alleged member of the Notorious outlaw motorcycle gang is due in court tomorrow on charges related to firearms

 

alleged member of the Notorious outlaw motorcycle gang is due in court tomorrow on charges related to firearms found at a Castle Hill storage unit earlier this year. Gangs Squad detectives who arrested and charged the 24-year-old man allege he is a high-ranking member of the organised criminal group. He is facing several firearm and possession charges as well as drug charges. The charges relate to a search warrant conducted by police at a storage facility in Castle Hill on March 28. Police allegedly found three firearms, loaded magazines, two silencers and a quantity of ammunition. He is due before Penrith Local Court tomorrow. Strike Force Ventilate comprises detectives from the State Crime Command’s Gangs Squad and was established to investigate a number of alleged violent incidents involving Comanchero Outlaw Motorcycle Gang and Notorious organised criminal group members and associates.

Bikie arrested on firearms charge

Crime Gangs Task Force members yesterday afternoon arrested a 30-year-old member of the South Australian Chapter of the Finks Motorcycle Gang at his home address at Paralowie.

Police say it is alleged that Crime Gangs Task Force members conducted a search of the man's home where they located a .357 revolver buried in his rear yard.

'During the search police also located a quantity of .357 ammunition buried in another location within the rear yard,' police said.

'The man was charged with firearms offences including possession of a prescribed firearm and possession of insecure ammunition.

'He was bailed to appear in the Elizabeth Magistrates Court on 12 October 2011.

'A 27-year-old woman of the same address was also reported for firearms offences including possession of a prescribed firearm and possession of insecure ammunition and will appear in the Elizabeth Magistrates Court at a later date.'

Seventh man charged over alleged attempted extortion - SCC Gangs Squad

 

Gangs Squad detectives have charged a seventh man following investigations into an alleged attempted extortion. About 10am today (Thursday 8 September, 2011), a 37-year-old man was arrested by police. Police allege he is an associate of the Hells Angels Outlaw Motorcycle Gang. He was subsequently charged with demand money with menaces and participating in a criminal group. He was granted conditional bail to appear at Burwood Local Court on 28 September. The charges relate to an alleged attempted extortion on 8 July, 2011. Strike Force Embark was established to investigate the circumstances surrounding the alleged theft of vehicles from the Burwood car yard just before 3pm on Thursday 7 July 2011, as well as an attempted extortion on 8 July and an attempted extortion on Monday 11 July.

 

DA dismisses charges against former Hells Angels member

 

Judge Bruce Young dismissed criminal charges Friday of intimidating a witness and street terrorism against Ethan Akins of Ventura, who was arrested in April last year. Akins, who is a former member of the Ventura chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club, was initially arrested for domestic violence, said one of his attorneys, Robert Sheahen. Sheahen said Akins lost his job and spent a week in jail as a result of the arrest. Akins' lead attorney Kelly Sheahen Gerner of Los Angeles said in a news release that she was pleased the district attorney acted "honorably and fairly" in this case

Jarrod Bacon wants to be tried by judge alone in cocaine conspiracy trial

 

Jarrod Bacon

Photograph by: Ward Perrin, Vancouver Sun

A former Abbotsford man whose brother was gunned down last month has re-elected to have a judge alone preside over his trial on a cocaine conspiracy charge.

Jarrod Wayne Bacon told the court of the change as jury selection for his October trial was set to begin this week.

His co-accused, Arnold Wayne Scott, also re-elected to be tried by judge alone, federal Crown Martha Devlin confirmed Tuesday,

The case is scheduled to start in October.

Bacon is the younger brother of Jonathan Bacon, a Red Scorpion gangster shot to death outside a Kelowna casino Aug. 14. Two others linked to the Hells Angels and Independent Soldiers were injured, as were two women passengers in their vehicle. No one has yet been charged in the high-profile targeted slaying.

Jarrod Bacon and Scott were arrested in November 2009 after a undercover police investigation dubbed E-Pintle.

Bacon remains in pre-trial custody, while Scott was released on bail.

 

 

Hells Angel held on $1M bail on multiple charges

 

