Hells Angels leader dead in Nevada shootout

Another reader sent this one in. Jeffrey "Jethro" Pettigrew, the 51-year-old head of the Hells Angels San Jose chapter, was killed late Friday in a shootout that sent hotel guests and gamblers diving under tables at John Ascuaga's Nugget hotel-casino, police said. Two members of the Vagos gang also were wounded.

Witnesses to the casino shootout described chaos erupting after a group of Vagos club members was confronted by Hells Angels members at the Nugget. Daniel Sharp, of Stockton, Calif., told the Reno Gazette-Journal that within five minutes, shots rang out: "It was mayhem."

Joe Franco, of Reno, said he saw one Hells Angel member pull out a gun after he was knocked to the ground in a fistfight. "He was down with the bloody nose, gets up and pulls out the gun, and that's the first shot" apparently at the man who punched him, Franco told the Gazette-Journal. Sounds like self defense to me.

The Hells Angels picked a fight with Vagos because they think they own the world and no one else is allowed to wear colours but them. They lost the fist fight, so they pulled out the guns and lost the gun fight. That's self defense alright.

DJ Qualls claims he was assaulted by VPD

Wow, Freddy just sent thins link in. Actor DJ Qualls claims he was beaten up by VPD while he was in Vancouver on Granville street. Ooops.

Edmonton Police and the Hells Angels

In the spring of 1999. Ron Robertson and Ken Montgomery claimed the Edmonton police force had been infiltrated by the Hells Angels and other elements of organized crime. They also claimed the chief at the time, John Lindsay, was ignoring their concerns.

After weeks of research and confidential meetings the first break came. Sources revealed a police detective was strongly suspected of selling inside information to the Hells Angels for $20,000. Meanwhile Police Chief John Lindsay also asked that any investigation into his conduct be stopped.

As a result of the first stories, more confidential sources came forward with information about a secret medical report on Robertson, a report the detective himself had never been allowed to see. Chief Lindsay had used the secret document to demote Robertson on the grounds of mental incapacity. The 19-year veteran was no longer able to investigate biker gangs in the department`s Integrated Intelligence Unit. In his new position, the restrictions were so severe that Robertson was even prohibited from leaving police headquarters during his shifts. But curiously, what CBC learned was that the doctor`s report actually gave Robertson a clean bill of health; he suffered from no discernible mental disability. The report suggested the force`s problems with Robertson were not medical at all; but rather an internal, administrative issue.

CBC also claimed that Calgary's chief had written a letter to his Edmonton counterpart warning that one of his officers had been observed associating with criminals in a Calgary bar and had talked about police surveillance techniques.

There were also RCMP investigations from the past that looked at a host of allegations: that several police investigations were destroyed after officers leaked confidential police information of a sexual assault committed by an Edmonton police officer and of another officer dating a stripper, who at the time was living in the Hells Angel's clubhouse in Quebec. CBC reported that none of these allegations had been investigated; mysteriously the probes seemed to just stop when they were passed on to the Edmonton Police Service. These new allegations showed that suspicions of corruption within the Edmonton police department were far broader than Detectives Montgomery and Robertson had revealed in their complaints.

Twenty-six weeks into 2011, Edmonton leads the nation with 26 confirmed homicides, closing in on annual totals of 27 from 2009 and 2010, and on pace to surpass the 2005 record of 39. Cities of comparable size lag far behind: Winnipeg has 16, Ottawa, five, while Calgary has four. Edmonton outstrips far greater populations. Toronto, with a core population of 2.5 million, has had 24 homicides. Montreal, with around two million, has had 18. There have been six homicides in Vancouver.

Barbara George and the RCMP Pension Fraud

I'm not referring to Boy George Karma Chameleon. I'm referring to RCMP deputy commissioner Barbara George, who lost her job after being accused of perjury and becoming the public face of the Mounties’ pension-fund fiasco. She claimed she was collateral damage and was confident she would get her job back and she did.

In court documents, George alleges Chief Supt. Robert Paulson improperly began a criminal investigation into allegations she misled the committee and committed perjury. She argues "misleading" the committee would be a contempt of Parliament and "is punishable only by the House of Commons."

