Biker Gangs of Canada

Biker Gangs of Canada

Hells Angels
Criminal Intelligence Service Canada describes the Hells Angels as the largest "outlaw motorcycle gang" in the country, with active chapters concentrated mostly in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.In its 2004 report, CISC said the Angels derives "significant financial income" from criminal activities such as prostitution, fraud and extortion but primarily relied on drug trafficing for income.The gang moved into Ontario in 2000. Before that, its only presence in the province was with a chapter of the Nomads, the club's elite branch. The Nomads doesn't tie itself to geographical locations and doesn't have formal clubhouses, like other chapters.Within a year, the Angels had absorbed members of the Para Dice Riders, Satan's Choice and Last Chance, giving them at least 100 members in the Toronto area — the highest concentration of Hells Angels in the world.In mid-April 2009, police targeted more than 150 people linked with the Hells Angels in early-morning raids mostly in Quebec, but also in New Brunswick, France and the Dominican Republic. They also seized four suspected Hells Angels bunkers.
Bandidos
It's considered world's second-most powerful criminal biker gang, with more than 2,000 members in 14 countries, according to NGIC's 2009 report, which describes the Bandidos as a "growing criminal threat."The Bandidos was founded in the 1960s in Texas. The club's old guard was said to be against its absorption of the Rock Machine's Ontario branches for fear of igniting the same kind of war with the Hells Angels that gripped Quebec for much of the 1990s and left at least 150 people dead.In April 2006, eight people — all Bandidos members or associates — were found dead in a farmer's field near the small town of Shedden, Ont., about 30 kilometres southwest of London. Police said the killings virtually wiped out the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos.
Outlaws
First established in the United States in 1935, the gang came to Canada in 1978 when several chapters of Satan's Choice in Montreal changed allegiance and set up shop as the Outlaws Motorcycle Club of Canada. The group is known to detest members of the Hells Angels.
Rock Machine
Second only to Hells Angels in Quebec. A long-running turf war with the Angels left more than 150 people dead as the two fought over the lucrative trade in illegal drugs. The war also led to the passage of anti-gang legislation by the federal government.
As the Hells Angels expanded into Ontario, so did the Rock Machine. The organization established three chapters. In 2001, it aligned itself with the Bandidos.
Satan's Choice
Once one of Ontario's strongest motorcycle gangs, Satan's Choice became part of the Hells Angels' 2000-2001 expansion into Ontario. Satan's Choice had branches in Keswick, Kitchener, Oshawa, Sudbury, Simcoe County, Thunder Bay and Toronto — but nothing outside the province.
Para Dice Riders
Another group that was once among Ontario's strongest biker gangs. Its membership was limited to the Toronto area. The group was absorbed by the Hells Angels in 2001, when the Angels moved into Ontario.
Last Chance
Another small Ontario-based biker gang that agreed to switch over to the Hells Angels when the world's most power biker gang moved into the province.
Lobos
Originally concentrated in the Windsor, Ont., area, the Lobos motorcycle gang decided to take up the Hells Angels on its offer of merger in 2001.
Loners
The Loners Motorcycle Club was founded in Ontario in 1979 with a handful of chapters, including a now-defunct one in southwestern Ontario that was headed by Wayne Kellestine. As part of its Ontario expansion drive, the Hells Angels tried to persuade the St. Thomas Loners chapter to join the Angels. Kellestine — who was injured in an assassination attempt in 1999 — resisted.
The club has expanded to the United States and Europe, but in Ontario, its highest profile in recent years was a legal fight by a Toronto chapter to keep its mascot on its property north of the city, in 2001. The neutered, declawed lion named Woody was moved to an animal sanctuary.
Vagabonds
Another Ontario-based motorcycle gang that was more or less absorbed by the Hells Angels when it expanded into Ontario in 2000-2001.
The Red Devils
Said to be the oldest motorcycle gang in Canada, the group is made up of a couple of dozen members concentrated in the Hamilton, Ont., area.