Cynthia Pelletier said she has no idea why Andrew Cilliers, 26, was gunned down in his driveway early Tuesday morning

Cynthia Pelletier said she has no idea why Andrew (Drew) Cilliers, 26, was gunned down in his driveway early Tuesday morning, but is traumatized by the loss."He was an excellent, excellent guy, okay," she said. "We loved Drew like our own family and we are just devastated."Pelletier's husband, Leonard, who police say is an associate of several full-patch Hells Angels, was shot in September 2007, as he was about to drop off his 14-year-old son at a Langley high school. The boy was uninjured.Leonard Pelletier co-signed for Cilliers' Harley-Davidson motorcycle loan, according to personal property records. Cilliers, who was convicted of drug trafficking in 2004, also got financing for the purchase of a 2006 Lincoln Navigator.Cynthia said her husband did not want to talk about the murder."It is too sad. It is too f---ing sad . . . . all I can say is he [Cilliers] was a great kid . . . the young people today don't realize once you're gone, it's gone."Surrey RCMP were called to the tidy rental home at 6267 131A St. about 12:30 a.m. and found Cilliers critically wounded in his driveway.Several police cars arrived and officers put up yellow crime tape as snow began to fall.
A few hours later, Integrated Homicide Investigation Team spokesman Cpl. Dale Carr confirmed that Cilliers had died of his injuries about 3:30 a.m."Cilliers was known to police. This incident has all the indicators of being a targeted attack," Carr said.Despite Cilliers' criminal associations, Carr said investigators don't have a motive for the shooting."We haven't linked it to any other murder yet," Carr said. "It is currently a mystery to us."For his January 2004 conviction, Cilliers got a six-month conditional sentence and nine months' probation, as well as a 10-year ban on owning a firearm.He and his brother had rented the two-storey home for almost a year, owner Shafqat Ali Bajwa said.
"Oh no, oh no, oh God," Bajwa said. "It is very bad, very shocking."
He said Cilliers was a good tenant who said he worked in the auction business and had provided references."I did not have any problems with him," Bajwa said. "He paid his rent on time. He left the house clean.Bajwa said that at one point there was a bad domestic situation, but it had been resolved"He had [a] problem with his girlfriend in the summer, but now they are separated. He was living there with his brother," Bajwa said.He said he knew nothing about the young man's drug trafficking conviction and had spoken to Cilliers' father and employer when he moved in.
"They said he was all right," he said.Cilliers' distraught father Gerald had a colleague answering his Langley office phone Tuesday after learning of his son's death.

Brian Jeffrey, the sergeant-at-arms of the Simcoe Chapter of the Hells Angels, pleaded guilty to trafficking four kilograms of cocaine

Last fall,Brian Jeffrey, the sergeant-at-arms of the Simcoe Chapter of the Hells Angels, pleaded guilty to trafficking four kilograms of cocaine, with a purity of 88 to 91 per cent, but adamantly denied that his biker club is a criminal organization.
At a hearing attended by family, friends and Hells Angels members, Ontario Superior Court Justice John McMahon sentenced the ailing tow truck supervisor to nine years in prison, less six months for pre-trial custody and his stringent bail conditions. Jeffrey's wife cried out in anger at the result."Do you think I can see him before you take him away for 10 years?" she angrily asked the court officers as they led away her handcuffed husband, who walks with a cane.Despite his credentials as a good family man with a dated criminal record, a lifetime of steady employment and contributions as a father figure to an abused 11-year-old girl, the fact that Jeffrey sold cocaine was certain to "cause havoc" in other families, the judge said. The judge found otherwise, and on that basis yesterday tacked 3 1/2 years onto what would have otherwise been a 5 1/2-year sentence. "It was a good day for the Crown and police," prosecutor Tom Andreopoulos said outside court.Jeffrey portrayed himself as a benign family man, but he is not, just as the Hells Angels are not "good ol' boy motorcycle enthusiasts," Andreopoulos said. Jeffrey will likely have to serve two-thirds of his sentence before he is paroled, Andreopoulos said.

Hells Angels member Edward Proudfoot "They came here full of aggression," . "They came here ready for a war."

