OLDER EXAMPLES OF SITUATIONS AND DEALINGS INTERNATIONAL -
DOCUMENT FROM WWW.ROB-FILES.COM
EDITED SEPTEMBER 2012 … URL CHANGED TO WWW.ROB-FILES.COM
(INDEX PAGE)
THIS IS THE ORIGINAL INDEX PAGE … OWNER Robert O. Butner Jr. –
THIS IS A DOCUMENT FROM THAT INDEX PAGE.
Original POSTED January 2, 2008 THROUGH October 14, 2008
Hells Angels, have infiltrated the airports in
Edmonton and Calgary
Oct-1-08 3:05pm
Hells Angels, have infiltrated the airports in Edmonton and Calgary. An Air Canada baggage
handler who didn't want to be named said police have known, at least for months, about the issue
and yet nothing seems to have changed. He said he first learned criminals had disturbingly easy
access to moving everything from knives to drugs by bypassing security checks when someone
told him, not in so many words, to mind his own business.
"Obviously it's concerning when we hear these allegations," said Jim Rudolph, corporate
communications manager for the Edmonton International Airport. "If these allegations are true,
we'll do whatever we can ... to investigate.” Police report there are Hells Angels and two Asian
groups at the airports in Edmonton and Calgary.
"(Airports) don't have adequate security. They have been letting this go on for years ... It's pretty
dumb.” He offered no specifics.
"I don't recall any such incidents," said Rudolph, noting he has worked at the airport for three
years. "It's possible I just haven't been told."
Coun. Bryan Anderson, chairman of Edmonton's transportation and public works committee, said
safety and security at the airport have never been formally discussed at City Hall. "I've never
heard that kind of concern raised," he said.
Anderson said there's nothing City Hall can do to address potential problems.
"We do not control airport operations in any way, shape or form," he said. "As I would say to a
citizen who brought in a complaint ... I will pass word onto (appropriate authorities) instead of
talking about general hearsay.” Rudolph said he has confidence in the RCMP and the Canadian
Air Transport Security Authority. Together, the groups handle airport security for all airport
employees. All employees with access to secure areas must have a Restricted Area Identification
Card, or RAIC, said Rudolph. Anyone entering a secured area must scan either fingers or eyes
for doors to unlock. To get RAIC, employees must supply a five-year verifiable employment and
education background. Their names are also run through RCMP, CSIS and Citizenship and
Immigration databases. The passes are renewed about once every two years, said Rudolph.
A REPORT APPROXIMATELY 3 - 4 EARLIER – AND WE WONDER WHY THE
COUNTRY IS IN SUCH POOR CONDITIONS. ARE OUR FEDERAL AGENCIES
MISSING A LOT SUCH AS THE CASE SUBJECT ROB-FILES.COM … TYPICAL?
Vancouver, Canada
Seizure of 61.5 kilos of cocaine from Mexico linked to Hells Angels - an Air Canada
employee is at the centre of an international investigation after authorities at Vancouver
International Airport seized a large quantity of cocaine before Christmas.
Paula Shore of the Canada Border Services Agency said yesterday officers seized 61.5
kilograms of the drug "in the early hours of Dec. 23."
RCMP sources told The Province they believe the drugs originated in Mexico and that
investigators were looking at a "strong link" to B.C. members of the Hells Angels.
The drugs were found in unaccompanied suitcases, the RCMP source said, adding that
the people behind the shipment had "inside help."
Police would not say if the bust is connected to two earlier seizures this year and last
year, in which cocaine was found in suitcases that arrived on flights from Mexico.
Shore said she's not aware of any arrests in the latest bust and that she did not have
information on the origin of the drugs.
The border agency is working with the RCMP and international law-enforcement groups
to trace the source of the drugs, she said.
"Seizing a shipment of contraband is great because it takes it off the streets, but also we
work with agencies around the world to try and find the individuals responsible for
bringing illegal contraband into Canada."
Air Canada spokesman John Reber confirmed that an airline employee has been
suspended.
The airline declined to release any information on whether the employee works aboard
planes or is a member of the Air Canada ground team, or about the employee's
experience on the job or gender.
Reber said the employee's colleagues at Air Canada were "instrumental in bringing this
matter to the attention of the authorities."
"The employee was suspended, pending further police investigation," Reber said.
"Air Canada has been co-operating fully with this investigation from the outset.
"It is a police matter so we don't have any additional information to provide."
A 2003 RCMP report identified Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto airports as so heavily
infiltrated by organized crime that the facilities had become a primary gateway for
smuggling drugs into Canada.
Drug trafficking through the airports was so problematic then that airport seizures
accounted for 92 per cent of the heroin, 90 per cent of the ecstasy, 40 per cent of the
cocaine and 40 per cent of the liquid hashish seized in Canada in 2002, the report noted.
Border agency officers at YVR seized 54 kg of cocaine on a flight from Mexico in
September. The drugs were packed in four suitcases.
Another 50 kg of cocaine was found in two suitcases on a flight from Mexico in 2006.
Officers also seized two kilos of heroin at the airport in 2006, arrested one man trying to
fly 20 kilos of marijuana to Ontario in 2004 and arrested two men trying to smuggle
65,000 ecstasy pills into Canada from Europe in March 2003.
Border agency officials at the airport seized 19 kilos of opium in three shipments in 2003.
Customs officials arrested an Aeroflot pilot in 2005 and charged him with trying to
smuggle 20,000 bogus anti-impotency pills from Moscow to Toronto.
YVR officials found 706 grams of cocaine and 369 grams of hash in the wing of a
Boeing 767 in 2004.
In 2000, six Air Canada cleaners were charged with smuggling
Statistic: $8-million worth of cocaine and hashish into Toronto's Pearson Airport from
Jamaica over the course of a year.
Also that year, police in Winnipeg seized drugs concealed in the walls of Air Canada jets
eight times over six months.
A Canada 3000 flight attendant was fired in 1999 for smuggling at least $1 million in
ecstasy pills into Canada from Europe.
Matthew Ramsey
canada.com
0riginal January 3, 2008
Amsterdam - Amsterdam's most notorious brothel, Yab Yum, should be closed down
because it is owned by Hells Angels who used blackmail to take it over, city council
officials claimed in court on Thursday.
The council refused to renew the brothel's operating license last year but until now has
refused to say on what grounds it made the decision.
The council's lawyers told the court in Amsterdam on Thursday that they suspect current
owner Hennie Vittali of being a front-man for the motorbike gang. They say that Vittali's
takeover of the club in 1999 followed blackmail and threats by the Hell's Angels.
The club on Amsterdam's prestigious Singel canal changed hands for €1.8m although the
market price was put at €9m, the city council says.
But Yab Yum's lawyer Rob IJsendijk told the court that the council's case was based on
assumptions which were not backed up by facts.
The court will rule within a few days on whether to overturn the council's decision not to
extend the club's operating license, news agency ANP reported.
N/A
dutchnews.nl
Original POSTED January 10, 2008
CANADA - Maryland killing another in series of deaths linked to drugs, gangs~
A career criminal gunned down outside a Maryland Street house Friday afternoon is the
latest in a growing list of homicides connected to the city's drug and gang underworld.