member of the Hells Angels is being held on $1 million cash bail on charges of child pornography and extortion, while the search continues for a key witness scheduled to testify against him in a separate upcoming criminal trial and two others. Adam Lee Hall, shackled and wearing the motorcycle club's T-shirt, arrived at the Berkshire County courthouse complex Tuesday morning under an unusually heavy police presence. Meanwhile, authorities continued Tuesday to investigate the disappearance of David R. Glasser, 44; Edward S. Frampton, 58; and Robert T. Chadwell, 47. They have been missing from the apartment Glasser and Frampton shared at 254 Linden St. since Aug. 28, the day Tropical Storm Irene hit. Glasser is a witness in a criminal case against Hall and is also the victim of a scheme aimed at derailing him from testifying against Hall, according to authorities. On Monday, District Attorney David F. Capeless said the three men, now missing for more than a week, may have been the victims of foul play. Capeless is not commenting on any connections between Hall and the men's disappearances. Authorities searched for the men in Pittsfield State Forest on Sunday and Monday, then concentrated their efforts Tuesday in the neighborhood from which they went missing. There was no sign of a struggle at the residence where the three men were last seen on Aug. 27. While authorities have declined to Advertisement comment on whether Hall is considered a suspect in the three men's disappearances, Hall's attorney, William M. Rota, told The Associated Press on Tuesday, "I would not be surprised with the authorities to suspect [Hall's involvement], but I have no reason to suspect that it's true." Rota said that as far as he knows his client hadn't been questioned by police in the matter of the men's disappearance. Hall, who has been out on $250,000 bail for his other cases, was picked up on Sunday on new charges -- extortion and two counts each of possessing child pornography, dissemination of child pornography and solicitation of child pornography. Police and prosecutors allege Hall coerced a 16-year-old girl to send him lewd photographs of herself or else she wouldn't see her friend again. In court on Tuesday, Hall pleaded not guilty to those charges. Rota told the judge the charges were "a bit of a stretch." Nevertheless, Central Berkshire District Court Judge Rita Koenigs agreed with Berkshire Assistant District Attorney Gregory Barry's bail request -- that Hall be held on $1 million cash or $10 million bond. Barry cited Hall's five cases pending in superior court and his alleged history of witness intimidation. Barry also won his request to have Hall's $250,000 bail in his other pending criminal cases revoked. Hall is being held at the Berkshire County Jail & House of Correction and has an Oct. 3 court hearing. Hall can be held for 60 days without the right to bail on the revocation. "They threw the book at him," Rota later told The Eagle. The 34-year-old Hall, a resident of the town of Peru, is scheduled to go to trial in Berkshire Superior Court on Sept. 19 on charges that include kidnapping, assault and battery with a baseball bat, and witness intimidation. In 2009, Hall allegedly beat Glasser with a baseball bat, believing he had stolen a car part from him, and forced him to turn over his truck as payment. Authorities also allege Hall tried to frame Glasser by pinning him to a phony robbery in order to prevent him from testifying against him in one of his criminal cases. The brother of missing man Robert T. Chadwell told The Eagle on Monday that Robert hung out with Glasser and Frampton. Les Chadwell said he was aware of Glasser's "tangle" with the Hells Angels, but that his brother and Frampton were not involved. Les Chadwell said he feared the worst and that his brother was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The Devil's Professor

 

erstwhile associate kinesiology professor at California State University at San Bernardino remains on the lam after police raided his home last week and found a pound of methamphetamine and a cache of guns. Police are charging that Stephen Kinzey, who had been on the San Bernardino faculty for a decade, was leading a double life: teaching and researching by day; directing the local chapter of an outlaw biker gang, and its drug business, by night. Not long after the manhunt began, Albert Karnig, the university’s president, emphasized that no one on the Southern California campus saw this coming: “To our knowledge, this is the first notice that anyone on our campus has had regarding this situation,” Karnig said. “…If the allegations are indeed true, this is beyond disappointing.” newspaper accounts described neighbors, students, and even Kinzey's father as having little or no sense of the professor's alleged outside activities. The Contra Costa Times quoted Kinzey's father as saying that he knew that his son belonged to a motorcycle gang and was not "thrilled" about it (the father taught him to ride). But Hank Kinzey also described his son as "a good Catholic boy" and a Republican, and added: "Everybody's always in denial when it's something to do with their family, but this is really surreal," he said. How could a full-time college professor run a drug ring on the sly without tipping his hand? Tom Barker, a professor of criminal justice at Eastern Kentucky University and leading scholar on outlaw biker gangs, says it is not hard to imagine. “It’s not uncommon for leaders or members of motorcycle gangs to hold down seemingly legitimate lives,” says Barker, even if part of their responsibility is to oversee an illegal drug business. “A college professor could easily pull it off.” Barker says he knows of at least two other college professors who are members of outlaw biker gangs, though he would not disclose their names because he says it could cost him his life. If Kinzey is the kingpin that police suspect he is, “he’s not actually that much involved in actual delivery of drugs,” says Barker. “He’s probably setting up the networks, and he can do that in the way he’s away from the classroom very easily.” In such crime organizations, most of the number-crunching falls to the secretary-treasurer, Barker says. The actual distribution falls to the members and their associates, the enforcer handles the dirty work, and the president’s leadership duties can be delegated to the vice president when necessary. While the chapter head is like the CEO of a small company, the illegal nature of the business means “there’s not a lot of paperwork,” says Barker. Barker says he is familiar with the Devil’s Diciples [sic], the gang Kinzey is alleged to have been running. And while he does not know specific details about the San Bernardino chapter, he says that the president of that chapter would have been in charge of anywhere between seven and 25 full-fledged gang members and a broad network of associates and business partners. He guessed the president of the chapter would personally pull in about a million dollars per year. As an associate kinesiology professor at San Bernardino, Kinzey was probably making around $70,000, according to the annual data produced by the American Association of University Professors. So if Kinzey was indeed the head of a lucrative drug ring, why continue to teach? Barker says that it may have been a fallback in case the kinesiology professor ever wanted to get out of organized crime. Heading the Devil’s Diciples might pay well, but it lacks the stability and retirement benefits of a state teaching job, Barker says. Another theory, he adds, is that Kinzey just loved to teach. Terry Rizzo, the chair of the kinesiology department at San Bernardino, did not respond to multiple requests for an interview; neither did Kinzey’s other colleagues. But student reviews on RateMyProfessors.com suggest that Kinzey had been popular among many students and passionate about his work. “Dr. Steve Kinsey is an amazing [professor], who helps his students in every situation, including in their greatest need,” wrote one student in 2007. “He is a good friend of mine and we continue to get together on a quarterly basis to catch up on life. Thank god for him, because I wouldn't be a graduate without him!!!!!” “He's so awesome!” wrote another, later that same year. “He has a passion for everything he does and it shows in his desire for students to succeed and understand.” More recent reviews paint a less flattering portrait, however. Kinzey “seems like he does not care anymore,” reported one reviewer in 2008. “im sure he is good at what he does he just isnt clear at all. talks all class and does not get anything done. kinda unorganized, but nice enough.” In 2010, a student wrote: “the professor sucks, he comes in late and doesn't care, if he try's to help you he'll end up rambling about himself.” And the last review before Kinzey became a fugitive, written last May, depicts a perpetually distracted instructor: “He's a really good guy and would give you the shirt off his back,” the reviewer wrote. “But something serious must have happened to him because he shows up late, and rambles on about random and controversial topics. He lost his focus & passion for teaching. His behavior lately makes it seem like he wants to get fired.” “Sad,” the student added, “because I really enjoyed all of his classes.”