Hells Angels member Edward Proudfoot opened the door of his East Oakland home and saw that they had him surrounded.Helicopters whirred overhead, officers from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office and the Oakland Police Department were stationed outside and on nearby rooftops with guns aimed at the house, and TV news cameras were ready to roll video. Proudfoot's wife, Shelley Milliorn, who had been running errands nearby, was being detained.The police were there to search Proudfoot's house for two murder suspects connected to a family friend who had visited Proudfoot's home in the last few days. The suspects, who Proudfoot says he does not know, were wanted in connection with the murder of a San Leandro man.
By the end of that night, September 23, images of a handcuffed Proudfoot were all over the local evening news, his house had been searched with nothing found, and his dog Jade had been shot at close range by a member of the Oakland police. Now, months after the incident, Proudfoot and Milliorn say they are still wondering: What exactly happened?According to Proudfoot, an officer informed him that they'd seen two murder suspects jump the fence of his home and that the pair could be inside his home at that very minute. Would he please allow officers to do an immediate search of his house?Before Proudfoot signed a document allowing the officers to search the premises, he said he made one request. "One of the first things I asked them, 'Let me take care of my dogs,'" Proudfoot recalled. Both of his dogs, Jade and Bear, were inside the home. "I'll put them away in the bathroom or somewhere so they're out of the way. I told them at least half a dozen times."
But later that night, Jade was shot. According to lead detective Pat Smyth of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, a member of the Oakland police shot the dog. Although he was not present at the scene, Smyth said, "It was the Oakland Police. They were doing a protective sweep of the house of the resident. An aggressive pit bull was shot. There were two pit bulls, one they were able to lasso. The other one they were not, retreated into the house. When they did a protective sweep of the house, the dog charged them aggressively and subsequently it was shot."Civil rights attorney David Beauvais says the couple is making preparations to file a federal civil case within the next month. Although Beauvais declined to state the grounds for the lawsuit, he mentioned that he was looking into the reasons for the search.Proudfoot and Milliorn, who say they do not know the murder victim or the two men publicly identified by Smyth and other officers as suspects, Aaron Hammond and Ben Eddleman, have not been charged in connection with the homicide.

And as for the story that either murder suspect had been sighted jumping the fence of Proudfoot's property? Dickson said, "No, we never said anything like that. I've never heard anything like that as a part of this investigation. I would have no idea where that information came from." He added that his officers did not see Hammond or Eddleman in front of the house. In a separate interview, detective Symth agreed that neither suspect had been spotted in front of the home.

Yet Milliorn, like her husband, claims that she was told by police that Hammond and Eddleman had jumped their fence and might be in their house. "They said, 'We told you ... that the two suspects jumped the fence.' I said, 'Well if you want to, give my husband a call and let him know that that he's in there with two homicidal maniacs.'"
Proudfoot's legal advisor, criminal attorney Portia Glassman, who was called to the scene on the night of the search, sees the search as a case of bungled, misplaced showmanship. "They came here full of aggression," she said. "They came here ready for a war." Glassman also represents another Hells Angels member in a criminal case against the Alameda Sherriff's Office in a search of his home that took place a month before the search of Proudfoot's home.
Milliorn added, "They exploited his name and our address and everything on every newspaper and every news channel for two days. It was nothing related to the murder."As for Jade the pit bull, she was taken to the Pet Emergency Treatment Service in Berkeley. The veterinarian, Dr. Shea Cox, pronounced the dog brain-dead and Milliorn allowed the dog to be put down. She had been beanbagged several times before being shot in the head.Weeks after the search, Proudfoot's anger is still palpable. "They explained it to me: the suspects that they were looking for were here, and just in case there was a gun, they didn't want to endanger me to come in here while I was getting my dogs," he said on a weekday afternoon at his home, where blood stains of his dog remain in the carpet. "That's just bullshit, you know. I mean, they're just lying."

Paul Fontaine is charged with first degree murder for the 1997 killing of prison guard Pierre Rondeau

Paul Fontaine is charged with first degree murder for the 1997 killing of prison guard Pierre Rondeau. The guard was killed during an ambush of a prison bus in the east end of Montreal. The principal witness in the case, Stephane "Godasse" Gagne, was also involved in the crime, making it a difficult deliberation for the jury. Gagne pleaded guilty to charge of murder related to the death of Diane Lavigne, a prison security guard who was killed a few weeks earlier than Rondeau. He was able to plea bargin out of the charges for the murder of Rondeau. Initially it was believed the killing of the guards was intended to destabilize the justice system. However, it was revealed in court that the killings were also ordered to test the loyalty of Fontaine, Gagne and others.
The jury has been sequestered since Tuesday evening.

