HELL'S ANGELS: CLUB'S INVOLVEMENT IN KELOWNA CRIME SKETCHY

Although two members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club were
sentenced to jail this week for a beating in Kelowna, their presence
in Kelowna is somewhat fleeting.

Not the sort of gang to hide their affiliation or involvement, the
Hells Angels have a trademark fortress-style club house in downtown
Kelowna, but so far hasn't established a full chapter here, sources
say.

But that could soon be changing.

In their book, Road to Hell: How The Biker Gangs Are Conquering Canada,
reporters Julian Sher and William Marsden say the Angels are working on
establishing a full chapter here. Police sources say if that's true, it
hasn't happened yet.

Bryan Bell and Ronnie Sinclair, two Angels sentenced Thursday for
beating a man, are members of the White Rock chapter; any activity in
Kelowna seems to be up for grabs among various chapters.

An average night at downtown nightclubs will reveal several prospects
or hangarounds, but few full-patch members of the Hells Angels.

The Hells Angels' involvement in several prominent Kelowna businesses
remains rumour. Any involvement in street-level crime, if any, is too
well-insulated to pin-point, says a Kelowna drug squad officer, Don
Powell.

Powell says while street crime is directly related to drugs,
involvement by organized crime is at much higher levels where
money--not drugs--is the motivation.

Whether all Hells Angels members are involved in criminal activity
here or not is a matter of speculation; there is very little record of
their involvement.

The Hells Angels public relations arm maintains that, while some of
its membership may engage in criminal activity, it is not exclusively
a criminal organization.

There is good reason for trying to relay that line. In January, 2002,
the federal government passed a crime bill making it illegal for
anyone to be a member of a criminal organization or take part in
activities benefitting organized crime. That might suggest that the
gang would stop wearing its signature red and white colours and
deaths-head logo, but the law hasn't been tested yet, according to
Sher and Marsden.

There's a lot at stake for the first prosecutor who attempts to prove
in court that the Hells Angels are a criminal organization, to say
nothing of the fact that the Hells Angels have targeted prosecutors
and other civil servants in the past. The risk is if the court rejects
evidence that the Hells Angels is a criminal organization, it could be
disastrous for future prosecutions.

Joseph Hutchings, the victim of the assault by Bell who claimed to
have been coerced into growing marijuana for the club, seemed to have
no doubt about their activities.

"The Hells Angels is the largest group of organized crime that I know
of in the world," he told a provincial court judge at his own trial
for cultivating marijuana. "They act inside and outside the law. They
have power beyond what the RCMP has. They control judges, city
councillors, prison guards and prisoners. They are more than willing
to use violence to get what they want."

In fairness, Hutchings' claims formed his defence to the marijuana
charges for which he was sentenced to three years in jail. He claimed
he fell out of favour with them when he was busted for an earlier grow
operation of theirs he was running.

He was caught in control of 3,500 marijuana plants worth between $1.3
million to $3.9 million per year.

"I was held accountable for all the losses including anticipated
profits from it. They made threats to members of my family.

"They had specific information about my mother and my son that would
be difficult to get otherwise.

"They said if I didn't cooperate they would kill my mother and son."