This is my first guest post written by someone else.
Ion William Croitoru, wrestled by the handle Bruiser Bedlam and Johnny K9. His friends called him K9. K9 has always been known as controversial figure, however the episode of Dark Side of The Ring that came out years back did him a real disservice, in fact it made many people sick to their stomachs because there's people from Hamilton that know the true story.
His ex Tracy spoke in the episode but it was a selective interview and not done in such a way as to show the true facts of the story and what really happened. It is true that at that time when K9 was already in prison someone had made a comment to Tracy about K9 allegedly saying something, but he wasn't on the street to defend himself. Not to mention it was more of a question than a known fact. Now the man has passed away and once again he can't defend himself therefore the truth and the facts are the best way to defend him.
The rumour first started after the Satan's Choice club raid. Ironically it was the cops that started the rumour, not the streets. The cops made those accusations as they went around and pulled up on people associated with Satan's Choice. After word started to circulate some people started to think that the story might be true. Some added fuel to the fire by asking why he got released after he was arrested. The argument was that he shouldn't have been released from jail and because he got out he must be no good.
When the police have an informant working with them they make sure they provide their source with some degree of protections. So the question is if K9 was some type of informant why would they try to out him to his club associates unless they had a different motive. It's important to note that many member's stood with him through all this and they didn't believe any of the nonsense going around. This is where it all started and this was all it was based on.
On December 16, 1996 the Sudbury, Ontario police station was bombed, the bomb also damaged a near by bank. As stated by available records the original plan was to bomb the Solid Gold strip club. This was planned because of a previous incident that happened at Solid Gold strip club over an issue regarding the strip club not wanting them to wear their colours. This incident made the Sudbury chapter president Michel Dube furious.
At the time Michel Dube was the Satan's Choice president of the Sudbury chapter and K9 was the President of the Hamilton chapter. After the bombing of the Sudbury police station there was a large scale investigation. Based on cooperating witnesses the Sudbury Police learned that the original target was the strip club and that the target was changed to the police station.
They also learned that allegedly K9 had knowledge of the plan to bomb the strip club. They didn't have any evidence pointing towards the Sudbury chapter president because the cooperating witnesses were associated with Jure "Jerry" Juretta who was under K9 at the Hamilton chapter. This led to a warrant being administered for the Hamilton chapter of Satan's Choice.
When the clubhouse was raided K9 was under duress because his ear drums were severely damaged from the tear gas bombs were used that went off right next to him. Later after K9 was arrested the cops stated that they knew he didn't do it. He responded angrily, if not in so many words, if you know I didn't do it why are you messing with me? They said they knew it was Michel Dube behind it and that it was a Sudbury chapter issue not a Hamilton chapter issue.
He later said exactly what the cops said to him to all the guys he was close with. K9 had no knowledge of the change in locations until after it happened and he was very pissed about it but the damage was done. K9 denied having knowledge about the Police Station bombing, and what he said was true, he really didn't know about it. Denial is not cooperation. He was not willing to give a statement against Michel Dube or testify against anyone in court.
It was known that the police had been messing with the club and it's members in Sudbury. According to record it was Dube that ordered Juretta to place the bomb at the Sudbury police station. By the police giving the impression that K9 flipped they were hoping to get other associates to cooperate. Is it a known technique that police use to turn people in the same organization against each other. K9 and others were actually telling people that this was what the cops were trying to do. It's understandable that these types of rumours are to be taken seriously and hard to over look. None the less I think it is important to know all the variables before forming judgement.
The story about K9 getting his patch pulled is also not accurate. They seized all kinds of Satan's Choice items when they did the Hamilton club house raid, this included colours. Naturally after this happened everyone was on high alert and moving very cautiously. K9 was very angry after the bombing of the Sudbury police station and their was tension between Michel Dube and K9 because of it, this is true. It is also true that at the time Michel Dube was one of the most feared outlaw bikers of his era. K9 also had a reputation as a guy that handled his business and everyone respected him for it. Both Dube and K9 were feared and respected bikers at that time.