Ex-wife chases Hells Angel biker for child support

Linda Sebastaio, ex-wife of former Oshawa Hells Angel Steven Gault, wants child support money for their 14-year-old daughter. He's now in a witness protection program after working as a police agent.

PETER EDWARDS/TORONTO STAR

Like many single mothers, Linda Sebastiao dreads the back-to-school bills, when she’s expected to shell out big bucks for clothing and school supplies.

Also like many single parents, Sebastiao is hoping to share the bills with her former spouse.

The problem is Sebastiao’s ex is Steven (Hannibal) Gault, a former Oshawa Hells Angel who’s now deep in a witness protection program. And how do you collect child support from someone who has a secret identity and address?

Gault testified in court in 2008 that he had received more than $1 million for his undercover work with police that helped land his former biker colleagues behind bars. That work ended with convictions for drugs, weapons and criminal organization, against 21 Ontario Hells Angels and associates.

Sebastiao, 34, says a lawyer has calculated that Gault owes $487,000 in child support going back eight years. She plans to file papers in court very soon.

This week, through a police intermediary, Gault offered her a one-time only payment of $200, she says.

Gault could not be reached for comment.

During his biker days, Gault wasn’t known to back down from fights and was nicknamed “Hannibal” for his taste for blood.

“He was proud of that,” Sebastiao says.

Sebastiao said Gault was proud that he bit off a chunk of a man’s ear in a Campbellford pool hall brawl. He was convicted of assault for that.

“When we would make him steak for supper, his was just with spices, raw, not even on the grill for a little,” she says.

Sebastiao is certain Gault has plenty of money to help out with expenses for their 14-year-old daughter, if he wished.

“He would rather spend $5,000 on a (motor)bike part than $50 for a good pair of shoes for his daughter.” Sebastiao says.

Theoretically, Sebastiao has a strong claim for child support benefits, experts say.

Toronto lawyer Barry Swadron says Sebastiao should be able to get paperwork requiring Gault to pay child support, even if she doesn’t know his new location and identity.

“The very people who are protecting him should be cooperative in serving the necessary papers,” says Swadron, who once served divorce papers to someone in witness protection through the RCMP.

The Family Responsibility Office is charged with enforcing child and spousal support orders, and an official there says Gault can’t hide from child support obligations while hiding from his former biker buddies.

However, Sebastiao will have to push the issue, if she hopes to collect money.

The Family Responsibility Office isn’t informed when clients are put into witness protection programs, says Charlotte Wilkinson of the Ministry of Community and Social Services, which administers the Family Responsibility Office.

“If FRO becomes aware that a support payor is in witness protection, we have the ability to advise the relevant police service of the payer’s support obligation,” Wilkinson says. “It remains the support payer’s responsibility to make court-ordered support payments.”

In June 2010, Sebastiao was awarded $35,000 from the provincial Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, after it concluded she had been frequently physically and sexually assaulted by Gault over an eight-year period.

Sebastiao says the current tensions are a far cry from her giddy feelings when their relationship began, when she was just 18. Gault was generous and charming then, she says. Within a month, they were living together. Less than a year after that, they had a baby girl.

“He was very charming and swept me off my feet.”

Back then, Gault was a good provider, if not an honest one.

He was part of a group called “The Travellers,” which targeted seniors living on farms in Eastern Ontario for renovation scams.

One elderly farmer was bilked for $260,000 for renovation work that was never done, she says.

While the money was dirty, it was plentiful, she says.

“He gave us everything we wanted. Everything that we needed. We bought a nice, cute little place.”

The longer they were married, the more he pushed to control her, she says. She says she wasn’t allowed to have a driver’s licence and that he beat her for the smallest things, such as if he thought toilet paper was rolling the wrong way.

She said his personality took a dramatic turn for the worse when he became an outlaw biker with the Satan’s Choice Motorcycle Club. That organization was swallowed up by the Hells Angels in 2000, at which time he became a member of that club.

“After he got his full patch he thought he was king of the world.”

There was more partying, more cocaine and more abuse, she says.

Gault was convicted in 2002 of attempting to harass a Durham Region police officer and his family.

A year later, Gault had a restraining order against him, forbidding him from having contact with Sebastiao’s family after he allegedly threatened to blow up their family home with them inside.

At the 2008 trial of two Oshawa Hells — just one of the trials Gault testified at — the court heard that he once told her he could tie her to a tree, cover her with honey, and let bugs and animals eat her.

“If they can’t find a body they can’t lay a charge,” she recalled him saying. He also said it would be easy to dispose of her body with lime, she says.

His constant threats made her afraid to leave him, although she thought of it often.

“I was scared, scared of what he might do to me and my family; like what he had threatened.”

After he joined the Hells Angels, Sebastiao says Gault became increasingly nervous about their cute little house — in which Sebastiao no longer lives.

It had huge front windows, which Sebastiao loved. Gault bricked them in, telling her that cut their chances of being hurt in a drive-by shooting attack.

Their marriage finally ended around the time Gault told her he was turning police agent, to make big money from his former brothers.

At first she protested to him that she didn’t want to live in a witness protection program.

“I said, ‘I love my family. I don’t want to leave my family and never see them again.’ ”

The final breaking point, she says, was when he said he wanted to move his ex-stripper girlfriend in with them.

Today, she says she has no fears from the Hells Angels, since Gault is their enemy as well. After her split with him, club members helped out with living expenses for a few months until she could get resettled, she says.

“I’ve got no worries because I never ratted on the bikers. In the end, they’re the ones who helped me.”

What she does worry about is telling her 14-year-old daughter she might not be able to get her the school clothes she wants and needs.

“She’s getting older. She needs things.”

 

 

Bail for leader of Hells Angels' Ventura chapter

 

longtime leader of the Hells Angels' Ventura County chapter charged in connection with the firebombing of two tattoo parlors has been granted bail. The Ventura County Star ( http://bit.ly/pPC00U) says a judge Friday ordered 64-year-old George Christie Jr. detained at home with an electronic monitoring bracelet. It was unclear early Saturday whether Christie had posted the $200,000 bail. Christie was arrested three weeks ago after being named in a six-count indictment that charges him and four others with conspiracy, extortion and arson. The indictment alleges that Christie, who owns a tattoo shop in Ventura, ordered Hells Angels members to threaten his competitors in an attempt to shut down their businesses. He has pleaded not guilty.

Dutch police leads the convoy as members of the Dutch divisions of motorcycle clubs Hells Angels and Satudarah gather to demonstrate in Amsterdam

Dutch police leads the convoy as members of the Dutch divisions of motorcycle clubs Hells Angels and Satudarah gather to demonstrate in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 04 September 2011.

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Source: EPA/BGNES

Book Review: The Brotherhoods: Inside The Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs by Arthur Veno

 

Believe it or not, those mean, bad-ass outlaw motorcyclists that scare the piss out of middle America are referred to as “bikies” in Australia. I think if you went up to a member of the Hell's Angels in the U.S. and called him a "bikie" you would get your ass whipped pronto. But that is about the only difference between the biker gang member down under from any of his brothers around the world. Professor Arthur Veno has been studying the outlaw bikie phenomenon since 1981, and has been granted remarkable access by the Aussie clubs over the years. His new book The Brotherhoods: Inside The Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs is the result of his research, and provides a fascinating insight into their world. The obvious comparison would be to Hunter S. Thompson’s 1966 Hell’s Angels: A Strange And Terrible Saga. But they are two fundamentally different books. Where Thompson got inside the club out and rode with the Angels, Veno takes a different approach. Although it is obvious that he has gotten to know some members well enough to be trusted with certain things, he is always an outsider. The Brotherhoods certainly does not shy away from the subjects that make the outlaw bike culture so dangerously intriguing. With chapters such as “Bombs And Bastardry,” “On The Nose: Clubs And Drugs,” and “Chicks And Ol’ Ladies,” there are plenty of examples of outrageous behavior. The book has a definite voyeur appeal. While most of us do not wish to live the life, it is fascinating to view from a distance. The look of The Brotherhoods is particularly appealing, for it is filled with pictures. It is so beautifully put together, with a faux leather cover, and tons of photos as to make a great coffee-table book. The tea and crumpets crowd would probably salivate over it too. Ever since The Wild One film, and the emergence of the Hell's Angels, the outlaw bike culture has seemed to be a strictly American affair. The Brotherhoods shows us that the lifestyle has permeated every corner of the globe. It is a captivating study with some amazing photographs, and definitely worth a look.

Rebels bikers spend night at motor camp

 

Members of the Australian outlaw biker gang the Rebels rode into Taranaki at the weekend. Police say up to 12 bikers, believed to be patched members of the Rebels, arrived in Stratford on Friday, stayed overnight at a motor camp and left the next morning. Members of the public contacted the Taranaki Daily News, believing the police had stopped the gang on New Plymouth's Coronation Ave about 1pm. But that was a different group of bikers of mainly locals, police said. The force was on alert after three Taranaki-based patched Rebels members were arrested last week in a police drug operation. Detective Sergeant Charlie Kawana, of New Plymouth CIB, said police were aware of the group that arrived in Stratford.

president of the Commanchero motor cycle club, Mahmoud (Mick) Hawi admitted today that he had punched and kicked brawl victim Anthony Zervas

president of the Commanchero motor cycle club, Mahmoud (Mick) Hawi admitted today that he had punched and kicked brawl victim Anthony Zervas at Sydney Airport in March 2009 but denied hitting him with a bollard.

Mr Hawi, 31, and five other club members are standing trial in the NSW Supreme Court for the murder of Mr Zervas, 29, the brother of Hells Angels bikie Peter Zervas.

Mr Hawi, giving evidence in the Supreme Court at Paramatta, said in answer to his counsel Philip Dunn, QC, that he had punched and kicked Anthony Zervas in self-defence.

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"He was coming at me with weapons," he said.

He denied hitting Anthony Zervas with a bollard or asking anyone else to do so.

Appearing before Justice Robert Hulme, Mr Hawi denied that, when he was scuffling with Anthony Zervas, he had asked any member of the Commanchero to assist him.

Mr Hawi said that he had had no intention of attacking Anthony Zervas but Peter Zervas had started to "carry on yelling and screaming" when they encountered each other at the check-in area at Sydney Airport on March 22.

Peter Zervas had said: "Did you think you are f---, do you think you can just walk away?"

Mr Hawi said he had not wanted to fight and had tried to get away but that Peter Zervas had put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a knuckleduster.

Someone had called out: "He's got a gun, he is going to shoot."

Mr Hawi said that Anthony Zervas had attacked him with a weapon.

Someone had pulled Anthony Zervas off but Peter Zervas had picked up a bollard and bashed him on the back with it.