Terrance Wayne Tucker, 42, was found mortally wounded in the rear of 371 Maryland
St.
City tax records say the residence is owned by Malcolm Amos. Police sources said he is
the younger brother of Hells Angels associate Harold Amos, who is currently serving a
nine-year prison term on a 2006 gun and drug conviction.
Police would not comment on Tucker's connection to Malcolm Amos or a possible
motive for his killing. No one has been arrested and police still had the house sealed off
Monday.
Tucker is the latest in what appears to be an almost unbroken string of killings linked
either to street gangs, drugs or both. (HA WORLD WIDE CRIME)
Eight people, including eight-month pregnant Joanne Hoeppner, have been killed since
last March. She was shot to death in her Magnus Avenue home last week. In Hoeppner's
and four other slayings, police have yet to make an arrest -- an unprecedented number of
cases for city police to still have unsolved.
Police declined Monday to comment if the violence is connected to gang war over the
drug trade.
Const. Jacqueline Chaput said senior officers are looking at what's driving the violence
and how police can address it.
Police Chief Keith McCaskill said last week one of the reasons contributing to the
violence is that many people are too frightened to talk to police to report crimes or
provide information to investigators.
Tucker was found behind the house at about 4 p.m. Friday with a gunshot wound to his
upper body. He was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at hospital.
His family declined to speak to the media Monday.
Court records show he is no stranger to the justice system. Tucker has been in and out of
prison since the mid-1980s and was most recently charged last summer with possession
of cocaine and a sawed-off shotgun.
He had released by police on a promise to appear in court and was scheduled to make his
next appearance Jan. 15.
Tucker's last address was an apartment at 484 Wellington Crescent, but it appears he only
used it to receive mail. No one was at the building yesterday.
Residents on Maryland told the Free Press a man, woman and two boys, aged about eight
and 10, lived in the single-family dwelling on Maryland.
One neighbour said he saw the man of the house arrive home in a taxi between 1 and 2
p.m. on Friday. He said the man was carrying a duffel bag and entered the house through
the back door.
Another neighbour said she heard gunshots at about 3:30 p.m.
"I heard two pops. That was it," Carol Beauchamp said.
The same house was the scene in 2003 of a sod-turning that included former mayor Glen
Murray and federal and provincial officials. The event marked the first house built for
low-income families under the Canada-Manitoba Affordable Housing Initiative.
Malcolm Amos has lived in the two-storey house since then, according to city
documents.
His brother Harold pleaded guilty in October 2006 to conspiracy to traffic cocaine and
weapons offences and received a nine-year prison sentence under a joint recommendation
from Crown and defence lawyers.
At the time he was a member of the Zig Zag Crew, the puppet club for the Hells Angels.
He was charged after police learned that a Leila Avenue apartment suite was being used
as a cocaine manufacturing outlet. Officers got special court permission to secretly break
in for a "sneak-and-peek". They found several items, including a scale and hydraulic
press used for pressing pure cocaine into bricks. Police then planted a hidden video
camera and captured several men on tape, including Amos, working to produce drugs in
the suite.
By Bruce Owen
winnipegfreepress.com
Original January 12, 2008
WHITBY - Numerous supporters looked on as two high-ranking Hells Angels officers
accused of plotting to kill an underworld rival made a brief appearance in court Thursday.
The show of support for Mark Stephenson, president of the Oshawa chapter, and Remond
Akleh, a former Oshawa boss and a member of the elite Nomads wing of the gang, has
been a common sight since the two were arrested in the fall of 2006 on charges of
conspiracy to commit murder. A number of people including Mr. Akleh's relatives, Mr.
Stephenson's parents and fellow bikers have consistently flowed into courtrooms,
following each and every moment of their bail hearings, preliminary proceedings and
now, pre-trial appearances before Superior Court Justice Edwin Minden.
They waited a couple of hours Thursday morning for what turned out to be just a few
minutes of court time; prior to that, lawyers Glen Orr and Brian Grys met privately with
Crown counsel Mitchell Flagg to discuss issues that must be resolved before any trial can
begin.
Mr. Stephenson, of Sunderland, and Mr. Akleh, who lives near Cobourg, were among
more than two dozen bikers and associates swept up in Operation Tandem, a multi-force
police strike launched against the Angels and other gangs in September 2006. While most
of those busted were charged with drug-related crimes, the two powerful bikers were
charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
Mr. Akleh is free on bail while Mr. Stephenson remains in custody.
Their next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 24.
Jeff Mitchell
newsdurhamregion.com
January 12, 2008 POSTING:
Australia - ~Once a cult of liberty, biker gangs are becoming the corporations of the
underworld~
Everyone knows when the Hells Angels come to town. It is the menacing roar of 200
bearded men on Harley-Davidsons - ruthless, deadly serious and defying anyone to
oppose them. The growling machines are their symbol of freedom, even from the law.
But in Australia, outlaw motorcycle gangs are changing. What was once a cult of liberty
has, in some clubs, morphed into a criminal corporation, and many - ex-bikers among
them - believe bikies are more about money than motorbikes?
Outlaw motorcycle gangs began riding in the US in the 1940s. Disaffected, angry
veterans of World War II, they shunned mainstream society and embraced a culture of
liberty and recklessness. They and their outlaw counterparts called themselves "onepercenters": if 99 per cent of motorcyclists operated within the law, they were the ones
outside it.
The most powerful club to grow out of the 1950s was the Hells Angels. Now many
consider it to be the most criminal, but back in those days its members were heavy drug
users and only small-time dealers.
During the Vietnam War, Australian soldiers met members of outlaw motorcycle gangs
and bought the concept back. They formed local clubs, such as the Gypsy Jokers, the
Rebels and the Coffin Cheaters.
Some were veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Some were misfits seeking
somewhere to belong. Some struggled with demons, such as childhood abuse. To them,
the law-abiding 99 per cent were just "sheep".
For all the emphasis on liberty and independence, club members were expected to obey
strict rules and a militaristic hierarchy, with a sergeant at arms doling out violent
discipline to any member who dared step out of line.
Harley-Davidsons were compulsory. "Riding rules" had to be obeyed. Aspiring members
had to sweat through a lengthy probation as gofers and perform wild initiation rites
before they were accepted.
Australia's early bikie groups are credited with pioneering the car rebirthing trade. And it
was local Hells Angels who introduced large-scale amphetamines manufacture in the
early 1980s.
But for most, the Australian bikie lore will always come back to the Milperra Massacre,
when members of the Comanchero split to open a chapter of the Bandidos, sparking a
battle that left six men and a teenage girl dead.
Traditionally, Australia's bikers have been hard Anglo men. They paraded their club
colors, carried weapons and rode in packs. They wore beards, tattoos and leather, and
their mottos were brotherhood, loyalty and secrecy. But that bikie image was stage one of
what the NSW Gangs Squad chief, Scott Whyte, describes as the five-stage process of
outlaw motorcycle gang evolution.
Early on, bikers hung around with their mates and drank beer, took drugs and rode
motorcycles. Then, to raise money to support their lifestyles, they begin to flirt with
small-scale drug dealing and car rebirthing.