Can you believe that? The fact that it is unparliamentary to call someone a liar in the Canadian Parliament has always been a pet peeve of mine. Lying is OK. You can't get charged with perjury for lying in Parliament because that is protected by "parliamentary privilege". But God help you if you expose someone for lying in parliament. If you call a liar a liar in Parliament they will kick you out for telling the truth. That is our bizarre system.

I'm all for seeing a woman rise in the ranks of the RCMP finally. Yet I am very concerned with perjury and I am very concerned about using the argument in court not that she was innocent, but if she had committed perjury the RCMP's criminal investigation into her conduct was "unlawful and invalid" because the code of conduct and criminal investigations the RCMP initiated into her testimony "breach" parliamentary privilege. That is just plain crazy talk.

So basically she lied. Deputy Commissioner George testified with "absolute finality" that she had nothing to do with Staff Sgt. Frizzell's removal. The committee heard other witnesses, however, who insisted she did. Does Sergeant Frizzell get his job back now?

The RCMP investigator asked the MPs to waive parliamentary privilege on Deputy Commissioner George's testimony so it could be used as evidence in a criminal investigation and possible prosecution. He told MPs he felt her testimony was "deliberately false" and given with the "intent to mislead."

Instead the MPs voted and found her in contempt of parliament which basically means nothing criminally other than the fact that she did lie and was guilty of misleading Parliament. No big deal. Stephen Harper was found in contempt of parliament for refusing to disclose how much his fleet of oil bombing jets would cost to his insider's firm. Just another day in the House of Commons.

The point is, even if her perjury was not admissible outside of Parliament and she got her job back, she should not get the top job of being in charge of the entire RCMP. That would be wrong and it wouldn't help fix what really is broken at the RCMP.

Aside from the fact that Barb George lied in Parliament, we need to focus on what the RCMP Pension scandal was really about. Then we can figure out how to fix it and prevent it from happening again. Pension funds are sacred. We really need to stop letting politicians steal our pensions. It's a matter of trust.

Ontario Hells Angels

We know Julian Sher is on top of the situation. In this Globe and Mail article from July 17 2004 we read: The RCMP's criminal intelligence service has said for years that Canada's Hells Angels are involved in murder, drug trafficking, prostitution, illegal gambling, extortion, intimidation, fraud and theft. Much of that goes unreported, reflecting the enormous fear factor.

But the gang's primary moneymaker in Ontario is narcotics -- cocaine especially, but also homegrown marijuana and prescription drugs. Indeed, the Hells Angels bring to the drug trade what Wal-Mart brings to retailing -- economies of scale, better access to suppliers, a broad distribution network, an unbeatable brand -- and are funnelling more cocaine to the province's streets than ever before, police and drug-treatment experts say.

"When you arrest someone for drugs and ask who it's from, they say it's HA coke. Ninety per cent of the time it's HA coke," says a police officer in the Kitchener area, a Hells Angels stronghold. "I see more cocaine in our town."

The Globe and Mail has pieced together a picture of the network, a rare glimpse into the underground cocaine economy that thrives in Toronto and across the province, much of it under the control of the Hells Angels.

A Colombian drug trafficker named Reinaldo Trujillo supplied some of the cocaine that passed through the Bebops bar, according to court documents. But most of it came from the bikers' "Quebec connection," a steady stream of coke brought by car along Highway 401 from Montreal, where the Angels have long had a power base.

Times have changed. Five years ago, Ontario's outlaw bikers were scattered among a handful of gangs, such as the Satan's Choice, Outlaws and Para-Dice Riders, whose interests lay chiefly in motorcycle runs, small-scale drug trafficking and extortion. They jousted for position and occasionally clashed, but for the most part kept to themselves.

The ground began shifting in the late 1990s, when emissaries from the Quebec branch of the Hells Angels launched a methodical campaign to gather all of Ontario's bikers under the Angels' death's-head emblem. Heading up the membership drive was Hamilton-born Walter (Nurget) Stadnick, who was convicted in Montreal last month of drug trafficking, conspiracy to commit murder and gangsterism.

"The greatest myth the public has is that these individuals are motorcycle enthusiasts; they are not," says Detective Inspector Don Bell, head of the BEU. "This is sophisticated organized crime, people that you do not want in our community."

No single crime organization controls the cocaine trade, says RCMP Superintendent Ron Allen, who oversees drug enforcement in the Greater Toronto Area. "The different groups work the same way the police do; they integrate.