Anthony Zervas had come back with a weapon of some sort and had hit him on the tricep and shoulder, causing bruising.

As Mr Hawi got out of the terminal building, he had looked back and Peter Zervas had called: "Come back and fight you wusses."

Mr Hawi had not accepted the invitation and got into a taxi and took off.

The court has heard that Anthony Zervas died as the result of being hit by a bollard.

Anthony Zervas was supporting members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle club who confronted the Commanchero that day.

Mr Hawi is on trial with Commanchero members Farres Abounader, Ishmail Eken, Zoran Kisacanin, Christian Menzies and Usama Potrus. They have pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Zervas.

Also on trial is Hells Angel David Padovan, who has denied a riot charge.

The court has heard that Mr Hawi and other Commanchero members were on a plane from Melbourne on March 22, 2009, as was Derek Wainohu, a prominent member of the Hells Angels.

The court has heard that Mr Wainohu, who was alone, sent a message for Hells Angels to assist him when they arrived at the airport.

Mr Hawi said this morning that he had seen Mr Wainohu on the plane and he had told other Commanchero members that he was there.

He agreed that he had looked at Mr Wainohu. He said he spoke to Mr Wainohu but Mr Wainohu had not replied.

When they had come out of the passenger chute at Sydney Airport, he had gone up to speak to Mr Wainohu.

Gang members had congregated and Mr Wainohu had come towards him.

"He came straight at me," he said.

Mr Wainohu had said words to the effect: "I will show you something," or "I will get something."

There had been a scuffle of five to 10 seconds and, soon after, there had been a scuffle in the passenger concourse when people had screamed to call police.

He had wanted to get out of the airport as quickly as possible because he did not want to be arrested.

Three people with connections to the Rock Machine biker gang face weapons charges

Three people with connections to the Rock Machine biker gang face weapons charges after a police chase in East Kildonan early Tuesday.

Winnipeg police say the arrests are part of an ongoing investigation into a feud between rival outlaw motorcycle clubs.

Police said that around 12:30 a.m. the organized crime unit, dog unit and tactical support team tried to pull over a Dodge Avenger at Antrim Road and Rockspur Street. Police say that car tried to make a getaway using quick evasive manoeuvres and that in the melee, three police cars were damaged and three officers were injured.

One of the officers was treated in hospital for head and neck injuries and a possible concussion.

Two men, aged 19 and 20, along with a woman, 23 — from Lorette, Man., — are facing weapons and other charges after a loaded handgun was found in the car. One of the suspects also was wearing a bullet-proof vest.

Alleged $3.7m fraud ring brains bailed

THE man police accused of orchestrating a $3.7 million fraud ring that allegedly involved a Hells Angel bikie boss has been granted bail.

Adam Eli Meyer, a husband and father, defrauded or attempted to defraud legitimate businesses of property, luxury cars, a yacht and excavation equipment, police allege.

Meyer, 37, appeared today in Sydney's Central Local Court charged with 12 fraud offences and with one count of dealing with the proceeds of crime.

A number of the offences allegedly involved Felix Lyle, the president of the Sydney chapter of the Hells Angels who has been in custody for two weeks.

Court documents show a string of alleged fraud offences spanning from September 2010 to early this year.

Police say he provided false business and tax documents from a dummy company, BRZ Investments Pty Ltd, in attempts to obtain financing to purchase high-value items.


Four Caterpillar excavators worth $940,000, a Regal Commodore yacht worth $325,000 and $1.2 million Alexandria property was on the wish list.

Other items included four Harley Davidson motorcycles, three Lexus, two Mercedes, two Toyotas and number of computers.

Meyer represented himself as John Formosa during the transactions and attempted transactions, police stated in the court documents.

He colluded with Lyle and Terence Reddy on a number of the alleged fraudulent activities.

"Police have established through covert means that Meyer, Reddy and Lyle have organised the submission of numerous loan applications which they knew to be false," the police statement of facts said.

"The accused persons organised systemic methods to screen third parties making inquiries on the information within the loan applications."

Police have also charged Roger Hassin, also known as Roger Morris, over a number of the alleged offences.

The late Natalie Laffy was listed as director of BRZ Investments and was ailing from terminal cancer at the time the offences took place.

The court documents did not specify what connection she had with the men.

When contacted today, a police spokesman declined to elaborate on Mrs Laffy, stating "more arrests are expected".

In court, Meyer's solicitor Paul Kenny said his client was prepared to comply with strict bail conditions and his parents would provide their houses as collateral.

Magistrate Julie Huber ordered Meyer to have one or two people provide $250,000 in surety in the form of cash or property.

He must surrender his passport, not leave NSW, not approach an international port of departure and not approach Reddy, Hassin or Lyle.

The matters for Meyer, Reddy and Hassin will come before Central Local Court on August 30.

Yesterday, Lyle was again unable to find an acceptable person to post a $100,000 surety in the form of cash to meet his bail conditions.

 

former Hell's Angel was sentenced to 2½ years in prison Friday for a 2009 fight

former Hell's Angel was sentenced to 2½ years in prison Friday for a 2009 fight Judge Steven Conn said he still has little idea as to what actually occurred.

George Walters was one of seven members of the Hell's Angels and Desert Road Riders motorcycle club arrested and charged with riot and participating in a gang for a fight with a rival motorcycle club at Lazy Harry's bar in Bullhead City June 19, 2009.

Walters is the only one to have pleaded guilty so far. The others continue to contest the charges and appear headed for trial.

"I've always wondered what this trial will actually consist of," Conn said, adding that there has never been any statements or evidence offered as to what the fight consisted of or the level of involvement by each of the men.