As profits mounted, the criminal business - and their enthusiasm for it - grew. The clubs
got organized. Honchos sent juniors to do the hard work, and skimmed the profits. By
stage four, clubs were fully fledged businesses.
At stage five, the motorcycle club is a criminal corporation. To some, the Hells Angels in
the US is now ORGANIZED CRIMES answer to Macquarie Bank, with tentacles,
franchises and SPIN-OFF businesses around the WORLD.
In Australia, the Rebels - the largest of the 18 clubs - are at stage five, police believe. The
Bandidos, Nomads and Comanchero are at stage four.
Like any well-run business, outlaw motorcycle clubs are making tactical mergers and
acquisitions. Slowly, over the past decade, they have begun to consort and blend with
Middle Eastern organized crime gangs.
Allegiances open new markets and increase the pool of workers for motorcycle gangs. In
turn, they offer Middle Eastern groups the legitimacy and street creed of a famous outlaw
bikie "brand".
The Comanchero, Nomads and Bandidos are recruiting in the Middle Eastern
community, Whyte says.
"I can't help but feel that the edge has been blurred as to whether they're a bikie group
that has Middle Eastern membership, or whether they are a Middle Eastern crime gang
that's using the shield, the name and the aura of a bikie group."
Biker culture is still at the heart of most clubs, such as the traditional Rebels. But it
appears to police, onlookers and some former bikers that the focus at some has moved
from motorbikes to making money. THE VERBAGE IS REDICULUS, THESE ARE
NOT BIKER CLUBS THEY ARE ORGANIZED CRIME INTERNATIONAL AND
SOME DO NOT RESEMBLE BIKER ATTIRE AT ALL.
Members of some clubs are more likely to drive hutted-up cars and wear Nike than ride
Harleys and wear leather. Some cannot ride motorcycles and do not even try.
In one case, an inexperienced biker who tried to ride for a funeral ended up falling off.
"A lot of the people who are in the Comanchero and Nomads and Bandidos YOU DON’T
SEE riding bikes very often," Whyte says. "It's not the core business they're in. I think
they're more dangerous to the community because of that."
Motorcycle club membership is growing. Police are noticing more probationary colors.
But members recruited for business purposes might never get any further. "They don't
want to or need to," Whyte says. "I think there are some senior members in senior clubs
who are dead against these changes. They just want things to be as they were."
One former member told the Herald he was no longer interested in riding with his old
club because today's culture was about business. "It's not about bikes any more; it's about
money."
He said club franchises were so valuable people sold their houses to buy into them.
When the powerful Hells Angels club - which has had a presence in Sydney for 25 years
- opened a second chapter in the city a few years ago, police heard they were looking for
different types of recruits: lawyers and accountants.
This week, police dismantled two drug laboratories with links to several lesser-known
clubs. Five members and associates were arrested on drugs charges, and officers found
weapons, drugs and thousands of dollars in cash.
Edward Winterhalder was one of the most powerful members of the Bandidos, a US club
with chapters in Australia. He has written and contributed to books about his experiences
and is developing a reality television series, Living on the Edge.
Winterhalder started as a young biker in the 1970s. By the time he left the Bandidos, he
was second in charge and communications director for the international empire, looking
after websites, mergers and diplomacy. "When I got involved 30 years ago it was all
about having a good time," he told the Herald. "The camaraderie was there. Your only
concern was what you were going to do that weekend. It's changed a lot.
"For a motorcycle club to focus so much on independence, it's one of the most controlled
environments you can be involved in. You were told what to do more and more. As time
wore on, your individuality was suppressed.
"Some people in the organization condoned methamphetamines. I want to be as far as I
can from those people in my life."
Arthur Veno, a Melbourne academic who has spent 20 years analyzing motorcycle clubs,
has heard of some clubs relaxing their once-strict "riding rules" and says some have
dropped the need to have a bike at all.
"However, it's something that's not widespread, nor is it likely to become widespread,"
Veno says. "Once you get past that, you're out of the biker scene. It's the fundamental
identity." NOTE: THIS IS ALL OLDER CRAP – AGAIN, THEY ARE
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME.
Veno admits there is criminality in motorcycle clubs but he says it is still not the core
business. Some chapters are squeaky clean. Some are divided.
"What you find is a set of criminals in the club who have fantastically powerful sway
because they'll fund members for the entire riding season," he says.
Bikes cost up to $40,000, and they have to be kept in good working order.
William Marsden, the author of Angels of Death, an international bestseller on the Hells
Angels, agrees. "Most outlaw bikers are too crazy or too stupid or just too hopped up on
drugs to run a hotdog stand," he says.
"Other bikers hold down legitimate jobs. Some are professional engineers, musicians,
stockbrokers, you name it. The gangster biker, one-percenter etc, is a religion. The cult
comes first. Crime as a business is just how they make money.
"I have noticed, however, that when business becomes the central goal of a chapter, it
creates dissention in the ranks."
In South Australia, the authorities have declared war on bikies, announcing laws that will
restrict who they hang out with and where they drink. Police will be given the power to
ban the wearing of club colors.
NSW Police have a different strategy, using existing laws to make life difficult for
motorcycle clubs by nabbing members for any crime they can: drugs, weapons and even
licensing violations at clubhouses.
Last May NSW Police set up Operation Ranmore to stop bikie battles escalating into a
war after violence at the nightclubs DCM and Mr. Goodbar. Since its launch, police have
arrested 340 people on 883 charges ranging from assault to traffic offences.
Veno believes the NSW approach is effective.
"The heart of the problem is the criminals in the clubs," he says. "If you keep targeting
those bastards you'll definitely come out on top. Clubs will be better for it - getting back
on the roads."
The feared war in NSW never eventuated, thanks in part to the police operation. But the
clubs are still active: some are recruiting, and the Nomads are struggling to recover from
a fire that destroyed a clubhouse.
Whyte is watching South Australia with interest. "I don't have a problem with [bikers]
going about their business. I don't really have a problem with them wearing colors,
provided it's not threatening to the public. Let's see if South Australia implements its
legislation. And let's see if it works."
Jordan Baker
smh.com.au
-------- --------- ---------January 16, 2008 posting:
CANADA - A third member of a Fort Frances family accused of running a drug
distribution operation with the Hells Angels is going to jail. Superior Court Justice Helen
Pierce sentenced 35-year-old Dion Godbout on Tuesday to 22 months in jail. He was one
of more than two dozen people arrested, including drug ring boss and Thunder Bay Hells
Angel member Mario Minier, in January 2006 after a police investigation dubbed Project
Husky. Godbout's mother Janet Godbout was sentenced in April to five years in jail,
while his brother Julian Godbout received 22 months in June. Sister Crystal Godbout,
along with Nicholas Bruyere, is on trial this week in Superior Court. Before his trial
began in the fall, Dion Godbout pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic cocaine and
participating in the activities of a criminal organization. Charges were laid after police
gathered 60 days of wiretap evidence about group mixing, distributing and selling
cocaine in the Fort Frances area. When he was arrested, Godbout told police his mother
distributed 10 ounces of cocaine each month, a significant amount for the Fort Frances
area, Pierce said as she delivered her reasons for the sentence. Defense counsel had
argued for a conditional sentence to be served in the community, while the Crown called
for a federal penitentiary term of two years. The drug trafficking conspiracy brought
significant amounts of cocaine into the Fort Frances area, said Pierce. "And he knew it,"
she continued. "He gained financially from it." The charges cover the period from June 1
to Oct. 31, 2005, and Godbout said in his pre-sentence report that he "did a bit of
running" for his mother. He sold cocaine on weekends for money and used the drug
occasionally when he went drinking, noted Pierce. His admission shows this wasn't a
single transaction, but a course of action that saw Godbout sell cocaine and generally aid
in the drug ring's distribution efforts, she said as she rejected a conditional sentence.
