Peter Zervas, 32, underwent emergency surgery after being shot in the right shoulder, hip, foot and chest as the Hells Angel motorcycle gang member sa

Peter Zervas, 32, underwent emergency surgery after being shot in the right shoulder, hip, foot and chest as the Hells Angel motorcycle gang member sat in his car in the driveway of his Lakemba unit about 11.30pm (AEDT) on Sunday.Hells Angel bikie gunned down outside his home may have been a key witness to the Sydney airport bashing murder of his brother, but a Comancheros lawyer says that doesn't mean the Comancheros shot him.An unidentified man with shoulder-length dark hair was seen running from the scene."It is an extraordinary level of violence (for) someone to be shot in their driveway, in their car," Superintendent Peter Lennon of Campsie police told reporters."He's very lucky to be alive."It is the latest incident in an escalation of bikie violence that has prompted the formation of a 75-strong police taskforce and plans for tough new anti-association laws targeting gang members. Zervas was in a stable condition in Sydney's St George Hospital on Monday, with his parents and senior Hells Angels - including president Derek Wainohu - spending time at his bedside.Supt Lennon said officers had already spoken to the victim, whom they have not publicly named, and they expected that he and his family would cooperate.He would not be drawn on whether the victim had been offered protection prior to the shooting, but in Sydney's Central Local Court on Monday police indicated he "may have been a potential witness" in the affray case against five members of the Comancheros, a rival outlaw motorcycle gang.The Comancheros and Hells Angels clashed violently at Sydney airport on March 22 in front of hundreds of passengers, leaving 29-year-old Anthony Zervas with "blunt force and sharp force injuries" that proved fatal.Peter Zervas was with his brother as he died. His family buried him on Friday in a funeral attended also by Bandidos gang members.

"Every person is going to think logically that the number one suspect (in the shooting) is somebody said to be associated with the Comancheros," the gang's barrister John Korn said.

But he said he was sure every police officer "who has turned his mind to the matter, would also conclude that there are other people, other groups, who would have a significant in the matter as well"."The president of the Comancheros wants peace and somebody takes action to ensure that can't happen - doesn't that seem to you slightly incongruous?" he asked of reporters.Mr Korn was speaking outside Sydney's Central Local Court after a bail application for Christian Menzies was adjourned until Wednesday.
Menzies, 26, of Matraville, on Friday became the fifth Comanchero refused bail on an affray charge following the airport brawl.The shooting is the third attack on the Hells Angels in two months, taking into account the airport brawl and the February 4 bombing of the Hells Angel's Petersham clubhouse.NSW Premier Nathan Rees was meeting on Monday with his cabinet to discuss planned laws allowing police to prohibit bikies associating with each other.Applications would have to be made in the Supreme Court and would not need to be based on known criminal behaviour.

Bikie war has never stopped.

Bikie war has never stopped. Since the Milperra massacre in Sydney a quarter of a century ago, it has seethed in the underworld of our main cities, with only a few dumped corpses and bombings occasionally surfacing in the news pages. This is also not the first time bikies have brawled on our streets. In one celebrated clash a few years back, two bikie gangs slugged it out on the steps of the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney as police and court officials watched on. bikie culture has changed dramatically from the old romantic notion of bikers as big-hearted, big drinking Harley-Davidson lovers who do the odd charity drive for children's hospitals and enjoy the odd bit of biff. While there are still a few of the old-guard bikers who stay away from crime, he says bikie gangs have morphed into highly sophisticated fronts for organised crime and the violent clashes being waged between them for dominance are likely to get worse.

"It's a new violence," he says.
"In the old days the rule was: 'Never at work, never at home, never in front of women and children.' "Nowadays they don't give a shit. They will do it anywhere."

Much was made this week of how the president of the Comancheros bikie gang, Mick Hawi, had banned all his members from wearing their distinctive gang colours or patches or riding their bikes.
This was spun as a conciliatory gesture to ease public fears.
But in the outlaw motorcycle gang fraternity, another explanation was circulating. Talk was that members of the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang had issued a "shoot to kill" order on any Comancheros. "This is a declaration of war," the gang insider says. "All other gang members have been told to keep their heads down or face the consequences." Much of the present bikie wars is a simple battle for dominance between gangs, sparked partly by the entrance on to the local drug dealing scene of a self-styled Middle Eastern bikie gang calling itself Notorious. One factor fuelling this conflict is racial anger among traditional bikies at the "Leb boys" muscling in on their patch. But, as always, it is mostly about the money. As Sunday Night revealed a few weeks ago (despite government claims the trade was now impossible) bikies are still buying huge quantities of over-the-counter cough medicines containing pseudoephedrine and turning them into hugely lucrative speed or ice.

A former methamphetamine cook, Stevan Utah, now on the run from the Bandidos, told how $1000 of cough medicine could earn up to $250,000 "deal for deal" on the street.

Now Notorious wants a piece of the action that bikie gangs have been quietly controlling for years because the money to be made is huge.
"I've been in houses where every room is full of money wrapped up in bundles," the gang insider tells Sunday Night. "They couldn't move it. They need laundromats for the money." The view among the traditional bikie gang fraternity is that Notorious is not a genuine motorcycle gang at all but a criminal gang that is using the brand value of being a bikie gang to add cachet and fear to their efforts to muscle in on to the Sydney drug scene. They have even created their own patch and its publication in one Sydney newspaper served only to enhance the desired feared reputation. What Notorious has learned is what bikie gangs in Australia have known for years: police are reluctant to confront bikies.
"The cops are scared of them," the gang insider says. "They have lost control. Gang members are caught with guns, drugs or shooting people, and they get a bit of community service. It's a pussyfoot approach. Anybody else would get the book thrown at them but these guys get away with it." This week, one self-styled gang expert proclaimed that police and politicians should bring gang leaders together to broker a peace before a feud escalates. The same academic also naively suggested in the pages of another Sydney newspaper that outlaw motorcycle gangs "perform an invaluable social service by keeping some ofthe most disturbed and unstable members of society in check through rigid internal structures".

Gang insiders laugh at such claims. They say that to dignify the gangs' inflated sense of their own importance by brokering some implicit peace deal through them is precisely what is wrong with present policing approaches. Whatever any gang leader ever told the police, he would do anything to stay dominant. And even if gangs are banned by the proposed new laws, the killings will continue on behind the scenes as they have done for decades. The only way to nip the gangs in the bud is to harass their control of the drugs trade with the sort of anti-racketeering laws used in the US that target the money that drives the crime. One of the reasons Notorious's entrance on to the bikie scene is so threatening is because, as the money rolls in, they are wooing Middle Eastern gang members from other gangs, such as the Hell's Angels, Comancheros and Bandidos.

This is a direct threat to the institutional control of the main gangs because most "full-patched" gang members know too much about the gang's dealer network and protection rackets to be allowed to leave. To be inside the gang is all too often to be privy to a major criminal enterprise. "Nobody can walk away," the gang insider says. "You can retire or step back but never walk away. If they go to another club, they give all the club secrets away, all the areas they deal. Many of the shootings in recent weeks are a case of: 'You steal our f--ing drugs and this is what happens."'

Anzac Day is traditionally a big day on the bikie calendar and this year it is likely to be a flashpoint for further violence. The speculation is that the Hell's Angels will not brook anything less than complete capitulation by the Comancheros as a sub-club of the Angels. Anything else would be bad for business.

Tony Sobey local president of the Gypsy Jokers is a keeper of secrets

Tony Sobey.The former bikie gang leader bought the lemon-coloured split-level in 2002 for $383,000 and settled in with wife Tracey and the kids. The family has now moved out after the property sold last month for $880,000. Skye is a preserve of quiet privilege in the Adelaide foothills, which would have suited Sobey down to the ground. He has come a long way since he was local president of the Gypsy Jokers, one of the country's most notorious outlaw motorcycle outfits, and a target of the crackdown in South Australia that gained national traction this week after the rampage by bikies through Sydney Airport left 29-year-old Hells Angels associate Anthony Zervas dead. Sobey is a keeper of secrets. His leathers to riches story is a case study in how bikies, far from being marginalised by anti-social gang behaviour, have prospered. If South Australian Police Commissioner Mal Hyde gets his way, Sobey and others prominent in bikie circles may have some explaining to do. Mr Hyde says the state police are seeking additional powers to make bikies and ex-bikies account for "unexplained wealth". "Everyone knows the person who doesn't work and has a two-storey mansion in the street, and everyone wonders what in the world this guy does for an income," Mr Hyde told The Weekend Australian. "So one of the things we are looking at is ... unexplained wealth. What that means, basically, is if a criminal has more wealth then their income would allow, they have to explain where it came from ... if you can't show you legitimately acquired it, then you lose it." The idea, Mr Hyde said, was to disrupt the business of being a bikie. Nationally, there are about 4000 bikie gang members. Their illegal dealings are said to run to drugs -- especially amphetamines -- stolen cars, prostitution and extortion. The proceeds have been laundered through legitimately-established front companies. "There is no single answer here in terms of what you do to deal with them," Mr Hyde said. "What you have to do is really think about them being in business ... and how you actually deal with disabling or disrupting that business."

Determining exactly what Sobey, 53, does for a living is certainly a challenge. One former neighbour in Skye was surprised he drove a top-of-the-range Mercedes when he had "no obvious form of employment".

