HELLS ANGELS TARGET HAMILTON

One of Canada's foremost bike gang experts predicts Hamilton will host the
next chapter of the world's most notorious bikers -- the Hells Angels. If
the prediction of retired Quebec provincial police sergeant Guy Ouellette
comes true, we could see no fewer than four criminal bike gang chapters
calling the Steel City home, a concentration never before seen here.

The Angels' biggest Ontario rival, the Outlaws, have ties to the Angels'
archrivals, the Bandidos. The Outlaws have set up "puppet" clubs in four
communities, including Hamilton, and appear to be opening a brand new
clubhouse in Niagara Falls.

Gang rivalry was highlighted on the weekend when three bikers were killed
in Nevada. The gunfire involved the Angels and rival Mongol gang.

"Puppet clubs are springing up everywhere," says Staff Sergeant Andy
Stewart, spokes-man for the Provincial Special Squad, an anti-biker-gang unit.

"To be honest, we have trouble keeping track of them all."

It's all part of an explosive growth in biker membership and criminal
activity in the Golden Horseshoe that's occurred in the wake of the Angels'
December 2000 arrival in Ontario.

The arrival was virtually a bloodless coup that saw them "patch over" 170
rival gang members and organize them into 12 new chapters for instant
domination of Ontario's bike gang underworld.

The Angels, the newly resurgent Outlaws and their seeming friends the
Bandidos are fighting for control and access to lucrative drug and criminal
markets, especially in the Golden Horseshoe.

The area is home to 60 per cent of the province's outlaw bikers, says Stewart.

That race to grab and hold turf has already sparked a number of shootings,
stabbings and beatings, but so far nothing like the biker war in Quebec,
which claimed more than 160 lives, or the dozens of drug-related murders
Toronto sees in an average year.

Still, echoes of that fear are never far away.

Detective Steve Pacey, Hamilton's biker specialist, sums up the gang growth
and his reaction to it this way: "I'd say it's (bike gang numbers) fairly
substantial in terms of raw numbers, but it's not entirely unexpected. If
it was me, as Joe Citizen, I'd be concerned. But does it mean run inside
and lock up your doors? No."

When it comes to bikers, police must walk a fine line between being
prepared and being alarmist, but they still bristle when asked why anyone
should care how many bikers we have in town, or how well organized they are.

Staff Sergeant Ted Davis, head of the Hamilton police intelligence unit,
says local bikers are selling ecstasy, pot and other drugs.

"They're stealing vehicles, operating chop shops, running insurance
frauds." He also says they're extorting money, a tough crime for police to
tackle, because "an extremely high proportion of the victims are too scared
to come forward. They take the beating, pay the money."

And Davis argues that even if we're not the ones beaten up or victimized by
fraud or auto theft, their activities hurt many people.

"If a biker sells drugs, are you saying that doesn't affect anyone other
than the person who takes the drugs? That person using drugs has a wife and
kids, family. It affects their jobs, their life, they lose their jobs,
their homes. And down the road a while, all of a sudden we're paying that
person's health care. It does affect us all. You have to look at the big
picture. And when you look at the big picture, it's very frightening."

That picture is undergoing some real changes with the arrival of the puppet
clubs. Much of the growth in criminal gang numbers and activities can be
traced to these junior bikers, who do everything from providing security
services for their sponsoring gangs to doing their dirty work -- murder and
muscle. They are the biker equivalent of a farm team, and increasingly it
seems to be a key way the big players mark their turf.

One of those puppet clubs, The Foundation, marked Hamilton for the Hells
Angels just last month.

The gang thumbed their noses at police and made a splash in this city by
setting up shop in an old biker clubhouse on Lottridge Street, the same
squat red building police seized from the Satan's Choice bike gang in a
highly publicized raid in 1998. Several members of the now-disbanded Choice
chapter signed on with the Hells Angels and there's no doubt they were
sending the local police a message.

"Let 'em laugh," Detective Pacey says, refusing to offer any further
comment on the Foundation's Hamilton activities, saying he doesn't comment
on investigations.

But from his home in Quebec, retired cop Ouellette suggests the
Foundation's move onto Lottridge means more than the gang tweaking the nose
of the local constabulary. Noting that the Foundation is sponsored by the
Hells Angels, Ouellette suggests it may merely be a preliminary move.

