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Patterson | Gangs 2003
"organized
crime"
Small bust made to look large
SASKATOON, January 5, 2003
- The "crackdown" on "organized crime" has
hit Saskatchewan. Now that three people can constitute an "organization"
all the public hysteria that has been created since the inception
of the "war on drugs" to 9/11 is being brought to bear
to build careers for a whole new generation of lazy cops, unethical
prosecutors and the courts and jails for whom they provide the
raw material.
Media
It has long been the policy
of the Saskatoon police to take television reporters along as
they execute their warrents. The media obediently provides images
to accompany the cops' carefully crafted statements. The public
might be better served by an explanation of the information on
which the warrants were obtained: often such warrants are in
violation of charter rights and are issued by a Justice of the
Peace, not a judge. Defence lawyers rarely challenge the validity
of the warrants. There is little point because even when the
warrants are found to be defective there is no remedy for the
defendant. "Evidence" seized in illegal seizures is
almost always admitted.
The media should reconsiders
these "ride alongs." This is not independent reporting.
The images from this particular bust made it to the national
CTV news Tuesday morning. The pictures on this page are grabbed
from the local TV reports. CBC carried a text report which is
at the bottom of this page.
(A CTV reporter who spoke
to us at our camp-out in Saskatoon today assured us that these
pictures were not from a ride-along. This still leaves open the
question of how these pictures get into the media.--webmaster,
June 16, 2003)
Those of us who live on Saskatoon's
west side, where our homes are broken into regularly, where each
spring brings a new crop of teenagers full of sass and not much
else to join the crop before them who are under-educated, unemployed
and often homeless, crashing where they can, casually stealing,
smoking dope, getting into needle drugs, selling their bodies
and having babies, are not reassured. Thefts from break and enters
on the west side are not taken seriously. Most people don't even
bother to report them any more, preferring instead to invest
in sophisticated security equipment.
The crime which Saskatoon citizens
endure is hardly organized: it is heartbreakingly disorganized
by those who are struggling just to stay alive. Poverty is the
ground in which it grows.
Those of us who have lived
here for a while and have been paying attention know that hard
drugs would never have taken root in this city without the police
choosing to look the other way, and in some cases bringing the
drugs in. That this particular raid seems to have been aimed
mainly at marijuana would seem to be a last ditch chance to cash
in before Canada wises up and decriminalizes it.
More, more, more
The police want more money
for more cops, more equipment. They will no doubt be trotting
out their call for a detox center again this January. In the
meantime, many more lives have gone down the drain and proposals
for detox centers are pitifully inadequate. This spectacular
media show is designed to make an impression on the public, which
is also being asked to support a downtown casino (now there's
organized crime!) and is generally weary from watching our city
go to a hell where there are no angels.
Acting Inspector Keith Atkinson
was careful to say that this was not aimed at "any particular
group" yet Hell's Angels were all over the publicity. The
same Hell's Angels Brian
Dueck threatened Kim Cooper's family with? The PR talks about
a lengthy investigation and cooperation among three different
police agencies -- Saskatoon and Regina City Police and the RCMP.
After all this build-up, it
appears they have arrested 14 poor people and killed a dog.
We'll see how the public responds
to the shooting of the dog. The RCMP got lots of sympathy when
Keldon McMillan shot police dog Cyr, after the cops had sent
the dog to attack him. The cops have a special memorial page
for that dog and an anonymous donor gave bullet-proof vests to
the canine unit.
It's possible that shooting
people's dogs is not a popular thing to do in Saskatoon.
In today's case a policewoman
shot the Rotweiller belonging to Ted Nagy, even though the dog
was in a yard and warning signs were clearly present. They knew
damn well Nagy wasn't home. His daughter, Jamie, who was home,
stated the dog was not aggressive and a female police officer
shot it in the head.
Accused in police sweep brought
before court
Lori Coolican, The
StarPhoenix and Saskatchewan News Network, January 07, 2003
Fourteen people have been charged
following police raids Sunday on 27 locations in Saskatchewan
-- including Hells Angels clubhouses in Regina and Saskatoon.
More arrests and charges could
follow in the days to come.
According to RCMP spokesperson
Cpl. Brian Jones, 28 charges were laid following the early morning
raids, which he called the culmination of a long-term investigation
by RCMP and Regina and Saskatoon city police.
"It does send a message
that our police forces are working hard and are working together
to address and identify and move towards curtailing organized
criminal activity in Saskatchewan," said Jones.
A stream of men and women in
their 30s and 40s paraded before provincial court judges to face
charges stemming from the searches.
Ten people made their first
appearance in court Monday, including eight in Saskatoon and
two in Regina.
Of 14 people arrested, 12 are
from the Saskatoon area.