Company records show Sobey is the director of a number of companies, some of which are now in the throes of being liquidated. The name of one of them, Simple Loan Pty Ltd, gives away a line of business he has been into. Sobey told the Federal Court in 2006 he was collecting commissions on $7 million in funds from other investors he had directed into a seemingly high-yield scheme run by Adelaide businessman Giuseppe Mercorella, which was in fact a giant pyramid scam. The initially juicy returns were coming from new investors, not investment income. By the time Mercorella's house of cards came tumbling down in 2005 Sobey said he had also pumped in $2million of his own cash. All up, an estimated $94 million in investors' funds went down with the fraudster, who was jailed for five years. There is no indication in corporate or court records of impropriety concerning Simple Loan, and The Weekend Australian does not suggest this was the case. But asked in the Federal Court, as part of an examination by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission into the Mercorella debacle, to detail where he had obtained the $2 million he sank into the investment scheme, Sobey said in February 2006 he could not recall details of his numerous business dealings. Pressed on the point, he said he earned money from share trading, gambling on horses and the commission he had received on putting other investors into the Mercorella scheme. The 4 per cent per month Mercorella returned, before the fund went bust, was "average" compared to what he could have earned lending money, Sobey said. Another area of known interest for bikies is the nightclub scene, and Sobey was into that, too. In March 2006, the Licensing Court of South Australia found he had part of deal involving "deliberate flouting" of licensing laws for a Adelaide nightclub called Heaven. District Court judge Paul Rice described how Sobey and another former Gypsy Joker, convicted Melbourne cocaine dealer Paul Pavlovski, effectively took control of the nightclub from licensee John Richard Pike through a corporate play. Pike had started associating with Sobey in November 2002, about six months after the latter had moved up to Skye. In 2004, Pike restructured his company, Adelaide City Entertainment Pty Ltd. Sobey's company, Sobey Pty Ltd, was issued 10 per cent of the holding shares. Pike later complained that the deal was "forced upon him" by Pavlovski, landlord of the hotel in which the club operated. He and Sobey often turned up at the hotel together, Pike told the Licensing Court. For two years, Pavlovski skimmed $5000 a week in cash from the club, money he had "no right to take", the court found. While Sobey had set his wife up as sole director and shareholder of Sobey Pty Ltd, there was no doubt who had control. "Mrs Sobey was, in reality, no more than a front for Mr Sobey and the Gypsy Jokers," the judge found. Judge Rice said it was open to infer that Pike, in knowing "Sobey was involved with the Gypsy Jokers Club ... was allowing and permitting an element of organised crime to infiltrate the ownership and management" of the nightclub. Pike was declared unfit to hold a liquor licence, and the nightclub folded. It has since reopened with a new name and under new management. In a sense, the Licensing Court proceedings marked a turning point for Sobey, who was well acquainted with the courts in Adelaide. In 2002, he had been charged with possessing a controlled substance, but the case was dropped by the prosecution within months. Two years later, he was charged with intentionally making a false statement and importing prohibited goods. After the false statement count was withdrawn, he pleaded guilty to the importation charge, and was fined $2000. In 2005, he was charged with a minor assault charge, but this prosecution was discontinued in 2007. By then, Sobey had other problems. He was fighting legal battles on a number of fronts. Having claimed security of $17.4 million over what was left of Mercorella's assets, Sobey was hit with a bill from the Taxation Office of $1,519,607.87 for unpaid income tax and interest, mainly on the commission and interest he had earned from the pyramid scheme ahead of its implosion. Sobey decided to wheel in the heavy legal artillery, and engaged top-drawer Melbourne barrister, Peter Hayes QC, to prosecute his claim to the Mercorella assets. The two men evidently hit it off personally. Hayes flew to Adelaide on May 10, 2007, for a hearing in the Federal Court; that night, he had dinner at Skye with Sobey, Tracey and their six children. Next morning, after Hayes failed to meet him as arranged, Sobey found the lawyer unconscious in his hotel room. Hayes had overdosed on a cocktail of illegal drugs allegedly provided by one of a number of prostitutes who were in his room; nearly two years on, the South Australian coroner is still weighing whether to order an inquest into his death, according to the state's Courts Administration Authority. Sobey, meanwhile, has dropped his claim over the Mercorella assets in what has been described as a "favourable" settlement with the scheme's liquidators. He remains in dispute with the tax office, which issued a bankruptcy notice in the Federal Court against him in 2007. The bankruptcy notice has since been set aside by consent and Sobey is now challenging the assessment of his income.

Mark Edward Walker was a full-patch member of the motorcycle gang, The Outlaws.arrested

Arrested Mark Edward Walker and Margaret Rose Berg-teed.
Participating in the raid were 13 members of the Missouri State Water Patrol S.W.A.T. Team, two Deputy U.S. Marshals, two members of the Mid-Mo Drug Task Force, eight Morgan County Sheriff’s Office S.W.A.T Team members and Sheriff Jim Petty.
Walker, 42, of Florida had a warrant from Marion County, Fla. for Attempted Second Degree Murder with a Firearm. This stems from an incident in the city of Ocala, Fla., that occurred in August 2008.
The U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force received information that Mark Walker was living in Ivy Bend with his brother, Andrew David Walker, 47. Andrew Walker has been in the Morgan County Detention Center since Feb. 14, 2009 for an unrelated charge of Driving While Revoked.
Margaret Rose Berg-teed, 56, of Missouri was also arrested Tuesday.
Mark Walker was arrested without incident and is currently being held in the Morgan County Jail without bond. Charges on Margaret Rose Berg-teed are pending, and she is also being held at this time in the Morgan County Jail without bond.
Information received by the Morgan County Sheriff's Office indicated, and was later confirmed by deputies, that Mark Edward Walker was a full-patch member of the motorcycle gang, The Outlaws.

Brandon Cheville is believed to be a member of the Mongols motorcycle gang.

Brandon Cheville was charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and cocaine and violations of federal racketeering statutes.Authorities said Cheville is believed to be a member of the Mongols motorcycle gang. He was featured on the Fox show America's Most Wanted in November.Authorities said he eluded capture during a nationwide crackdown on the Mongols gang in October.U.S. Marshals Southern Iowa Fugitive Task Force made the arrest after learning Cheville had been living and working in Boone. Officials said he did not resist arrest. They said he was working as a tattoo artist.Cheville is being held in the Polk County Jail pending extradition and court hearings.

Double murder in Canberra is a dramatic escalation of bikie violence

Double murder in Canberra is a dramatic escalation of bikie violence, triggered by an increasingly brutal turf war on the eastern seaboard.Hours after police locked up high-ranking Sydney bikie Mahmoud Dib, emergency services crews were called to a southern Canberra home near where two men had been fatally shot. ACT Police would not confirm or deny media reports that the shooting at the house in Couchman Crescent, Chisholm, was linked to bikie gangs. "We are looking at all possible circumstances surrounding this incident and that will include any possible associations that these persons may have had with any groups," a spokeswoman said.
One man was found dead from gunshot wounds in the front yard of the home; another was discovered in a rear yard. A gun was recovered from the scene. A man was arrested and taken to Tuggeranong police station for questioning. One of the residents, who was too scared to be identified, said the home was clearly a drug house and was always full of young people. But he had not seen motorbikes parked outside. "It's definitely drug-related, there are always a lot of cars there, people turning up all the time," he said. Another resident said her 10-year-old daughter heard the gunfire and was terrified. "The police told us not to leave the house, and we've been stuck ever since," she said. Residents believed there could be two homes in the street occupied by bikies or their affiliates. They were concerned about possible connections between yesterday's shootings and the alleged killing by Comancheros of a Hell's Angels associate at Sydney airport on Sunday. Mr Dib was arrested at his western Sydney home on firearms offences by police investigating a string of drive-by shootings. The sergeant-at-arms of the Bandidos' Parramatta chapter was taken into custody after a pre-dawn raid by heavily armed police on his home at Auburn. The arrest followed the 11th drive-by shooting in western Sydney in the past six days, including attacks on Mr Dib's Park Street home on Monday and on the home of a relative of his in nearby Pine Road. Mr Dib, 27, was charged with six firearms offences over a loaded gun police found in his car last Monday.
Acting Superintendent Angelo Memmolo, from the Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad, said Mr Dib was not in the car when police found the .45 calibre semi-automatic pistol -- loaded with seven bullets -- but had been in the area. No drugs or weapons were found in the 6am raid on Mr Dib's home, but police seized two Harley-Davidson motorcycles they believe may have been stolen. Anthony Zervas -- the 29-year-old brother of a Hell's Angels member -- was bashed to death at Sydney airport on Sunday with metal bollards. Police have not ruled out that bikies were behind a western Sydney drive-by shooting on Monday targeting a Merrylands home containing two adults and three children. Yesterday, Mr Dib sat silently throughout his brief appearance at Burwood Local Court. Magistrate Michael Dakin agreed to a request for an adjournment from Mr Dib's lawyer, Mohammed Masri, for a bail hearing until Friday and formally refused bail.

Family members of Notorious may have been targeted in one of two drive-by shootings in Sydney's west.

Family members of Notorious may have been targeted in one of two drive-by shootings in Sydney's west. An elderly couple, believed to be closely related to Notorious's sergeant-at-arms, were asleep when several bullets tore through the front of their home in Doonside about midnight, narrowly missing the pair.Minutes later several bullets were fired into the front of a house at nearby Prospect. Six people, including a 15-year-old and a four-month-old, were inside but escaped injury.Police said the homes might have been targeted because of the occupants' links to Notorious. "We believe there may be links between the two locations and … the Notorious criminal group," said the commander of the Gangs Squad, Detective Superintendent Mal Lanyon, mother of Notorious's sergeant-at-arms is the owner of the Doonside home.The attacks may be retaliation for a drive-by shooting at the house of a senior member of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club's Blacktown chapter early on Monday. Notorious is suspected of being behind that shooting, as well as attacks on the Nomads' clubhouse in Marrickville and the Hells Angels' clubhouse in Petersham in recent months.

Notorious, thought to have been formed in 2007, is run by a Lebanese-Australian Christian with longstanding links to one of Sydney's most well-known underworld families. Police and underworld sources have indicated that Notorious is relying heavily on "Islander muscle" and has opened a clubhouse in Kings Cross - an area traditionally treated as neutral by the older clubs.

"Since Notorious have been around things have been getting hotter and hotter," an underworld source told the Herald.

Hells Angel in Australia was killed Saturday afternoon

Hells Angel in Australia was killed Saturday afternoon during a 10-man brawl involving bikers of his group and members of a rival motorcycle gang inside the Sydney Airport.Police arrested four men involved in the melee that killed an unnamed 29-year-old man from southwestern Sydney. The man died in a hospital after his head was repeatedly smashed with metal posts by men of the Comanchero club, according to police.Other suspects escaped from the terminal by riding on taxis.An investigation in under way to determine what caused the deadly brawl witnessed by many travelers at the airport's domestic terminal.

