GANGS WAGE TURF WAR OVER COCAINE

Recent Spate Of Shootings Tied To Battle Over Drug Distribution In
City, Police Say

THE recent spate of gang-related shootings in Winnipeg is due to a
violent turf war over the city's cocaine trade -- a trade many believe
is controlled by the Hells Angels, city police and sources confirmed
yesterday.

Police spokesman Const. Bob Johnson said officers with the Winnipeg
Police Service's gang unit believe two street gangs are duking it out
over who controls the distribution of cocaine on city streets.

"It is believed these two factions both have strong ties to organized
criminal organizations and what is taking place is a 'turf' war
between these factions," Johnson said.

"The shootings themselves are not believed to be random drive-by
events, but are specific in their intentions."

Johnson and other officers wouldn't confirm the gangs involved -- they
say they don't want to give them any hint of credibility -- but it is
believed two street gangs, the Indian Posse and the Deuce, are behind
the shootings.

Several people have been injured in six shootings in Winnipeg over the
past week. A 22-year-old man arrested in the latest shooting, in which
a man shot at four occupants of a car at Burrows Avenue and Powers
Street, had his bail hearing yesterday put over to Monday.

The largest organized crime outfits in the city are the Manitoba
Warriors, whose ranks have been lessened with this year's anti-gang
prosecution, and the Hells Angels outlaw motorcycle gang, which
recently set up shop in Winnipeg last summer after absorbing the Los
Brovos motorcycle gang.

The Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada, in its 2000 report, says
the Hells Angels remain one of the most powerful and well-structured
criminal organizations in Canada. It has 18 chapters across Canada and
is currently expanding into Ontario.

Police sources say the recent shootings in Winnipeg are in keeping
with how the Hells Angels do business -- they get bottom feeders to do
the dirty work while the big fish stay clean.

"That's in keeping with any criminal organization," an officer
said.

In its report, CISC said the Hells Angels, particularly in Quebec, are
actively recruiting new entities, referred to as "cliques" or
subgroups, to do grunt work for the gang.

"They are usually made up of about a dozen small-time criminals who
are given menial tasks like low-level debt collection, drug selling on
the street and break and enters," the report says. "The purpose of the
cliques is to create an additional layer of insulation between
high-level members and the police, as well as to distance these
members from criminal activity and violence."

CISC says the Hells Angels will continue to expand their criminal
network throughout the country and expand their association with other
outlaw motorcycle gangs and other organized crime groups.

The Hells Angels are believed to be involved in the importation and
distribution of cocaine, the production and distribution of
methamphetamine, as well as the cultivation and exportation of
high-grade marihuana, the CISC report said.

"The Hells Angels use a vast network of associates to recruit
marijuana grow operation sitters, to set up grow houses, to harvest
the drug and to move it at street level," the report said.

They are also believed to be involved in the illegal trafficking of
firearms and explosives, the use of intimidation and threats, the
collection of protection money from both legitimate and illegitimate
business operations, fraud, money laundering and prostitution.