K9 had a loyal crew of guys and no one would beable to overpower him and take his patch, even if he still had it after the raid. One key point should be mentioned, K9 never left Hamilton and they were all arrested in late 1997. With both Michel Dube and K9 in jail, many of the other members of Satan's Choice got picked up by other clubs and patched over.
This is documented in a number of biker books. Michel Dube ended up committing suicide in prison in September 22, 1998. Someone spread a rumour about five years after Dube's death that he committed suicide because he was heart broken that K9 flipped on him. But the real reason he committed suicide was because while in prison he got indicted for two counts of first degree murder along with the bombing related charges.
The informant that told on him was an associate of his named Todd Petahtegoose, this was the informant that caused him to write in his suicide note that the witness accounts were fabricated. After K9 was sentenced and transferred to prison he walked the line, he was no check in or in protective custody case. In fact during that bid he had a lot of respect in the east coast prison system and he earned it through his actions.
When he got out of prison he went right back to Hamilton. Not only did he go back there but he hung out with respected people in Hamilton. He was liked and respected by many out there. He dealt with whatever issue came his way, and he didn't duck anyone. His ex-wife Tracy lived in Vancouver with his son that's why he went out to visit B.C.
Later he hung out with the U.N. guys on the west coast. They did a background check on him to make sure he was clean. They had heard some of the rumours as well. He mentioned that they did a back ground check on him and that he told them he had nothing to hide.
They found out information from two different schools of thought. They read some information and there was nothing indicating he told on anyone, the only person he talked about was himself. But most importantly there is no records of him writing a statement or testifying on anyone. He never testified in any court, and never wrote a statement against anyone. This was verified through paid lawyers. All he did was give an angry outburst when he was discombobulated after tear gas bombs went off in the clubhouse which badly damaged his earn drums. This is the truth.
In the mist of all this K9 was back and forth between Hamilton and B.C. Then he got picked up on two first degree murder charges with his friend Jack Howard and Andre Joseph Graville. The case was trumped up and the evidence was weak. K9 was arrested in 2005 and did about 20 months in custody.
If someone cooperates with the police they don't fight cases, they make deals to save their own ass. He did what he was supposed to do and fought to prove his innocence. K9 actually had to hire an medical expert and took a DNA test to disprove and discredit the so called expert government witness.
Most importantly he stood with his codefendants and together they were vindicated. People in Hamilton often said that the Hamilton Police had it out for K9 and they were willing to do whatever it took to keep him behind bars. In 2006 all the charges were stayed/withdrawn, the reason being that there was "no reasonable prospect for a conviction". Does this sound like someone who would testify or write a statement on someone?
Then on the west coast he got picked up on another 2009 murder conspiracy case. Some of his codefendants accepted large amounts of money to turn government witnesses. K9 was also offered a large amount of money to flip and he did not. If someone was an informant before and now they were offered hundreds of thousands of dollars potentially a million dollars to flip don't you think they would take the offer?
The B.C government allegedly spend 50 million dollars on that particular case. Eventually after three years the Crown prosecutors offered all the codefendants a plea deal. The Crown prosecutors said the case would drag another 7 years or they could accept a plea and be released much sooner. It was straight extortion.
At that time the laws in B.C allowed them to drag on a trial without any protections in place for the defendants. After careful counseling with their lawyers they all agreed to sign a plea deal. In 2011 K9 was sentenced to 13 years, in the plea the murder charges were stayed. He got the pretrial credits and which allowed him to be released to a halfway house in Toronto in 2016. He was not allowed to have contact with any bikers or organized crime figures.
When he finally finished his bid and went to a halfway house K9 had told his ex-wife Tracy that he was dying. At one point in time he used to put five plates on each side of the bar, then break it, drop the bar to his chest, take a bite out of a candy bar and press all 500 pounds of the bar back up and then rack it with a smile while eating the chocolate bar. In truth all the heavy steroid use had caught up with him and he had heart issues.
There's all kinds of stories about him in many different books, most of them are pretty entertaining to read. He was quite the character but there was a line he wouldn't cross. As K9 predicted he died at the halfway house at 53 years old. This is what really happened. He was involved in a lot of things over the years and he wasn't perfect, but he wasn't no snitch, he never testified against anyone. That's the truth. 1%er
