DEBT PAID WITH A FINGER

Biker Enforcers Maintain Order With Murder, Mutilations

Day One Of A Two-Part Series

Crack addict and petty dealer Shawn Giesbrecht owed only $170 to his
supplier in the Crew, a Prince George puppet club for the notorious
Hells Angels.

But he was warned by Crew enforcer Scott Payne that the unpaid debt
would cost him dearly. Payne told Giesbrecht to place his hand on a
table and hacked off a finger.

"He then placed it in a small box, apparently for display," B.C.
Supreme Court Justice W. Glen Parrett said in sentencing Payne last
September to eight years in jail.

Payne, 25, often worked with other enforcers to inflict pain and fear
on clients in the Prince George area in a sign of the increasing
brutality of outlaw motorcycle gangs.

"These individuals and their organization . . . have openly
cultivated an atmosphere and a reputation for extreme violence. They
have, on the evidence at this trial, already engaged in the chopping
off of fingers, violent beatings, and other forms of extreme
violence," Parrett said.

"The subject of such violence is an open topic of discussion amongst
those associated with the organization, and the discussions of
violence and the trophies they take, in the form of fingers and
videos, appear to be the means by which they strive to maintain
discipline and control of their organization."

Law enforcement agencies who specialize in biker gangs say that the
Hells Angels have moved into the north with a vengeance, controlling
the lucrative drug trade there by whatever means necessary, including
vicious assaults and murder.

A booming northern economy with high wages and an expanded port being
constructed in Prince Rupert makes the area attractive to organized
crime, says Insp. Gary Shinkaruk, head of the RCMP's Outlaw
Motorcycle Gang unit.

"The north has always been an expanding field. There are a lot of
drugs consumed in the north," he said. "They want to tap into that
lucrative market."

But because Hells Angels members don't generally want to live in the
north, they have been operating through puppet clubs -- the Crew and
the Renegades -- flexing whatever muscles necessary to keep control
of the criminal underworld.

"In order to flourish as a criminal organization, groups have to
either be seen to be violent or be very violent in order to expand
their territory or prevent other groups from coming into their
territory," Shinkaruk said.

RCMP biker specialists say millions in profits from the northern drug
frontier flow back down to the Lower Mainland.

The Vancouver Sun has learned that two members of the elite Nomads
chapter, as well as two others, recently purchased a 160-acre quarter
section of land at Hudson's Hope, about three hours north of Prince
George. The land is assessed at $123,400.

According to property records obtained by The Sun, Nicodemo Mann and
his brother Manuele (Manny) Manno, both full-patch Nomads, became
owners of the large property on Feb. 23, along with Guiseppe
Sansalone and Alexander Joseph Horacsek. Horacsek, a Maple Ridge
business associate of Manny Manno, was formerly the sole owner of the
land and now remains on the title with the three others.

Shinkaruk wasn't surprised to learn of the land purchase.

"The Nomads have a strong presence up north. A lot of Nomad
associates are working up north," he said.

The Nomads are among the richest Hells Angels members anywhere, with
real estate holdings and businesses across the Lower Mainland.

The Sun revealed in January that the Nomads had opened a new Burnaby
clubhouse after completing major renovations on the Grant Street
property, now assessed at over $1 million.

Sgt. Tom Bethune, head of the Prince George RCMP's biker task force,
said Nomads like to travel to the north on long-distance bike and
hunting trips.

But Bethune said the Hells Angels, through the Crew, have not been
buying the houses used for their crack operations in Prince George,
but have operated in concert with landlords in the area.

The level of sophistication in the crackhouse operation -- and the
brutality -- was stressed by Justice Parrett when he sentenced
enforcer Scott Payne.

"The Crown has presented a body of evidence which, in many respects,
opens a window into a world of street-level drug trafficking which is
both disturbing and shocking," Parrett said.

Payne was not the only brutal enforcer for the Crew. His partner in
crime, 21-year-old Alia Brianne Pierini, the mother of a toddler, is
now serving a five-year sentence for a series of similar attacks.

Bethune said the violence was a way for the Hells Angels to eradicate
the competition and establish such a brutal reputation that no one
would want to cross them.

"They took over with violence -- violence like we had never seen
before here -- beatings and chopping off fingers and that type of
thing, trying to get themselves known in the community," Bethune
said. "At first we didn't know who they were and then we identified
them as a group called the Crew and we tied them back into the Hells Angels."

An early example of the violence to come was inflicted on another
drug addict named Patrick Patriquin, who walked into a Prince George
convenience store named Mr. G's early one morning four years ago
covered in blood.

A disturbed store clerk called police, who realized upon arrival that
Patriquin's hand had been severed.

"At first they thought he had been hit by a vehicle because he was so
banged up and dirty. He had cuts on his head, he was bloody, dirty,
[with] road debris on him, blood-soaked clothing. Then they noticed
that one hand appeared to be missing," Prince George RCMP Const. Gary
Godwin said. "He was known to us. We were pretty sure this was
connected with the Crew. This was a targeted assault."

When Patriquin woke up later in hospital, he refused to provide a
statement to police and checked himself out a day later.

"We never did find the hand," Godwin said.

Rumours began to circulate in the criminal underworld that the hand
had been kept as a trophy to be shown when necessary as a deterrent.

The file remains open, though RCMP investigators admit a charge might
never be laid given the reluctance of the victim to cooperate.

While the specialized task force in Prince George has had several
successful prosecutions, the battle is not over because of the
increasing sophistication of the biker gangs.

"We have had some great success here and we hope to have some more.
We have ongoing investigations with regards to the Crew and the
Renegades," Bethune said.

The RCMP's most recent report on organized crime in B.C., obtained by
The Sun, notes the increasing violence of B.C. bikers.

"Violence and intimidation have long been a hallmark of outlaw
motorcycle gang activity and this past year saw an increase in
violent incidents involving the Hells Angels members or their
associates and the police," the 2006 report says. "The principal
criminal activity of OMGs in B.C. continues to be drug trafficking
and distribution and activities related to drug trafficking --
extortion and intimidation."

Northern B.C. is not the only place the Hells Angels have tried to
use puppet clubs to increase their profile and potentially distance
themselves from street-level crime.

Last year two puppet clubs -- the Outcasts and the Jesters -- set up
shop on the Lower Mainland. Despite the fact that the Angels said the
new groups had no affiliation, members started turning up with their
patches at Hells Angels social events and bike shows.

The Outcasts even opened a clubhouse off King George Highway in
Surrey, where members interviewed by The Sun donned clothing
supporting the Hells Angels. The Outcasts website was linked to that
of the Hells Angels in Toronto.

But the Outcasts began drawing unwanted attention for the established
biker gang, and were forced by the Angels to turn in their patches
two months ago, closing down their fledgling operation.

The Jesters, on the other hand, have geared up, with a new website
featuring a grinning, malevolent-looking clown. Pictures of gang
members are featured wearing leather vests and standing in front of
their choppers. Road trip snapshots of biker events of the Hells
Angels both in B.C. and the U.S. are posted.

"How the Jesters will do, who knows," Shinkaruk said. "They are
certainly making themselves more visible. They are certainly
expanding in numbers."

Details of the Angels relationship with the new Lower Mainland puppet
clubs were found last April when White Rock chapter sgt.-at-arms
Villy Roy Lynnerup was arrested at Vancouver International Aiport and
charged with carrying a loaded weapon. The contents of Lynnerup's
suitcase proved a goldmine for police, with minutes and documents
related to the Hells Angels' operations, including the fact they had
been approached by both the Outcasts and the Jesters.

Lynnerup, 42, was out of bail when he was charged last month with
break and enter and assault with a weapon in connection with an
attack on a Surrey man.

Also charged was White Rock chapter president Douglas (Doc) Riddoch,
57, who is a prominent national figure in the organization. They are
alleged to to have broken into a 44-year-old Surrey man's home and
beat him, leaving severe bruising to his head, arms and leg.

