INSIDE THE HELLS ANGELS

A Dog-Eat-Dog World Of Threats And Drugs

UNDERCOVER work by a police informant, detailed in a 217-page court
document released yesterday, gives a rare glimpse into the day-to-day
life of the Manitoba Hells Angels. It also reveals an apparent
"every-man-for-himself" mentality among the bikers, long considered
the top dogs of organized crime in the province. Police - through the
use of a paid agent and hundreds of hours of surveillance and wiretaps
- - have documented many instances of secret competition among paranoid
Hells members to steal business from one another.

As well, in secret tape recordings, one describes how another member
could be demoted or even shot because he doesn't follow gang rules.

"He'll get one between the eyes," one biker is quoted as
saying.

The document, prepared by RCMP Cpl. Robert Thorarinson, also details
the day jobs of some bikers: working in the auto parts business,
driving snow-clearing machinery and running a pizza restaurant; while
selling cocaine and methamphetamine for $40,000 a kilo. In one
instance, a full-patch member offers to undercut another Hells member
by selling the undercover agent a kilogram of cocaine for $38,000
instead of the usual $40,000.

"It's cheaper than what (the other biker) is charging you," he
says.

On another day, the same member offers to help the agent collect an
outstanding $10,000 drug debt from another Hells member.

"What am I supposed to do? The guy's a (expletive) Hells Angel, you
know what I mean?" said the agent.

The Hells member tells the agent he's "supposed to come to a guy like
me" to help collect it. "It's what I do... professionally."

Another full-patch Hells member appeared to be worried about the agent
buying ephedrine or crystal methamphetamine from other bikers instead
of him.

"You're always talking about the crystal (meth). Who else you been
talking to?" he asks the agent.

"Nobody," he replies. "Really? You sure you haven't been talking to
(two other members)?"

The member then told the agent "Don't lie to me. Don't play me like a
third stringer."

Another member complains bitterly of club meetings, which are known as
"church" and mandatory for bikers.

Another laments it's "very difficult to be a member of the Hells
Angels in Winnipeg because of all the police attention."

In the document, the biker says meetings turn into shouting matches
between members, mostly over money, and that younger bikers are taking
over the running of the club from older bikers.

"Every meeting I've been hearing the same (expletive)," he
says.

The document was prepared as part of Operation Defence, which climaxed
Feb. 15 with more than a dozen arrests. Those charged include Ernest
John Dew, 46, president of the Manitoba chapter of the Hells Angels,
and his wife, Vera Lynn Dew, 37; and Hells Angels members Ian Matthew
Grant, 31, and Jeffrey David Peck, 43. The remaining nine are either
associates of the Hells Angels or are linked to other drug gangs.

The document was prepared as part of Operation Defence, which climaxed
Feb. 15 with more than a dozen arrests. Those charged include Ernest
John Dew, 46, president of the Manitoba chapter of the Hells Angels,
and his wife, Vera Lynn Dew, 37; and Hells Angels members Ian Matthew
Grant, 31, and Jeffrey David Peck, 43. The remaining nine are either
associates of the Hells Angels or are linked to other drug gangs.

They face a variety of drug-trafficking, proceeds-of-crime, extortion
and criminal-organization charges.

The documents also reveal disparity in the bikers' financial status.
One Hells Angel boasts about spending $15,000 attending the biker
gang's World Run in Europe in June 2005, while at the same time
another member was forced to ask the agent for a $200 loan, saying
"I'm broke."

The documents also reveal how many drug transactions took
place.

In one example, the agent was told over a text messenger to leave
$40,000 cash on the front seat of his car, which was parked outside a
doughnut shop, and walk inside. Another man then drove into the
parking lot and dropped a white bag in the car and took the bag of
cash. The agent then returned to the car and drove away to meet with
his police handlers. The second man then drove to the home of a
full-patch Hells member and dropped off the cash.

Police have also documented many examples of the gang using coded
words or secret methods of communicating with each other.

In one, a full-patch member writes instructions on a white eraseable
board in which he tells the agent "don't talk about the deal we
discussed last night."

The "deal" is in reference to a meeting at a Winnipeg burger
restaurant in which the purchase of methamphetamine was discussed.

In another, police say the terms "having a barbecue Friday or
Saturday" and "marinate my steaks" are code words for making a cocaine
purchase.

One full-patch member allegedly offered to fly to B.C. to get some
"good s--t" for the agent. He said he would arrange to have it
couriered to Winnipeg "like the guys in the Club do" by concealing it
in "toasters and toaster ovens."

Police also intercepted a discussion of the March 2005 shooting of
Hells Angels member Billy Bowden inside a Corydon Avenue bar. The
gunman -- who has never been charged by police -- is identified by
name by a full-patch member in a recorded conversation with the agent.

The biker tells the agent he should pay his debts or meet a fate
similar to the one planned for the man who shot Bowden.

"I'd pay if I was you. These guys already plan on killing that kid,"
he said.

There was also a secretly recorded conversation about the killing of
four Mounties in Alberta.

During one meeting with the agent in March 2005, a Hells Angels member
is reading a newspaper account of the tragedy in Mayerthorpe.

"Look at the (expletive) cops layin' all over the place. There's a
dead cop... dead cop... dead cop... dead cop," said the biker.

"That was stupid, hey?" replies the agent.

"Why?" said the biker, who then broke into laughter.