'WE ARE THE HELLS ANGELS -- A VICIOUS BIKE CLUB'

Prosecutor Calls Group 'The Most Powerful Outlaw Motorcycle Gang In
The World' On First Day Of Trial

The Hells Angels are a worldwide criminal organization that exists to
facilitate its members' illegal activities, B.C. Supreme Court was
told Thursday.

Prosecutor Mark Levitz said in his opening address in a massive trial
involving four members of the club that the Angels use their
reputation for violence to earn money in the criminal underworld.

Proof of that reputation are the weapons, ammunition and explosives
police seized during their investigation into the East End chapter of
the Hells Angels, the prosecutor told the 12-person jury.

He said the "several guns and four hand grenades was the arsenal of
the East End charter" and had been stored at the Surrey mobile home
of the parents of accused Randy Potts.

Levitz said the Crown would call a witness who will testify that the
grenades were functional and deadly.

"These grenades could cause serious property damage or endanger
life," Levitz said, describing the anticipated evidence.

Levitz said the key witness in the case against Potts, Jean Joseph
Violette, Ronaldo Lising and John Punko will be a former associate of
the bikers named Michael Plante who agreed to be a police agent and
infiltrate the East End chapter.

Each of the accused "used Mr. Plante to help them commit crimes,"
Levitz explained.

"Most of the crimes had to do with illegal drug trafficking," he
said. "They each used Plante as muscle to help out on collections."

The 28-count indictment alleges the Hells Angels chapter is a
criminal organization and that its members committed crimes such as
extortion and uttering death threats "for the benefit of, at the
direction of, or in association with a criminal organization, to wit
the East End charter of the Hells Angels."

"The Hells Angels is the most powerful outlaw motorcycle gang in the
world," Levitz told the jury.

"The main purpose of the Hells Angels is to facilitate or make easy
the criminal activities of its members."

Levitz said Plante was paid by police for his efforts and signed an
agreement that he would be paid $500,000 before testifying in a
series of trials, plus another $500,000 after all the cases are complete.

"Plante's purpose was to make himself known to members so he could be
accepted into the Hells Angels," Levitz said.

He said the agent managed to get official "friend" status with the
East End chapter on Jan. 21, 2004

That meant he had official duties at the East Georgia clubhouse such
as cleaning, grocery shopping and security at "church" meetings of
full-patch members.

But Plante was often wearing a police wire when talking with the
accused about drug deals and proposed beatings, Levitz said.

"During this time, Plante was walking a tightrope," Levitz said.
"Plante took significant risks to his well-being."

Levitz laid out several events in 2004 and 2005 in which the accused
allegedly threatened or beat individuals who owed them money or had
offended the Hells Angels in some way.

One of the events took place in Kelowna.

Plante and Lising allegedly drove together for several hours in a car
that police had bugged.

Lising laid out the hierarchy of the Hells Angel on the drive, Levitz said.

"Being in the Hells Angels is an opportunity to make money," he
quoted Lising as saying.

He said Lising expressed concern about a rival biker gang called the
Bandidos and said he "wants to stop the Bandidos from expanding, to
nip them in the bud."

Levitz said another wiretap has Hells Angels expressing concern about
another rival gang called the United Nations.

Both Levitz and Supreme Court Justice Selwyn Romilly cautioned the
jury that the opening remarks did not constitute evidence, only the
Crown's outline of the case it hopes to prove.

Levitz said that when the evidence unfolds, it will consist of the
agent's testimony, police surveillance, wiretaps and items seized by
police, including the firearms, silencers, ammunition and videotape
of the grenades being exploded by police.

"There exists a culture of violence within the Hells Angels and
particularly the East End chapter," Levitz said.

Levitz referred to a call between the police agent and Punko, in
which Punko was talking about possibly buying dynamite, prompting the
agent to ask why the club would need it.

"You never know. We are a bike club, man. We are the Hells Angels --
a vicious bike club. You never know," Levitz quoted Punko as saying.

Punko is also on tape saying the son of East End charter president
John Bryce should be thrown out of the club because he didn't inflict
any blows in a beating, Levitz alleged.

Levitz said the hallmark of the club is "the opportunity to make
money through crime by using the Hells Angels reputation for violence."