REBELS bikie accused of bashing patrons and staff during two pub brawls has been arrested

REBELS bikie accused of bashing patrons and staff during two pub brawls has been arrested despite fearful victims who refused to press charges.Crime Gangs Task Force officers arrested the 22-year-old bikie this morning over bashings in two southern suburbs hotels last month. He was refused bail and appeared in the Christies Beach Magistrates Court this afternoon.Police claim the man entered the Aldinga Hotel on February 26 and kicked and punched four people, including staff members.They claim two days later he and three accomplices stormed the Victory Hotel at Sellicks Hill and punched and kicked an unidentified person to the ground.In each case the victims could either not be located or "were fearful of retribution " and refused to press charges, police said.Recent legislative changes which created the offences of `affray' and engaging in violent disorder enabled police to take action despite the victims' silence.Affray carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Offenders can be jailed for two years for engaging in violent disorder.The bikie has also been barred from the two hotels under new powers handed to police by changes to the Liquor Licensing Act.Detective Superintendent Des Bray said pub violence perpetrated by outlaw motorcycle gangs was "of major concern" to police.He also called on all victims of gang violence to report the incidents to police. "In the absence of victim and witness statements, police can now rely on the contents of security vision to prosecute offenders for the recently created offences," Det Supt Bray said.
"Remember, you can remain anonymous."

Kings Cross-based Notorious are embroiled in a gang war with the Hell's Angels and Rebels

Kings Cross-based Notorious are embroiled in a gang war with the Hell's Angels and Rebels over ethnic and territorial disputes.Neighbours in Taworri Rd said yesterday the home at the centre of the drive-by had been raided by police about a year ago.
But the elderly couple at the home during the drive-by said the shooting was a case of mistaken identity."I heard this bang, bang, bang more than I could count and I thought that it was an electrical problem with an appliance, maybe the stove," the 64-year-old man said."Then I felt pain in my leg and it was glass from the windows.
"(The room) was filled with haze, smoke. I've never experienced anything like this before."His 63-year-old wife escaped being shot in the head by about 15cm.
"If I had sat up in bed I would have been killed," she said.The Range Rover believed to have been used in the shootings - stolen from Waterloo on March 7 - was found burning in Blacktown.Premier Nathan Rees said yesterday he would consider changing the law to help police catch and prosecute people involved in drive-by shootings.

Paul "Stepchild" Iorio, 44, last known address 343 E. Ridge St., Nanticoke, is charged with one count of solicitation to deliver cocaine

Paul "Stepchild" Iorio, 44, last known address 343 E. Ridge St., Nanticoke, is charged with one count of solicitation to deliver cocaine, one count of possession of cocaine and one count of criminal use of a communications facility

Robert Muntz, 42, 195 West Green St., Nanticoke, is charged with one count of delivery of methamphetamine

Robert Muntz, 42, 195 West Green St., Nanticoke, is charged with one count of delivery of methamphetamine, one count of manufacturing of methamphetamine and one count of criminal use of a communications facility.

Mitch "Buddah" Miller, 48, 15 Bank St., Wilkes-Barre, is charged with one count of criminal solicitation to deliver cocaine

Mitch "Buddah" Miller, 48, 15 Bank St., Wilkes-Barre, is charged with one count of criminal solicitation to deliver cocaine, one count of possession of cocaine and one count of criminal use of a communications facility.

Nineteen of the defendants will be prosecuted in Luzerne County

Lazaro Salavarria, 43, 200 Park View Circle, Apt. 4101, Wilkes-Barre, is charged with one count of corrupt organizations, one count of conspiracy to deliver cocaine, one count of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, one count delivery of cocaine and one count of criminal use of a communications facility.
Michael Brostoski, 46, 39 Nicole Drive, Wilkes-Barre, is charged with one count of corrupt organizations, one count of conspiracy to deliver cocaine, one count of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, one count delivery of cocaine and one count of criminal use of a communications facility.
Kevin "K Dog" Nowakowski, 33, last known address 65 Fort St., Forty-Fort, is charged with three counts of delivery of cocaine, one count of corrupt organizations, one count of conspiracy to deliver cocaine, one count of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, and one count of criminal use of a communications facility.
Francis Buracewski, 37, 2 Mill St., Wilkes-Barre, is charged with one count of corrupt organizations, one count of conspiracy to deliver cocaine, one count of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, one count delivery of cocaine and one count of criminal use of a communications facility.
Michael Scavone, 43, 246A Lake Drive, Harveys Lake, is charged with one count of corrupt organizations, one count of conspiracy to deliver cocaine, one count of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, one count delivery of cocaine and one count of criminal use of a communications facility.
Larry "Doctor" Gwynn, 54, 14 Allenberry Drive, Hanover Township, is charged with one count of corrupt organizations, one count of conspiracy to deliver cocaine, one count of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, one count delivery of cocaine and one count of criminal use of a communications facility.
Michelle Adams, 41, 12 Beech Lane, Harveys Lake, is charged with one count of corrupt organizations, one count of conspiracy to deliver cocaine, one count of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, one count delivery of cocaine and one count of criminal use of a communications facility.
Kenneth Koonrad, 25, 79 Grove St., Wilkes-Barre, is charged with one count ofcorrupt organizations, one count of conspiracy to deliver cocaine, one count of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, one count delivery of cocaine and one count of criminal use of a communications facility.
Melissa "Missy" McEvoy, 34, 115 North Main St., Ashley, is charged with one count of corrupt organizations, one count of conspiracy to deliver cocaine, one count of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, one count delivery of cocaine and one count of criminal use of a communications facility.
John Macking, 37, 9 Everhart St., Hanover Township, is charged with one count of corrupt organizations, one count of conspiracy to deliver cocaine, one count of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, one count delivery of cocaine and one count of criminal use of a communications facility.
Michael "Kick Start" Bafile, 38, 719 Sycamore St., Berwick, is charged with one count of corrupt organizations, one count of conspiracy to deliver cocaine, one count of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, one count delivery of cocaine and one count of criminal use of a communications facility.
Paul Czerniakowski, 44, 223 Brown St., Wilkes-Barre, is charged with one count of corrupt organizations, one count of conspiracy to deliver cocaine, one count of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, one count delivery of cocaine and one count of criminal use of a communications facility.

Patrick Brown III, 39, 39 Fern St., Dallas, is charged with one count corrupt organizations

Patrick Brown III, 39, 39 Fern St., Dallas, is charged with one count corrupt organizations, one count conspiracy to deliver cocaine, one count of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, one count of delivery of cocaine and one count of criminal use of a communications facility.

Michelle Ulitchney, 47, 212 Farmhouse Lane, Wapwallopen, is charged with one count of corrupt organizations

Michelle Ulitchney, 47, 212 Farmhouse Lane, Wapwallopen, is charged with one count of corrupt organizations, one count of conspiracy to deliver cocaine, one count of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, one count delivery of cocaine and one count of criminal use of a communications facility.

Joseph "Skidmark" Janick, 44, 115 N. Main St., Ashley, is charged with one count corrupt organizations

Joseph "Skidmark" Janick, 44, 115 N. Main St., Ashley, is charged with one count corrupt organizations, one count conspiracy to deliver cocaine, one count of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, one count delivery of cocaine, one count criminal use of a communications facility and one count prohibited offensive weapon.

John "G Unit" Gonda, 38, 224 Fern Ridge Road, White Haven, is charged with one count of corrupt organizations

John "G Unit" Gonda, 38, 224 Fern Ridge Road, White Haven, is charged with one count of corrupt organizations, one count of conspiracy to deliver cocaine, one count of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, one count delivery of cocaine, one count delivery of marijuana and one count of criminal use of a communications facility.

Anthony Manchio Jr., 49, 212 Farmhouse Lane, Wapwallopen, is charged with one count of corrupt organizations

Anthony Manchio Jr., 49, 212 Farmhouse Lane, Wapwallopen, is charged with one count of corrupt organizations, one count of conspiracy to deliver cocaine, one count of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, one count delivery of cocaine and one count of criminal use of a communications facility.

John "J Bone" Ricci, 36, 52 Diamond Ave., Hanover Township, is charged with nine counts of delivery of cocaine

John "J Bone" Ricci, 36, 52 Diamond Ave., Hanover Township, is charged with nine counts of delivery of cocaine, one count of corrupt organizations, one count of conspiracy to deliver cocaine, one count of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine, one count of delivery of marijuana, and one count of criminal use of a communication facility.

Ronald "Block" Molnar, 37, 9 Joseph Lane, Wilkes-Barre, is charged with nine counts of delivery of cocaine

Ronald "Block" Molnar, 37, 9 Joseph Lane, Wilkes-Barre, is charged with nine counts of delivery of cocaine, one count of corrupt organizations, one count of conspiracy to deliver cocaine, one count of possession with the intent to deliver cocaine and one count of criminal use of a communications facility.

Joseph Janick, president of the Wilkes-Barre chapter of the Outlaw Motorcycle Club, has also been charged

Luzerne County corrections officer is one of more than 20 people arrested today for allegedly being part of a cocaine ring affiliated with the Outlaw biker gang.Attorney General Tom Corbett says Ronald Molnar was at the center of a drug ring that distributed narcotics worth $3.6 million in the Wilkes-Barre area.
Corbett says the investigation started last year with corrections officer John Gonda and led to the arrests of 22 people.Joseph Janick, president of the Wilkes-Barre chapter of the Outlaw Motorcycle Club, has also been charged. $3.6 million cocaine ring, which operated in northeast Pennsylvania over the past year by members of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, was broken up today by agents from the Attorney General's Bureau of Narcotics Investigation (BNI).
Attorney General Tom Corbett said the investigation, known as "Operation Avalanche," began in July 2008 after agents received information that John Gonda, a corrections officer at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility, was selling large quantities of cocaine in the Wilkes-Barre area.According to the criminal complaint, agents made a series of at least 30 controlled cocaine purchases from Ronald Molnar and his main associates, John Ricci and Kevin Nowakowski.Corbett noted that Gonda, Molnar and Ricci are all associates of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, Wilkes-Barre Chapter.As the investigation unfolded, court authorized wiretaps were approved to determine the scope of the organization and help identify suppliers.Hundreds of drug related conversations were intercepted on wiretaps between Molnar, Ricci and their customers, which led agents to identify Molnar's main cocaine supplier as Anthony Manchio. Manchio is a known cocaine dealer in northeastern and central Pennsylvania.
According to the criminal complaint, Molnar or Ricci called Manchio every 10 to 14 days to order a kilo of cocaine for redistribution in Wilkes-Barre. The two had numerous customers who called regularly to place orders and make arrangements to meet at specific Wilkes-Barre locations for delivery."Anytime you have a kilo of cocaine being brought into your town every 10 days you have a significant problem," Corbett said. "The cocaine coming to Wilkes-Barre was either cut and repackaged for street-level sales or it was kept for individual use among club members."
The charges state that Manchio normally met Molnar a couple days prior to delivery in order to receive payment up front for the cocaine. The two allegedly would arrange another meeting and contact point for the delivery to take place.
Corbett said that as the investigation progressed agents identified Joseph Janick as a major sub-dealer of cocaine for Molnar and Ricci. Janick is the president of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, Wilkes-Barre chapter.According to the criminal complaint, wiretaps placed on Janick's cellular phone produced thousands of drug related conversations showing that he, Molnar and Ricci had a widespread customer base throughout Luzerne County.Agents identified four of their main customers as members of the Wilkes-Barre chapter of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, including Michael Bafile, the club's past president.
Over the course of the investigation, agents seized 528 grams of cocaine, cutting agents, drug paraphernalia, more than $5,000 cash, rifles, shotguns, handguns, a bullet proof vest, the motorcycle gang's colors, a copy of the bylaws and a list of all the Outlaw associates in prison."Drug trafficking and violence are synonymous," Corbett said. "The large amount of weapons seized in this investigation demonstrates the violent capabilities this organization possessed." Agents also seized motorcycles, SUV's, sedans, a quad and a piece of farm machinery.
Corbett noted that this is part of a continuing investigation.Nineteen of the defendants will be prosecuted in Luzerne County by Deputy Attorney General Timothy Doherty of the Attorney General's Drug Strike Force Section. Three individuals will be prosecuted by Luzerne County District Attorney Jackie Musto Carrol's Office.Corbett thanked the Luzerne County District Attorney's Office, Luzerne County Drug Task Force, and the Luzerne County Sheriff's Office for their assistance with the investigation.The defendants will be arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Diane Malast.

