Pubdate: Wed, 17 Dec 2008 Source: Review, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2008 Osprey Media Group Inc. Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/8den7vMS Website: http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2907 Authors: Grant LaFleche, and Karena Walter Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?188 (Outlaw Bikers) 'THEY'RE NOT GONE' Despite the arrests of Project Tandem, the Hells Angels still remain active in Niagara Gerald Ward told the police everything. He told them about his drug deals worth tens of thousands of dollars. About the mind-numbing purity of his cocaine supply. About cracking down on losers trying to take a bite out of his business. He even told police how terrified cops were to come near his mighty fortress clubhouse in Welland. The leader of the local Hells Angels spilled his guts without knowing it. Steven Gault of the Oshawa chapter was wearing a wire. And what Gault heard, police heard. Ontario's joint-forces biker enforcement unit investigated the gang for 18 months. Surveillance. Phone taps. Raids. It was the first time in Canadian history an executive officer of the Hells Angels committed the greatest of outlaw biker sins: Ratting out the gang. For the Angels, it was the end of the road. "We had an overwhelming case; it was a crushing case and they folded," said federal prosecutor Tom Andreopoulos, legal team leader of the anti-organized crime unit in Toronto. "In my view, they were taken to the edge of the cliff and ultimately had nowhere else to go but to fall." Twenty-four people were charged. In less than two years, all of them, including 15 Hells Angels, have gone through the courts with guilty pleas or trials. Close to a record pace for major cases. This was no mundane drug sting. Police and the Crown were more ambitious than that. They were after the Hells Angels club itself. They had to prove it was a criminal organization. That meant in several trials, prosecutors had to demonstrate a main activity of the group was committing or facilitating serious crimes. The types that attract minimum five-year sentences. They focused on what Andreopoulos called the Hells Angels' true essence. The key to its success: A sophisticated structure designed for crime. For decades, the bikers have protested. They are misunderstood motorcycle fans with a club structure similar to something like Scouts Canada, they say. Restrictions on membership. Uniforms. Badges. Ranks. The difference is that Scouts Canada issues merit badges for tying knots, learning CPR or swimming. The Hells Angels have merit badges, too. When a biker murders someone with another Angel as witness, he gets one marked with the words "The Filthy Few." The badges are only part of it. There's the winged death head patch, and intelligence gathering on rivals and police. Weekly "church meetings" and membership that excludes anyone who's ever been a police officer or "man of colour." "The Hells Angels is like a syndicated formula or a franchise for success," Andreopoulos said. "They don't deliver coffees like Coffee Time, but they deliver cocaine." It all makes it very hard for a Hells Angel like Ward to claim his drug dealing has nothing to do with the gang. "No, it has everything to do with your business," Andreopoulos said. "That's why you've joined the Hells Angels, to allow you to do that." Across the province, police seized 10 kilograms of cocaine in the 2006 Project Tandem raids. Two kilograms of pure crystal methamphetamine, eight kilograms of marijuana and 50,000 pills of ecstasy. Those drugs poison communities. Addicts will do anything to get money for drugs. Break-ins and auto thefts are often about getting that $40 for a half-gram of coke. "When people say organized crime doesn't affect me, that's where it does," said a local intelligence officer with the biker unit. "It affects insurance rates and everything else." The Niagara chapter was a snapshot of the national organization. One is part of the whole, Andreopoulos said. What was happening there was happening everywhere. A judge agreed. "The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is an exceptionally well-organized, sophisticated corporate structure which would be the envy of many international corporations," Judge John McMahon said in September. He found Kenneth Wagner guilty of directing others to act for a criminal organization. Ward's right-hand man was the first in Ontario convicted of the charge. But the linchpin was Ward himself, found guilty last Friday of the same criminal organization charge. He already pleaded guilty to trafficking cocaine and possessing $304,430 in proceeds of crime. Ward and Wagner had almost $500,000 cash between them. It was hidden in their homes with confidential police documents. A secret police report was also in the clubhouse. "Ward is the poster boy of all that it means to be a Hells Angel member," Andreopoulos said. "Fortress Niagara was one of the most formidable ones in Ontario." A local intelligence officer from the Ontario biker enforcement unit said without Gault's being a full patch member, they never would have got to Ward. The gang is built on trust. Most members don't reach the level of criminality required to join the Hells Angels until their 30s. Gault was already a member with a stamp of approval when he approached the Niagara gang. He was their brother. Wagner was jailed 11 years for the criminal organization, trafficking cocaine and possessing $150,675 in proceeds of crime. Timothy Muise, Alain Lacroix and Richard Beaulieu all received jail time. Ward is scheduled to be sentenced in February. The Niagara chapter of the Hells Angels has been badly wounded, but not entirely wiped out. The head's been cut off, but the body is still breathing. With Ward and Wagner in prison, leadership fell to Tim Panetta, the last original member still standing. But even he is under pressure, facing criminal charges for illegally importing cars. "The Hells Angels Niagara chapter is self-perpetuating," said a local intelligence officer. It's a bit like pulling a bucket of water from the ocean. As soon as the bucket is removed, water rushes in to replace what's been taken. Commuter Hells Angels from Kitchener and Hamilton now keep the gang alive. The chapter still has the name. The rep. The patch. There are still addicts. There are still suppliers. There's still money to be made from the desperate and the depraved. "In the end, because it's a criminal organization, they will attempt to exist in the area," another officer said. "They're not gone." - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin