Pubdate: Tue, 08 Nov 2005
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2005, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Colin Freeze
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?188 (Outlaw Bikers)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

BIKER DRUG DEALER HANDED 4 YEARS

VANCOUVER -- A Hells Angels drug dealer presented a judge with a note
from his mom yesterday as he asked for -- and received -- a lenient
sentence.

Norman Krogstad, who has pleaded guilty to dealing nearly half a
million dollars worth of cocaine, gave the B.C. Supreme Court a letter
from his 86-year-old mother during his sentencing hearing. She
attested that despite his reputation as a Hells Angels ringleader, Mr.
Krogstad was also a good son who visited her frequently.

Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm sentenced the 58-year-old
grey-haired man, who wore a black suit, red poppy and trimmed beard,
to the four years recommended by Crown and defence lawyers.

The judge recommended that the time be served in a minimum-security
prison in the Fraser Valley to help Mr. Krogstad keep in touch with
his family. The biker's mother, daughter, sister, and wife attended
court yesterday. They had provided the judge with statements asserting
that the full-patch Hells Angels member is a kind, generous and "very
giving" family man.

Because he is a non-violent offender with no previous criminal record,
Mr. Krogstad is likely to be paroled after serving as little as
one-sixth of his sentence.

His business partner, Hells Angel Cedric Smith, also received a
four-year sentence for dealing drugs. In addition, Mr. Smith was
ordered to pay a $100,000 fine, which court heard will be mostly taken
care of with the thick stacks of bills police seized from his house in
Langley.

As a result of the guilty plea, some other charges the men faced were
dropped, including ones that involved a co-accused biker found slain
this spring.

RCMP Corporal Glenn Atkins, an investigator who attended court
yesterday, said the sentences were the toughest the law allows. It's
unlikely they will affect British Columbia's brisk drug trade, he added.

Still, Cpl. Atkins said the Mounties take some satisfaction in
securing convictions against two Hells Angels. He said the RCMP in
British Columbia spent perhaps $2-million on laying charges against 10
Hells Angels arrested last year during an investigation that involved
months of surveillance, wiretaps and arranged drug purchases.

Guilty pleas have been secured in most cases so far, but the legal
victories have also had a downside: The pleas have effectively
pre-empted trials that would have offered the public a window into the
enterprises of the Hells Angels.

Although the group has long said it is simply a network of motorcycle
enthusiasts, the gang is routinely flagged by Canadian law-enforcement
agencies as the biggest, most organized criminal group in the country.

Convictions have been rare, however. This year, police in Ontario
successfully brought gangsterism charges against two Ontario Hells
Angels involved in an extortion racket. The decision, which designated
the group as an aggressive and constantly expanding drug-dealing
network, meant stiffer-than-usual sentences.

Cpl. Atkins said it took the Crown in Ontario three years to put
together its organized-crime case, while B.C. authorities couldn't
hope to meet the same stringent standard of proof in their
investigation.

But in reading a statement of facts to the court, Crown prosecutor
Martha Devlin gave a blow-by-blow account of how Mr. Krogstad and Mr.
Smith sold kilograms of cocaine wrapped in duct tape to a police agent.

The RCMP had persuaded an unidentified member of an affiliated biker
gang in Prince George to work for them. The Mounties gave him hundreds
of thousands of dollars to buy drugs.

Over the course of a year and a half, the agent, now in a
witness-protection program, bought about 10 kilograms of cocaine.

Ms. Devlin told the court that the agent primarily bought through Mr.
Smith, whom he would page with "666" -- a prearranged signal to meet
at a Wendy's restaurant.

Initially the going rate for a kilogram of cocaine was $40,000 but the
agent moved the price close to $30,000 after getting an undertaking
from Mr. Krogstad to get the price reduced, Ms. Devlin told the court.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin