KENORA MAN CHARGED IN HELLS SWEEP

Bar Owner Was Wrongly Accused In 00 Homicide

A 30-year-old Kenora man, who made headlines last year when it was
revealed he was wrongly accused of an October 2000 homicide, was
caught up yesterday in a massive sweep of Hells Angels in Ontario.

Ontario Provincial Police said Justin Carambetsos is an associate of
the Thunder Bay chapter of the international biker gang. He was
scooped up Wednesday in Project Husky, a two-year undercover
investigation into the drug trade in northwestern Ontario.

The 15 raids in Ontario, Quebec and Calgary were the result of a
two-year undercover operation that focused on the Thunder Bay area,
said Det. Insp. Don Bell, head of Ontario's joint forces biker
enforcement unit.

"We've put a significant dent into this operation," Bell told a news
conference in the northwestern Ontario city. "We feel we may have
dismantled this chapter. However, we'll have to wait and see what the
actions are of the Hells Angels."

Carambetsos is a Kenora bar owner who was falsely accused of the Oct.
4, 2000, beating death of an aboriginal man. He is now suing the
Kenora Police Service for $5 million. Bell said he could not comment
on Carambetsos' alleged involvement with Canada's most visible
organized crime group.

But Bell said Carambetsos was one of 27 people charged for alleged
connections to drug trafficking and organized crime, which involved
the movement of cocaine and other drugs from Quebec into Ontario.

Bell said five Hells Angels members were arrested, along with a
number of alleged gang associates and one so-called hang-around.

One of those charged is Andre Paulo Watteel, 53, of Cambridge, Ont.,
the reputed president of the Kitchener chapter and one of the
highest-ranking members in Canada.

Many of those arrested were once connected to Hells Angels member
Walter Stadnick, who is credited with bringing the gang west from
Quebec into Ontario and Manitoba. Stadnick is serving 20 years in
prison for conspiracy to commit murder, drug trafficking and
gangsterism in connection with Quebec's gang war.

Bell said the investigation did not target anyone in Manitoba, which
has had a Hells Angels chapter for more than five years.

In the 15 raids, officers seized cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy,
Percocet and OxyContin that together have a street value of more than
$2.3 million, police said.

It was not immediately known what the specific charge was against
Carambetsos, his lawyer, David Gibson, said. Police are still
preparing their case.

Gibson said Carambetsos spent about six hours in custody before being
released. His bar, the Whistling Monkey, was also searched by police.
"The timing of this seems unusual to me," Gibson said in reference to
a CTV W5 broadcast this weekend on Carambetsos' arrest for the
beating death of Max Kakegamic.

Carambetsos was cleared of the crime at trial when it was revealed
two Kenora Police Service officers withheld vital evidence that the
lead investigator's nephew could be the killer.