ROUGH RIDE FOR JUSTICE

TAKIN' IT TO THE STREETS

WESTERN CANADA: Escalating wars

WINNIPEG -- Resistance from more than 30 holdout drug dealers has triggered
a bloody street-level turf war with Manitoba's newly-minted Hells Angels
chapter, say police.

Last Sunday, the war turned deadly when the body of Bradley Russell Anderson
was found near a vehicle on a road near Stony Mountain.

Police and street sources say Anderson, 31, was a former member of the
now-defunct Redliners biker club and had been involved in the street-level
cocaine trade, using different suppliers - including the Hells Angels
chapter.

The Angels frown upon the practice of using multiple suppliers, said a
source.

Anderson was apparently involved in a fight about a week before his death
with a man who had close ties to the Angels.

Since the Hells Angels arrived, Manitoba has become a biker hot spot, said
Surete du Quebec Sgt. Guy Ouellette.

An escalating drug turf war has pitted more than 30 traffickers against the
Angels' move to monopolize the province's drug trade. Violence has included
drive-by shootings and numerous street attacks since late last year in
battles between the Zig Zag Crew, the Hells Angels' street gang, and
street-level drug dealers.

The independents don't want to pay the biker gang's "tax" to deal on its
turf, say police.

The Zig Zag Crew - named for a brand of cigarette rolling paper - was formed
in 1998 by a former Redliner.

In 1999, the Los Brovos, a gang founded in 1967, became a Hells Angels
prospect club. Months later, the prospects became full members, a process
which normally takes a year.

Ouellette said their quick promotion was connected to the Angels making 168
Ontario bikers "instant" members. For Eastern Hell Angels, the patchover was
a response to the Rock Machine in Quebec and Ontario becoming probationary
Bandidos.

If the East gave out instant memberships, then the West wanted the same for
Winnipeg, Ouellette said. Manitoba falls under the West Coast Hells Angels.

Winnipeg Police Sgt. Rick Lobban, head of the gang unit, said that doesn't
make the Winnipeg chapter second-rate.

"This group has a lot of experience and had already gone three-quarters of
the way through the Hells Angels grooming process before gaining full
status," he said.

"So, the recent violence has nothing to do with inexperience; it has to do
with trying to consolidate the province's illegal drug trade," he said.
"It's part of sending a message to the street that now that the Hells Angels
are here, they are in control and expect everyone to play by their rules."

Det.-Sgt. Ray Parry, head of the outlaw bike gang unit, adds dealers don't
want to surrender their profits to the Angels.

"What we are seeing here is street-level players resisting the Angels'
overtures," he said.

Police are uncertain how long the resistance will last, but are sure the
Angels don't want to see the defiance harden into a rival similar to the
former Rock Machine.

"The Rock Machine started when certain people resisted the overtures of the
Hells Angels. It turned out to be the Hells Angels' classic worst-case
scenario," Lobban said.

Ouellette stressed many of the circumstances in Manitoba are different from
those which gave rise to the Rock Machine, but by having Bandidos in Canada,
he said dealers have a choice and can bypass the Angels as suppliers.

B.C. and Saskatchewan Hells Angels, in comparison, have been conspicuous by
their silence.

There are about 80 B.C. Hells Angels and its Nanaimo chapter is considered
the richest in Canada.

Saskatoon police noted a sudden surge of designer drugs in the province
after the Angels arrived three years ago.

"Since the creation of the Hells Angels in Saskatchewan we've observed an
increase in methamphetamines - a substance virtually unseen in the province
before the Angels got here," Saskatoon Sgt. Bill Cameron said.

The Saskatoon chapter, formed in 1998 when they took over the Rebels, now
seem ready to expand after forcing the retirement of Regina's Apollos biker
gang last month.