Pathologist details fatal blast to Bandido

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This article was published 07/08/2009 (6148 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LONDON, Ont. — Luis (Chopper) Raposo’s middle finger, so prominent in many Bandido biker photographs, turned out to be his undoing.

A forensic pathologist told the jury at the murder trial of six men on Thursday that Raposo died after his right middle finger was shot off — shattering the bullet and sending it and bone fragments into his chest.

Dr. Toby Rose, medical director of the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service, performed the autopsy on Raposo and three Toronto chapter Bandidos whose bodies were found April 8, 2006, near Shedden, in southwestern Ontario.

Rose gave her opinions in testimony about Raposo, George (Pony) Jessome, 52, Jamie (Goldberg) Flanz, 37, and Paul (Big Paulie) Sinopoli, 30.

Dr. Michael Pollanen, Ontario’s chief forensic pathologist, completed the other four autopsies on George (Crash) Kriarakis, 28, John (Boxer) Muscedere, 48, Frank (Bam Bam) Salerno, 30, and Michael (Little Mikey) Trotta, 31.

Raposo, 41, the Crown maintains, was the first to die inside Wayne Kellestine’s barn. The rest were shot to death after they were led out to four vehicles and placed inside.

Kellestine and five others face eight counts of first-degree murder.

A tow truck, two cars and an SUV were found hours later.

The bodies were taken to Toronto for autopsy, where the work was divided up.

Rose said it was the only case she’d seen in her career where eight bodies were brought for examination from one incident.

Raposo’s autopsy was the most complicated of the four she performed. She called his fatal gunshot wound “atypical” and said she believed the bullet had to pass through another object or a body part before it entered the neck and chest.

The amputated finger was consistent with a gunshot wound, she said.

The bullet, she said, had to pass through the finger, shearing it off. The bullet broke apart and hit Raposo’s neck and lung, damaging some large arteries and veins. Some of the fragments were removed from his body.

More than a litre of blood was in his chest. Some other bullet fragments were found in the palm of his left hand.

A bullet from another gun, Rose said, grazed his right upper arm.

The Crown and its star witness, M.H., a former Winnipeg Bandido, have said Michael Sandham, 39, the Winnipeg chapter president, shot Raposo from the barn’s loft. Sandham had a .303 rifle and a shotgun with him.

The jury has also heard M.H. was armed with a shotgun and Dwight Mushey had a sawed-off shotgun. M.H. has testified Kellestine had a .22-calibre rifle.

Rose’s opinion was Raposo could not have been shot with a shotgun, pointing out the bullet fragments didn’t resemble shotgun pellets.

Defence lawyer Michael Moon, who represents Mushey, persisted in trying to change Rose’s opinion.

But Rose said if Raposo was shot with a shotgun, his entire hand would have blown off, not just his finger.

The jury saw X-rays of the men and saw where bullets were lodged.

Rose reviewed the results of three other autopsies on the bodies of Flanz, Jessome and Sinopoli. All three were shot in the head, none by a shotgun.

— The Canadian Press