OUTLAW BIKERS ON COLLISION COURSE

A biker expert thinks the Quebec-based outlaw biker gang Rock Machine is
targeting western Ontario in its plans to expand across the province.
Although no one knows at this stage what impact a new motorcycle gang in
the province will have on turf wars, everyone says it will likely cause
tensions to rise.

The Rock Machine -- which has been involved in a bloody war with the Hells
Angels for six years -- opened two chapters in the province last month, one
in Kingston and the other in Toronto. The latest chapter includes members
who live in Halton.

"They are coming with a third chapter," said Sergeant Guy Ouellette of the
Quebec provincial police. "They are recruiting."

Police are investigating whether a bomb found this weekend is a sign of
rival bike gang activity.

The large bomb was planted outside a Georgetown motorcycle shop just before
a scheduled gathering of bikers, including members of the Rock Machine.

A distributor for The Toronto Sun newspaper inadvertently drove off with
the bomb Saturday morning. The device was concealed inside a newspaper box
which he had loaded onto his truck and taken to his Guelph home for servicing.

Police said the bomb contained a substantial amount of explosives.

The man did not notice the bomb until later in the day.

Police and fire departments from Guelph, as well as the Waterloo police
explosive disposal unit, evacuated the area for several hours while the
bomb was dismantled.

The Halton police intelligence unit is investigating.

planted by a rival outlaw motorcycle gang.

He said they are taking the threat seriously. The bomb, he said, "was
capable of causing death or bodily harm."

Phillips said police are aware there are outlaw biker gangs in Halton,
including the Rock Machine and the Outlaws.

"They have been there for some time," Ouellette said.

"It's just that now they let everyone see it."

He said the Rock Machine -- just like the Hells Angels -- have had drug
distribution networks and allies in Ontario for a while.

Ouellette said the Rock Machine recruited new members, who once belonged to
Toronto's Outlaws, to form the chapter there.

He said the Kingston chapter is made up of Montreal members and others
recruited from the Kingston area.

Ouellette said Rock Machine members are already in place to form the third
chapter. There has been a Rock Machine hang-around chapter -- with
probationary members -- in Sarnia for some time.

Some of its members were jailed after pleading guilty in January to
uttering threats to cause bodily harm to the owner of an escort agency.

But some are back on the streets and could form the core of the new western
chapter, he said. Ouellette was uncertain where and when the chapter might
be set up.

RCMP Staff Sergeant Jean-Pierre Levesque said new alliances have changed
the balance of power in the province.

He said the only gang affiliated with the Hells Angels in Ontario is the
Toronto Para-Dice Riders. The Vagabonds and Satan's Choice are apparently
neutral, while the Outlaws, Loners and now the Rock Machine have
traditionally rivalled the Hells Angels.

"The Hells Angels -- to enter in Ontario -- want total control," Levesque
said. "Nobody escapes them."

Police say the Hells Angels, who control nearly all of Canada's drug
distribution -- even in Nunavut, capitalizing on a mini-economic boom in
Canada's newest territory -- have had a tough time moving into Ontario
because many gangs oppose the Hells Angels' strategy of taking total
control of all gang activity.

The Rock Machine is more appealing to other gangs. They "only want a piece
of the pie, not all of it. The Rock Machine was coming as a player,"
Levesque said.

By setting up an alliance with the Rock Machine, police say other gangs are
better able to resist a takeover of their drug territories by the Hells Angels.

Detective Staff-Sergeant Don Bell said law enforcement agencies have a
heightened awareness of activity involving the Rock Machine, knowing that
"we have a Hells Angels presence in Ontario." That's because the Rock
Machine, more than any other outlaw gang in Ontario, has a history of
violence involving Hells Angels.

Bell, a member of the OPP's Provincial Special Squad, said there are 11
outlaw motorcycle gangs in Ontario. The gangs "seem to work within the
parameters they have established. Whether the Rock Machine will follow the
same rules will have to be determined over time."

He said the ongoing war in Quebec started after the Hells Angels tried to
get a bigger piece of the action. If a similar situation develops in
Ontario, there is a potential for violence, he added.

Ouellette goes further, saying that if the Rock Machine assumes too much
control in the province, the Hells Angels may think they have no other
choice but to react forcefully.

"They have the monopoly in Canada, and won't want to lose it."

While the Hells Angels do not have any chapters in Ontario, police say they
have strong loyalties and could still make their presence known.

Those working in businesses near the Canadian Thunder Motorcycle Shop on
Guelph Street in Georgetown, where the bomb was left, were shaken by the
incident.

"We shouldn't have to live in that fear," said one man, who refused to give
his name. Others said they were too frightened to talk to a reporter.

The owner of the motorcycle dealership would not comment.

He spoke with investigators yesterday about the incident, but shrugged it
off when he was approached in a bar earlier in the day.

The dealership was a sponsor of a "Show 'N Shine" charity bike event which
was to take place just east of Georgetown on Sunday.

Halton Staff Sergeant Don Cousens said police received information that
members of outlaw bike gangs might be coming to town for the event. Halton
police and other police services conducted road checks to identify gang
members.

They laid three drug charges, one weapons charge and a number of traffic
violations.

The fundraiser, for U.S. veterans of the Vietnam war, was cancelled because
of the bomb scare and poor weather, police said. Police searched the area,
but found no other explosives.

So far, 149 people have been killed in the Quebec biker war, including a
Rock Machine associate that police found shot dead in a campground near
Montreal last Friday night.

Earlier that day, two masked men had killed a close friend of Quebec Hells
Angels' leader Maurice (Mom) Boucher in a Montreal restaurant.