Of the suspects from the Saskatoon
area who appeared before Judge Gerald Seniuk Monday morning,
all but one were released from custody with the Crown's consent.
James (Jim) William Mallett,
42, was already facing four counts of breach of undertaking,
three counts of breach of probation, and one count of possession
of a narcotic for the purpose of trafficking at the time of the
raids.
He is now also charged with
possession of stolen property valued under $5,000, careless storage
and unauthorized possession of a firearm, possession of a weapon
while prohibited, new breaches of an undertaking and probation,
simple possession of marijuana and possession for the purpose
of trafficking, as well as possession of the proceeds of trafficking.
Mallett is scheduled for a
bail hearing Wednesday.
Darren Harper, 32, was charged
with possession of a prohibited weapon -- a Taser -- and possession
of a weapon while prohibited. He returns to court Feb. 6.
Leonard Lahonin, 45, is charged
with obstructing justice by providing a false name to police.
He returns to court Jan. 15.
Pio Guiseppe Merla, who turns
39 on Wednesday, is charged with simple possession of marijuana.
His next court date is Feb. 10.
Theodore Frank Nagy, 43, is
charged with simple possession and producing cannabis resin,
otherwise known as hashish. His next court date is Feb. 10.
Audrey May Nooy, 39, is charged
with possession of a bike and a fleece jacket obtained through
crime, as well as simple possession of marijuana, possession
of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, and possession of
the proceeds of trafficking. She returns to court Feb. 10.
Kenneth Richard Obrigavitch,
47, and Bernice Cecilia Vesty, 42, are charged with production
of marijuana and possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Both were released from custody
to live on an acreage near Dundurn, under conditions that they
abstain from drugs and allow police to search their home or vehicles
without a warrant.
Obrigavitch was also required
to post a non-cash bail of $2,500 and report to Saskatoon police
upon his release. His mother also posted a surety to guarantee
his attendance, court heard. Both he and Vesty are scheduled
to appear before a judge again on Feb. 13.
Four other Saskatoon suspects
were charged with drug possession in connection with the raids.
They were not held in custody, and their names will not be released
until they appear in court sometime over the next two months.
More than $53,000 worth of
drugs, mostly marijuana, was seized in the raids, along with
cash and property.
Investigators have declined
to reveal the locations of the searches, although news outlets
have reported sites included an acreage outside Saskatoon, and
the Hells Angels clubhouse in Holiday Park.
Some of the locations have
not been disclosed because searches did not result in seizures,
Saskatoon police spokesperson Sgt. Keith Atkinson said Monday.
The Regina searches involved
seven locations in the city and one in the area, Regina Police
Service spokesperson Sgt. Rick Bourassa said.
About a pound of marijuana
was seized in the Regina raids, Bourassa said.
Atkinson said police have never
alleged that all of the suspects arrested in the investigation
are connected to the Hells Angels, although some of them may
be.
"We weren't targeting
any specific group or group of individuals, and if some people
may have been part of an identifiable organized crime group,
that was (discovered as) a result of the investigation. It wasn't
a result of targeting," he said.
14 people charged after Hells Angels raids
cbc January 6, 2003
REGINA/SASKATOON - Twenty-eight
drugs and weapons charges were laid after a police crackdown
on organized crime in Saskatoon and Regina.
The charges follow a number
of raids carried out early Sunday morning on clubhouses owned
by the Hells Angels.
Police found some weapons and
drugs valued at about $53,000. Police recovered mainly marijuana
in Regina and found cocaine and marijuana in Saskatoon. Twelve
people were charged in Saskatoon and two others were charged
in Regina.
Saskatoon Acting Inspector
Keith Atkinson won't say if any of the charges stemmed from raids
there. In Regina, city police and RCMP are reluctant to say if
the raids involved Hells Angels.
RCMP Corporal Brian Jones is
calling the raids a crackdown on organized crime.
"We're not characterizing
yesterday's efforts by any group or any identifiable group that
the public may care to identify them. Our efforts were directed
at organized criminal activity," Jones says.
Jones says the investigation
was focussed in Saskatchewan only and did not involve police
agencies from other provinces.
The targets of police raids
included Hells Angels clubhouses in Saskatoon and Regina. Both
local police and the RCMP coordinated the raids.
Canada tries to rein in biker
gang
A national
surge in Hell's Angels membership spurs some provinces to respond
with tougher laws and oversight.
By Susan Bourette | Contributor
to The Christian Science Monitor
TORONTO - From a distance, it looks much like
any other warehouse situated within this industrial patch of
Toronto. But its gothic sign and menacing sculpture of a winged
skeleton head at the doorway are an emphatic proclamation: The
Hell's Angels have arrived.