Pierce noted the 35-year-old is employed trucking wood, has been on onerous release
conditions for two years – no-contact orders with family members meant missing his
sister's wedding – and has not breached those conditions. Though his brother Julian's
charges were not both the same, it is difficult to differentiate between the two, Pierce
said, noting similar offenders should get similar sentences. "In the case of brothers, it
seems appropriate," she said. Dion Godbout received 22 months on each of his two
charges, to be served concurrently. He must provide a DNA sample to the national
databank and he was given a weapons prohibition.
SARAH ELIZABETH BROWN
January 16, 2008 posting:
MA - WEBSTER -- An Auburn man who is a member of the Hells Angels motorcycle
club is facing two charges of committing statutory rape of a child in 2004 and 2005 in
Webster.
Russell Sinkis, 36, of 45 Oxford St., allegedly had sex with a 14-year-old girl in Webster,
state police assigned to the Worcester district attorney's office said.
The girl is a family friend who was hired by Mr. Sinkis to be a baby sitter for his two
children, according to a police report by Trooper Nicholas Nason. The girl told state
police Mr. Sinkis engaged in oral sex with her during the spring of 2004 in a wooded area
of Webster.
They allegedly also had sexual intercourse multiple times at his then-residence at 8
Summit St., Webster, until 2005, when she stopped talking to him, the report said.
The girl said Mr. Sinkis knew her age, and her mother and boyfriend also knew of the
relationship, the report stated.
On Thursday, Mr. Sinkis pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to being a felon in
possession of ammunition. He will be sentenced April 3.
He admitted to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that he
went to the Boston Gun Range in Worcester Oct. 28, 2006, with two women, rented a
Smith & Wesson pistol there, bought ammunition and shot it.
Mr. Sinkis has been in custody since his arrest April 24, with Magistrate Judge Timothy
S. Hillman determining he is a danger to the community. The complaint on the statutory
rape allegations was issued in Dudley District Court Nov. 29.
-------------- ------------- --------------January 16, 2008
Denmark - Growth hormones worth a total DKK 90 million were stolen from the
pharmaceutical giant
Four member of the BANDIDOS motorcycle gang were caught red-handed Sunday night
breaking into pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk's facilities in Gentofte, north of
Copenhagen.
The incident was apparently the second time in the space of a weekend they had broken
into Novo Nordisk premises.
A break-in and theft were reported to police on Friday night where 60,000 pills of a
growth hormone, Norditropin, worth a total DKK 90 million had been stolen.
Police believed the four apprehended bikers were those responsible for the theft Friday
night.
The gang had thorough knowledge of the security system and had been equipped with
access cards and entry codes.
A police spokesperson said they faced up to six years imprisonment.
Norditropin is a growth hormone FOR CHILDREN with weak growth and according to
police the demand for the drug on the black market is on the rise.
Kim Kliver, head of the national crime investigation unit, told Nyhedsavisen newspaper
that several raids throughout autumn last year had revealed that growth hormones were
used as performance-enhancing drugs and were prolific in gyms.
He also believed the stolen pills were meant to be distributed abroad.
The four bikers were reportedly high-standing members and investigators believed that
the group would be weakened by their capture.
They were charged with theft in a preliminary hearing held on Monday.
This weekend's break-in and theft at Novo Nordisk was the third of its kind since 1995.
-------------------- ------------------ -----------------------------
January 21, 2008 POSTING:
CANADA - More details of an extensive, year-long undercover police investigation into
the Hells Angels are being uncovered today.
The Winnipeg Free Press has obtained a copy of a 500-page search warrant that
documents an integrated police operation dubbed Project Drill.
Officers arrested 18 suspects last month in Manitoba, Ontario, Alberta and British
Columbia. The accused include Manitoba Hells Angels president Dale Donovan and two
other full patch members.
The search warrant documents give stunning detail about every aspect of the probe. The
Free Press will update our story throughout the day.
It has already been reported that police paid a career criminal $650,000 to infiltrate the
targets and conduct a series of drug and weapons deals that were caught on video and
audio surveillance.
Police also uncovered a murder plot originating in Thompson.
One of the accused has already pleaded guilty and was given 5.5 years in prison.
McIntyre
January 21, 2008
CANADA - ~Court closed to public as Project Defense trial resumes~
The public will not be allowed to attend the high-profile trial of a former Manitoba Hells
Angels boss when it resumes Monday in Winnipeg.
There is no publication ban on the case but Justice Brenda Keyser has ruled that only
people directly involved in the case will be allowed into the Queen's Bench courtroom in
Winnipeg during the testimony of a police mole.
Members of the media will be allowed to attend court, where security will be extra-tight,
including armed police officers.
Ernie Dew faces four charges of trafficking cocaine and four counts of possessing the
proceeds of crime.
Dew and 12 others - including three alleged top members of the Hells Angels - were
arrested in February 2006 as part of Project Defense, an investigation by the RCMP and
police in Winnipeg and Brandon into suspected drug dealers.
Much of the evidence in the Project Defense cases centers around Franco Atanasovic, a
civilian agent for the police who wore recording devices during meetings with suspected
criminal targets.
Continue Article
Last year, Atanasovic was a star witness at the trial of Hells Angels member Ian Grant,
who was sentenced to 15 years in prison on eight charges - including drug trafficking,
extortion and possession of proceeds of crime - in another Project Defense case.
Part of the reason Atanasovic was able to get close to the bikers was his decades-long
friendship with Ernie Dew. Atanasovic was paid more than $500,000 for his role in
Project Defense, and is now in witness protection.
A jury convicted Grant, whereas Justice Keyser alone is hearing Dew's case. Another big
difference in the cases: Dew is representing himself, while Grant was represented by one
of the province's most senior criminal attorneys.
Atanasovic's testimony is expected to continue throughout the week.
N/A
cbc.ca
January 22, 2008 POSTING:
CA - Newly released court documents reveal details of a deadly turf war over
Thompson's lucrative drug trade.
Revelations in the voluminous police affidavits include new details of a plot to kill a
rogue drug dealer that forced police to pull the plug on a year-long undercover
investigation.
Search warrants, arrest warrants and police affidavits connected to Project Drill -- a joint
police investigation that led to the arrest of 18 Hells Angels members and associates last
December -- were made public for the first time yesterday.
The evidence comes from undercover and wiretap recordings obtained with the help of a
police agent sources have identified as career criminal Scott Robertson, 49.
In the year leading up to the arrests, Thompson was the scene of mounting tension
between the Hells Angels and local gangs jockeying for control of the drug trade, the
documents reveal.
Bekim Zeneli, leader of the LHS (Loyalty, Honour, Silence) gang, was targeted for death
in December 2006 following a meeting of several Hells Angels and associates in
Winnipeg. In a remarkable revelation, Hells Angel Billy Bowden -- an alleged Zeneli ally
-- was also targeted for violent retribution if he did not "side with the club," the
documents say.
Police warned both Zeneli and Bowden by letter that they were the targets of death
threats.
Zeneli, 33, was found dead of a gunshot wound nearly a year later in his Thompson
home. No arrests have been made in connection with his death.
Bowden is currently wanted for arrest after he failed to turn up in court earlier this month
on drug and gun charges.
Police questioned Thompson resident Sean Heickert in Zeneli's death but he was released
without being charged.
Heickert, say the court documents, was the subject of a murder plot by rival drug dealers
that sources say prompted police to put an end to the undercover investigation.
During early discussions of the murder plot, the police agent was advised by his handlers
to "be the voice of reason and dissuade them from taking any action," say the court
documents.
'NO CHOICE BUT TO KILL'
Police charged Oshawa Hells Angel James Allan Heickert, Stanley Anthony Lucovic and
Dean Gurniak with conspiracy to commit murder. Previous media reports identified
James and Sean Heickert as brothers. The police documents suggest the two men are not
related.
During a November 2007 meeting at a Winnipeg hotel, Lucovic says the three accused
"have no choice but to kill Heikert themselves," the court documents allege. "Gurniak
agreed because no one there will help them. Lucovic stated that Thompson is their home,
they live there and they are not leaving."
Police in Thompson arrested Gurniak and Lucovic on Dec. 2 and charged them with
uttering threats to kill Heickert. Police notified Heickert of the threats but he refused to
provide a statement, say court documents.
The allegations have not been proven in court. END OF ARTICLE
--------------------- ---------------------- ----------------------January 22, 2008 POSTING:
CA - Call it red, white and missing in action.
For more than a week, the often-visited website of the Toronto Hells Angels has been a
no-show.
No paeans to freedom and denunciations of state power. No accounts of police
malfeasance or messages of support for Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. No generously
endowed biker chicks cavorting at picnics.
Until earlier this month, Real Deal News, the lively cyberspace voice of the Angels'
biggest Canadian chapter, was updated so regularly it was almost akin to a wire service,
chock-a-block with items of interest to its readers.
Now, at least for the moment, it's gone.
But where?
"I have no idea," long-time spokesman Donny Petersen said when reached yesterday at
his Heavy Duty Cycles store on Kingston Road.
Asked whether he knew of anybody who might be able to shed some light, Mr. Petersen
replied "No comment," and hung up.
Real Deal's absence occurs at a time when stakes appear high for the chapter, whose
assorted legal difficulties include the seizure of its Toronto clubhouse and cross-country
raids last April that in Ontario scooped up more than 30 Hells Angels or associates, most
on drug or organized-crime charges.
The site's disappearance, however, may prove temporary.
All last week, would-be visitors were advised it was not available.
Then, yesterday morning, the ghost of Red and White Inc. - the company in whose name
Real Deal is registered - reappeared, stating it is now registered with Vancouver-based
Webnames.ca., a domain name registrar and Internet service provider.
There is still no biker-related content, just a bland menu of generic consumer and lifestyle
topics.
An agent at Web names, however, said that as of 8:30 a.m. local time, Red and White had
switched its business from Bell to Web names.
But there is still no sign of the website itself.
So when might it reappear?
"I have no idea," the agent said. "I suggest you contact the owner of the site."
Easier said than done.
Red and White's manager is listed as one Roy Dale, proprietor of a clothing and gift retail
outlet on Etobicoke's Lake Shore Boulevard.
But efforts to reach Mr. Dale at the phone number included with the listing foundered.
"There's nobody here by that name, this is a private number," said a woman who
answered the phone.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't call again."
January 24, 2008 POST:
EL CAJON - ~Liquor license expired Dec. 31~
When a Hells Angel wanted to buy Dumont's tavern on El Cajon Boulevard and keep the
biker bar going, police couldn't do much to stop him.
Maurice Eunice didn't have any felonies, so the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage
Control granted the liquor license in 2001. The place continued its reputation as a wellknown hangout for the motorcycle gang, but it also got more violent.
There was a fatal shooting and stabbing the next year, followed by police raids and
arrests. Today, red flames still lick the cement facade outside the building, but it's cold
and dark inside.
Eunice got a felony conviction and a prison sentence. When the ABC denied his request
to transfer the license to his son, it was last call for Dumont's.
The single-story concrete building, west of Johnson Avenue, is for lease.
"Dumont's the bar is gone," a Hells Angels member said.
But a private club for the bikers, the El Cajon headquarters of Hells Angels, is just a few
doors down and remains open to members.
Eunice, 56, was licensed to sell beer and wine at Dumont's for six years. In February
2007, he was among several Hells Angels members convicted of racketeering charges by
a Nevada court.
Since California law prohibits felons from holding liquor permits, Eunice had to give it
up when it expired Dec. 31.
Jennifer Hill, a spokeswoman for the Alcohol Beverage Control Department, said Eunice
tried to transfer the license to his son or others, but ABC officials wouldn't let him, so he
"voluntarily" canceled it.
Eunice is serving a sentence, which ends in April 2009, at the Terminal Island federal
prison near Long Beach, prison records show.
He still owns the building that housed Dumont's as well as the one with the Hells Angels
headquarters nearby, property records show.
Dumont's liquor license was first held by its namesake, the late Richard L. Dumont, from
1977 until it was transferred to Eunice in 2001.
The bar was the scene of a homicide Oct. 27, 2002, when 21-year-old Lakeside man was
fatally stabbed and a 48-year-old man was shot in the stomach.
Police complained then that no one from the bar had reported the slaying. Instead, an
officer noticed the fatally wounded man after stopping a car speeding down East Main
with its lights off.
"Outlaw motorcycle gangs don't call police," El Cajon police Sgt. Mike Hook said. "They
don't want police around."
Hook investigated Eunice in 2001, after learning that he wanted to buy Dumont's. The
department then opposed transferring a liquor license to him.
"He was an outlaw biker then, but he didn't have any felonies, so the ABC board allowed
him to have the permit," Hook said. "Finally, his lifestyle caught up with him."
By Mark Arner
signonsandiego
January 26, 2008 POST:
Canada - Their east Toronto clubhouse is padlocked, empty and sitting in a state of
vacant disrepair.
Some of their motorcycles have been seized, many full patch members are cooling their
heels in jail and now their controversial website has been permanently closed.
But are the Hells Angels out of business? Even they don't deny they are down.
Time will tell if they are in fact out. Either way it's difficult to have sympathy for any
alleged criminal organization with a history of violence.
Dozens of the members are up on criminal charges for drugs, guns and gang membership
and unable to make bail. "Not a good time to be wearing the patch," said one insider.
"The heat is on."
And has it ever been effective. Could it be the province and feds, utilizing tough new
anti-gang legislation, have actually run the Hells Angels out of town without holding a
trial or gaining a conviction? Well, with the Hells Angels fighting all of these moves in
court, the game is not yet over. But the government seems to be winning.
The fact they can use a person's association as a component of their case has a bunch of
full patch members in detention for the past 10 months -- with no freedom in sight.
One of them is Doug Myles, a 51-year-old paralegal by day and father of three by night
who calls himself a bike enthusiast and who has never had a criminal record.
It doesn't matter. He was v-p of the local Hells Angels chapter and was caught up in the
giant bust. "All I want is a fair trial that anybody else would get," he said. "I have no
skeletons in my closet."
In an interview over the phone from the Toronto West Detention Centre yesterday, he
said he has been offered a plea bargain that would land him more than a decade in prison.
"We know the game. They are trying to sweat us out," he said. "And I am not saying we
are the Boy Scouts. I know there are some bad boys. But you could say the same thing
about the Catholic Church or the police force. We are all being painted with the same
brush."
He believes when the process comes to an end, he will be exonerated. But he might be
sitting in the can for years before that happens.
Is the public okay with this? Is justice delayed, justice denied or are the authorities right
with this throw-the-book-at-them manner? Does the end justify the means?
One of the Hells Angels lawyers, Lenny Hochberg, doesn't believe it does.
'TUG OF WAR'
"When it comes to the Hells Angels, there are a different set of rules that apply," he said.
"The Crown's goal is to destroy the Hells Angels in Ontario. The club is trying to prevent
that from happening. It's a tug of war. . . In the end the province may weaken the club,
but that allows other less stable, more violent clubs to grow and prosper."
But the public wanted the biker issue dealt with. It is now being dealt with -- with a
hammer. Few have sympathy for anybody associated with the Hells Angels -- just like
they have ZERO COMPASSION FOR PEOPLE BELONGING TO A TERRORIST
GROUP.
But still the cornerstone of our system is that every person is entitled to equal justice.
Myles doesn't believe him, and others are getting that and hopes somebody in authority
will take a look to ensure their rights are not being denied.
It's not lost on him that there are murder suspects who have received bail.
"I am charged with conspiracy to traffic drugs and organized crime," he wrote in a letter
to me. "I (have) no criminal record and have paid my taxes since I was 16. Am I not
entitled to the same level of respect and consideration as the Crips (would get)? I truly
believe we are political prisoners because the government wants to appear tough."
He believes the case against him and some of the others are largely based on turnedinformant information and he's anxious to challenge that in an open court. Meanwhile,
several ex-Hells Angels members, believed to have taken a lucrative witness relocation
package to testify, walk free.
But maybe this is the price to stop these organized criminal enterprises?
Nobody on the prosecution side of this story would comment yesterday but, at the time of
the bust last April, OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino made it clear he has no sympathy
for the Hells Angels. "The Hells Angels, like all other persons charged with a crime in
this country, will have their day in court," Fantino said. "They have dream teams of
lawyers, the best money can retain, and I am confident that they will be wellrepresented."
FANTINO APPLAUDED
A lot of the public applauds his approach. "Fantino and the Biker Enforcement Unit have
done a very effective job on this," said police policy watcher Justin Van Dette. "What
was needed in this fight was the kind of tactics they brought to this."
Another point scored by the strong approach was the end this month of the popular
RealDealNews website -- once a real thorn in the side of law enforcement as it exposed
every story it could, in a loud and provocative way, of a police officer getting charged.
"I just decided to shut it down myself because I made a deal with my wife and kids to do
that," said the Hells Angels member known as Web Master. "To be honest, we got tired
of sitting in our house waiting for the door to be kicked down."
His site drew about 100-million hits a month with its colorful, busty women and on-theedge format. But thanks to a relentless, iron-fisted law enforcement approach, he decided
it wasn't worth it. "I have a day job and a family to feed and I didn't want to go to jail and
be held without bail for two years," said Web Master. "I have to think of them."
It being silenced is another blow to the club. The cops' approach seems to be working and
this should also lead one day to some spectacular courtroom theatrics.
But does all of this mean the Hells Angels are dead? From inside the Toronto West jail
Doug Myles doesn't think so. "You may get rid of five but 15 more will join," he said.
But, if and when he ever sees freedom, Myles will not be riding with them. "I am
retired," he said.
By JOE WARMINGTON
------------- ----------------- ---------------- ---------------------January 27, 2008 POST:
HELLS ANGELS CALM AND POLITE SO FAR ON NATIONAL RUN!
The international pressure is on and a lot due to the international connections with
electronic abuse per this web site. Not too many organizations would stand behind this
type extremist terrorist coward abuse and general security violations.
February 5, 2008 POST:
CANADA - Wife seeks 'hidden riches' in Hells Angel divorce
The former wife of a Hells Angels member believed her husband operated in a "cash
universe with a multitude of suspicious cash receipts and purchases."
Janette Wu, in her divorce proceedings against Damiano Dipopolo, said he had not fully
reported his income and that the couple's standard of living showed that he earned further
cash.
Dipopolo owns hip-hop clothing store Digstown Clothing Ltd., which has branches in
Vancouver and Kelowna. He also jointly owns real estate in Kelowna and Vancouver,
and works as a landscaper. In a ruling that does not mention the notorious motorcycle
club; a judge noted that, while some of Dipopolo's business transactions were "highly
unconventional" and the judge had concerns about the truthfulness of his evidence, he
had not received unreported cash.
"Mr. Dipopolo's work career demonstrates his ability to find lucrative work," said B.C.
Supreme Court Madam Justice Victoria Gray.
"He has friends and family with the ability and willingness to make significant loans to
him, often without security."
Wu, a former nightclub dancer, sought an order that neither party take their two young
children to a clubhouse or place where there is gambling, but the judge found there was
no proof that Dipopolo had done anything wrong and issued no order in that regard.
Gray ruled that there be joint custody and guardianship of the kids, aged five and two.
In determining the assets of the couple, the judge noted that some of Dipopolo's
transactions were unusual, including the borrowing of $500,000 without registered
security and the payment in cash of $28,236 for the balance of a leased 2005 Chrysler
300C Hemi.
There was also the sum of $40,000, which at one point he said he "borrowed from his
motorcycle club" and at another point explained as being related to an investment he'd
made in Splashes nightclub.
During the divorce proceedings, Dipopolo sold three watches worth $54,500.
During the same period, Wu's credit-card debt was about $61,000.
"The debt included a significant number of purchases from women's clothing stores and
other miscellaneous payments, such as charges in Las Vegas and at a Napa Valley hotel,"
the judge said.
Gray said trying to determine Dipopolo's earnings was complicated. "The facts in this
case are complicated by the fact that a number of transactions were conducted in
unconventional ways, such as with large payments of cash, by a company paying the
personal debt of shareholders, by a company issuing paycheques that Mr. Dipopolo did
not cash, and because Mr. Dipopolo frequently does business with friends and relatives."
She judged his income to be $100,000 a year.