"I would not be surprised if the Foundation clubhouse will be a Hells
Angels clubhouse. There will be a Hells Angels chapter in Hamilton soon,"
says Ouellette, pointing out that 11 Hells Angels live in Hamilton and only
six are needed to form a chapter.

The Foundation also has chapters in Toronto and Oakville, where they grew
out of a kind of social club of Halton's criminal element.

It's hard to get a definite fix on membership, but adding up police
estimates suggests they have about 50 members.

In addition to the Foundation and Hells Angels, two other bike gangs now
call Hamilton home.

The Red Devils -- the oldest outlaw bike gang in Canada -- have operated
out of a fortified Beach Strip bungalow for nearly two decades. But they've
been growing, opening up a Chatham chapter last year and actively
recruiting new members, all the while maintaining a warm relationship with
the Big Red Machine, as the Angels like to call themselves.

A previously little-known biker gang, The Black Pistons, set up shop in
Hamilton's north end just this spring -- the club's fourth Ontario chapter.
Police say the Black Pistons' arrival is significant because it marks a
real change in strategy for their sponsors, the Outlaws.

"The Black Pistons are controlled by the Outlaws," says the OPP's Stewart.
"We've never seen them use puppet clubs before. That idea originated with
the Hells Angels in Quebec."

So far the Black Pistons have kept a low profile. It's unclear whether
they've set up clubhouses yet, but the Hamilton chapter was rumoured to be
aiming for an April 1 housewarming.

Hamilton's chapter is so new, one biker source told The Spectator, they
don't even have their bikes yet. Police say that's not uncommon with puppet
clubs.

"They're formed from street gangs, existing criminal groups," Stewart
explains. Few are truly "raw" recruits.

"Criminals aren't created just by throwing on the colours," Stewart says.
So, to some extent, the increase in gang members represents a reordering of
our criminal element. But the increase in the Outlaw ranks is especially
worth noting.

"The Outlaws have expanded significantly, they've been recruiting. Whether
this is something that was already in the works or is a response to the
Hells Angels' arrival, I don't know."

Police say the Outlaws now have nine chapters and very close to 80 members
in Ontario, a lot fewer than the more than 180 Hells Angels spread among 13
Ontario chapters.

The gang has chapters in St. Catharines, London and Woodstock. And sources
say they are poised to open a new chapter and clubhouse in downtown Niagara
Falls, near the corner of Main and Ferry streets.

Sources say a member of the St. Catharines Outlaws chapter was supposed to
open up the new Niagara Falls chapter, but appeared to have a major
falling-out with the chapter's new president, leaving their expansion plans
for the Falls in doubt.

But a recent visit to the cinder-block building turned up construction
activity as well as police monitoring the site, so the clubhouse may go
ahead after all.

The Bandidos have but four chapters in Canada, half in Ontario where maybe
30 people wear their colours -- including three men arrested in Milton
after a traffic stop turned up a loaded semiautomatic gun, stolen property
and a Bandidos patch.

You can reach Bill Dunphy at bdunphy@hamiltonspectator.com or at
905-526-3262, or Paul Legall at plegall@hamiltonspectator.com and 905-526-3385.

Major Outlaw Gangs in the Hamilton Area

* HELLS ANGELS:

Biggest biker gang in the world with chapters in more than 20 countries.
Established first 12 chapters in Ontario in December 2000 by patching over
170 bikers from other gangs. Now has 13 chapters and about 180 members in
Ontario and a presence in all provinces. In the past 16 months, the Hells
Angels recruited a coterie of new members and established a new chapter in
Welland. Early in January, the Hells Angels celebrated their first
anniversary in Ontario with a bash in the heart of Toronto's entertainment
district. Two Hamilton Angels, Walter Stadnik, 50, and Donald (Pup)
Stockford, 39, are facing charges in Quebec in relation to 13 gangland
slayings during the war between the Hells Angels and the Rock Machine.

* OUTLAWS:

One of the biggest motorcycle gangs in the world with chapters in North
America, Australia and Europe. It has been increasing its numbers in
Ontario since the arrival of the Hells Angels 16 months ago and now has
about 80 members in nine chapters. The gang had a strong chapter in
Hamilton with a clubhouse on Sherman Avenue until the 1980s. The nearest
chapter is now in St. Catharines. A biker expert predicts tensions between
the Outlaws and Hells Angels could be heating up again in Ontario because a
truce between the two gangs recently ended in the United States. The Angels
and Outlaws had been bitter enemies in the 1980s and clashed violently on
both sides of the border.