It's a dramatic evolution for
Canada's most notorious outlaws. The biker gang, which once confined
its criminal activities to a small part of the country, is morphing
into a national force. Now, as Hell's Angels pockets spring up
in Toronto, Winnipeg, and beyond, law-enforcement officials are
trying to put the lid on things before the bloody biker wars
of Quebec spill over into the rest of Canada.
"The bullets have started
to fly across the country," says veteran biker investigator
Guy Ouellette, now retired from the Quebec police force, who
followed the gang's activities for more than a decade. "These
guys are greedy. They're looking for a bigger piece of the pie.
And they now want their flag in every province."
Members of the biker group
deny that they promote violence - or that they are staging a
turf war across the country. Many say they simply enjoy membership
in the organization and do not circumvent the law.
But over the past decade, members
of the Hell's Angels were locked in a violent turf war in Quebec
with a rival biker group - the Rock Machine - for control of
Quebec's billion-dollar drug trade. The death toll in the conflict,
which has died down, has been staggering; 162 dead since 1994,
including an 11-year-old boy who was hit by shrapnel. A local
journalist was also gunned down in 2000 for an exposé
he wrote on the group.
The death figures far outnumber
those in the United States, according to the experts, largely
because of the unparalleled gang wars of the past decade.
With a number of high-profile
prosecutions under way in Quebec - on the heels of the conviction
of Hell's Angels leader Maurice "Mom" Boucher last
year - the gang has set its sights on national expansion.
More than a quarter of the
world's 2,200 Hell's Angels members live in Canada, where they
have 34 chapters. Their Canadian presence is eclipsed in terms
of worldwide membership only by the US's 60 chapters.
While the gang's Canadian tentacles
now stretch from the waterfront in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to the
western ports of Vancouver, its most rapid growth has been in
Ontario. The richest and most populous province in Canada, Ontario
had no members three years ago, but is now home to 40 percent
of the gang's Canadian membership, or 270 bikers.
Julian Sher, coauthor of a
new book on biker gangs, says poor police work and infighting,
combined with a weak justice system, have contributed to the
unfettered violence and growth of the organization.
He says the Canadian Hell's
Angels are far more organized than those in the United States.
"In the States there is still this myth of the easy rider.
They're the bad boys, the rogues who might drink too much booze,
but not organized criminals," Mr. Sher says. "In Canada,
they are now recognized as not only criminal, but as the only
national organized crime group in the country."
A bid to improve their image
In Ontario, the Hell's Angels
have been trying to fight this image, engaging in a public-relations
war in the wake of more than 10 years of bad publicity in Quebec.
They've donated money to local children's charities and had their
pictures taken shaking the hands of local politicians.
Donny Petersen, Ontario spokesman
for the Hell's Angels, says he's a typical member. "I'm
56 years old and I've been a biker for most of my life. And I
don't have a criminal record. I think that tells you everything
you need to know," Mr. Petersen says, "We don't engage
in violence. That just boggles my mind that people think we do."
But Detective Sgt. Scott Mills
of the Ontario Provincial Police says the Hell's Angels are remaking
themselves in a bid to protect several billion dollars in illicit
profits from drugs, pornography, and prostitution. "These
guys look more like bankers than bikers these days," he
says. "They're constantly evolving, trying to protect their
franchise."
Provincial police have recently
banded together in a bid to stem the rapid advance of the Hell's
Angels franchise. Hoping to thwart the kind of bloodletting that
Quebec saw, 18 law- enforcement units have united to combat motorcycle
gangs.
In Winnipeg, Manitoba, where
new Hell's Angels chapters are also assembling, the official
mood has been decidedly more confrontational. Since 2001, there
have been more than dozen gang-related attempted murders, and
three unsolved murders said to be linked to the Angels.
Tough antigang laws
Manitoba has reacted by passing
the toughest antigang laws in the country, designed to stop gang
members from operating retail stores and wearing gang colors
in bars. Nearly three weeks ago, the government also proposed
new legislation, expected to pass, that would strip gang members
of their assets even if they were not convicted of an offense.
Manitoba Justice Minister Gordon
Mackintosh makes no apologies for what his government is doing.
"Our approach is to help create a hostile environment for
organized crime in this province," Mr. Mackintosh says.
At the federal level, Ottawa
enacted Bill C-24 about a year ago to give police and prosecutors
powers to crack down on organized crime. These include meting
out heftier sentences for those convicted, and stronger protection
for witnesses and jurors. Police also have new powers to commit
crimes, such as purchasing drugs, during undercover operations.
Sher welcomes these measures.
"This is not a Hollywood movie where the good guys win,"
he says. "We don't know who is going to win overall. We
should all be concerned."
www.csmonitor.com | Copyright
© 2003 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd. William Blake, The Proverbs of Hell