Bryan Perun, 35, of Lincoln Place, is charged in connection with the death of Albert Kolano, 33, of Elliott

Bryan Perun, 35, of Lincoln Place, is charged in connection with the death of Albert Kolano, 33, of Elliott, following an altercation with the Pagans at the Longview Lounge around 1:30 a.m.Mr. Perun was a city officer from 2000 to 2003, when he was fired for violating regulations in regard to a pepper-spray incident at a North Side bar. But his supervisor at the time said he had no problems with the man everyone at the East Liberty station called "Dirt.""He was one of the better officers at the station," said Phil Dacey, a lieutenant who has since retired. "He had the tattoos and he was into bikes, but I had no inkling that he was involved with the Pagans."
It's not clear when he joined the biker gang.But Allegheny County police said Mr. Perun was wearing a leather Pagans jacket Thursday when he pulled a knife, issued a threat and fired two shots at witnesses before the fatal shooting.He and three other men -- Kevin J. Doolin Jr., 43, of Sheraden; John R. Miller, 56, of Brookline; and Nathaniel J. Robinson, 34, of Allentown -- are charged with conspiracy to commit homicide.Mr. Doolin is identified in a police affidavit as the shooter, although he had not been charged with homicide as of yesterday afternoon.
This is what happened, according to an affidavit:The victim's brother, Anthony Kolano, said his wife, Tracie, received a call from Bridget Hurley that 15 to 20 Pagans were threatening her, Albert Kolano and another man, Andrew Miller, inside the bar.Anthony Kolano arrived at the bar and motioned for the three to leave. When they did, some of the Pagans followed them outside.Mr. Perun pulled a large folding knife from a coat pocket and used it to puncture the right rear tire of Anthony Kolano's vehicle, saying "You ain't going nowhere."Mr. Perun then drew a revolver and fired a shot into the ground and second into the door of the vehicle.As Anthony Kolano drove from the parking lot, he said he passed a parked sport utility vehicle. He said he saw Mr. Doolin extend his arm out the driver's side window and fire two shots at Albert Kolano's moving vehicle. Albert swerved, struck the berm and crashed into some woods.Mr. Miller, a passenger in the SUV with Mr. Doolin and Mr. Robinson, climbed out and threw an object into the woods.Anthony Kolano used his vehicle to block the SUV from leaving the parking lot.Police said all four suspects were "wearing clothing displaying membership in the Pagans" and all four "conspired with each other in the shooting death of the victim."The Longview Lounge, which sits atop a muddy hillside along Greensburg Pike, was closed yesterday. A sign at the back door advised visitors that it would remain so "until further notice."No one answered the door yesterday at Mr. Perun's house. His pickup sat outside, a Fraternal Order of Police emblem on its rear bumper.Until August 2003, Mr. Perun worked as a patrolman in the East End."He was a good young officer," said Mr. Dacey. "He got a lot of complaints because he did his job. He was aggressive. If you took off running, Bryan would chase you down."Mr. Perun was involved in one high-profile case. In 2001, he and several other officers killed James B. Lewis, 36, after he led them on a chase in Garfield and fired at them. The shooting was ruled justified after a coroner's inquest.Two years later, Mr. Perun was fired for neglect of duty, lack of truthfulness and other violations after an incident at Hi-Tops, a North Side bar that has since closed.

The details are sketchy, but while working an off-duty security detail, he used pepper spray to subdue someone. The city's Office of Municipal Investigations received a complaint about his conduct and determined that Mr. Perun didn't file reports about using the spray, as regulations required.

He contested the firing through the arbitration process but was ultimately discharged, according to city records.Had Mr. Perun been a Pagan while on the force, he would have faced termination, city officials said. Regulations prohibit officers from associating with criminal organizations.According to the FBI, the state police and the former Pennsylvania Crime Commission, the Pagans qualify -- and they've long had a substantial presence in Westmoreland County.Four biker gangs have dominated in the United States for decades: . The Pagans, who got their start in Maryland, have always been Pennsylvania's most powerful gang.Two big federal prosecutions in the 1980s hurt them here, however, when the FBI used the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act to dismantle the group.They declined after that but remained involved in drug dealing, particularly methamphetamines, police said.

Robert Shannon who distributed cocaine and marijuana for the Hells Angels in British Columbia was sentenced in Seattle to 20 years

Drug smuggler who distributed cocaine and marijuana for the Hells Angels in British Columbia was sentenced in Seattle to 20 years in a federal prison on Friday, and prosecutors say they will oppose any effort by Robert Shannon to serve his prison time in his native Canada.U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Sullivan said cross-border criminals such as Shannon "should not be able to further exploit their citizenship to avoid paying for their crimes."Shannon had close ties to the Hells Angels in British Columbia and, according to prosecutors, used violence and intimidation routinely.
Prosecutors wanted Shannon to serve 33 years. His defense lawyers asked for 13.The government alleged in sentencing documents that Shannon, a Langley, B.C., trucker who's boasted that he made millions from the drug trade, once paid to have a co-conspirator killed and threatened an Abbotsford, B.C., co-defendant who testified against him Friday.Dozens of others have been charged in the case, which has resulted in 39 prosecutions and the seizure of more than 1,700 pounds of cocaine, 7,000 pounds of "B.C. Bud" marijuana and $3.5 million in cash, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Dale Donovan,former president of the Manitoba Hells Angels has been sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison

Dale Donovan, 34, entered his surprise guilty plea this morning to several charges including conspiracy to traffic drugs, possession of proceeds of crime and participating in a criminal organization.The former president of the Manitoba Hells Angels has been sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison after admitting to his role in a drug trafficking network.Donovan and 17 other gang members and associates were arrested in December 2007 following a year-long undercover police investigation dubbed ``Project Drill`` that involved having a career criminal become a ``secret agent.``Scotty ``Taz`` Robertson was able to infiltrate the gang and conduct a series of drug and weapons deals that were caught on video and audio surveillance by police.He was paid more than $600,000 for his work and put in the witness protection program. During the investigation, police seized five machine-guns, three handguns, 11 kilograms of cocaine, 2,000 tablets of methamphetamine and 13 pounds of marijuana.
Donovan became leader of the local Hells chapter after former president Ernie Dew was arrested in a similar police sting in February 2006. Dew is now behind bars serving a 13-year sentence.

John Vasilantonakis wanted for a bikers' brawl outside the former Sorrento Hotel on The Kingsway

John Vasilantonakis wanted for a bikers' brawl outside the former Sorrento Hotel on The Kingsway almost 17 years ago is now in police custody. Greater Sudbury Police said in a release Saturday that two rival motorcycle gangs got into a fight Sept. 6, 1992. One biker was shot, two were knifed and others were struck with a two-by-four piece of lumber and a tire iron. "Although the injuries were serious all have since recovered," police said. Police in Sudbury issued an arrest warrant for John Vasilantonakis, 47, for allegedly attacking a man, who was 38 at the time, with the lumber. He eluded police until Friday, when he came into contact with the Toronto Police Service. Officers there discovered the warrant issued by Sudbury police. Vasilantonakis was arrested and has been returned to Sudbury, where he is scheduled for a bailing hearing by video on Sunday on a charge of assault with a weapon.