Shinkaruk said the fact bikers are being charged and convicted sends
the right message to other victims of the violence.

"It shows the confidence people are having in the police and quite
frankly the courts . . . that people will take them seriously if they
do come forward," he said. "For a long time -- for decades, literally
- -- these guys have been able to prosper and live off a reputation . .
. . We are starting to see more people willing to come forward."

Just last Friday, Joseph Calendino, a former member of the Nomads,
and Sabino Debenedetto, also a full-patch Hells Angel, were sentenced
to community service after pleading guilty to assaulting a man at a
Kelowna casino.

The attack was caught on video-tape, showing Calendino, wearing his
biker colours, grabbing the man after he accidentally knocked over
the Angel's gambling chips. Debenedetto joined the attack.

Neither the victim, nor casino staff, would testify against the two.

Earlier this month in Nanaimo police charged two Hells Angels from
Edmonton who were attending an island meeting of club officers.

Mounties with the outlaw motorcycle gang task force and the Nanaimo
RCMP stopped a vehicle after it crossed a double solid line
illegally. A search of the vehicle uncovered a loaded handgun with
the serial number filed off and a small amount of marijuana, police said.

"I was certainly not surprised that we found a loaded handgun," Shinkaruk said.

Long-time Hells Angels spokesman and senior member Rickey Ciarniello
was at the Nanaimo meeting. Ciarniello said Friday that he did not
want to comment on anything to do with other Hells Angels "charters"
or the personal business of members, such as the large land purchase
in the north.

And he strongly denied the police contention that the Crew is linked
to the Angels.

"We know the Renegades. I don't know who the Crew are," Ciarniello said.

He reiterated his old mantra that any time an individual club member
is charged, it has nothing to do with the Hells Angels.

"I have maintained all along that anything that anybody does, they
are doing it on their own behalf, not on the club's," Ciarniello
said. "What people do on their own is their own business. It has got
nothing to do with the Hells Angels."

Even after all the recent charges and convictions, Hells Angels
members are not sidelined for long.

The most senior Hells Angels members ever charged, Norman Krogstad
and Cedric Smith, both of the Vancouver chapter, pleaded guilty to
several trafficking counts and got four-year sentences in November
2005. But both were released on full parole a week ago.

Former full-patch member David Patrick O'Hara, who also pleaded
guilty to trafficking and gun possession, got almost three years in
jail, but was released on accelerated parole last August.

And Jonathan Sal Bryce, the son of East End president John Bryce and
Angels hangaround -- a low-level associate -- pleaded guilty to
charges of trafficking cocaine, extortion and possession of the
proceeds of crime. But he was allowed to withdraw the plea last
December and await the outcome of today's abuse-of-process ruling,
which could mean the charges against him are tossed.

It is the brutality with which the Hells Angels and their enforcers
dominate the drug trade that bothers police the most.

Aside from the finger and hand-hacking, there have been murders, most
of which remain unsolved.

And the vicious assaults filter down into other organized crime
groups trying to impress the outlaw bikers.

Take an attack last July near Mission.

A man with a lengthy criminal record was allegedly kidnapped at
gunpoint and confined against his will all because he had a tattoo on
his arm saying "Support East End" in reference to the Hells Angel
chapter headquatered on East Georgia Street.

Police say the victim was driven to a remote location where his hands
were tied and he was beaten with baseball bats. He was told his
tattoo needed to come off.

The tattoo was then sliced and burned off with a butane torch.

Two men -- who are not known as Hells Angels or associates -- have
been charged with armed kidnapping, aggravated assault and two counts
of assault with a weapon. One count lists the knife and the second
lists the butane torch. Both are due to go to trial next summer.

Shinkaruk said the chilling mutilation would not have taken place
unless someone in the outlaw motorcycle club had wanted it to happen.

"It seems to me that you wouldn't have an interest in doing that
unless you were doing it to either impress somebody or under the
direction of somebody," Shinkaruk said, adding that at least victims
are now coming forward.

"People are saying enough is enough. I man you are having people who
are having body parts cut off."