Pubdate: Thu, 14 Feb 2008
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008 The Vancouver Sun
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Neal Hall
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?188 (Outlaw Bikers)

PROSECUTOR ALLEGES JOINT VENTURE BY HELLS ANGELS

Police Secretly Recorded Conversations At Gang Member's Home

VANCOUVER - Conversations secretly recorded by police in 2005 indicate
a senior member of the East End chapter of the Hells Angels was
involved in a "joint venture" with two co-accused in cocaine
trafficking, a federal prosecutor argued Wednesday during final
submissions.

"It demonstrates they are engaged in business," prosecutor Martha
Devlin told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Anne MacKenzie.

She pointed out that after police seized eight kilograms of cocaine in
April 2005, accused drug trafficker David Roger Revell met with Hells
Angels member David Francis Giles at the biker's Kelowna area home on
May 2, 2005.

Police had installed a covert listening device in Giles' home that
picked him up discussing the one-kilogram bricks of cocaine seized by
police almost a month earlier.

"Giles is in control," Devlin argued about the dynamics of the
conversation. "Giles is not deterred by the fact the cocaine is seized
and they must pay back the money."

She added Giles is heard advising Revell, "We'll get back up," which
suggests they're both involved in cocaine trafficking.

The Crown contends the drug trafficking was done for the benefit of or
in association with Vancouver's East End chapter of the Hells Angels,
which the Crown alleges is a criminal organization.

The prosecutor also referred to a call between Giles and his
common-law wife, who questioned $500 being charged to her credit card
for airfares to Calgary.

Giles replied that Revell had made the biker "$30,000 in the last
couple of months," the Crown alleged.

Devlin said Revell had met many senior Hells Angels members, which
indicates he was trusted by them.

"We say there is a joint venture between Giles, Revell and [Richard
Andrew] Rempel with respect to the cocaine," she told the court.

"They were totally aware of who they were dealing with and it was this
criminal group, the Hells Angels," Devlin said in her fourth day of
final arguments at the trial, which began last September.

Giles, 58, a Hells Angels member for more than 20 years, is accused of
possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking "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."

Alleged Hells Angels associates Revell, 43, and Rempel, 24, are
accused of cocaine trafficking and possessing cocaine for the purpose
of trafficking in association with a criminal organization -- the
Hells Angels.

The trial has heard how police offered $1 million to a former Cecil
Hotel strip club bouncer to infiltrate the East End chapter.

The man, who worked as a police agent, applied to become a Hells
Angels member and was "in the program" as an official friend of the
club.

The $10-million police investigation concluded in the summer of 2005
with the arrest of 18 men, including five members of the Hells Angels
and the son of the chapter president.

Among the charges laid were cocaine and methamphetamine trafficking,
assault, extortion, and weapons offences.

Police raided the Hells Angels' East End chapter clubhouses in
Vancouver and Kelowna, located in the Interior of B.C.

The Crown contends the Hells Angels chapter had expanded to Kelowna to
take control of the lucrative illegal drug market.

During surveillance of Giles, Rempel and Revell, police seized three
kilograms of cocaine from a storage locker and the next day seized
another five kilograms of cocaine from a hidden compartment of a car
kept on a used car lot operated by Rempel.

The same day, Giles was seen meeting Revell in the parking lot of a
local gym.

The defence will begin its final arguments today at the Vancouver Law
Courts.
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