Trial in slaying of 8 motorcycle gang members Bandidos chapter "No Surrender Crew,"

Discovery of eight bullet-riddled bodies in four vehicles abandoned on a nearby farmer's property on April 8, 2006.It was the largest known massacre of outlaw motorcycle gang members anywhere in the world, and also the worst mass murder in Ontario since 1832.After more than two years of preliminary hearings and motions, jury selection in the trial of the six men accused of the murders begins tomorrow in London, about half an hour's drive east of Shedden.One of the accused, Wayne (Weiner) Kellestine, 59, lived on a farm on the outskirts of Iona Station, about a 15-minute drive from Shedden. All the rest are from outside the county and several are from outside the province.Also facing eight murder charges are Brett (Beau) Gardiner, 24, of Calgary; Wayne (Taz) Sandham, 39, Marcello Aravena, 32, and Dwight (Big D) Mushey, all of Winnipeg; and Frank (Frankie) Mather, 35, of no fixed address.
The eight victims were all connected to the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, the second-largest outlaw biker club in the world.
The victims, whose Bandidos chapter was nicknamed the "No Surrender Crew," were George (Pony) Jessome, 52, George (Crash) Kriarakis, 28, Luis Manny (Chopper, Porkchop) Raposo, 41, Frank (Bam Bam, Bammer) Salerno, 43, and Michael (Little Mikey) Trotta, 31, all of the Greater Toronto Area; Paul (Big Paul) Sinopoli, 30, of Sutton; Jamie (Goldberg) Flanz, 37, of Keswick; and John (Boxer) Muscedere, 48, of Chatham.Folks in Shedden reluctantly talk about the upcoming trial, and when they do, they are quick to say it is about outsiders, not local residents."I don't think it's touched anybody too deep here," says one business person, who declined to give her name. "If someone local was involved, it might be different. Life goes on."A local farmer says people are more concerned with other issues now, like layoffs in the auto industry. "It happened so long ago and five miles down the road," says the man, who also declined to give his name.By "five miles down the road," he means the farm of Russell (Rusty) and Mary Steele, respected churchgoing grandparents and long-time residents.The Steeles live on a tidy, prosperous farm, with bird baths and feeders and a children's play area. A sign on the front fence reads, "If you ate today, thank a farmer."The Steeles woke up on a Saturday morning to find four vehicles parked in a forested area of their property.Inside the vehicles – a tow truck, two cars and a sport utility vehicle – were the bodies of the bikers. Soon police had the area cordoned off.Not long after that, news helicopters hovered overhead.Last week the Steeles politely but firmly declined to talk about the grisly event.
"We've seen a lot of the problems that were here before – press problems," Russell says."I don't think that we want to give any interviews," Mary adds.
In the wake of the killings, Slee says, locals were bombarded with questions about cults and gangs in a town so small it doesn't have a restaurant or a grocery store.
"We don't have enough people for a cult," jokes Slee, a first-year drama student at Brock University in St. Catharines.In nearby Iona Station lies what is left of the farm of Wayne (Weiner) Kellestine.
His barn and a shed are still standing, but his dirty white Ontario cottage has burned down since he was arrested almost three years ago. The Ontario Fire Marshal's Office ruled the fire last March was accidental, although its cause remains unclear.After the fire, Kellestine's common-law wife complained in the media that locals didn't do much to raise money for her and her school-age daughter because of Kellestine's reputation as a biker.Now there is a small trailer behind what is left of the burned-out farmhouse. A steel link fence has been erected to keep the curious away.Down the road in London, court officials say the trial will be held in a specially built, high-tech, high-security courtroom. It was constructed in 2003 for a mass trial of local bikers, members of the Outlaws. The site for the Bandidos trial is less than a 10-minute walk from London's original courthouse, a castle-like structure where the trial for alcoholic farmer Henry Sovereign was held in 1832, in the midst of a cholera epidemic.
Sovereign was convicted of murdering his seven children and his wife in Norfolk County, near what is now Highway 24, about a half-hour drive from Shedden. He was hanged outside the old courthouse.Back in the Greater Toronto Area, Glenn (Wrongway, Irish) Atkinson thinks often about his former Bandidos clubmates. He says he left the club before the killings or he might have been a victim tooHe says he hopes people don't lose sight of the fact that real people were killed, and that real people still mourn them."There might have been people that hated them, but a lot more people loved them," Atkinson says. "They had a lot more love in their lives than hate.
"At the end of the day, they still had parents and girlfriends and wives that loved them. A lot had kids too, who now miss their daddies."

Gregory Wooley, 36, a former bodyguard to Hells Angels kingpin Maurice (Mom) Boucher, was arrested on Thursday

Gregory Wooley, 36, a former bodyguard to Hells Angels kingpin Maurice (Mom) Boucher, was arrested on Thursday in his prison cell in Kingston, Ont. Arrest of a jailed biker in a crackdown on an alleged drug-trafficking ring involving outlaw bikers and street gangs shows the strong ties between the two criminal elements, one expert said today.Police in Quebec and Ontario have described this week's Operation Axe as a major blow against the drug-trafficking operations of the Hells Angels and one of their affiliated street gangs known as the Syndicate.
The arrests serve to remind people that street gangs, which are plaguing several Canadian cities, are established players in the criminal world, said author Julian Sher.

"Street gangs are not about a couple of rough-and-tough kids having a bad night out on the town," said Sher, who has co-authored a book on the Hells Angels.

"This (police operation) shows how tightly connected some of the most powerful street gangs are to organized crime."
The Crown said Wooley, one of 54 people nabbed on Thursday and Friday, is believed to be the first person in Canada to be charged with gangsterism a second time.
If he is convicted on the same charge again, Wooley's sentence would run consecutively to his current one. He has been in prison since 2000.Others arraigned Friday include Jean Lavertue, 34, a former Canadian Olympic weightlifter who operated a Montreal gym. He was charged with drug trafficking and gangsterism.
Police also arrested Fernand Lauzon, 67, a man identified as the father of a Montreal police officer. He was charged with drug trafficking.The Crown handed over an imposing amount of evidence on five compact discs that include hundreds of thousands of wiretapped conversations, said prosecutor Francis Cloutier.The Hells Angels, which led a bloody turf war over drugs in the 1990s, are still very much a player despite the aftermath of Operation Springtime, another mass police sweep in 2001, Sher said.While more than 100 people were put behind bars after 2001, Sher said there are roughly the same number of Hells members on the streets in Quebec and that national membership is stable at about 450.

"But the Hells Angels are a lot less cocky than they were, they're not strutting, they're not as confident, they don't know where the next infiltration is coming from," said Sher.

Eighteen of the accused were granted bail on Friday under very strict conditions including a large cash deposit, strict curfews, and restricted use of pagers and cell phones except for work.But the majority were detained pending future bail hearings, including three men identified as high-ranking members of the Syndicate.Cloutier said at least 17 people face gangsterism charges."Principally, the charges are trafficking for the profit of a criminal organization – trafficking of drugs," Cloutier said.Two people are also charged with conspiracy to commit murder, but only one of them has been arrested.Montreal police said Friday that more people had been nabbed, bringing the total to 54, including six women. But not everyone had been arraigned.About 700 officers from a number of police forces took part in Operation Axe, which Montreal police said was one of the biggest ever carried out by the city forceThe raids netted $675,000 in cash as well as 25 guns and a number of bullet-proof vests. Significant quantities of cocaine, crack, ecstasy, marijuana and hashish were seized along with other drugs including speed, Viagra and steroids.

$30,000 to a Vancouver Hells Angels member after a large shipment of marijuana went missing.

drug dealer explained Monday how he had to shell out up to $30,000 to a Vancouver Hells Angels member after a large shipment of marijuana went missing."I made three small payments, between $20,000 and $30,000," the man testified at the trial of four members of Vancouver's East End chapter of the Hells Angels: Ronaldo Lising, Randy Potts, John Punko and Jean Joseph Violette.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 chapter of the Hells Angels."B.C. Supreme Court Justice Selwyn Romilly imposed a ban on the name of the witness, who testified he tried to explain to Lising that the shipment was seized by police, but Lising believed the load had been ripped off.The witness recalled Lising demanded payment of "50 grand" for the missing load, which was shipped to the U.S. through Alberta. The man explained he phoned his lawyer, who made some calls to police and wrote a letter explaining the 140-kilogram shipment of marijuana, contained in nine hockey bags, was seized by the RCMP in Alberta and police in Montana.The witness, who has a minor criminal record for assault and possessing marijuana, recalled he got a friend to give the lawyer's letter to Richard Goldammer, an East End Hells Angels member, "to prove my innocence."
He said he later got a text message from Lising saying, "Good luck. We don't want your money."The jury trial, which began last September, continues in a high-security courtroom at the Vancouver Law Courts.

Infiltrated the Hells Angels.

Jay “Jaybird” Dobyns is the unconventional, full-bore federal agent who achieved worldwide notoriety as one of America’s most daring and talked-about law enforcement officers. After more than twenty years of undercover assignments that targeted the world’s most deadly criminals and their organizations, Jay was infamously “outed” following an unprecedented and successful infiltration of the Hells Angels outlaw biker gang.

Infiltrated the Hells Angels. His work in operation "Black Biscuit" led to the arrests of 55 alleged members of the Angels and the seizure of 650 guns, more than 100 explosives and 30,000 rounds of ammunition.But the most serious charges were dismissed in 2006 and Dobyns, upset over the handling of the case, retired from the ATF. His book, "No Angel", which was released this week, tells of his life as an undercover agent. Twentieth Century Fox already has bought the movie rights.
Dobyns' enemies far outnumber his friends. His life has been threatened and his home was burned last August. The ATF, which now regards Dobyns as an outcast, put forth little effort in investigating the blaze and, according to Dobyns, tried to link him to the blaze.Dobyns said he decided after the fire that there will be no more bouncing from city to city, no more aliases."I'm not going to be intimidated by these threats anymore. I'm gonna make my stand and be happy doing it."

Wooley, a former member of the Rockers, a Hells Angels puppet gang, was serving time for offences that took place during the biker gang war

The operation, touted as "unprecedented" when it comes to street gangs in Montreal, followed a lengthy investigation into drug trafficking, and targeted both dealers and gang leaders. Hundreds of police officers in Quebec and Ontario carried out a massive sweep Thursday to crack down on street gang members. In Quebec, more than 700 police officers, including members of the Laval and Longueuil police, fanned out across the greater Montreal area. Other municipalities in Quebec and in Ottawa were involved.
Operation Axe was a lengthy investigation into drug trafficking in Montreal, Ottawa and Kingston, Ont., and targeted both dealers and gang leaders.
Screen grabBesides nabbing several alleged drug couriers, the Montreal police believe they also rounded up the "businessmen" who make the key decisions for street gangs who are part of a larger group collectively known in Montreal as the Crips or Blues.

Project Axe centered on the city's most influential street gang members and resulted in the arrests of 47 people Thursday, including a former weightlifter who represented Canada in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. The Montreal police would not be specific but initially stated they were hoping to arrest more than 50 people.

"The leaders arrested were considered as untouchable citizens in the eyes of emerging street gangs. These arrests show no criminal is on safe ground," said Cmdr. Denis Mainville. "This operation is, without doubt, one of the most important police operations carried out by the Montreal police to date."
Mainville said one of three organized crime groups targeted in Project Axe was selling between five to 10 kilos of cocaine per week in Montreal and bringing in roughly $400,000. The people expected to appear in court Friday via a video conference, face charges of drug trafficking, conspiracy, weapons offences and committing crimes for a criminal organization. At least two people will be charged with conspiring to commit murder. Police executed 63 search warrants, seizing 25 weapons, 2,300 rocks of crack cocaine, 41 kilograms of cocaine, 225 kilograms of marijuana, bulletproof vests, 12 computers and $600,000 in cash.Included among those arrested in the operation is Gregory Wooley, an influential member of the Hells Angels former underling network who was serving time at a penitentiary in Kingston, Ont. Wooley, a former member of the Rockers, a Hells Angels puppet gang, was serving time for offences that took place during the biker gang war in the 1990s. But he is now facing new charges related to the current investigation which targeted major Montreal-based street gangs. Wooley was scheduled to have a parole hearing in the coming weeks.Dany Cadet-Sprinces, 38, an inmate at another federal penitentiary, the Leclerc Institution in Laval, Que., also was placed under arrest. The man at Leclerc is believed to be the head of the Syndicate street gang and was arrested in another large drug bust that struck his gang and the Hells Angels.Jean Lavertue, 34, a former Olympic weightlifter, was arrested at his home. He is alleged to have been part of a well-structured group, uncovered during the Project Axe investigation, that controlled a significant amount of drug trafficking in the southwest part of the city. In 1996, he finished 28th in his weight class while competing at the Olympic Games in Atlanta. "This operation targeted people involved with cocaine trafficking," said Montreal police Sgt. Ian Lafreniere, adding suspects were involved in importing and trafficking in Montreal and in Ottawa. "It's not only the people selling on the street level. It's top people (in the gangs), as well," he said. "This investigation began in January 2006. So this was a long investigation and a huge operation today. We believe we've hit the top of the chain."Ontario police forces meanwhile, conducted search warrants Wednesday night and Thursday morning on residences in Smiths Falls, Ont., and in Ottawa. The investigation by the Smiths Falls Police, Ottawa Police and the Ontario Provincial Police went after street-level drug dealers and involved an undercover police officer who was placed in the drug subculture to make illegal drug buys.Police say the list grew to more than 25 street-level drug dealers and quantities of cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy and other prescription-controlled substances were purchased and seized. A number of charges, including trafficking in controlled substances, against several people were laid.

Hells Angel Fontaine Found Guilty

Hells Angel Paul Fontaine has been on trial for the 1997 murder of Pierre Rondeau and attempted murder of Robert Corriveau. Members of the jury began deliberating last Tuesday, but their deliberations were put on hold while judge Marc David considered motions put for the by Fontaine’s lawyer to have the case ruled a mistrial.Carole Beaucage, lawyer for Fontaine, filed a myriad of motions. The most prominent arguments made were: the crown repeatedly sent incomplete evidence in an untimely fashion; Fontaine’s efforts to get a lawyer of his choice were blocked; and most seriously, the latest incident where two jurors were caught playing detective outside of jury deliberations (the two scrambled onto the bumper and hood of a prison bus trying to recreate the shooting ambush of prison guards Pierre Rondeau and Richard Corriveau). Beaucage says that action risked contaminating the jury.Regardless, judge Marc David ruled that the defense failed to prove there was a real danger of prejudice against Fontaine or a risk of judicial error. He also called some of the defense’s arguments unfounded or speculation, and others coming too late at this point in the trial.

Deliberations resumed on Saturday and by Sunday the jury had come back with a guilty verdict. You will recall that on Sept. 8, 1997, Rondeau and Corriveau’s van was sprayed with bullets as they stopped on their daily route to a Montreal detention centre to collect prisoners. Former Hells Angel leader Mourice “Mom” Boucher as an attempt to destabilize the justice system and intimidate informants supposedly masterminded the attack.

The Crown’s primary witness in the trial was Hells Angels informant Stephane Gagne, who was with Fontaine when the crime was committed.
It’s now up to Quebec Superior Court Judge Marc David to decide Fontaine’s sentence.

Massive explosion has blown the front off the Hells Angels bikie clubhouse

Massive explosion has blown the front off the Hells Angels bikie clubhouse at Petersham this morning, damaging surrounding homes and businesses.Residents say the force of the blast shook them from their beds, with a massive bang around 2am this morning.The front of the Hells Angels bikie clubhouse on Crystal Street is now rubble. Shattered glass from nearby businesses and homes lies across the street.
The force of the blast even blew the awning off the solicitors’ building across the road.Two men in a black four-wheel drive were seen fleeing the scene. The damage to the Hells Angels clubhouse appears contained to the front of the building. A solid brick protects the inside, which remains intact.

The gang war between bikie gangs the Rebels and the Bandidos is being linked to as many as 13 shootings on Sydney streets in the last two weeks.

The gang war between bikie gangs the Rebels and the Bandidos is being linked to as many as 13 shootings on Sydney streets in the last two weeks.A new elite police unit, originally set up to investigate the night-time shooting of a gang member in Seven Hills last month, is widening its net to examine the outbreak of violence among the outlaw gangs.first Sydney arrests in relation to the feud occurred on Wednesday night, when police pulled over four men in a Holden Commodore for a routine check and discovered two semi-automatic rifles, one loaded.Half an hour before the road stop, a house in Sadlier, believed to be linked to the Rebels, had been shot at. The four men, aged 21 to 46, are understood to be Bandidos associates.
Codenamed Highcro and made up of gangs squad officers, the strikeforce will examine the series of shootings in western Sydney.On November 28, a 25-year-old was shot several times in the head and chest while a passenger in a car driving on the Prospect Highway. The car was hit by about 19 bullets fired from at least two high-powered rifles. He was taken to hospital in a critical condition.
The Highcro detectives are using that incident as a springboard to look at 12 other shootings they believe may be linked to the warring bikie gangs, who have a history of enmity that often boils over into street warfare.A prominent Bandido was murdered in Melbourne in October and rumours of a planned "hit" marred the Friday extradition hearing in New Zealand of a Rebel member accused of a vicious bashing in Queensland last year.Only four days after the Seven Hills shooting, a Gypsy Joker was shot and knocked from his bike as he rode on the Great Western Highway before midnight.
In the early hours of the same day, December 2, a tattoo parlour in Belmore and a Bass Hill house were fired at. No one was injured in either shooting. Since then there have been nine shootings across Sydney's west.The NSW violence comes on the back of a flare-up between the two gangs in Victoria. On October 22, a Bandidos enforcer, 51-year-old Ross Brand, was shot dead outside the gang's Geelong clubhouse.
Two brothers, both members of the Rebels, have been charged with his murder.
The continuing gang violence has also led to high security during an extradition hearing for New Zealander and Rebel member Peter Douglas Rauhina, 37.The first Sydney arrests in relation to the feud occurred on Wednesday night, when police pulled over four men in a Holden Commodore for a routine check and discovered two semi-automatic rifles, one loaded.Half an hour before the road stop, a house in Sadlier, believed to be linked to the Rebels, had been shot at. The four men, aged 21 to 46, are understood to be Bandidos associates.

THE CLUBS REBELS MC The Rebels, with 29 chapters, are the largest outlaw motorcycle club in Australia. They are seen as a more traditional club and are run by former light-middleweight boxer and founding member, Alex Vella. GYPSY JOKER MC The Gypsy Joker MC are another Australian-formed club and are most notorious for the 2001 car-bomb murders of West Australian police senior investigator Don Hancock and Lawrence Lewis. BANDIDOS MC The Bandidos, whose motto is: "God forgives, Bandidos don't", are one of the "Big Four" gangs identified by the US FBI, and have 19 chapters across Australia. One of the clubs that has actively recruited from ethnic groups in recent years.

Cynthia Pelletier said she has no idea why Andrew Cilliers, 26, was gunned down in his driveway early Tuesday morning

Cynthia Pelletier said she has no idea why Andrew (Drew) Cilliers, 26, was gunned down in his driveway early Tuesday morning, but is traumatized by the loss."He was an excellent, excellent guy, okay," she said. "We loved Drew like our own family and we are just devastated."Pelletier's husband, Leonard, who police say is an associate of several full-patch Hells Angels, was shot in September 2007, as he was about to drop off his 14-year-old son at a Langley high school. The boy was uninjured.Leonard Pelletier co-signed for Cilliers' Harley-Davidson motorcycle loan, according to personal property records. Cilliers, who was convicted of drug trafficking in 2004, also got financing for the purchase of a 2006 Lincoln Navigator.Cynthia said her husband did not want to talk about the murder."It is too sad. It is too f---ing sad . . . . all I can say is he [Cilliers] was a great kid . . . the young people today don't realize once you're gone, it's gone."Surrey RCMP were called to the tidy rental home at 6267 131A St. about 12:30 a.m. and found Cilliers critically wounded in his driveway.Several police cars arrived and officers put up yellow crime tape as snow began to fall.
A few hours later, Integrated Homicide Investigation Team spokesman Cpl. Dale Carr confirmed that Cilliers had died of his injuries about 3:30 a.m."Cilliers was known to police. This incident has all the indicators of being a targeted attack," Carr said.Despite Cilliers' criminal associations, Carr said investigators don't have a motive for the shooting."We haven't linked it to any other murder yet," Carr said. "It is currently a mystery to us."For his January 2004 conviction, Cilliers got a six-month conditional sentence and nine months' probation, as well as a 10-year ban on owning a firearm.He and his brother had rented the two-storey home for almost a year, owner Shafqat Ali Bajwa said.
"Oh no, oh no, oh God," Bajwa said. "It is very bad, very shocking."
He said Cilliers was a good tenant who said he worked in the auction business and had provided references."I did not have any problems with him," Bajwa said. "He paid his rent on time. He left the house clean.Bajwa said that at one point there was a bad domestic situation, but it had been resolved"He had [a] problem with his girlfriend in the summer, but now they are separated. He was living there with his brother," Bajwa said.He said he knew nothing about the young man's drug trafficking conviction and had spoken to Cilliers' father and employer when he moved in.
"They said he was all right," he said.Cilliers' distraught father Gerald had a colleague answering his Langley office phone Tuesday after learning of his son's death.

