INSIDE THE HELLS ANGELS' WORLD

Tales Of Drugs, Sex, Extortion: Lid Comes Off Mounties' Raid In Nanaimo

Judith Lavoie Times Colonist; with files from CanWest News Service

RCMP raided the Nanaimo Hells Angels clubhouse last December because they
believed members of the motorcycle gang were trafficking and producing
drugs, and involved in assaults, intimidation, extortion and prostitution,
according to documents obtained by the Times Colonist.

The clubhouse was raided by members of Nanaimo RCMP and the Organized Crime
Agency of B.C.

After the raid, in which computers, documents and videos were seized, the
Times Colonist, CH Television and other CanWest Global newspapers banded
together to appeal a decision to seal the information given by police as
justification for the search warrant.

Times Colonist lawyer Michael Scherr said Friday that the application has
been successful, despite an appeal by lawyers representing Angel Acres
Recreation and Festival Property Ltd., owner of the Nanaimo clubhouse.

Although wiretap evidence and names have been edited out of documents, they
provide a glimpse into the hidden workings of the motorcycle gang, which
police believe to be at the centre of organized crime in B.C.

Project Halo, investigating the Nanaimo Hells Angels, started in January
2001 and important information was seized in the clubhouse raid, but no
charges have yet been laid.

Insp. Pat Convey of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit --
formerly the Organized Crime Agency -- said the investigation is continuing
and the case has been put to Crown counsel for a decision on charges.

"Of course when you investigate something you always want to see charges,"
he said.

Convey, one of about 25 police officers who conducted the raid, said, so
far, the Nanaimo chapter of the Hells Angels has not been deterred from its
activities.

"As far as we know the chapter is alive, kicking and well," he said.

The Nanaimo chapter, which started in 1983, is one of the oldest Hells
Angels chapters in the province, Convey said.

"Organized crime is affecting everyone in this province and everyone should
be interested in this," he said.

The information in the application for the search warrant, provided by Det.
Const. Mark MacPhail of the Organized Crime Agency, said the Project Halo
investigation gave police reason to believe the Nanaimo chapter was a
criminal organization.

It alleges there were grounds to believe Hells Angels members were involved in:

Trafficking a controlled substance and conspiracy to traffic in a
controlled substance

* Production of a controlled substance

* Assault

* Assault causing bodily harm

* Conspiracy to commit assault causing bodily harm

* Aggravated assault

* Intimidation

* Extortion

* Conspiracy to keep a common bawdy house

* Procuring -- which means enticing or soliciting someone to become a
prostitute.

Some offences allegedly committed by members during the investigation
include cocaine trafficking, with 10 kilograms of cocaine seized in April
last year in Nanaimo from a tractor trailer with Ontario licence plates and
a kilo of cocaine seized from a vehicle a year ago.

Details of alleged intimidation, extortion, keeping a brothel and assaults
have been blacked out.

"It is my belief that a search of the clubhouse will afford evidence of the
existence of the Nanaimo Chapter as a criminal organization," MacPhail wrote.

In the past, Hells Angels in B.C. have denied that they are part of a
criminal organization.

The RCMP raid was fraught with problems because the clubhouse was
fortified, the documents reveal.

"The clubhouse is a white, three-storey wooden structure with red trim and
has a large compound surrounded (with) a metal chain link fence," the
information says.

An illuminated red and white sign says "Hells Angels MC Nanaimo" and shows
a skull symbol.

The main metal door has a deadbolt lock, keypad combination lock and video
surveillance camera.

"Additional video surveillance cameras have been mounted on the clubhouse
and are directed toward the parking and main entrance areas. There are no
windows on the main floor," the documents say.

MacPhail wanted the specially trained Nanaimo RCMP Emergency Response Team
to get into the clubhouse to execute the search warrant.

"The Nanaimo Chapter has gone to great lengths to fortify the clubhouse and
to make it extremely difficult for anyone to gain entry," he said.

There were also concerns about the danger of the operation."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," says the application.

The aim was to raid the clubhouse early on a Friday morning to catch any
documents generated from the regular Thursday meeting of club members,
especially as surveillance had shown documents being burned after a meeting
several months earlier.

Members sometimes socialized at the clubhouse on Friday and Saturday
evenings and the premises were put under surveillance for a week before the
raid to ascertain when the clubhouse would be empty or when there would be
only one or two people on site.

"Officer safety and security is of paramount concern, as is the security
and safety of anyone who might be in the premises at the time of entry,"
the documents say.

After the media applied to have the search warrant material unsealed,
provincial court Justice Ernie Quantz ruled last April 8 that the media
should have access to the material.

Angel Acres Recreation argued in court that Quantz's order should be
quashed because publication "would compromise the privacy interests of
innocent parties and the fair trial rights of those that may subsequently
be charged."

On Friday, Justice Malcolm Macaulay upheld the previous court decision,
allowing the media to publish the search warrant material.

Sgt. Jacques Lemieux, a police officer from Ottawa who specializes in
outlaw motorcycle gangs, said in a paper which accompanied the search
warrant information that the Hells Angels hold weekly meetings called
"churches" where they take care of the administrative business of the club.

"If questions concerning criminal activities arise, they are presented on a
chalk board that is later erased, or on paper that is later burned or
otherwise destroyed," Lemieux said.

"The Hells Angels are the largest and most sophisticated outlaw biker gang
in the world," said the 32-page report by Lemieux.

The gang has 2,000 members and prospects (aspiring members) in 189 chapters
in 22 countries around the world, said the report, which details that Hells
Angels expansion into Canada since 1977.

Canada now has 32 chapters and one prospect chapter.