Bandidos unaware they were to be slaughtered

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This article was published 10/09/2009 (6060 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LONDON, Ont. — The eight bikers who were led one by one from a barn by their biker brother Wayne Kellestine had no idea they would be shot to death — and neither did many of the six men accused in their deaths, a court was told.

The first-degree murder trial heard Wednesday for the first time from one of the accused, Michael Sandham. He and several other of the accused are linked to the Bandidos biker gang’s Winnipeg chapter.

The eight men later found dead and stuffed in vehicles in a field in April 2006 were the Toronto Bandidos chapter, which was at odds with Bandido brass in the United States.

Kellestine, a member of the Toronto chapter, was ordered to strip the rest of his gang members of their affiliation and rebuild the Bandidos in Canada with the Winnipeg chapter, which until then had probationary status, court has heard.

The bodies of George Jessome, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, John Muscedere, 48, Luis Raposo, 41, Frank Salerno, 43, Paul Sinopoli, 30, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31, were discovered April 8, 2006.

The night before, the Toronto men were summoned to Kellestine’s farmhouse in southwestern Ontario. Although most of them would be systematically shot to death that night, the six accused didn’t discuss any pre-arranged mass killing, Sandham, 40, testified.

"People are kicked out of the club all the time." he said. "It’s not a violent situation."

In the weeks leading up to the slayings, Sandham, Dwight Mushey, Brett Gardiner and Marcelo Aravena travelled from Winnipeg to stay at Kellestine’s in Ontario, along with a Winnipeg Bandido who is now an informant and can only be identified as MH. The sixth accused, Frank Mather, was already living at Kellestine’s London, Ont.-area house, court heard.

Sandham testified one day he overheard Kellestine, Mushey and MH talking about "murdering" two of the Toronto men and "cutting them up into little pieces."

A former police officer, Sandham said he confronted Kellestine, who brushed it off as a joke.

But the night in question, with the eight men in Kellestine’s barn with Kellestine, and the other accused armed and hiding around the barn and surrounding property, Sandham overheard some of the Toronto men talking about killing him.

Sandham, who was also in the military for three years, broke down weeping in the witness box — for the first of what would be many times during his testimony — as he discussed his fear for his life.

"I thought I was going to get killed…that I might have to shoot somebody to get out of there."

When Sandham, Mushey and MH popped out of their hiding places, one of the Toronto men, Raposo, reached for a gun and despite Sandham’s screams to stop, Raposo, "grinning," shot him, Sandham said.

Sandham was wearing a bulletproof vest, but when the shot hit him he "flinched," causing his gun to go off and shoot Raposo, he said. MH then fired, which caused Kellestine to "flinch" and shoot as well, Sandham said. Raposo would die in a pool of blood on the barn floor.

Then Kellestine, who Sandham called "a man to be feared," said the remaining seven men would be put in their cars and driven back to Toronto, more than two hours away, Sandham said.

Kellestine began to lead the men out one by one. After three left and never returned, Sandham said he went outside. That’s when he saw Kellestine shoot one of the men, Frank Salerno.

"I was in shock," Sandham said. "I was just like: he’s shooting everybody."

He considered shooting Kellestine but did nothing, Sandham testified.

Sandham’s emotional testimony corroborated many details that MH, the Crown’s star witness, testified about, though there were many glaring differences, notably that MH testified he saw Sandham shoot Flanz.

 

— The Canadian Press