Police Chief Davies: We're 'keeping a vigilant eye on the Hells Angels'

By BOB MIHELL
August 19 2009

They call themselves the "one percenters".

That is the label that outlaw motorcycle gangs "proudly" adopted in the late 1940s to differentiate their motorcycle clubs from the 99 per cent of motorcycle clubs that the American Motorcycle Association described as "law abiding citizens", according to Montreal-based author/investigative journalist, Julian Sher.

Sher co-authored with William Marsden, The Road to Hell: How The Biker Gangs Are Conquering Canada, a devastating indictment of the Hells Angels criminal activities in Quebec and elsewhere that have included murder, drug trafficking, prostitution, and money laundering.

"If you ask any member of one of the four or five big biker gangs in Canada, groups like the Hells Angels, the Outlaws or the Bandidos, they would be ashamed not to say they consider themselves as one percenters," Sher told Sault This Week in an exclusive interview from Montreal.

Sault Police Service deputy chief Bob Kates had told Sault This Week in a July 22 article that since the 2002 arrest of local Outlaws, and the police seizure of their Spruce St. clubhouse, no new biker gang chapters had opened in the city.

But chief of police, Bob Davies, acknowledged last Friday that Sault Police Services are keeping a vigilant eye on the Hells Angels who operate a chapter in Sudbury.

"Just because there is no formal Hells Angels's clubhouse in Sault Ste. Marie, they have to be at the top of the list when it comes to organized crime and motorcycle gangs specifically," Davies said.

Davies added, "Since Project Retire, the Outlaws Motorcycle Club is in a bit of disarray. But I don't think we'll see the demise of the Outlaws. They're not down and out. I think they will be back. And again, we don't have our head in the sand with respect to the Hells Angels."

Project Retire was the label that the joint-force police operation attached to its 2002 bust of more than 50 Outlaws MC members that led to 173 criminal charges.

But prosecutions that lasted six and one-half years in a specially built high security courtroom in London, Ontario netted only 48 convictions, including 15 guilty pleas for participation in a criminal organization.

Despite that, at the preliminary inquiry that concluded on July 30, 2004, Justice John Getliffe ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the Outlaws' members on charges related to belonging to a criminal organization under section 467 of the Criminal Code.

He wrote in his findings, "Any illegal activities were for the personal accounts or personal lifestyle of each accused, however unsavoury."

Local Outlaws member, Richard [Duke] Williams was among those arrested in 2002. All charges against him were dismissed in 2006.

Williams has been involved since in an ongoing battle to retrieve his personal belongings from the former Outlaws' clubhouse, as related in two recent Sault This Week articles.

The Spruce St. address is currently under seizure by the province under its Civil Remedies Act, and there is a court order for its demolition along with other Outlaws clubhouses in Ontario.

Williams, and other Outlaws members have hired Toronto lawyer George Kuzmicz to seek redress from the federal government for its failure to maintain the properties under their control up to April 17, 2009.

But Sher downplayed the importance of those charges against the Outlaws related to operating a criminal organization.

"The Hells Angels have been declared a criminal organization in a few trials in Ontario and in Quebec. But that has no legal standing in the real world, or in any future trial," he said. "They are not a banned group. It just means in a couple of trials they have been labeled as a criminal organization."

He pointed out that biker gangs are not structured in a tightly disciplined way where there is a top person in the pyramid and everybody has to follow orders.

"It's not like a Mafia family where they all march to the same tune. It's more like a mediaeval guild where like-minded people come together to share resources."

Sher added: "Where they do march as soldiers occurs when they are at war with a rival gang. That is where the Outlaws have, man for man, taken on the Hells Angels in the past."

For his part, Davies expressed his concern about a rash of recent spin-off crimes, such as assaults, robberies, and break and enters locally that he attributed to illegal drug use.

Davies said that at first glance some of those crimes appear unrelated to drug use.

"A couple of years ago, we had several Mac's Milk stores that were robbed. When we finally solved that ring, it was all based on individuals and their drive for drugs, in order to payoff drug debts and to buy more drugs."

He also is concerned about the role of crime groups in illegal drugs locally.

"A lot of it is coming from organized crime groups, and the Hells Angels specifically. The Hells Angels do control the north," Davies said. "Although they are not present in Sault Ste. Marie, a lot of drugs coming into the Sault come from Hells Angels. They have people who sell their drugs and they are able to do that here."

Davies noted that the type of illegal drugs popular among users recently has changed too.

And that has led to a number of robberies at local pharmacies where prescription drugs, specifically Oxycontin, were targeted.

"Up until the last eight months, robberies at pharmacies in the Sault were unheard of, but now it's not, so things are changing," he said. "With the recent arrests of individuals over the last couple of days, I am hopeful that we will see a sharp decrease in those types of robberies."

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health describes Oxycontin as time-released pain medication developed in 1995. Its main ingredient is oxycodone, an opiod drug like morphine, codeine, heroin and methadone.

Percocet is a similar type drug, but less potent.

Oxycontin is safe when used as prescribed but can be dangerous and lethal if used recreationally by individuals looking for a high. It also can lead to addiction when abused.

In response to the problem, Davies said he made a decision a year ago to put more resources into drug enforcement and drug education.

"We came to the conclusion that the root of the increase in break and enters and robberies were all related to drugs so we put a drug mandate as part of our five-man street teams' duties," he said. "Since we made that decision, we've laid a lot more drug charges. We feel we're in a better position now to manage the situation and stop some of the spin-off crimes."

As for the biker gangs, Davies said Sault Police Services continue to work with the OPP Biker Enforcement that was established to deal with a problem he said is national and international in scope.

"In order to tackle organized crime there has to be a coordinated effort among police forces in the province," he said.

For his part, Sher said that because biker gangs will often attempt to seek public sympathy, it is important to remember that these organizations participate and tolerate criminal activities among their members.

"I have never heard a member of the Outlaws gang…declare publicly that anybody who sells drugs to children, or anybody else, and is convicted will be kicked out of the club," he stressed. "Every time they commit a grievous crime, they often get promoted; they certainly get to stay in the club.

Until the day that they start kicking out members who have been convicted, not just charged, of murders, assaults, extortions, and drug deals, and they start trying to clean up their act, they can't claim they are outlaws in name only."