Outlaw biker Jeffrey Albert Lynds has “moved on to the Nomads in Ontario

clubhouse may be gone and their membership decimated by an undercover investigation that nailed the Halifax club, but police now say a former member of the only chapter east of Quebec is now part of a very elite group within the international gang.
Outlaw biker Jeffrey Albert Lynds has “moved on to the Nomads in Ontario,” RCMP Const. Stephen MacQueen said.A member of the RCMP-Halifax Regional Police combined forces intelligence unit, Const. MacQueen wouldn’t say where specifically Mr. Lynds was living, but said: “We still have one full-patch Hells Angel member here in the province and he’s a member of the Ontario Nomads.”On Jan. 29, 2003, the courts brought the hammer down on Mr. Lynds and fellow gang members, Arthur (Art) Daine Harrie and Clay Gordon McCrea. Mr. Harrie and Mr. McCrea got six years each all on drug charges, while Mr. Lynds was sentenced to three years and slapped with a lifetime firearms ban. The very same day, the bikers lost their Dutch Village Road clubhouse to the Crown under new anti-gang legislation.
The charges and the seizure stemmed from Operation Hammer, an undercover case that ended with a series of raids and arrests in December 2001.With three of its members awaiting trial on drug charges and a fourth, Neil William Smith, awaiting trial for murder, the Halifax chapter had slipped below the organization’s six-member minimum. Only Michael (Mike) Shawn McCrea, Michael (Speedy) Christiansen and Daniel Fitzsimmons remained and this time, they couldn’t rely on the support of Quebec Nomad, David (Wolf) Carroll. The godfather of the Halifax chapter is still wanted on 13 counts of murder stemming from the Quebec biker war. Instead, the Hells Angels pulled its trademark winged Deaths Head patch and rode off into the sunset.

Clay McCrea told the National Parole Board in June 2005 that he’d retired in good standing, along with his older brother, Mike, but was surprised at the club’s collapse. Mr. Harrie told the board in November 2005 that the Hells Angels had offered him a transfer to another chapter, but he decided to retire.

When released on parole, Clay McCrea and Mr. Harrie were banned from contact with any past or present member of the Hells Angels, including Mike McCrea.Const. MacQueen confirmed that all three did retire, but wouldn’t say whether they left on good terms.Mike, whose last name is often misspelled as McCrae or MacRae, was the reputed president of the Halifax chapter president, world secretary and international webmaster. The married father of one, who has always maintained that he was simply a member, is recovering from a battle with cancer and running a computer consulting business from his Porters Lake home.Mr. Smith recently lost an appeal of his murder conviction and remains in jail, while Mr. Fitzsimmons was booted out of the club, police previously said. In 2004, police said that Mr. Christiansen had transferred to the East End Hells Angels chapter in B.C. where his former 13th Tribe brother, David Giles, was a member. But the Kelowna Daily Courier reported in June 2007 that Mr. Christiansen was one of the founding members of a new chapter in Kelowna.Thursday is the first full day that Clay McCrea and Mr. Harrie can have contact with any past or present members of the Hells Angels because their sentences have expired. But Const. MacQueen won’t say that biker investigators are going to keep a sharp eye on these long-time criminals.“I guess we have an interest in anybody committing criminal offences, so if they commit criminal offences, they’ll be looked upon like anybody else. Right now, they’re not Hells Angels members so we don’t treat them any different than anybody else,” the officer said. While there’s no official Hells Angels chapter, the gang has “two support clubs in Nova Scotia,” which Const. MacQueen identified as the East Coast Riders and the Highlanders. And, he said, police “often see Ontario and Quebec, and Hells Angels members from across the country come here.”The Hells Angels “definitely have an influence and an impact on criminal activity in Nova Scotia. However, having a chapter here is like having a stake in the ground. It’s more of a visible thing that ‘This is our territory,’” Const. MacQueen said.
Having the Hells Angels patch with the words Halifax or Nova Scotia underneath “gives the perception to the public and to criminals that ‘This is our territory.’ Without that, they are missing that. However, that doesn’t mean that they still don’t have the influence and the fear of them is still very real among the criminal element.”
The public may not see Hells Angels in the headlines anymore, but police say the battle continues.“They’ve been declared a criminal organization. We don’t want them back. We do everything in our power to try to prevent them coming back,” Const. MacQueen said.

Chad Wilson, 33, of San Diego and John Midmore, 35,trial for conspiracy would amount to double-jeopardy.

Chad Wilson, 33, of San Diego and John Midmore, 35, of Valparaiso, Ind. were acquitted by a Minnehaha County jury Nov. 20 on charges that they tried to kill five people associated with the Outlaws Motorcycle Club. The parties decided before the trial that charges of conspiracy to commit murder would be handled later.But after the verdict, defense lawyers argued a trial for conspiracy would amount to double-jeopardy. Beadle County State’s Attorney Mike Moore, who helped prosecute the case, now says he is close to a plea agreement with both defendants.“We’re close to an agreement to resolve it,” he said Tuesday.Moore would not disclose the particulars of the deal, but said the plan is for Wilson and Midmore to return to state court in Sioux Falls to enter pleas on Feb. 4.

gang colors red and dark blue originated in the most ordinary way. They were the only bandanna colors sold in California prisons.


In the 1950s and early 1960s, the Mexican Mafia — or "EME" — a southern gang, was the predominant gang in California's prisons, said Tulare County Sheriff's Sgt. Kevin Cotton, supervisor of the county's Multi-Agency Gang Enforcement Teams.

As large numbers of northern gang members filtered into the prison system, they organized for self protection, creating La Nuestra Familia gang. To identify themselves, the gangs used bandannas purchased in prison commissaries. They came in two colors, red and dark blue.

The northerners chose red, and the southerners, in turn, began purchasing the blue bandannas, Cotton said.

Crips and Bloods, largely African-American gangs from Los Angeles, also began identifying themselves with the prisons' colored bandannas, with the Bloods choosing red and the Crips blue.

Since then, the color system, as well as the deadly rivalry between the northern and southern gangs, has made its way to the street and evolved. Now, gang members display their colors not just with bandannas but also with clothing, even jewelry.

Some have even adopted different colors.

For example, said Tulare County sheriff's Detective Joe Aguilar, a gang unit deputy who also serves as the Sheriff's gang liaison to schools, some northern gang members have begun wearing silver-and-black Oakland Raider shirts and other team gear, a nod to their gang's Northern California roots.

"We're starting to see the white bandannas and black bandannas," Cotton said. "White seems to be among some separate 'cliques' of Hispanic gangs, though they tend to ally with north or south

Penrith Police Local Area Command have charged an outlaw motorcycle gang associate over a stabbing in Penrith

Penrith Police Local Area Command have charged an outlaw motorcycle gang associate over a stabbing in Penrith in October last year. A 23-year-old Quakers Hill man was stabbed in the leg and chest while he was sitting in his 4WD near the intersection of Castlereagh Road and Jane Street shortly before 4.30pm on 21 October 2008. The injured man was treated at the scene by ambulance officers from a nearby station, before being taken to Nepean Hospital for treatment.As a result of the ongoing investigation, police conducted a high-risk operation in Werrington yesterday afternoon.About 6.45pm a 23-year-old man was arrested without incident on Werrington Road and taken to Penrith Police Station.He was refused bail to appear in Parramatta Bail Court today charged with attempted murder and maliciously inflict grievous bodily harm. Yesterday’s operation involved police from Penrith Local Area Command, North West Metropolitan Region Enforcement Squad, State Crime Command Gangs Squad, Tactical Operations Unit and Negotiators, as well as the SPG Dog Unit.

latest move to crack down on bikie gangs follows police raids of various club headquarters in Nowra, Albion Park, Batemans Bay and Kiama Downs

