a van next to the Rock Machine's Montreal clubhouse.And on Oct. 30, 1997, police discovered 130 dynamite sticks hidden in a conference room where several Rock Machine members were to gather.The three men arrested yesterday made a brief court appearance in Rimouski, and remain in custody.

Warlocks Motorcycle Gang were the main recipients of lots of meth cooked up in two labs in Berks and Montgomery Counties. The labs produced over 500 pounds of meth, worth millions of dollars.They had the firepower, they had the drugs and they generated plenty of cash. State investigators say when it came to producing home grown methamphetamine in our region, this was a big time operation."Spadafora allegedly produced more than $9 million worth of methamphetamine," said Attorney General Thomas Corbett.Agents say 42-year-old Michael Spadafora and three others ran the show, cooking meth in the kitchen and basement of Spadafora's half-million dollar Reading home, a shed and a shipping container. After each meth cook, they say Spadafora put liquid meth in pipes and buried it underground until he needed more. Some of his best customers were right here in our area."We believe Mr. Spadaforas's meth was distributed across southeast Pennsylvania and was even being supplied to members of the Warlocks Outlaw Motorcycle Gang," said Corbett.The Warlocks have long been linked to meth. Recently, state investigators took down 13 members of the notorious biker gang for dealing the drug. Then Warlocks president Thomas Zaroff was arrested and his garage raided. Just two weeks ago, Corbett's agents broke up a multi-million dollar operation that was shipping crystal meth from Mexico to Philadelphia in porcelain dolls."Definitely what it tells me, there is a problem here in southeastern Pennsylvania with methamphetamine," said Corbett.Corbett says most disturbing was the discovery of this life-size, bullet-riddled target of a police officer found in a suspect's home. "Somebody's learning how to hone in with their weapon and where are they shooting, they're shooting into the heart of a police officer. We have a huge problem in this state, this country with a lack of respect for law enforcement," said Corbett.Agents made undercover purchases of meth from this ring. They seized 68 guns, including half a dozen assault rifles and handguns with silencers. The meth labs were dismantled. Corbett says with the high demand for meth in this area, there's no doubt someone try to take fill the void left by these arrests.

Former high-profile Coffin Cheater member Troy Mercanti is understood to have joined the Finks after being kicked out of the Coffin Cheaters. South Australia Police Detective Superintendent Des Bray, from the Crime Gangs Taskforce, said Mr Mercanti had been in South Australia recently and was wearing Finks colours. "We suspect that some of the people joining the club (the Finks) will be ex-Coffin Cheater members," Mr Bray said. SA has recently introduced tougher laws targeting outlaw bikie gangs. Mr Gregson said this might be one reason why Finks members were heading west.
"The perception in South Australia may well be that it's too hot to do business," he said. "If we see that's effective legislation, it is something I would be happy to discuss with the Government." Mr Gregson said that although WA police had a strong focus on outlaw motorcycle gangs, they were powerless to prevent bikies crossing state borders.

police spokeswoman said the homicide squad would remain tight-lipped about the investigation and refused to reveal any possible motive.But it is understood police believe O'Connor's killer was very familiar with his routine and movements.O'Connor, who had appeared in court on drug supply charges, was shot at up to five times. He was hit once in the head in South St, Tempe.Lawyers this week denied that O'Connor was linked to bikie gang the Nomads or new outfit Notorious.Hundreds of people turned out to O'Connor's funeral service at St Mary's Cathedral on Wednesday.He was buried at Matraville.

Police are investigating what was believed to be the gang-related shooting of a man near Wooroloo yesterday as fears grow that a bikie war is about to break out across Perth. About 3pm yesterday a motorcyclist was shot in the shoulder while he was riding on Great Eastern Highway near The Lakes roadhouse. He was flown to Royal Perth Hospital and was last night in a serious condition. It is believed members of the Finks bikie gang, which is trying to establish a presence in WA, were involved.
A witness said he had driven past the scene not long after the shooting and saw three bikies on the side of the road. One of the men was lying down. He said the scene looked like a car accident. Roads surrounding the scene are expected to remain closed until noon today.Police Assistant Commissioner Wayne Gregson said it was early in the investigation but police were watching the situation carefully.
Members of the police bikie gang response unit were called to the scene and were put on alert late yesterday. Officers were monitoring activity at Perth airports and there was a heavy police presence, including detectives, at RPH late into the night.
Officers were stationed on every floor and the Tactical Response Group was also in attendance. It is understood that last week police received intelligence that the Finks were making a move into WA. Tensions were raised between WA bikie gangs after a member of an existing club was believed to have joined the Finks.
With chapters established in NSW, Queensland and South Australia, the Finks are believed to have attempted to forge ties with the two WA clubs involved in a murderous bikie war of the late 1990s. It is believed the Hells Angels, who have been in a long-running feud with the Finks in the Eastern States, had also reached out to one of the clubs in a move to expand their power base. The Club Deroes and the Coffin Cheaters are regarded as bitter WA enemies after the bloody 1990s turf war that involved fire bombings, drive-by shootings and vicious bashings.
The Finks and the Hells Angels have clashed in the Eastern States, including shootings and stabbings. In the past year the Hells Angels have gained a foothold in north-western suburbs, including Scarborough.