Bandidos hierarchy explored at trial

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This article was published 29/07/2009 (6169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LONDON, Ont. — A Winnipeg biker accused in the slaying of six Bandidos members was mocked, teased, and given cruel nicknames by his fellow bikers, his lawyer argued Tuesday.

Tony Bryant said nicknames such as “fat ass,” “mountain gorilla,” and “great white Chilean ape” followed Marcelo Aravena during his time with the outlaw motorcycle gang.

Aravena is one of six men facing first-degree murder charges after the bodies of eight members of the Bandidos’ Toronto chapter were found stuffed into cars along a rural southwestern Ontario road in April 2006.

Bryant spent all day Tuesday cross-examining M.H., a former biker, police informant, and the Crown’s star witness. “You guys made fun of him on a regular basis. You mocked him . . . You teased all the bottom people,” Bryant told M.H.

“This is the kind of guy you could step on as opposed to climb over, someone you could take advantage of.”

But no matter where the men were in the pecking order of the club, they were all at co-accused Wayne Kellestine’s house near Dutton, Ont., the night the Toronto Bandidos were killed, said M.H.

The Winnipeg bikers were there to pull the patches — or memberships — of the Toronto-area members in a bid to become a full chapter of the Bandidos, court has heard.

“Prospect, friend, associate or probationary — call it what you will,” M.H. said of the club’s different membership categories.

“(Aravena) still showed up… I was holding a gun, he was holding a gun or a baseball bat. But that night, we were all Bandidos.”

M.H., whose identity is court-protected, is testifying against the six accused in exchange for immunity.

Aravena and another accused, Brett (Bull) Gardiner, were the two low men on the totem pole, court has heard. They were told to perform menial tasks before and after the killings.

— The Canadian Press