NANAIMO RAID ON GANG PAYS OFF

Material On Hells Angels Gives Police A Massive Amount Of Information

A police investigation and raid on a B.C. Hells Angels clubhouse has
provided a rare window into the secretive world of the notorious
motorcycle gang.

In December, heavily armed police raided the Hells Angels' fortified,
three-storey Nanaimo clubhouse. The move capped a three-year operation
code-named Project Halo, which produced police allegations that the
gang's Nanaimo chapter had engaged in cocaine trafficking, assault
causing bodily harm, extortion, conspiracy to keep a bawdy house and
procuring for illicit sexual purposes.

"I have reasonable grounds to believe that the Nanaimo Chapter is a
criminal organization," said Det. Mark MacPhail of B.C.'s provincial
Organized Crime Agency, in his application for the warrant to search
the clubhouse.

MacPhail, who had conducted surveillance on the clubhouse, requested
in his warrant application that officers from his agency be assisted
by an RCMP Emergency Response Team for the raid.

"While I do not have any specific information that there are weapons
within the clubhouse, members of the Nanaimo Chapter have demonstrated
that they will not hesitate to use violence," his application said.

The Hells Angels have always claimed they are a motorcycle
enthusiasts' club, not a gang involved in crime. There are said to be
2,000 members and prospects in 22 countries around the world, with 32
chapters in Canada.

A website identified as a club site hosts a "frequently asked
question" section including: "What does the M.C. stand for?" The
answer: "The M.C. stands for Motorcycle Club. The fact of the matter
is, it's a Motorcycle Club, not a gang."

Warrant information was released Friday after a lawyer for The
Province successfully appealed to the B.C. Supreme Court to make
MacPhail's application public.

Project Halo investigators used informants, surveillance, search
warrants and other undisclosed methods to gather information about
criminal activity by the group, and about what went on in the Nanaimo
house.

"The Nanaimo Chapter is conscious of the security of that facility to
the extreme," MacPhail wrote. "The Nanaimo Chapter has gone to great
lengths to fortify the Clubhouse and to make it extremely difficult
for anyone to gain entry."

Video-surveillance cameras and a chain-link fenced compound added to
the security, he wrote.

Police surveillance revealed members attended regular Thursday
meetings, called "churches" by the gang, at the clubhouse.

Men were seen burning papers before one "church" session and after
another, MacPhail wrote.

In executing the warrant, police hoped to seize information collected
by Hells Angels on police officers, along with membership documents,
banking and tax records and evidence of a national Hells Angels fund
for defending members charged under federal organized crime law.

During Project Halo, police in Nanaimo seized 10 kilograms of cocaine
from a semi-trailer with Ontario plates in April of last year, and
another kilo three months later.

In September 2002, Salmon Arm RCMP found 257 marijuana plants and 10
kilos of dried pot at the home and lot of a man with a motorcycle and
Hells Angels "colours," or clothing with gang logos, in his shed. A
man with an Ontario driver's licence drove up during the search;
police found $83,800 in cash in his vehicle.

MacPhail wrote that an undercover operation found evidence Nanaimo
Hells Angels conspired to keep a bawdy house, defined under the
Criminal Code as a facility devoted to prostitution or indecent acts.

The gang, through their corporation Angel Acres Recreation & Festival
Property Ltd., had fought release of the warrant information on the
grounds that it would compromise privacy, and fair trials for anyone
charged.

Large portions of MacPhail's application were blacked out when
released to the media.