Biker gang rocked to the very core

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KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS RCMP seized Rock Machine guns, gear, drugs and dope on Wednesday.

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KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS RCMP officers display a haul of guns, drugs and gear seized from biker gang.

The entire membership of the Winnipeg chapter of the Rock Machine motorcycle gang has been swept up in a major RCMP investigation.

RCMP officials said the gang members plus several other suspects alleged to be independent drug dealers were taken into custody Wednesday following a series of raids in Winnipeg.

"Today is a very good day for public safety," said Kevin Brosseau, RCMP assistant commissioner and commanding officer of the Manitoba division.

The RCMP took 11 people into custody: Four were identified as Rock Machine members; another was described as a Rock Machine prospect; and six individuals have been charged with a variety of drug possession and trafficking charges.

Brosseau said the investigation, formally known as Project Dilemma, began in August, and specifically targeted the Rock Machine, a small outlaw biker gang that has been trying to pick up the pieces of the illicit drug trade since the Hells Angels were rounded up in a Winnipeg police investigation.

The RCMP raided a home early Wednesday morning in the Weston neighbourhood, in the 1400 block of Bannatyne Avenue, where several suspects were taken into custody. RCMP then raided a location on Wall Street where one of the Rock Machine members worked, a few blocks away from the RCMP Manitoba headquarters on Portage Avenue.

In a show of police bravado, much of what the RCMP seized Wednesday was on display during the Thursday-morning news conference at the Portage Avenue headquarters: pipe bombs, other explosives, handguns, sawed-off shotguns and ammunition, several pounds of cocaine and marijuana, 1,800 tablets of BZP, a synthetic ecstasy, boxes of cash, and Rock Machine hoodies, patches and other gang clothing.

RCMP Insp. Len Delpino said several explosive devices were found at the Wall Street location, which required the street to be closed for several hours and nearby businesses to be evacuated while a bomb-disposal team dealt with the explosives.

"Our target and our focus is organized crime and I think today we were able to establish that we brought down a very high-level organized crime group," Delpino said, adding more charges are expected against those arrested as the investigation continues.

Nine charged by the RCMP are from Winnipeg. One man is a resident of the RM of East St. Paul and another is from the RM of St. Andrews.

It was believed the Rock Machine had been embroiled in a war with the Hells Angels, which reached its zenith in 2011 with brazen public shootings and bombings. The Winnipeg Police essentially broke up the Hells Angels last year with Project Flatlined, arresting 11 prominent members and associates in March 2012 and seven others in the weeks following.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca

Manitoba RCMP arrest 11 people in gang bust

Todd Kenneth Murray, 43, Winnipeg, Rock Machine member

Trafficking in cocaine x 3

Possession of proceeds crime x 3

Conspiracy to traffic cocaine

Trafficking cocaine in association with a criminal organization

Conspiracy to traffic cocaine in association with a criminal organization

Instructing persons to commit offences in association with a criminal organization

Participating in the activities of a criminal organization

Joseph John Strachan, 42, RM of East St. Paul, Rock Machine member

Trafficking in cocaine

Possession of proceeds of crime

Conspiracy to traffic cocaine

Trafficking cocaine in association with a criminal organization

Conspiracy to traffic cocaine in association with a criminal organization

Instructing persons to commit offences in association with a criminal organization

Participating in the activities of a criminal organization John Adam Curwin, 31, Winnipeg, Rock Machine Member

Trafficking in benzylpiperazine x 2

Firearms trafficking

Offer to traffic a firearm

Possession of proceeds of crime x 2

Trafficking benzylpiperazine (BZP) in association with a criminal organization

Firearms trafficking in association etc.

Cameron Adam Hemminger, 42, Winnipeg, Rock Machine member

Trafficking cocaine in association with a criminal organization

Trafficking cocaine

Possession of proceeds of crime;

Shannon Chad Campbell, 35, RM of St. Andrews, Rock Machine prospect

Possess ammunition while prohibited

Fail to comply with conditions of a recognizance x 2

Christopher Lee Camara, 33, Winnipeg

Trafficking in cocaine x 2

Possession of proceeds of crime x 2

Donny Syraxa, 27, Winnipeg

Trafficking in cocaine x 2

Possession of proceeds of crime x 2

Danny Vu Tran, 27, Winnipeg

Trafficking in cocaine x 2

Possession of proceeds of crime x 2

Patrick La, 26, Winnipeg

Trafficking in cocaine x 2

Possession of proceeds of crime x 2

Teagveer Singh Gill, 28, Winnipeg

Trafficking in cocaine x 2

Possession of proceeds of crime x 2

Richard Dennis Lund, 29, Winnipeg

Trafficking in cocaine

Possession of proceeds of crime

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 1, 2013 A4