"But in the majority of major shipments of cocaine we find -- meaning loads of say, 20 kilos or 60 kilos -- when we peel back the layers we constantly find some level of involvement by the bikers. They have their hands in it at all levels: shipment, distribution, money collection."

That's in Southern and Central Ontario. Elsewhere in the province, there's less sharing. "In the north, the HA more or less control the market. It's red-and-white coke or no coke," says the BEU's Det. Insp. Bell, referring to the Hells Angels' colours.

That monopoly is reflected in the quality of the product. In Toronto, cocaine seizures commonly yield a drug that is 85-per-cent or even 90-per-cent pure. In Sudbury, Thunder Bay or Timmins, the purity can be as low as 25 per cent.

Data compiled by Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health paints a more disturbing picture. Cocaine abuse among Ontarians in Grades 7, 9 and 11 peaked in 1979, when 5.3 per cent admitted using the drug in the previous 12 months. Then came a steady decline, to a 1993 low of 1.5 per cent.

Detective Constable J. D. Lapell, a veteran drug officer with the Guelph detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police, says police across Southwestern Ontario are for the first time seeing an increase in the use of methamphetamine and powdered cocaine at high schools.

"And the information we're getting is that a lot of this goes back to the bikers, channelled through many sets of hands."

In 1997, the figure had edged up to 2.7 per cent -- roughly the same as with ecstasy use -- while the figure for marijuana was 25.9 per cent. By last year, among that same group, both ecstasy and marijuana use had increased slightly. But the rise in cocaine use was much more pronounced, almost double the 1997 figure, reaching 5.1 per cent.

Ed Adlaf, a research scientist at the centre, offers a twofold explanation for the recent jump. One is a diminished realization of the damage cocaine causes. The second, he says, is that there's far more cocaine on the street than there used to be. "More and more students are reporting easy availability, compared to the early 1990s."

George Siciliano, a Hells Angels "hangaround," made extensive use of his contacts with the gang to establish a drug network in Thunder Bay, court documents show. He bought cocaine and marijuana in British Columbia's Lower Mainland and shipped it east on cars, buses and airplanes. Distribution was through the Thunder Bay chapter of the Hells Angels and their associates.

In August of last year, police arrested Mr. Siciliano and seven other people in Northern Ontario and Vancouver. In January, he pleaded guilty to three drug-related charges in exchange for a 10-year prison sentence.

But the full scope of the Hells Angels' international ties, and the scale of their cocaine business in Ontario, came to light only in June of 2002, in the Kingston area, when police seized as astonishing 600 kg of cocaine.

On June 13 of that year, on the open ocean near the Grenadines and St. Vincent, RCMP agent Callen took delivery of the 600 kg of cocaine, compressed into book-sized bricks. The shipment had originated in Venezuela but was delivered by two well-dressed Colombians in a war canoe, guarded by a dozen men armed with Mac 10 and Uzi submachine guns.

Mr. Denault and a co-conspirator both told Mr. Callen the huge drug haul was destined for the Hells Angels, prosecutor Ron Sonley said before Mr. Denault was sentenced to a 15-year penitentiary term.

That really doesn't sound to me like the Hells angels are no longer a threat to public safety. Julian Sher's book The Road to Hell is the story of how the Hells have taken over the Canadian crime scene.



Steven Lindsay and Raymond Bonner from the Hells Agnels lost their criminal organization appeal in Ontario June 2009.

Police Issue Gang Warning

The police have issued a public gang warning that was featured on the front page of the Vancouver Sun, the Vancouver Province and the Surrey Leader. After the nit wit was shot in Surrey, the police are now publicly saying that anyone associated with the Duhre and Dhak gangs could be in danger. No kidding. They're selling drugs in the Hells Angels territory. I think the police do mean well, I just think they simply aren't getting it.

We've talked about legal liability and the police's duty to warn the public of known gang members like they would warn the public of a known sex offender. This "warning" doesn't fit the bill. I'll spell it out one more time but it's beginning to feel like banging my head against the wall.

Let's look back at the public rally in Bear Creek Park in memory of Chris Mohan and Ed Schellenberg where they released doves in memory of loved ones lost to gang violence. Eileen Mohan made a public appeal for a web site to identify known gang members. Every time we hear about another gang shooting we hear it's OK the suspect was known to the police. The point is, if they are known to the police they should be known to the public.