Brian Jeffrey, the sergeant-at-arms of the Simcoe Chapter of the Hells Angels, pleaded guilty to trafficking four kilograms of cocaine

Last fall,Brian Jeffrey, the sergeant-at-arms of the Simcoe Chapter of the Hells Angels, pleaded guilty to trafficking four kilograms of cocaine, with a purity of 88 to 91 per cent, but adamantly denied that his biker club is a criminal organization.
At a hearing attended by family, friends and Hells Angels members, Ontario Superior Court Justice John McMahon sentenced the ailing tow truck supervisor to nine years in prison, less six months for pre-trial custody and his stringent bail conditions. Jeffrey's wife cried out in anger at the result."Do you think I can see him before you take him away for 10 years?" she angrily asked the court officers as they led away her handcuffed husband, who walks with a cane.Despite his credentials as a good family man with a dated criminal record, a lifetime of steady employment and contributions as a father figure to an abused 11-year-old girl, the fact that Jeffrey sold cocaine was certain to "cause havoc" in other families, the judge said. The judge found otherwise, and on that basis yesterday tacked 3 1/2 years onto what would have otherwise been a 5 1/2-year sentence. "It was a good day for the Crown and police," prosecutor Tom Andreopoulos said outside court.Jeffrey portrayed himself as a benign family man, but he is not, just as the Hells Angels are not "good ol' boy motorcycle enthusiasts," Andreopoulos said. Jeffrey will likely have to serve two-thirds of his sentence before he is paroled, Andreopoulos said.

Hells Angels member Edward Proudfoot "They came here full of aggression," . "They came here ready for a war."

Hells Angels member Edward Proudfoot opened the door of his East Oakland home and saw that they had him surrounded.Helicopters whirred overhead, officers from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office and the Oakland Police Department were stationed outside and on nearby rooftops with guns aimed at the house, and TV news cameras were ready to roll video. Proudfoot's wife, Shelley Milliorn, who had been running errands nearby, was being detained.The police were there to search Proudfoot's house for two murder suspects connected to a family friend who had visited Proudfoot's home in the last few days. The suspects, who Proudfoot says he does not know, were wanted in connection with the murder of a San Leandro man.
By the end of that night, September 23, images of a handcuffed Proudfoot were all over the local evening news, his house had been searched with nothing found, and his dog Jade had been shot at close range by a member of the Oakland police. Now, months after the incident, Proudfoot and Milliorn say they are still wondering: What exactly happened?According to Proudfoot, an officer informed him that they'd seen two murder suspects jump the fence of his home and that the pair could be inside his home at that very minute. Would he please allow officers to do an immediate search of his house?Before Proudfoot signed a document allowing the officers to search the premises, he said he made one request. "One of the first things I asked them, 'Let me take care of my dogs,'" Proudfoot recalled. Both of his dogs, Jade and Bear, were inside the home. "I'll put them away in the bathroom or somewhere so they're out of the way. I told them at least half a dozen times."
But later that night, Jade was shot. According to lead detective Pat Smyth of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, a member of the Oakland police shot the dog. Although he was not present at the scene, Smyth said, "It was the Oakland Police. They were doing a protective sweep of the house of the resident. An aggressive pit bull was shot. There were two pit bulls, one they were able to lasso. The other one they were not, retreated into the house. When they did a protective sweep of the house, the dog charged them aggressively and subsequently it was shot."Civil rights attorney David Beauvais says the couple is making preparations to file a federal civil case within the next month. Although Beauvais declined to state the grounds for the lawsuit, he mentioned that he was looking into the reasons for the search.Proudfoot and Milliorn, who say they do not know the murder victim or the two men publicly identified by Smyth and other officers as suspects, Aaron Hammond and Ben Eddleman, have not been charged in connection with the homicide.

And as for the story that either murder suspect had been sighted jumping the fence of Proudfoot's property? Dickson said, "No, we never said anything like that. I've never heard anything like that as a part of this investigation. I would have no idea where that information came from." He added that his officers did not see Hammond or Eddleman in front of the house. In a separate interview, detective Symth agreed that neither suspect had been spotted in front of the home.

Yet Milliorn, like her husband, claims that she was told by police that Hammond and Eddleman had jumped their fence and might be in their house. "They said, 'We told you ... that the two suspects jumped the fence.' I said, 'Well if you want to, give my husband a call and let him know that that he's in there with two homicidal maniacs.'"
Proudfoot's legal advisor, criminal attorney Portia Glassman, who was called to the scene on the night of the search, sees the search as a case of bungled, misplaced showmanship. "They came here full of aggression," she said. "They came here ready for a war." Glassman also represents another Hells Angels member in a criminal case against the Alameda Sherriff's Office in a search of his home that took place a month before the search of Proudfoot's home.
Milliorn added, "They exploited his name and our address and everything on every newspaper and every news channel for two days. It was nothing related to the murder."As for Jade the pit bull, she was taken to the Pet Emergency Treatment Service in Berkeley. The veterinarian, Dr. Shea Cox, pronounced the dog brain-dead and Milliorn allowed the dog to be put down. She had been beanbagged several times before being shot in the head.Weeks after the search, Proudfoot's anger is still palpable. "They explained it to me: the suspects that they were looking for were here, and just in case there was a gun, they didn't want to endanger me to come in here while I was getting my dogs," he said on a weekday afternoon at his home, where blood stains of his dog remain in the carpet. "That's just bullshit, you know. I mean, they're just lying."

Paul Fontaine is charged with first degree murder for the 1997 killing of prison guard Pierre Rondeau

Paul Fontaine is charged with first degree murder for the 1997 killing of prison guard Pierre Rondeau. The guard was killed during an ambush of a prison bus in the east end of Montreal. The principal witness in the case, Stephane "Godasse" Gagne, was also involved in the crime, making it a difficult deliberation for the jury. Gagne pleaded guilty to charge of murder related to the death of Diane Lavigne, a prison security guard who was killed a few weeks earlier than Rondeau. He was able to plea bargin out of the charges for the murder of Rondeau. Initially it was believed the killing of the guards was intended to destabilize the justice system. However, it was revealed in court that the killings were also ordered to test the loyalty of Fontaine, Gagne and others.
The jury has been sequestered since Tuesday evening.

Outlaw biker Jeffrey Albert Lynds has “moved on to the Nomads in Ontario

clubhouse may be gone and their membership decimated by an undercover investigation that nailed the Halifax club, but police now say a former member of the only chapter east of Quebec is now part of a very elite group within the international gang.
Outlaw biker Jeffrey Albert Lynds has “moved on to the Nomads in Ontario,” RCMP Const. Stephen MacQueen said.A member of the RCMP-Halifax Regional Police combined forces intelligence unit, Const. MacQueen wouldn’t say where specifically Mr. Lynds was living, but said: “We still have one full-patch Hells Angel member here in the province and he’s a member of the Ontario Nomads.”On Jan. 29, 2003, the courts brought the hammer down on Mr. Lynds and fellow gang members, Arthur (Art) Daine Harrie and Clay Gordon McCrea. Mr. Harrie and Mr. McCrea got six years each all on drug charges, while Mr. Lynds was sentenced to three years and slapped with a lifetime firearms ban. The very same day, the bikers lost their Dutch Village Road clubhouse to the Crown under new anti-gang legislation.
The charges and the seizure stemmed from Operation Hammer, an undercover case that ended with a series of raids and arrests in December 2001.With three of its members awaiting trial on drug charges and a fourth, Neil William Smith, awaiting trial for murder, the Halifax chapter had slipped below the organization’s six-member minimum. Only Michael (Mike) Shawn McCrea, Michael (Speedy) Christiansen and Daniel Fitzsimmons remained and this time, they couldn’t rely on the support of Quebec Nomad, David (Wolf) Carroll. The godfather of the Halifax chapter is still wanted on 13 counts of murder stemming from the Quebec biker war. Instead, the Hells Angels pulled its trademark winged Deaths Head patch and rode off into the sunset.

Clay McCrea told the National Parole Board in June 2005 that he’d retired in good standing, along with his older brother, Mike, but was surprised at the club’s collapse. Mr. Harrie told the board in November 2005 that the Hells Angels had offered him a transfer to another chapter, but he decided to retire.

When released on parole, Clay McCrea and Mr. Harrie were banned from contact with any past or present member of the Hells Angels, including Mike McCrea.Const. MacQueen confirmed that all three did retire, but wouldn’t say whether they left on good terms.Mike, whose last name is often misspelled as McCrae or MacRae, was the reputed president of the Halifax chapter president, world secretary and international webmaster. The married father of one, who has always maintained that he was simply a member, is recovering from a battle with cancer and running a computer consulting business from his Porters Lake home.Mr. Smith recently lost an appeal of his murder conviction and remains in jail, while Mr. Fitzsimmons was booted out of the club, police previously said. In 2004, police said that Mr. Christiansen had transferred to the East End Hells Angels chapter in B.C. where his former 13th Tribe brother, David Giles, was a member. But the Kelowna Daily Courier reported in June 2007 that Mr. Christiansen was one of the founding members of a new chapter in Kelowna.Thursday is the first full day that Clay McCrea and Mr. Harrie can have contact with any past or present members of the Hells Angels because their sentences have expired. But Const. MacQueen won’t say that biker investigators are going to keep a sharp eye on these long-time criminals.“I guess we have an interest in anybody committing criminal offences, so if they commit criminal offences, they’ll be looked upon like anybody else. Right now, they’re not Hells Angels members so we don’t treat them any different than anybody else,” the officer said. While there’s no official Hells Angels chapter, the gang has “two support clubs in Nova Scotia,” which Const. MacQueen identified as the East Coast Riders and the Highlanders. And, he said, police “often see Ontario and Quebec, and Hells Angels members from across the country come here.”The Hells Angels “definitely have an influence and an impact on criminal activity in Nova Scotia. However, having a chapter here is like having a stake in the ground. It’s more of a visible thing that ‘This is our territory,’” Const. MacQueen said.
Having the Hells Angels patch with the words Halifax or Nova Scotia underneath “gives the perception to the public and to criminals that ‘This is our territory.’ Without that, they are missing that. However, that doesn’t mean that they still don’t have the influence and the fear of them is still very real among the criminal element.”
The public may not see Hells Angels in the headlines anymore, but police say the battle continues.“They’ve been declared a criminal organization. We don’t want them back. We do everything in our power to try to prevent them coming back,” Const. MacQueen said.

Chad Wilson, 33, of San Diego and John Midmore, 35,trial for conspiracy would amount to double-jeopardy.

