Serious blow dealt to Hells Angels after massive raids and arrests: police

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This article was published 29/09/2006 (7294 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO (CP) – After a massive’-month investigation involving more than 500 police officers and an informant, police say the arrests of 15 Hells Angels has dealt a serious blow to the notorious biker gang.

“We’ve hit at the heart of the group,” Ontario Provincial Police Det. Supt. Don Bell told a news conference Friday.

“We’ve taken down significant members within the hierarchy of the Hells Angels. We’ve also infiltrated them with one of their own and now they have to look over their shoulder because who’s a member and who’s working for the police?”

Julian Sher, co-author of the upcoming book “Angels of Death” about the biker gang, said in a phone interview the fact the informant was a full-patch member is not only unusual but will serve as a fissure within the gang.

“Most of the informants we’ve seen in the past have been hangarounds, people on the outside who burrow in,” he said.

“To have a traitor right in their midst gives (the police) a lot of access to a lot of information but it also disrupts the organization, because who do they trust next?”

Former RCMP officer Chris Mathers said using an informant is extremely helpful for investigators, but not uncommon at all, even for gang members near the top of the hierarchy.

“The trend recently has been more and more to motorcycle gang members rolling over and cooperating with the police in exchange for a variety of things such as reduced sentences and relocation as witnesses,” he said.

Police laid more than 100 charges following Project Tandem’s Thursday morning raids across southern Ontario, which led to the arrest of 27 people, including 15 Hells Angels and one Vagabond, along with the seizure of drugs, weapons, motor vehicles and currency.

The Canadian Press has learned the Ontario government seized one of the Hells Angels’ clubhouses in Whitby, Ont. on Friday, which Attorney General Michael Bryant said is unrelated to Project Tandem.

He said the biker clubhouse in Whitby, east of Toronto, was seized under the Civil Remedies Act, and could be sold off.

Though police estimate there are 200 full-patch Hells Angels in Ontario and a further 2,000 associates in their “criminal network,” they say their investigation chipped away a significant part of the gang.

“In utilizing a member involved in this investigation we’ve hit them hard, and I think their ability to regroup is going to take some time,” Bell said.

Sher said the arrests are a considerable blow because the battle against the Hells Angels is going to be lost or won in British Columbia and Ontario.

“This has not been a good year for the Hells Angels,” he said.

“The police are on the offensive and this does damage to their morale and their PR image.”

Both Sher and Bell said the Hells Angels try to project an innocent image, which may get harder with more raids like these.

“The Hells Angels’ line about being just another motorcycle club begins to run thin when so many of their members start getting arrested on cocaine and murder charges,” Sher said.

Acting on tips from the informant, police conducted a parallel investigation into the death of James Edward Pearce, 42, of Cobourg, Ont., and charged James Earle Boudreau, 42, of Harwood, Ont., with first-degree murder.

Two murder plots were also uncovered in Peterborough, Ont., and the Maple, Ont., area. Police charged three of the men with conspiracy to commit murder.

Bell said the drugs seized are evidence the Hells Angels are involved in criminal activity.

“Our enforcement initiatives make it clear that the Hells Angels are involved in drugs, weapons and other violence-related offences,” he said.

Police seized- kilograms of cocaine, 50,000 ecstasy pills, 23 kilograms of marijuana and about two kilograms each of hashish and crystal meth.

Despite the relatively small amount of crystal meth, Bell said the very fact police found crystal meth is evidence of the drug’s impending danger to Ontario communities.

“It will affect our youth, it will affect the social lives of our communities,” he said.

The suspects are currently being held in Toronto jails.