Lake Illawarra police are investigating alleged breaches of new laws which ban outlaw motorcycle gang members wearing their club colours into pubs and clubs.Licensed premises across the Illawarra have begun working with police to make it a condition of entry to ban clothing or visible tattoos with bikie gang symbols, logos, names or colours.Sergeant Gary Keevers emphasised the new conditions of entry were not about banning people, only the clothing or other symbols representing the gangs."For nearly six months now, police have advised a number of motorcycle clubs of the pending entry conditions and the reasons for those conditions," he said. "Some hotel staff have even offered persons T-shirts to wear while they were on the premises."An escalation in gang rivalry, particularly in Sydney, was behind the move, Sgt Keevers said."Police are monitoring the Kiama local government area in respect of a particular motorcycle club," he said."We continually get community and liquor industry complaints about the behaviour of some gangs, with people indicating fear and a feeling of intimidation."The latest move to crack down on bikie gangs follows police raids of various club headquarters in Nowra, Albion Park, Batemans Bay and Kiama Downs last year.Members of the Rebels motorcycle gang were later charged with offences including operating an unlicensed premises, possessing illegal gaming machines and breaching a noise abatement order and were fined $15,900.

Not guilty of sparking an Aug. 8, 2006, gunfight at Custer State Park during the Sturgis motorcycle rally.

Jurors in Sioux Falls on Nov. 20 found Chad Wilson, 33, a Canadian citizen who lives in San Diego, and John Midmore, 35, a dual Canadian-Australian citizen of Valparaiso, Ind., not guilty of sparking an Aug. 8, 2006, gunfight at Custer State Park during the Sturgis motorcycle rally. Three Outlaws Motorcycle Club members and two women with them were injured. Prosecutors said Wilson and Midmore tried to kill their rivals but Wilson testified he fired in self-defence after they were confronted during a rest stop at Legion Lake Resort. Midmore was released on bail hours after the verdict. Wilson was indicted days later on a federal charge of being a non-immigrant alien in possession of a firearm. He was transferred to Rapid City, where he is scheduled to stand trial Feb. 10. Wilson testified he fired several rounds with a handgun and had other guns in his truck. Jurors initially were split.
"Right from the get-go we decided we should have a vote to see where everybody stood," the juror said. "And it was five for not guilty, five for guilty and two for not decided." The voting worked toward not guilty, then back toward guilty and ultimately ended over problems with some of the evidence, he said. "The entire jury felt that the scene had not been managed as well as it could have been. And eventually it ended up in a contradiction to some of the evidence relating to the number of shots fired," he said. "That probably was the thing that ended up getting us to the point where we eventually got to the unanimous decision." During the trial, the defence lawyer queried investigators at length about how people were allowed to walk through the parking lot and pick up and move shell casings, clothing and even a gun. Prosecutors countered rescue personnel and law-enforcement officers at the scene were most concerned with saving the lives of the people shot, some of whom lost a lot of blood. During the second day of deliberating, jurors said they couldn't reach a decision. The judge had them keep at it and after another day they ultimately found the men not guilty of all charges. "A couple of the people who insisted on not guilty were making it very clear it would be a cold day in hell before they could consider anything different," the juror said. The man said though several jurors expressed concern for their safety, he couldn't say if it affected anyone's vote. Several Hells Angels bikers attended the trial. Prosecutors still want to try Wilson and Midmore on a more serious charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, which carries a punishment of life in prison if convicted. Defence lawyers have asked the judge to dismiss the charge, arguing it would amount to double jeopardy - being tried twice for the same crime. Prosecutors argued the attempted murder and conspiracy charges are separate crimes, so another trial would not amount to double jeopardy.

Iron Horsemen Motorcycle Club, accused of running an elaborate drug ring in Maine

The trial of several members of the Iron Horsemen Motorcycle Club, accused of running an elaborate drug ring in Maine, has been pushed back until at least March because another defendant has been charged by a federal grand jury.Ramon Dellosantos, 39, of Haverhill, Mass., made his initial appearance and arraignment at U.S. District Court in Portland on Tuesday.Standing beside defense attorney Elliot Weinstein of Boston, Dellosantos pleaded not guilty to the single charge of conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine and marijuana.Dellosantos became the 20th defendant charged in the case, which is among the largest drug-conspiracy cases ever prosecuted in Maine.Federal prosecutors say members and supporters of the Iron Horsemen funneled drugs from Massachusetts to Maine, where they were distributed throughout the state. The ring operated from at least 2004 until December of 2007, Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Perry has said in court documents.Richard Szpyt, president of the Maine chapter of the Iron Horsemen, is the alleged ringleader. Prosecutors seek to have his properties in Haverhill, Mass., and Old Orchard Beach, plus the property of a co-defendant in Albany Township, turned over to the government. The house in Old Orchard Beach served as the state headquarters for the Iron Horsemen.

