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OUTLAW MOTORCYCLE GANGS
Highlights
Outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs), specifically the HELLS ANGELS, remain
a national priority for police and law enforcement in Canada. The
HELLS ANGELS will likely increase membership, add new chapters and puppet
clubs throughout the country and increase alliances with other organized
crime groups.
Members of the HELLS ANGELS continue to be involved in the importation and distribution of cocaine, the production and distribution of methamphetamine, as well as the cultivation and exportation of high-grade marihuana. The HELLS ANGELS use a vast network of associates to recruit marihuana grow operation sitters, to set up grow houses, to harvest the drug and to move it at street level.
OMGs are also involved in the illegal trafficking of firearms and explosives, the use of intimidation and threats, the collection of protection money from both legitimate and illegitimate business operations, fraud, money laundering and prostitution.
New chapters and alliances in the structure of outlaw motorcycle gang activity in Western Canada have expanded the scope and criminal activities of the HELLS ANGELS and enhanced the gang’s strengths.
Two significant trials in British Columbia involving members of the HELLS ANGELS are ongoing. A full member of the Haney chapter will go to trial in October charged with three counts of cocaine trafficking. Two members of the East End chapter will go to jury trial in September charged with conspiracy to traffic cocaine, trafficking cocaine and laundering proceeds of crime.
All accused, except two, from Project KISS which concluded in October 1998 with the arrests of members and associates of the Edmonton REBELS, have pleaded guilty and are being sentenced to prison terms of approximately two and a half years. The two remaining accused will be going to trial in October 2000. Project KISS was a ten month undercover operation into the illicit drug trade that involved the Edmonton chapter of the REBELS.
The charges laid against one member and two prospects (a prospect is one step below a full member) of the HELLS ANGELS Edmonton chapter for the May 1998 beating and extortion of a male associate are proceeding through the courts.
During the summer of 1999, a joint forces operation involving the Calgary Police Service and the RCMP investigated an alleged plot to cause serious harm or property damage to a Calgary alderman, a city hall staff member and an area resident involved in a community association. The investigation stemmed from the ordered destruction of the HELLS ANGELS’ Calgary clubhouse because of non-compliance with local building codes. As a result of this investigation, numerous charges have been laid against one member and one associate of the Calgary HELLS ANGELS.
A case in Calgary involving the HELLS ANGELS’ challenge of police roadblocks has concluded with a verdict expected in August 2000. The HELLS ANGELS contended that the police violated their rights when the bikers were stopped in 1997 during a patchover in which the HELLS ANGELS absorbed the GRIM REAPERS.
The majority of the outlaw motorcycle gangs in Ontario appear to maintain business links with the HELLS ANGELS. Ontario is host to 11 one-percenter OMGs, including the PARA-DICE RIDERS, OUTLAWS, SATAN’S CHOICE, VAGABONDS and the ROCK MACHINE.
The PARA-DICE RIDERS appealed a court decision that allowed police the right to establish checkpoints during their rides. The gang’s lawyers argued that the checkpoints were in contravention of Section 9 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In December 1998, the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the decision in favor of the Durham Regional Police Force in BROWN v. DURHAM REGIONAL POLICE FORCE (1998) 43 O.R. (3d) 223 [Ont. C.A].
The HELLS ANGELS have been active in Ontario for some time, but do not yet have a chapter there. While they face two formidable enemies, the OUTLAWS and the ROCK MACHINE, there is no doubt that they are eager to have an official presence in Ontario in order to extend their national reach. The PARA-DICE RIDERS of Toronto have been courted by the HELLS ANGELS to form the first HELLS ANGELS chapter in Ontario.
In June 2000, the ROCK MACHINE established two chapters in Ontario, one in Kingston and the other in Toronto. A third chapter has just been established in Niagara Falls. This will no doubt exacerbate the already tense situation between the ROCK MACHINE and the HELLS ANGELS and will affect the current balance of power in Ontario.
New entities referred to as “cliques” or subgroups have emerged within the HELLS ANGELS in Quebec. They are usually made up of about a dozen small time criminals who are given menial tasks like low level debt collection, drug selling on the street and break and enters. The purpose of the cliques is to create an additional layer of insulation between high level members and the police, as well as to distance these members from criminal activity and violence. The conflict between the HELLS ANGELS and the ROCK MACHINE continues in Quebec.
In June 2000, 10 of 11 members of the BLATNOIS MAURICIE, a HELLS ANGELS puppet club, were arrested, temporarily closing the chapter. Two members of the HELLS ANGELS Trois-Rivières chapter were also arrested. This case will be the first use of the provisions of Bill C-95's anti-gang legislation against the HELLS ANGELS organization.
In another operation, the Lévis Police Department and the Sûreté du Québec dismantled a HELLS ANGELS drug ring. During 31 searches executed, police arrested 34 individuals, seized 11 vehicles and found $120,000 worth of cocaine, hashish and marihuana. The head of the cell was a member of the HELLS ANGELS Quebec City chapter who was sentenced to six years in prison for conspiracy to traffic cocaine and trafficking cocaine in November 1999.
The HELLS ANGELS control all OMG illegal activities in the Atlantic provinces. There are several organized crime entities that are directly associated with the HELLS ANGELS.
Outlook