* BANDIDOS:

One of the Big Four in the biker outlaw world, which includes the Hells
Angels, Pagans and Outlaws. The Texas-based club was established in the
1960s by Vietnam veterans and has chapters in Scandinavia as well as Canada
and the United States. It has a cartoon-like crest consisting of a
potbellied Mexican bandit with a large sombrero brandishing a sword and a
pistol. The Bandidos were trying to establish a beachhead in Ontario when
the Hells Angels stormed into the province 16 months ago. But they clearly
came out second best and now have about 30 members. Police say they have
been cosying up to the Outlaws in recent months and may be forming a common
front against the Hells Angels.

* RED DEVILS:

The oldest outlaw motorcycle gang in Canada. It was established in the
Hamilton area in 1948 and has maintained a presence in the Steel City ever
since. A few years ago, it was down to about 10 members who operated out of
a fortified clubhouse on Arden Avenue off Beach Boulevard. But police say
the club has been on a recruiting drive in recent years and now has about
25 to 30 members. Many of the veterans have left and have been replaced by
younger bikers. They recently established a chapter in Chatham.

When the Hells Angels roared into Ontario 16 months ago, some biker experts
predicted it would only be a matter of time before the Devils would be
wearing the Death's Head insignia of the Hells Angels. While they have
maintained a friendly relationship with the Angels, there's no indication
they're about to switch sides. Last spring, the club held a
"show-and-shine" rally to raise money for a local charity. The event had a
picnic-like atmosphere as bikers of every stripe from the Hells Angels to
Outlaws rode their Harleys down Arden Avenue.

* PUPPET CLUBS:

Puppet clubs are nothing new in Ontario. Nine years ago, Hamilton native
Stadnik made an abortive attempt to establish a club called the Demon
Keepers on behalf of the Hells Angels in Toronto. Stadnik, one of Canada's
most powerful bikers, was trying to pave the way for the arrival of a
full-fledged Angels chapter in Hogtown. But police were able to nix the
move by arresting most of the members of the fledgling puppet club.

What is new about the current crop of puppet clubs -- which have emerged in
the last 10 months -- is that there are so many of them. At one time, there
were six puppets in Oshawa alone, including a club called the Potato Heads.
Police also say the Outlaws have picked up on the practice, begun by the
Hells Angels in Quebec, and established their own puppet gang, the Black
Pistons.

* BLACK PISTONS:

A new puppet club associated with the Outlaws emerged in southern Ontario
in recent months. It has set up chapters in South Simcoe, east Toronto
(Pickering), Hamilton and London. Its crest consists of crossed pistons.
Police say its members were recruited from street gangs and the criminal
underworld. The emergence of the club marks the first time in Canada the
Outlaws have used puppet clubs to do their bidding on the street.

* THE FOUNDATION:

A puppet club of the Hells Angels with chapters in Halton, Hamilton and
Toronto. The Halton chapter -- formerly known as the Unforgiven -- has 13
members ranging in age from their late teens to early 50s. Police say the
group evolved out of a private sportsmen's club based in Oakville and most
of the members don't yet own motorcycles. Two of the members -- a father
and son -- were recently charged with possession of counterfeit currency
and attempting to use it to buy gasoline. The Hamilton chapter of the
Foundation has bought the old Satan's Choice clubhouse. It is the home for
about 10 members in the chapter.

The Toronto Foundation chapter is the most powerful, with about 30 members.
Police sources say two of its members, who live in Halton, are being
investigated for a suspected scam involving phoney mortgages on an upscale
home in Oakville. The sophistication of the scam suggests they might have
an inside government source who was able to falsify land registry and other
records.

* THE JACKALS:

The Quebec-based puppet gang established a chapter in St. Thomas early this
year. The club made a splash in the media in January when four of its
members were involved in a gun battle in front of the London home of
Outlaws boss Thomas (Holmes) Hughes, 45, who was charged with four counts
of attempted murder. Jackals member Eric Davignon, 29, was shot in the
stomach during the gunplay and was taken to hospital. A few days later,
several Jackals were seen wearing their colours in Toronto when the Hells
Angels celebrated their first anniversary in Ontario. The Jackals provided
security in and around the Holiday Inn while about 300 Angels from across
the country sat down to a steak dinner in the banquet room. They also kept
the media and uninvited guests at bay when the Angels attended other bars
and establishments in the entertainment area.