A grand jury indicted 19 defendants in March, and Dellosantos was indicted in October. Some of them face multiple charges and face a minimum of 10 years in prison if convicted.

Three of the defendants have already pleaded guilty, and await sentencing. Charles Green of East Dixfield and Bruce Hill of Limerick pleaded guilty to conspiracy. Kelley Monahan of Newfield pleaded guilty to using a telephone to facilitate the distribution of marijuana.The rest of the defendants are waiting for the trial, although some or all of them could reach plea agreements in the meantime with the U.S. Attorney's Office.The case is tentatively on the March 2 trial list for Chief U.S. District Judge George Singal.Weinstein said neither he nor his client, Dellosantos, would comment. Perry, the prosecutor, said federal court rules prohibit him from discussing details of the case.According to court documents, federal investigators obtained wiretaps in the summer of 2007, and they captured "thousands of conversations and electronic communications," between the defendants. Other evidence includes seized notebooks, drugs and weapons at Szpyt's property on Ross Road in Old Orchard.The Iron Horsemen is one of the largest motorcycle clubs active in Maine. The club has chapters nationwide, with concentrated pockets in Maryland, Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana.Along with other clubs, including Hells Angels, Saracens and Bandidos, the Iron Horsemen are classified by law enforcement agencies as "outlaw motorcycle gangs." Drug investigators in Maine say motorcycle club members have played significant roles in the state's drug trade since the 1970s.

Outlaw motorcyle gang was said to have been involved in theft of pearls

In Western Australia, outlaw motorcyle gang was said to have been involved in theft of pearls; in the Northern Territory, OMCGs had purchased fishing licences; and in South Australia, enforcement stakeholders believed that OMCGs had been involved in the illegal abalone trade," the report says. "These gangs were also reported to have purchased fishing vessels to distribute illicit drugs." In the Northern Territory, companies and family groups are illegally profiting from large-scale and well-organised shark "finning", in which fins are sliced from illegally caught sharks and smuggled to Asia, where they are in huge demand. In NSW, entire racks of oysters are being stolen from oyster farms using lifting equipment on the back of vehicles. Money laundering, including the use of underground banks to illegally move money into and out of Australia, is also linked to the seafood black market. The criminology institute's general manager of research, Judy Putt, co-author of the report, said there was widespread concern among fisheries officers that Australia's existing regulations were inadequate to deal with the growing threat posed by organised crime. The report, based on a survey of more than 300 fisheries officers and consultations with law enforcement agencies, warns that as some types of seafood become rarer and more expensive they will increasingly attract organised crime groups. "Systematic criminal activity, which is more likely to target vulnerable and most valuable species, escalates not only the seriousness of the illegal activity but also its effects, through an increase in criminal activity generally, such as environmental offences, theft, fraud, quarantine violation, tax evasion and serious crimes against people, including murder," the report says. International trafficking of fish products between organised crime groups is arranged "as and when the need arises".

All of the fisheries officers surveyed in the study believed there was organised crime involvement in illegal fishing in their jurisdictions, with 26 per cent saying there was "a lot" and 58 per cent responding there was "some".

"The sector is also characterised by seasonal work, which can attract individuals with involvement in criminal activity such as poaching and drug distribution," the report says. "These structural factors can reduce the resistance of the sector to organised criminal activity."
According to the report, poachers are becoming more sophisticated in their efforts to avoid detection, with illegal divers in Tasmania and Victoria using re-breathers to hide their bubbles, working at night with underwater lights and using global positioning systems.

Former Outlaws motorcycle gang member Ronald Stahlman was arrested

former Outlaws motorcycle gang member has been indicted in northeast Ohio in a murder from nearly 30 years ago. Authorities say 52-year-old Ronald Stahlman was arrested Dec. 8 in Arizona by a federal task force that pursues fugitives. He was indicted yesterday by a Trumbull County grand jury in the 1979 stabbing death of 18-year-old Bernard Williamson in Warren. Authorities say the suspect had been using an alias since an arrest warrant was issued for him in 1979. He's now locked up in Phoenix awaiting extradition.