The judge ruled that Wu be entitled to 55 per cent of the net family assets and ordered
Dipopolo to divest himself of some of his assets, including properties in Kelowna and
businesses in Vancouver.
When contacted by The Province, Dipopolo said he "didn't yet understand" the ruling and
needed to speak to his lawyer, but was angry to hear that his divorce case was
newsworthy.
"I can understand where you guys want to sell papers, but what's my divorce so great
about, just because I'm part of a motorcycle club? I don't get you guys. There are two
children that could be harmed by this."
Keith Fraser
canada.com
CA. - The FBI raid came in a flourish in downtown Denair Friday morning, with agents
breaking in the glass front door of Road Dog Cycle owned by a former Stanislaus County
Sheriff's deputy. But the FBI won't say a word about the investigation or the reason
behind the search warrant.
"The warrant is sealed, so I can't tell you anything," said Sacramento FBI spokeswoman
Karen Ernst. Still, there was plenty of speculation by one of the motorcycle shop's
employees.
"They do harass Bob any chance that they can, trying to get him for whatever," said
Lynette Petrie, who works for owner Robert Holloway. "I think they're grasping for
anything that they can get and Bob runs a clean shop. They're not gonna find anything."
The FBI agents conducted the raid along with a county gang task force, moving out
several motorcycles for the search. Yellow crime tape encircled the shop on the corner of
Main Street and Santa Fe Avenue.
A telephone call to the shop brought an unusual recorded message.
CONSIDERABLE UNDERCOVER FOR CONSIDERABLE PROBABILITY!
FOLLOW UP REMINDER POSTING February 8, 2008:
A federal grand jury indicted Burgess last month on the child pornography charges and he was arrested in
Nevada. A magistrate in Nevada appointed the federal public defender’s office to represent him.
Burgess pleaded not guilty to both counts last month at a hearing before U.S. Magistrate William C. Beaman
in Cheyenne.
Prosecutor Anderson had urged Beaman to jail Burgess pending his scheduled Feb. 4 trial. He said Burgess
is a leader of the Nevada chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang, has no ties to Wyoming and is
operating a brothel. (PRESIDENT OF THE HELLS ANGELS INC)
“It’s a legal occupation, but I would characterize it as an unsavory occupation,” Anderson said of Burgess’
ownership of the Old Bridge Ranch, east of Reno.
Beaman allowed Burgess to remain free pending trial.
At last month’s court hearing, Anderson also questioned how Burgess qualified for representation from the
federal public defender’s office.
“It looks to me like the defendant’s got a net worth of several million dollars,” Anderson said.
Beaman said the prosecution could file a petition questioning Burgess’ representation.
Anderson on Wednesday filed a motion asking U.S. Judge Alan B. Johnson to review the Nevada
magistrate’s determination that Burgess qualified for the services of the federal public defender’s office.
Anderson wrote that Burgess told a pretrial services officer in Nevada that he owns a business, a residence
and other property. Anderson said it appears that Burgess has the means to retain his own private lawyer.
Anderson also asked Johnson to decide whether it would be appropriate to require Burgess to repay the
public defender’s office for its work on his case so far.
James Barrett, an assistant federal public defender, represented Burgess at last month’s court hearing. An
attempt to reach Barrett on Friday was unsuccessful.
A federal prosecutor in Cheyenne, Wyo. has asked a judge to review whether the owner of a Nevada brothel
who’s charged with possessing and transporting child pornography meets the financial requirements to be
represented by a federal public defender.
David Burgess, 55, is charged with possession and interstate transportation of child pornography. Court
records state that he faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted of both counts.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol arrested Burgess in July. According to a statement from the patrol, a trooper
stopped a Freightliner motor home known as the “War Wagon” in which Burgess was a passenger. The
patrol reported that the trooper made the stop just east of Evanston because the motor home was pulling a
trailer with an expired registration tag.
According to the patrol statement, both the driver and Burgess were members of the Hells Angels
motorcycle gang. Both men told police they were traveling to the 2007 Hells Angels USA Run in Eureka
Springs, Ark. Court records said officers found 14.9 grams of cocaine in the motor home.
Jim Anderson, assistant U.S. attorney, said in court last month that in addition to drugs, a search of a laptop
computer found in the motor home determined it was “chock full” of child pornography.
A federal grand jury indicted Burgess last month on the child pornography charges and he was arrested in
Nevada. A magistrate in Nevada appointed the federal public defender’s office to represent him.
Burgess pleaded not guilty to both counts last month at a hearing before U.S. Magistrate William C. Beaman
in Cheyenne.
Prosecutor Anderson had urged Beaman to jail Burgess pending his scheduled FEB 4 TRIAL. He said
Burgess is a leader of the Nevada chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang, has no ties to Wyoming and
is operating a brothel.
“It’s a legal occupation, but I would characterize it as an unsavory occupation,” Anderson said of Burgess’
ownership of the Old Bridge Ranch, east of Reno.
Beaman allowed Burgess to remain free pending trial.
At last month’s court hearing, Anderson also questioned how Burgess qualified for representation from the
federal public defender’s office.
“It looks to me like the defendant’s got a NET WORTH of SEVERAL MILLION dollars,” Anderson said.
Beaman said the prosecution could file a petition questioning Burgess’ representation.
Anderson on Wednesday filed a motion asking U.S. Judge Alan B. Johnson to review the Nevada
magistrate’s determination that Burgess qualified for the services of the federal public defender’s office.
Anderson wrote that Burgess told a pretrial services officer in Nevada that he owns a business, a residence
and other property. Anderson said it appears that Burgess has the means to retain his own private lawyer.
Anderson also asked Johnson to decide whether it would be appropriate to require Burgess to repay the
public defender’s office for its work on his case so far.
James Barrett, an assistant federal public defender, represented Burgess at last month’s court hearing. An
attempt to reach Barrett on Friday was unsuccessful.
March 30, 2008:
CANADA - Police say arrests made in a 15-month undercover operation have crippled a
Hells Angels "puppet club" with links throughout northern Alberta.
The operation - dubbed Project Goliath - "completely handicapped them (the White Boy
Posse). They are not functioning as of this moment," said EPS Staff Sgt. Kevin Galvin.
It was shortly before 8 a.m. Thursday that police, acting on search warrants, began a
series of raids on four homes and a Beverly-area business to take down 17 members of
the Posse. They all face drug-related charges, while police also have warrants out for five
other people still at large.
Const. Brent Dahlseide, one of the main investigators on the case, called the Posse a
puppet club of the Hells Angels. Many Posse members aspire to join the notorious biker
gang, which oversees the importation of drugs in order to distribute them to street-level
groups like the Posse, Dahlseide noted.
Two police tactical teams made the morning arrests without incident since, Dahlseide
said, "Everybody was caught napping, sleeping." Those charged include two teens, one of
whom got involved with the Posse as a girlfriend of a gang member.
