TWO HELLS ANGELS BIKERS MAY FACE $11-MILLION FINE

Elite Members To Be Sentenced Monday. Amount Reflects Cocaine And Hashish
Profits Funnelled Through Account In 2000, Court Told

Crown prosecutors will seek $11 million in fines against two top Hells
Angels recently convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, drug trafficking
and gangsterism.

Prosecutors claim the amount reflects drug-trafficking profits earned in
2000 by Walter (Nurget) Stadnick, 51, and Donald (Pup) Stockford, 42.

Prosecutors will also seek forfeiture of the convicted men's homes,
vehicles, furniture and jewelry, and a total of $34,000 in cash. Their
homes are in their spouses' names. But the Crown will claim these are just
fronts.

Crown attorney Randall Richmond told Quebec Superior Court Justice Jerry
Zigman yesterday in Montreal that the Crown will make arguments next week
for what would be the largest criminal fine in Canadian history.

The Crown "will present a request for a fine in lieu of monies in the
Gertrude account," Richmond told the court.

He was referring to financial records taken from the Hells Angels
drug-trafficking accounts. They show that in 2000, Stockford and Stadnick
earned more than $11 million in cocaine and hashish profits as part of a
Hells drug consortium called La Table. The money went through an account
code-named Gertrude belonging to the two Hells Angels, who were part of the
elite Nomads chapter in Montreal. Both men are from Hamilton, Ont.

Persuading the court to levy a fine on the full amount rests on whether the
Crown can show all $11 million came from drug trafficking, and that the
money has disappeared and is impossible to seize.

The law allows the government to impose fines equivalent to criminal
profits. Still, prosecutors have had mixed success.

The Quebec Court of Appeal reduced one $150,000 fine on drug profits to
$20,000, claiming the law allows the government to obtain fines only in
lieu of net profits. In other words, a drug dealer has a right to deduct
his expenses and losses. Judges have also been reluctant to impose fines
greater than the offender's capacity to pay.

In the case of Stadnick and Stockford, the Crown will argue that all $11
million represents profits from a criminal enterprise and therefore that
amount should be reflected in the fine.

Zigman said yesterday he will sentence the two bikers at noon on Monday.
The Crown is seeking a 24-year prison term for each offender. The defence
is asking for 13 to 15 years. Defence lawyer Maureen McGuire argued
yesterday her clients should also receive enhanced credit of up to 3.1
years for every year they have served awaiting trial. In other words,
almost nine years would be automatically deducted from their sentences.

She also said Stockford should get credit for the two months he was out on
bail because he had to endure curfews and the mental stress of reporting
daily to police. "This posed considerable limitations on the freedom of an
individual," she said.

"I can tell you, that submission didn't find a sympathetic ear," Zigman
told her.

She also wanted the lifetime ban on possession of firearms reduced to 10
years. That didn't garner much support, either. "He (Stadnick) needs
weapons when he gets out of jail?" Zigman asked.