The seven motorcycle club members, who included Kingman residents Dale Leroy Hormuth and James Snider, were arrested five months after the reported fight. In that time, motorcycle riders complained about harassment by law enforcement and the community was embroiled over whether businesses had the right to deny entrance to those wearing "colors," referring to motorcycle club insignia.

Officials with the GIITEM task force (Gang and Immigration Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission), said after the arrests were announced that the investigation into the fight was the reason for their increased surveillance. They later added that they were trying to prevent the Hell's Angels from getting a foothold in Mohave County.

Walters' attorney, Ron Gilleo, said it appeared the County Attorney's Office was prosecuting the club members more for their reputation and for the threat of what could have happened during the fight versus what actually occurred.

Gilleo said that by the time police responded to the fight complaint at Lazy Harry's, the band had already resumed playing, people were dancing and patrons were enjoying their drinks on the patio.

Prosecutor Bob Moon conceded that the fight did not meet most people's definition of a riot but said that the men couldn't use the "no harm, no foul" defense for what occurred that night.

In handing down his sentence, which could have been as much as eight years, Conn said he was not going to use this case as a means to send a message to the Hell's Angels or any other motorcycle clubs.

He added that for a "notorious" member of the Hell's Angels, Walters had an especially brief criminal history, which only included a failure to appear felony charge out of federal court and a misdemeanor citation from the Game and Fish department. Otherwise Walters had no prior convictions involving drugs, weapons or violence.

Gilleo said Walters, a friend of Hell's Angels founder Sonny Barger, grew tired of the biker lifestyle and began distancing himself from the club in the weeks after the fight. Walters had been scouting ranch locations in Mexico to become a cowboy of sorts, Gilleo said.

Walters himself spoke only briefly at the hearing, saying that he had grown tired of the "10 years of drama."

"I'll never put anyone at risk or put them at risk to have harm done to them again," he said.

Wanted: an angel with bail for bikie

BIKIE boss Felix Lyle continues to languish in jail because he does not appear to know anyone ''acceptable'' or with a spare $100,000 in cash from legitimate sources to meet his bail requirements.

When the 54-year-old Hells Angels chieftain was charged last week over his alleged role in a massive fraud ring, police set bail at $100,000 in cash.

But the problem for Mr Lyle, also known as Big F, is the set he moves in. ''Thus far we haven't been able to find an acceptable person,'' said Mr Lyle's solicitor, Martin Ricci, yesterday. By ''acceptable person'' the police mean no one with a criminal record.

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Also not able to provide bail money is a bankrupt, which is the position Mr Lyle is in after an unfortunate hotel deal in Kings Cross. When he was bankrupted in 2009 he listed his occupation as unemployed and claimed to have only $100 to his name.

Outside Central Local Court yesterday Mr Ricci said that police had raised the bar so high, they might as well have refused his client bail. ''No one has $100,000 lying around,'' he said.

Mr Lyle's good friend the underworld boss Tony Vincent cannot put up the money himself having done a stint behind bars in recent years for drug and fraud offences.

Mr Lyle has been charged over three serious fraud offences worth $2.3 million and one count of knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime.

 

Hells Angels leader accused of traffic assault against fellow member

apparent dispute over an Evergreen man's wish to drop his affiliation with the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club came close to becoming deadly last week.

A Denver man is now facing felony menacing charges after an arrest for allegations that he tried to run down a member of his motorcycle gang with a truck for quitting the group.

Todd Allan Zahn, 37, of Denver, and the apparent president of the Nomads/Hells Angels chapter, posted a $20,000 bond to get out of jail after his July 12 arrest in which fellow club member Donald Dilling, 52, accused the man of trying to run him down.

"Dilling believes that the motivation for this action is that Zahn was going to attempt to forcibly remove a Hells Angels' tattoo on his chest and then murder him," the affidavit stated.

An Erie police officer driving on Colo. 66 near Weld County Road 17 west of Platteville said he saw a black truck blocking westbound traffic and a man on a motorcycle who appeared to be trying to get away from the truck. The officer stopped to determine the problem.

Dilling, according to a Weld Sheriff's Office affidavit, told the officer Zahn was trying to assault him with his truck, and Zahn sped off. The officer stopped him and waited for a Weld sheriff's deputy to arrive.

Dilling said he was driving his motorcycle west on Colo. 66 when Zahn pulled up alongside him and began shouting at him.

"Zahn is the president of the local Nomads/Hells Angels chapter and is upset at Dilling because he has decided to leave the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club," the affidavit states. "Dilling said Zahn attempted to 'force him off the road.' "

Dilling told the officers he avoided a collision by running into weeds on the side of the road.

Zahn has a long history of driving infractions and was convicted in 2006 for being a previous offender in possession of a weapon. He received 18 months probation and 120 hours of community service.

Zahn and Dilling both were part of a group of Hells Angels motorcycle members who in 2007 sued the Mountain View Police Department, as well as the city and county of Denver, for an unlawful traffic stop in 2005. A Mountain View officer stopped the group of 11 motorcyclists as they rode in formation in Denver, according to the group's lawsuit. The group was held at gunpoint and handcuffed during the stop, in which dozens of officers participated, including the Denver SWAT team and a police helicopter. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed when the parties settled out of court.

