- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 410
Score another one for the good guys!
Hells Angels 'reeling' after cross-country raids, but war not over: expert
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/070404/national/crime_biker_raids_2
Wed Apr 4, 5:53 PM
By Geoff Nixon
TORONTO (CP) - The ongoing battle between the law and outlaw motorcycle clubs erupted once again Wednesday with a series of cross-country raids against the Hells Angels and affiliate gangs that netted 30 suspects in Ontario alone.
The dramatic pre-dawn operation that targeted clubhouses in Ontario, New Brunswick and British Columbia has left the biker organization "reeling," said one expert, but he also cautioned that the war isn't over.
"They are not down, they are not laying flat on the mat, they haven't thrown in the gauntlet, but they are angry and, I dare say, a bit worried," said Julian Sher, co-author of "Angels of Death."
"For the first time in the last couple of years, the Hells Angels have been reeling."
While police were tight-lipped about the nature of the charges or the identities of the suspects, saying more information would be made public Thursday, officials were willingly to confirm some details.
In Ontario, a co-ordinated effort saw some 32 raids carried out - at least a dozen in Toronto alone. Clubhouses in Niagara Falls, Waterloo, Barrie, London, Hamilton, as well as Durham, Peel and York regions were also raided, police said.
Toronto police said 30 arrests were made in the province, and Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Bob Paterson said he expected police to continue laying charges through Wednesday night.
In British Columbia and New Brunswick, RCMP spokesmen confirmed that outlaw motorcycle organizations, including the Hells Angels and the Bacchus Motorcycle Club, had been targeted as part of an ongoing investigation, but deferred questions until Thursday's scheduled news conference.
The arrests follow a number of significant moves against biker clubs by authorities in Ontario over the past year.
A series of simultaneous raids launched by provincial police in September 2006 saw 500 officers involved in arresting 15 members of the Hells Angels.
In January 2006, police made a series of arrests focused in Thunder Bay, Ont., in which a total of 27 Hell Angels and hangers-on were charged.
One of the most significant impacts of Wednesday's police efforts would be the damage done to the image of the Hells Angels, Sher said.
"These kinds of raids do tremendous damage to the Hells Angels' PR campaign to try to present themselves as just good old boys on bikes," Sher said.
The seizure of a Toronto Hells Angels clubhouse, just outside the downtown core, represented a substantial blow, he noted.
"That was the showcase clubhouse in the province. It's the most flashy. ... In many ways it's the nerve centre of the Hells Angels in the province."
Staff Insp. Joe Tomei of Toronto police said the seizure of that clubhouse "should send a very clear message to those who choose criminal lifestyles, as well as bring relief to the (surrounding) community."
It was "the largest clubhouse for the Hells Angels anywhere in Canada," Tomei added.
According to the Ontario branch of the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, of the estimated 460 full-patch Hells Angels members nationwide, about 175 - more than one-third - operate in Ontario.
"You've got 34 chapters in Canada and 16 of them in Ontario," said Eric Dupree, a national intelligence officer with the service and resident expert in Canadian outlaw motorcycle gangs.
"You do the math. ... Proportionately, Ontario ... is a big player."
There are seven chapters in British Columbia, three in Alberta, two in Saskatchewan, one in Manitoba and five in Quebec, Dupree added.
The cross-Canada arrests Wednesday came nearly one year to the day that police found eight bodies of rival Bandidos gang members in a farmer's field in Shedden, Ont., just south of London, Ont.
Eight people, including a former police officer from Winnipeg, were later charged in relation to the Shedden deaths.
Nice to see the Canadian Cowboys are not letting up on these clowns. A few more good hits like this, and they will have some real problems getting things done. Then we can start to concentrate on Asian, Russian, South American, Albanian, traditional European, Japanese, Arab, Islamic and American Street Gang organized crime.
Hells Angels 'reeling' after cross-country raids, but war not over: expert
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/070404/national/crime_biker_raids_2
Wed Apr 4, 5:53 PM
By Geoff Nixon
TORONTO (CP) - The ongoing battle between the law and outlaw motorcycle clubs erupted once again Wednesday with a series of cross-country raids against the Hells Angels and affiliate gangs that netted 30 suspects in Ontario alone.
The dramatic pre-dawn operation that targeted clubhouses in Ontario, New Brunswick and British Columbia has left the biker organization "reeling," said one expert, but he also cautioned that the war isn't over.
"They are not down, they are not laying flat on the mat, they haven't thrown in the gauntlet, but they are angry and, I dare say, a bit worried," said Julian Sher, co-author of "Angels of Death."
"For the first time in the last couple of years, the Hells Angels have been reeling."
While police were tight-lipped about the nature of the charges or the identities of the suspects, saying more information would be made public Thursday, officials were willingly to confirm some details.
In Ontario, a co-ordinated effort saw some 32 raids carried out - at least a dozen in Toronto alone. Clubhouses in Niagara Falls, Waterloo, Barrie, London, Hamilton, as well as Durham, Peel and York regions were also raided, police said.
Toronto police said 30 arrests were made in the province, and Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Bob Paterson said he expected police to continue laying charges through Wednesday night.
In British Columbia and New Brunswick, RCMP spokesmen confirmed that outlaw motorcycle organizations, including the Hells Angels and the Bacchus Motorcycle Club, had been targeted as part of an ongoing investigation, but deferred questions until Thursday's scheduled news conference.
The arrests follow a number of significant moves against biker clubs by authorities in Ontario over the past year.
A series of simultaneous raids launched by provincial police in September 2006 saw 500 officers involved in arresting 15 members of the Hells Angels.
In January 2006, police made a series of arrests focused in Thunder Bay, Ont., in which a total of 27 Hell Angels and hangers-on were charged.
One of the most significant impacts of Wednesday's police efforts would be the damage done to the image of the Hells Angels, Sher said.
"These kinds of raids do tremendous damage to the Hells Angels' PR campaign to try to present themselves as just good old boys on bikes," Sher said.
The seizure of a Toronto Hells Angels clubhouse, just outside the downtown core, represented a substantial blow, he noted.
"That was the showcase clubhouse in the province. It's the most flashy. ... In many ways it's the nerve centre of the Hells Angels in the province."
Staff Insp. Joe Tomei of Toronto police said the seizure of that clubhouse "should send a very clear message to those who choose criminal lifestyles, as well as bring relief to the (surrounding) community."
It was "the largest clubhouse for the Hells Angels anywhere in Canada," Tomei added.
According to the Ontario branch of the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada, of the estimated 460 full-patch Hells Angels members nationwide, about 175 - more than one-third - operate in Ontario.
"You've got 34 chapters in Canada and 16 of them in Ontario," said Eric Dupree, a national intelligence officer with the service and resident expert in Canadian outlaw motorcycle gangs.
"You do the math. ... Proportionately, Ontario ... is a big player."
There are seven chapters in British Columbia, three in Alberta, two in Saskatchewan, one in Manitoba and five in Quebec, Dupree added.
The cross-Canada arrests Wednesday came nearly one year to the day that police found eight bodies of rival Bandidos gang members in a farmer's field in Shedden, Ont., just south of London, Ont.
Eight people, including a former police officer from Winnipeg, were later charged in relation to the Shedden deaths.
Nice to see the Canadian Cowboys are not letting up on these clowns. A few more good hits like this, and they will have some real problems getting things done. Then we can start to concentrate on Asian, Russian, South American, Albanian, traditional European, Japanese, Arab, Islamic and American Street Gang organized crime.
and the offence appeared to be spontaneous and out of character. 
