HELLS ANGELS RIDE SOFTLY OVER RIVALS

If bikers are indeed trading old-fashioned thuggery for a more
sophisticated approach to crime, the Hells Angels' emergence as
Alberta's top gang serves as a good example.

The Angels avoided a deadly turf war with the Bandidos by simply
absorbing local members of the rival gang in a peaceful agreement
consummated earlier this month.

Police believe 12 Bandidos from Edmonton and six from Calgary were
admitted to the Angels' elite Nomads chapter based in Red Deer, ending
what could have been a burgeoning rivalry in the province.

"We were concerned that the emergence of a new group meant there would
be conflict," said Insp. Brian Skeet of the Calgary police organized
crime section.

"Recent indications are they have been trying to co-exist, realizing
the futility of war, and that it impacts on their ability to make profits."

The Hells Angels emergence in Alberta since arriving in 1997 hasn't
been entirely without bloodshed.

A group calling itself Deaths Hand started up in Calgary last year.
Its founder, Wade Pederson, went missing a short time later and is
presumed murdered.

It's believed remaining Deaths Hand members and failed Hells Angels
prospects were among the first Bandidos recruits when that group
decided to set up shop in Alberta.

In the past, the Hells Angels responded to competition with violence,
sparking long-standing wars with the Outlaws and Bandidos in the
United States and in Scandinavia.

No conflict was bloodier, however, than the war between the Angels and
the Rock Machine in Quebec that claimed more than 150 lives --
including that of 11-year-old Daniel Desrochers, who was killed by a
car bomb as he played on an east-end Montreal street in 1995.

"Biker leaders realized wars were turning the public's opinion against
bikers," said Yves Lavigne, a Toronto author who has written several
books on the Hells Angels.

Lavigne has long criticized police for allowing motorcycle gangs to
gain a foothold in Canada, and said agencies in Alberta have allowed
the Hells Angels to quietly cement their grip.

"There are all these low-grade bikers in Alberta who want to be Hells
Angels and (police) can't even shut them down," he said.

Meanwhile, a sustained, multimillion-dollar policing effort in Quebec
has resulted in more than half of that province's 115 full-patch Hells
Angels either behind bars or on parole.

But that result came only after the death of Desrochers galvanized
public opinion, Lavigne said. Otherwise, citizens are oblivious to the
damage organized crime wreaks daily on society.

"It's a sad reflection on the mindset of Canadians: if they see no evil,
they don't care," he said.

"It shouldn't take a death. If (criminals) aren't killing your kids
with bombs, they're killing them with drugs."