 

Former Santa Clara cop goes on trial in federal court

For Clay Rojas, it has been a long, hard fall from being a Santa Clara police officer and former Marine sergeant who served in Iraq to a disgraced ex-cop tied to a Hells Angel with a rap sheet.
Starting Tuesday, the 37-year-old Rojas will begin the process of finding out whether that fall will ultimately land him in a federal prison cell.
Jury selection is set to begin in federal court in San Jose for Rojas' trial on charges he illegally supplied confidential law enforcement information to a member of the Hells Angels to pay off a debt. Lawyers are expected to then move into opening statements in U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh's courtroom, where the trial is scheduled to unfold over the next two weeks.
A federal grand jury last year indicted Rojas on charges that he furnished confidential law enforcement records, such as criminal histories and DMV records, to William "Billy" Bettencourt, a suspected member of the Hells Angels' Santa Cruz chapter who also faces related criminal charges in state and federal court. Bettencourt, with past convictions for witness intimidation and other violent crimes, could wind up in prison for life under the Three Strikes Law if he is convicted in the state case.
Rojas, who has pleaded not guilty, is being tried separately. He faces at least several years in prison if convicted in what his lawyers say is an overblown case against an officer who made a mistake and lost his job.
In court papers filed

in June, federal prosecutors laid out a simple case against Rojas, who has remained free on bail while awaiting trial. The jury will consider 12 counts against Rojas for conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, improper access of a computer and illegal use of a computer for financial gain.
Rojas, a five-year veteran of the Santa Clara Police Department who was fired in the aftermath of his arrest, admitted to investigators in October 2010 that he conducted the records checks for Bettencourt because he was under pressure to repay a loan, according to government court papers. Rojas' alleged scheme was uncovered in September 2010.
In court documents filed in a related state case, Rojas told investigators he knew Bettencourt was a Hells Angel, but said he did not believe he had committed any wrongdoing. There were repeated BlackBerry text message exchanges between the two men uncovered by investigators, including one in which Bettencourt allegedly asked Rojas to get information on someone else.
"Want me to check her record?" the cop texted back. "Yes," Bettencourt messaged back, "Just lookn 4 dirt I guess."
The U.S. attorney's office declines to comment on pending cases, but in a recent court filing branded the conduct a breach of public trust. Santa Clara police brass will testify that other officers were warned in a memo not to associate with Bettencourt, court papers show.
"The quid pro quo was confidential information in exchange for additional time to repay a loan owed to Bettencourt," prosecutors wrote. "By providing this information to Bettencourt, Rojas breached the duty of honest services he owed the Santa Clara Police Department, as well as the citizens of Santa Clara."
Daniel Jensen, Rojas' lawyer, said he is puzzled by the federal charges, describing them as an overreaction to conduct that usually results in a firing, a misdemeanor and perhaps community service. Jensen concedes Rojas made a mistake and should not have accessed the law enforcement data for Bettencourt, but will argue there is no proof of a conspiracy or that Rojas got any financial benefit from the favors.
In addition to Bettencourt, Rojas also is charged in one instance with supplying confidential information to Vivian Rodriguez, a San Jose woman connected to the biker who also has been indicted in the case.
"They've overplayed the hell out of this case," said Jensen, who often represents police officers in trouble. "You say the words 'Hells Angel' in law enforcement and they think it's a big conspiracy."

 

Hells Angels bikie Samir Jouayde marries long-time love Susie Arida

HE came close to spending his special day behind bars - but an 11th-hour reprieve saw Hells Angels biker Samir Jouayde celebrate his wedding with his long-time lover Susie Arida.

Dressed in his bikie gang colours but with a Nomads logo on the front, Jouayde danced the night away with his bride at a lavish bash in Lidcombe - featuring hip-hop artists, a magician and a Lebanese rock band.

"It's party time," said Jouayde, flanked by members of the Parramatta chapter of the Hells Angels outlaw motorcycle gang.

But his celebration last night with 300 guests almost didn't happen.

Jouayde and four of his Hells Angels associates were arrested last week and charged over the alleged theft of four luxury cars and an attempt to extort $120,000 from Terry Mullens, owner of a luxury Burwood car dealership.

The cars were taken on Thursday, July 7, but in a bizarre turn of events were returned undamaged 26 hours later. The gangs squad arrested Jouayde and four others last Monday.




Initially refused bail, and set to miss his $32,000 wedding, Jouayde's barrister made a successful last-ditch appeal on Friday which saw the bikie released under strict curfew.

He said sitting in a cell thinking he was going to miss his wedding "was a bit nerve-racking".

His bail condition means he is under house arrest between 8pm and 8am but last night was allowed out until 2am for his wedding.

Jouayde granted The Sunday Telegraph exclusive access to the event at the New Westella Reception Centre, Lidcombe

"Just make sure you write good things and tell people how nice we are," Jouayde said.

He laughed when asked what he thought of his barrister, George Thomas, who said: "What I can't understand is why a fellow would want to get out of jail to get married, which is like a life sentence anyway."

"He's funny like that, always joking around," he said. "It's a life sentence I'm happy to serve."

The bride said she was nervous the wedding would not go ahead.

 

Biker gangs in weekend shootout have history of feuds Motorcycle gang experts say the Hell's Angels and the Vagos fight across the state

:Biker gangs in weekend shootout have history of feuds Motorcycle gangexperts say the Hell's Angels and the Vagos fight across the state Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder

Reputed Pagans leader jailed after Pa. drug raid

The reputed national president of the outlaw Pagans Motorcycle Club was jailed after a state police SWAT team raided his Pennsylvania home and allegedly found cocaine and methamphetamine.
Dennis "Rooster" Katona is well-known for his ties to the outlaw biker gang, including playing a role in a bloody 2002 rumble with the Hells Angels in New York that sent him to prison for several years.
State police said little about Wednesday's drug raid. Trooper Steve Limani, a spokesman for the Greensburg barracks, put the street value of the drugs at about $20,000, but said he didn't know if the investigation was self-contained or part of a larger probe.
Katona's Hempfield Township home was raided under a search warrant that remains sealed, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the AP. According to the complaint, troopers found more than three ounces of cocaine, nearly four ounces of methamphetamine, a digital scale and an "owe sheet."
Katona was arraigned by video from the Westmoreland County Prison and was ordered held in jail after he was unable to immediately post $750,000 bail. The district judge's staff said he appeared without counsel, and online court records do not list an attorney for him.
Authorities have identified Katona as the national president of the Pagans. The group's former leader was sentenced to federal prison for racketeering in December, though Katona was not named in two 2009 grand jury documents

targeting the gang.
Nine years ago, federal prosecutors in New York identified Katona as the group's national sergeant-at-arms when he pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy for helping lead a Pagans attack on a biker convention in Plainview, N.Y.
In that case, Katona acknowledged that Pagans from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio and elsewhere went to the Long Island biker convention in February 2002 to retrieve Pagan property "by force." One man was killed and 10 others injured in the melee. One of 73 Pagans convicted in the case, Katona pleaded guilty in June 2002.
Katona was released from prison in 2006 for the Hells Angels attack. He was not among 55 Pagan members and associates who were indicted by a federal grand jury in Charleston, W.Va., in 2009 on kidnapping, racketeering and other charges. The indictment resulted in guilty pleas and prison sentences for the group's former national president, David Keith Barbeito, 50, of Myersville, Md., and its vice president, Floyd "Jesse" Moore, 65, of St. Albans, W.Va.
A Pennsylvania state grand jury returned a presentment in Pittsburgh, also in 2009, identifying the gang as participating in a drug ring supplied by dealers in Atlanta, but Katona was not named in that investigation either.

 

Mounties guilty of assault

Two off-duty Mounties who were beaten by a group of bikers outside a Kelowna nightclub have themselves pleaded guilty to assaulting a member of the Hells Angels.

In August 2009, Cst. Chris MacDonald of Prince Edward Island and Cst. Kiel Samotej of Alberta were visiting Kelowna when they deliberately shoulder bumped the biker inside Cheetah's strip bar.

The Hells Angel summoned help from his fellow club members who were nearby.

The two drunken cops and several other RCMP officers they were drinking with at a Stag party were beaten.

MacDonald had to spend a night in hospital.

Both he and Samotej were ordered to pay $500 in Victim Surcharge fees and given absolute discharges.

It means they don't have criminal records.

One of the bikers was also charged with assault.

His case is still before the courts.

 

Boy shot in home, bikers suspected

Gang cops are investigating after a 14-year-old boy was shot while sleeping on a couch in his family's townhouse early Monday.

Police downplayed questions about any possible connections between what sources describe as a "war" between the Rock Machine and the Redlined Crew, an affiliate of the Hells Angels.

"There's nothing that we can say to support 100% that this is organized crime or gang related," said Const. Jason Michalyshen.

Margaret Morrissette, who lives next door, said three bullets pierced a wall right next to the bed in which she was sleeping with her boyfriend early Monday.

"The police officer said that we were lucky to be alive," a shaken Morrisette said.

"He said you're lucky to be alive. He said you should go buy a lottery ticket because luck is on your side, (because) we should've been dead."

The mother of a seven-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy said she no longer feels safe after the townhouse was hit with a spray of bullets in what Morrissette described as a drive-by shooting.

The teen, who was shot in what police will only describe as the lower body, was taken to hospital in stable condition.

The victim, whose name was not released by police, is "very, very fortunate," Michalyshen said.

He would not specify exactly what type of firearm that was used but said it was "a large-calibre that could cause someone serious injury."

Though the organized crime unit is investigating, police said it is unclear whether the shooting is somehow linked to an incident in which a home was shot up and reportedly firebombed last Wednesday. A day earlier, shots were fired into another home.

"We are treating these as separate incidents," said Michalyshen.

Though Morrissette isn't sure why the townhouses might have been targeted - she said the neighbours seem like nice, decent people - her first instinct is to get out of the neighbourhood.

"Either you bulletproof my house or get me out of here. I'm not having this again" she said. "I almost just want to move out of the whole entire city."

 

The Court of Appeal has reduced the sentence of a patched Mongrel Mob member who was involved in the shooting of a Hells Angels gang member.

Bronson Pekapo and Karl Nestor Nathan appealed their convictions for the attempted murder of Wanganui Hells Angel president Wayne Tweeddale in February 2008, while Pekapo also appealed his sentence of 10 years' jail.

Pekapo and Nathan had been in a car driven by another man when they were texted by a mob member and told to "get" Tweeddale.

After getting a shotgun from the gang pad, they chased the motorcyclist on State Highway 2 south of Hastings.

Nathan then shot Mr Tweeddale in the back, while Pekapo gave encouragement and assistance.

Both Pekapo and Nathan, who were given a joint trial, appealed their convictions on the basis that evidence given by the driver of the car, Tawhiri Hone, resulted in a miscarriage of justice and should not have been admissible.


The pair also argued the judge failed to adequately instruct that evidence given by Hone could be unreliable,

In appealing against his sentence, Pekapo argued that since he was not the shooter he should have received a lesser jail term.

In a written decision, the Court of Appeal threw out the appeal against conviction, saying the judge was "right to rule" Hone's statements admissible and there had been no miscarriage of justice.

However, the Court of Appeal agreed Pekapo should receive a reduced sentence because he played a lesser role.

"We find it impossible to accept that Pekepo's actions rendered him equally culpable with the driver, whose actions made the shooting possible, and with the shooter himself," the ruling said.

It reduced Pekapo's sentence to 8-1/2 years' prison.