Police say the Posse is active throughout northern Alberta, with cells in places such as
Grande Prairie, Slave Lake, Edson, Whitecourt, Jasper, Lloydminster, Wainwright and
Provost. A parallel RCMP investigation called Project Krystal also ------- ON AND ON
March 30, 2008
CANADA - ~Rock Machine, in revival after Quebec biker war, seeks old-school
`drunken toughs' for area chapter~
The Rock Machine motorcycle club is actively recruiting members in the Greater Toronto
Area, but organizers say they're not worried about a repeat of the gang's bloody war with
the Hells Angels in Quebec, which killed some 160 people.
"I can't see the violence that happened in Quebec ever happening again," a Rock Machine
organizer told the Star in an interview. "Laws have changed. Times have changed and it's
a different biker world."
The Rock Machine has signed up two dozen members so far in Greater Toronto, said the
organizer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
OPP Insp. Dan Redmond of the provincial Biker Enforcement Unit declined to comment,
as did biker Rick Cigarillo of Vancouver, who has often acted as a spokesperson for the
Hells Angels.
The attempt to revive the Rock Machine is potentially explosive, according to a retired
enforcer who was involved in the Quebec biker war of the 1990s and early 2000s.
"I would be very surprised if (Rock Machine recruiters) don't get a visit" from Hell
Angels, Normand Brisebois said in an interview.
Brisebois was a hitman working for the Dark Circle, a club aligned with the Rock
Machine, during the Quebec hostilities. He now has a new identity after going into a
witness protection program.
Brisebois said the Hells Angels are touchy about other clubs gaining a high profile but
may be leery of instigating a biker war that would invite intense scrutiny by the police,
media and politicians.
Victims of the Quebec biker strife included two prison guards and an 11-year-old boy hit
by shrapnel from a car bomb. In the uproar that followed, police got more organized and
politicians passed tougher laws.
"Are (Hells Angels) willing to go back to a war (and) have the cops, the publicity ... the
cameras" on them, asked Brisebois. "I don't think so."
The Angels have 10 chapters within a 90-minute drive of Toronto City Hall.
The Rock Machine organizer interviewed had no comment on possible Hells Angels
reaction. "We're not talking about them one way or another," he said.
The month-old Rock Machine chapter in the GTA still needs a clubhouse, he said. It will
be called the Ontario West chapter, while a chapter in the Kingston area, with a dozen
members, will be known as Ontario East, he said.
The organizer said the new Rock Machine will expel members caught trafficking drugs
or committing other anti-social crimes.
"We're not going to throw a guy out for a bar brawl, but anything that we consider an
assault on society will be immediate expulsion," he said.
He said his club won't recruit criminals, but also won't be mistaken for a curling club or
the Shriners.
"We want to go back to the older ways, the way it was in the early '50s," he said. "When
it was just a bunch of drunken toughs."
Some of the Rock Machine recruits are ex-Bandidos. Eight members of that gang's old
Toronto chapter were found at the edge of a cornfield in Shedden, Ont., in April 2006.
Six Bandidos and associates are to go to trial for those murders in September.
The newly formed Rock Machine has absorbed The Crew, a small club active in York
Region and Western Canada, the organizer said. But most new members are in their 20s
or 30s and have never been in a biker gang before.
Police officers and prison guards need not apply, he added. "They have a certain
mentality and it doesn't fit with our lifestyle."
The newly formed Rock Machine also has chapters in Winnipeg and Edmonton. One
member is ex-Bandidos leader Ron Burling, now serving 17 years for kidnapping and
torturing a drug rival, who had fingers crushed by a sledgehammer and a tattoo sliced off
with a knife.
"We believe everybody deserves a second chance," the organizer said. "We won't throw
our members out who are in jail. We don't abandon our brothers that are in jail."
POSTED April 19, 2008:
BY: MATT JOYCE
WY - CHEYENNE -- David Burgess, a Nevada brothel owner and Hells Angels member
known for his love of photography, WAS CONVICTED Friday of possessing and
transporting child pornography.
Jurors deliberated less than four hours after closing arguments in the weeklong federal
trial of Burgess, a charter member of a Nevada chapter of the Hells Angels and owner of
the Old Bridge Ranch, a legal brothel near Reno, Nev.
Burgess, 55, had pleaded not guilty to the two charges. When the verdict was read, he
looked solemnly back at his friends and family members in the courtroom, many of them
weeping. Burgess' bond was revoked, and he was handcuffed and taken into custody by
U.S. marshals.
Burgess faces from five to 30 years in prison, up to a $500,000 fine, and from five years
to life of supervision after his release.
Friends and family members testified during the trial that Burgess was a proficient digital
photographer, always snapping photos on motorcycle runs or of his neighbor's garden.
But prosecutors said investigators found more sinister images on two hard drives that
were seized from Burgess' motor home last July during a traffic stop in western
Wyoming. The hard drives contained a vast collection of child pornography images, wellorganized and carefully labeled, prosecutors said.
James Barrett, the assistant federal public defender representing Burgess, said the
convictions will be appealed.
"I think Mr. Burgess was disappointed, and it's obvious that his family and friends and
supporters were disappointed," Barrett said outside the courtroom.
Barrett said the appeal will be at least partly based on U.S. District Judge Alan B.
Johnson's ruling last week to allow evidence taken from the computer equipment to be
used in the trial. Burgess had attempted to suppress any evidence taken from the hard
drives, arguing that the equipment was beyond the scope of a search warrant obtained by
Wyoming police.
Johnson ruled that the officers had probable cause to take the equipment and that
investigators acted properly in the way they handled the case.
Burgess told police he was on his way to the 2007 Hells Angels USA Run in Eureka
Springs, Ark., when he was stopped in western Wyoming in July because of an expired
license plate. During the stop, Burgess was arrested on drug charges when officers found
substances believed to be marijuana and cocaine in the vehicle, police said. State drug
charges stemming from the traffic stop were later dismissed.
Officers have testified that they confiscated the computer equipment from Burgess'
Freightliner motor home because they believed it could contain evidence related to drug
trafficking.
"We know this item contains not only tens of thousands of images child pornography, it
also contains thousands of documents related to the defendant, David Burgess," Assistant
U.S. Attorney James Anderson said as he held up the hard drive during closing
arguments.
The defense had argued that prosecutors presented no evidence proving that Burgess
downloaded the images or was aware of their presence on the hard drives. Barrett said
during the trial that Burgess' home, computers and cameras were always open and freely
accessible for his friends to use.
"What you have here is a whole bunch of data and images and absolutely no idea what
computer they were downloaded from, when they were loaded, or by whom," Barrett told
jurors.
JULY 2008 POST:
July 19, 2008
Cheyenne WY.
Nevada Brothel owner and president of the Hells Angels David Burgess (Possibly former
president) was sentenced Friday to 15 years prison, 10 years supervision after release and
20,000 dollar fine for the above child porn charges.
Approximately 30,000 images --- plus tens of thousands additional ---- AS PER
DETAILS ON INTERNET and various articles.
DOCUMENT FROM WWW.ROB-FILES.COM
EDITED September 2012 … URL CHANGED TO WWW.ROB-FILES.COM
(INDEX PAGE)
THIS IS THE ORIGINAL INDEX PAGE … OWNER Robert O. Butner Jr. –
THIS IS A DOCUMENT FROM THAT INDEX PAGE.