Chad Wilson, 33, of San Diego and John Midmore, 35, of Valparaiso, Ind. were acquitted by a Minnehaha County jury Nov. 20 on charges that they tried to kill five people associated with the Outlaws Motorcycle Club. The parties decided before the trial that charges of conspiracy to commit murder would be handled later.But after the verdict, defense lawyers argued a trial for conspiracy would amount to double-jeopardy. Beadle County State’s Attorney Mike Moore, who helped prosecute the case, now says he is close to a plea agreement with both defendants.“We’re close to an agreement to resolve it,” he said Tuesday.Moore would not disclose the particulars of the deal, but said the plan is for Wilson and Midmore to return to state court in Sioux Falls to enter pleas on Feb. 4.

Penrith Police Local Area Command have charged an outlaw motorcycle gang associate over a stabbing in Penrith

Penrith Police Local Area Command have charged an outlaw motorcycle gang associate over a stabbing in Penrith in October last year. A 23-year-old Quakers Hill man was stabbed in the leg and chest while he was sitting in his 4WD near the intersection of Castlereagh Road and Jane Street shortly before 4.30pm on 21 October 2008. The injured man was treated at the scene by ambulance officers from a nearby station, before being taken to Nepean Hospital for treatment.As a result of the ongoing investigation, police conducted a high-risk operation in Werrington yesterday afternoon.About 6.45pm a 23-year-old man was arrested without incident on Werrington Road and taken to Penrith Police Station.He was refused bail to appear in Parramatta Bail Court today charged with attempted murder and maliciously inflict grievous bodily harm. Yesterday’s operation involved police from Penrith Local Area Command, North West Metropolitan Region Enforcement Squad, State Crime Command Gangs Squad, Tactical Operations Unit and Negotiators, as well as the SPG Dog Unit.

latest move to crack down on bikie gangs follows police raids of various club headquarters in Nowra, Albion Park, Batemans Bay and Kiama Downs

Lake Illawarra police are investigating alleged breaches of new laws which ban outlaw motorcycle gang members wearing their club colours into pubs and clubs.Licensed premises across the Illawarra have begun working with police to make it a condition of entry to ban clothing or visible tattoos with bikie gang symbols, logos, names or colours.Sergeant Gary Keevers emphasised the new conditions of entry were not about banning people, only the clothing or other symbols representing the gangs."For nearly six months now, police have advised a number of motorcycle clubs of the pending entry conditions and the reasons for those conditions," he said. "Some hotel staff have even offered persons T-shirts to wear while they were on the premises."An escalation in gang rivalry, particularly in Sydney, was behind the move, Sgt Keevers said."Police are monitoring the Kiama local government area in respect of a particular motorcycle club," he said."We continually get community and liquor industry complaints about the behaviour of some gangs, with people indicating fear and a feeling of intimidation."The latest move to crack down on bikie gangs follows police raids of various club headquarters in Nowra, Albion Park, Batemans Bay and Kiama Downs last year.Members of the Rebels motorcycle gang were later charged with offences including operating an unlicensed premises, possessing illegal gaming machines and breaching a noise abatement order and were fined $15,900.

Not guilty of sparking an Aug. 8, 2006, gunfight at Custer State Park during the Sturgis motorcycle rally.

Jurors in Sioux Falls on Nov. 20 found Chad Wilson, 33, a Canadian citizen who lives in San Diego, and John Midmore, 35, a dual Canadian-Australian citizen of Valparaiso, Ind., not guilty of sparking an Aug. 8, 2006, gunfight at Custer State Park during the Sturgis motorcycle rally. Three Outlaws Motorcycle Club members and two women with them were injured. Prosecutors said Wilson and Midmore tried to kill their rivals but Wilson testified he fired in self-defence after they were confronted during a rest stop at Legion Lake Resort. Midmore was released on bail hours after the verdict. Wilson was indicted days later on a federal charge of being a non-immigrant alien in possession of a firearm. He was transferred to Rapid City, where he is scheduled to stand trial Feb. 10. Wilson testified he fired several rounds with a handgun and had other guns in his truck. Jurors initially were split.
"Right from the get-go we decided we should have a vote to see where everybody stood," the juror said. "And it was five for not guilty, five for guilty and two for not decided." The voting worked toward not guilty, then back toward guilty and ultimately ended over problems with some of the evidence, he said. "The entire jury felt that the scene had not been managed as well as it could have been. And eventually it ended up in a contradiction to some of the evidence relating to the number of shots fired," he said. "That probably was the thing that ended up getting us to the point where we eventually got to the unanimous decision." During the trial, the defence lawyer queried investigators at length about how people were allowed to walk through the parking lot and pick up and move shell casings, clothing and even a gun. Prosecutors countered rescue personnel and law-enforcement officers at the scene were most concerned with saving the lives of the people shot, some of whom lost a lot of blood. During the second day of deliberating, jurors said they couldn't reach a decision. The judge had them keep at it and after another day they ultimately found the men not guilty of all charges. "A couple of the people who insisted on not guilty were making it very clear it would be a cold day in hell before they could consider anything different," the juror said. The man said though several jurors expressed concern for their safety, he couldn't say if it affected anyone's vote. Several Hells Angels bikers attended the trial. Prosecutors still want to try Wilson and Midmore on a more serious charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, which carries a punishment of life in prison if convicted. Defence lawyers have asked the judge to dismiss the charge, arguing it would amount to double jeopardy - being tried twice for the same crime. Prosecutors argued the attempted murder and conspiracy charges are separate crimes, so another trial would not amount to double jeopardy.

Iron Horsemen Motorcycle Club, accused of running an elaborate drug ring in Maine

The trial of several members of the Iron Horsemen Motorcycle Club, accused of running an elaborate drug ring in Maine, has been pushed back until at least March because another defendant has been charged by a federal grand jury.Ramon Dellosantos, 39, of Haverhill, Mass., made his initial appearance and arraignment at U.S. District Court in Portland on Tuesday.Standing beside defense attorney Elliot Weinstein of Boston, Dellosantos pleaded not guilty to the single charge of conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine and marijuana.Dellosantos became the 20th defendant charged in the case, which is among the largest drug-conspiracy cases ever prosecuted in Maine.Federal prosecutors say members and supporters of the Iron Horsemen funneled drugs from Massachusetts to Maine, where they were distributed throughout the state. The ring operated from at least 2004 until December of 2007, Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Perry has said in court documents.Richard Szpyt, president of the Maine chapter of the Iron Horsemen, is the alleged ringleader. Prosecutors seek to have his properties in Haverhill, Mass., and Old Orchard Beach, plus the property of a co-defendant in Albany Township, turned over to the government. The house in Old Orchard Beach served as the state headquarters for the Iron Horsemen.

A grand jury indicted 19 defendants in March, and Dellosantos was indicted in October. Some of them face multiple charges and face a minimum of 10 years in prison if convicted.

Three of the defendants have already pleaded guilty, and await sentencing. Charles Green of East Dixfield and Bruce Hill of Limerick pleaded guilty to conspiracy. Kelley Monahan of Newfield pleaded guilty to using a telephone to facilitate the distribution of marijuana.The rest of the defendants are waiting for the trial, although some or all of them could reach plea agreements in the meantime with the U.S. Attorney's Office.The case is tentatively on the March 2 trial list for Chief U.S. District Judge George Singal.Weinstein said neither he nor his client, Dellosantos, would comment. Perry, the prosecutor, said federal court rules prohibit him from discussing details of the case.According to court documents, federal investigators obtained wiretaps in the summer of 2007, and they captured "thousands of conversations and electronic communications," between the defendants. Other evidence includes seized notebooks, drugs and weapons at Szpyt's property on Ross Road in Old Orchard.The Iron Horsemen is one of the largest motorcycle clubs active in Maine. The club has chapters nationwide, with concentrated pockets in Maryland, Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana.Along with other clubs, including Hells Angels, Saracens and Bandidos, the Iron Horsemen are classified by law enforcement agencies as "outlaw motorcycle gangs." Drug investigators in Maine say motorcycle club members have played significant roles in the state's drug trade since the 1970s.

Outlaw motorcyle gang was said to have been involved in theft of pearls

In Western Australia, outlaw motorcyle gang was said to have been involved in theft of pearls; in the Northern Territory, OMCGs had purchased fishing licences; and in South Australia, enforcement stakeholders believed that OMCGs had been involved in the illegal abalone trade," the report says. "These gangs were also reported to have purchased fishing vessels to distribute illicit drugs." In the Northern Territory, companies and family groups are illegally profiting from large-scale and well-organised shark "finning", in which fins are sliced from illegally caught sharks and smuggled to Asia, where they are in huge demand. In NSW, entire racks of oysters are being stolen from oyster farms using lifting equipment on the back of vehicles. Money laundering, including the use of underground banks to illegally move money into and out of Australia, is also linked to the seafood black market. The criminology institute's general manager of research, Judy Putt, co-author of the report, said there was widespread concern among fisheries officers that Australia's existing regulations were inadequate to deal with the growing threat posed by organised crime. The report, based on a survey of more than 300 fisheries officers and consultations with law enforcement agencies, warns that as some types of seafood become rarer and more expensive they will increasingly attract organised crime groups. "Systematic criminal activity, which is more likely to target vulnerable and most valuable species, escalates not only the seriousness of the illegal activity but also its effects, through an increase in criminal activity generally, such as environmental offences, theft, fraud, quarantine violation, tax evasion and serious crimes against people, including murder," the report says. International trafficking of fish products between organised crime groups is arranged "as and when the need arises".

All of the fisheries officers surveyed in the study believed there was organised crime involvement in illegal fishing in their jurisdictions, with 26 per cent saying there was "a lot" and 58 per cent responding there was "some".

"The sector is also characterised by seasonal work, which can attract individuals with involvement in criminal activity such as poaching and drug distribution," the report says. "These structural factors can reduce the resistance of the sector to organised criminal activity."
According to the report, poachers are becoming more sophisticated in their efforts to avoid detection, with illegal divers in Tasmania and Victoria using re-breathers to hide their bubbles, working at night with underwater lights and using global positioning systems.

Former Outlaws motorcycle gang member Ronald Stahlman was arrested

former Outlaws motorcycle gang member has been indicted in northeast Ohio in a murder from nearly 30 years ago. Authorities say 52-year-old Ronald Stahlman was arrested Dec. 8 in Arizona by a federal task force that pursues fugitives. He was indicted yesterday by a Trumbull County grand jury in the 1979 stabbing death of 18-year-old Bernard Williamson in Warren. Authorities say the suspect had been using an alias since an arrest warrant was issued for him in 1979. He's now locked up in Phoenix awaiting extradition.