POLICE SUSPECT BIKERS IN DEATH THREAT AGAINST REPORTER

Police suspect death threat against reporter doing series on biker gang:

Details of break-in at a CBC journalist's Vancouver home suggest that they
could be construed as a death threat, but the local chapter of the Hells
Angels denies any involvement in the incident.

A CBC Radio reporter, whose series on the Hells Angels began airing across
the country this week, has been the target of a possible death threat.

Vancouver city police say reporter Greg Rasmussen returned home Monday
night to find his back door kicked in and his stereo receiver wrapped in
plastic and dumped in a bathtub full of water.

Police say the tap on the tub was still running.

``That's kind of akin to the way bodies have been found -- wrapped in
plastic and dumped in a river,'' Detective Constable Al Dalstrom of the
Vancouver city police said Tuesday.

The intruders also stole a videocassette recorder and a piece of stereo
equipment -- raising the possibility that it was simply a bizarre
break-and-enter.

But both police and the CBC were taking no chances Tuesday.

Dalstrom, who has been investigating outlaw motorcycle gangs for six years,
confirmed that Vancouver police have taken steps to protect Rasmussen,
while police in Halifax took similar measures to insure the safety of
national CBC reporter Kelly Ryan, who was also working on the project.

The police response was coordinated by the Criminal Intelligence Service of
Canada in Ottawa as part of its national strategy on biker gangs, Dalstrom
said

The CBC, meanwhile, yanked the series Tuesday morning until its reporters
were safe, but began airing the stories again later in the day.

``This might be intimidation, but there is a CBC Radio and Television news
team that is continuing to work on these stories,'' Esther Enkin, a CBC
managing editor in Toronto, said Tuesday.

The Hells Angels, meanwhile, denied any involvement in the incident.

``We didn't have anything to do with breaking into his house and sticking
his stereo in the tub,'' Rick Ciarniello, a B.C. Hells Angel who acts as a
spokesman for the club, said Tuesday. ``Why would anybody do such a thing?
I don't even see the threat there. That sounds like some vandal.''

Ciarniello, who was interviewed for the series, said he was not even aware
the stories began airing this week.

Dalstrom acknowledged that it's possible Rasmussen was simply the victim of
a break-and-enter.

``It's pretty bizarre circumstances if it's a break-and-enter, but you have
to be open to the possibility.

``The other logical possible explanation is that this was a message to
Greg. Certainly, that's how Greg's taken it; it's how the CBC has taken
it.''

If it was intimidation, Dalstrom said it's only the latest in long list of
threats against police, prosecutors, corrections officials, civilians, and
witnesses.

The CBC series segment that aired Tuesday night detailed the threats and
intimidation by organized crime. The story quoted Bob Prior, B.C.'s federal
prosecution director, saying that some prosecutors have declined to handle
cases involving Hells Angels for fear of retaliation.

``Intimidation is the number one tool of control used by the club,''
Dalstrom said. ``We've seen tens of thousands of incidents of intimidation
in this and other jurisdictions on behalf of the Hells Angels.''

Dalstrom, who is a B.C. police spokesman on the national biker gang
strategy, sounded the alarm more than a month ago, when he revealed that
police officers in Vancouver had received threatening telephone calls and
had their houses put under surveillance.

Attorney-General Ujjal Dosanjh told The Vancouver Sun in a recent interview
he is ``extremely concerned'' about the issue.

``It concerns me that somebody could feel strong enough within this
jurisdiction to threaten police officers who are supposed to protect us,''
he said.

The situation has become increasingly tense over the past year. The change
is due, in part, to the Vancouver police special projects unit, which has
turned up the heat on members of the Hells Angels by busting more than 50
marijuana grow operations across the Lower Mainland.

On Monday the unit, assisted by Vancouver's drug squad and Coquitlam RCMP's
emergency response team, kicked in two more so-called ``grow-ops'' on Blue
Mountain Road in Coquitlam.

Police seized more than $500,000 worth of marijuana plants and arrested the
owner, who police say is an associate of the Hells Angels. His name was not
released.

Dalstrom said the kick-ins are designed to interrupt the cash flow of Hells
Angels members, and target low-level associates who are producing the
income.

``Keep in mind, we're not talking about people that are just growing a
little bit of marijuana in their basement,'' Dalstrom said. ``We're talking
about an industry -- a multi-million dollar industry such that B.C. has
been designated by the United States' Drug Enforcement Administration as
being a source country for narcotics production.''

In many cases, the marijuana is shipped to the U.S. and exchanged directly
for cocaine, which is then transported back to Canada, Dalstrom said. ``And
we all know the impact that cocaine is having for the citizens of Vancouver
and B.C.''