Had the police issued a public warning about the Red Scorpions before the Surrey Six murder, that really would not have saved Chris Mohan's life. They didn't know Red Scorpions were living next door. To fulfill the police's duty to warn they have to name members of the gangs.

Obviously everyone on Cheech and Chong's Duhre Dhak list isn't safe. Well who are the members of the Duhre Dhak's drug network? If they are known to the police, they should be known to the public. If I'm told that someone I'm living next door to, or do business with, or someone my daughter is dating is a member of the Duhre Dhak drug network, then I can take measures to prevent being victimized by gang violence. If I don't know who the members of these gangs are, the warning is pointless.

I do think the police are worried about getting sued by gang members. In the printed edition of the Vancouver Province article there was a disclaimer about the police's warning was permitted because of the privacy act. Personally, I think they should put the entire Bar Watch Registry online just like Bait Cars dot com. Unfortunately, that might create law suits. Yet naming an individual and saying he has been charged with drug trafficking is not unlawful nor is it slander.

Darryl Plecas said that although the warning may not be useful to the public, It really is a sign that police are on top of this. Yeah right. Well they sure aren't on top of it when someone says the Hells Angels are no longer a threat to public safety and don't even have chapter status in Kelowna any more. That is so far out of touch with reality it is suspect.

How about a public warning that anyone standing next to Larry Amero or Hal Porteous is in danger of getting caught in the crossfire? If the police claim that the Duhre Daiquiri's are in opposition to the Hells Angels, then it's pretty obvious the Hells Angels are the ones putting the public at risk by shooting at these tools in public.

I say tools because Khun-Khun is an idiot. His own family doesn't trust him for good reason. His fiance mysteriously fell out of the car he was driving and died. He claimed it was an accident and his in laws didn't believe him. So he jumps in front of a truck in a suicide attempt. He said his deceased fiancee let him live and that was a sign. A sign from who? A sign that he's an idiot for jumping in front of a truck. This guy is not a high level drug dealer. The only connection the Duhre Daiquiri's might have to the Kelowna shooting is that they are buying their drugs off of the UN who are a lot more capable than they are.

Dick Cheney Protest in Vancouver

Wow, I can't believe it. Dick Cheney is coming to Vancouver to speak during his book tour. Now I know I'm going to be ill. Dick Cheney is not just a war criminal and a war profiteer. He's a fraudster that embezzled trillions of tax dollars many of which ended up in his private company, Haliburton.

The Invasion of Iraq wasn't a mistake, it was a fraud. The Bush Administration said we know Saddam has weapons of mass destruction. Tony Blair was in on the con. Then the British weapons inspector in Iraq leaked out the fact that Iraq didn't have Weapons of Mass Destruction and that MI6 was knowingly assisting the fraud by giving the media false information in Operation Mass Appeal. MI6 was caught red handed and the whistle blower mysteriously died of a suspicious suicide. Again.

Set aside the fact that is was an illegal invasion and occupation of a foreign nation. Set aside the oil companies lust for Iraq's oil revenue. (Which they failed to pass any savings on to the pump) Let's look at the trillions of tax dollars wasted in that fraud and let's look at who directly profited from that fraud.

Dick Cheney was directly involved with Haliburton, a privatized military scam that made a fortune from Iraq. That's not just conflict of interest. That's not just murder and foreign invasion. That embezzling massive amounts of tax dollars which has significantly put the US's debt ration in crisis. Unbelievable how we can let this kind of atrocity in Vancouver. We ban Nazi war criminals, why not him?

The Georgia Straight is reporting that Dick Cheney is coming to the Vancouver Club at 915 West Hastings Street next Monday September 26 to promote his book In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir. The event gets underway at 6 p.m. Protesters will be present. It's a dark day for Canada when we can publicly endorse that serious of a fraud.

What Surrey Wants

Whalley exchange has sure come a long way. I remember when they first changed the name to Surrey Central. We all laughed and said you can change the name but you can't change Whalley. But they did. Surrey used to be the car theft capital of North America. Those stats have dropped dramatically. We all use steering wheel clubs now. We have volunteers patrolling Guildford and Surrey Place Mall and we have the Bait Car Program. All have contributed to a successful reduction in car theft in Surrey.

There's been some geographical transformations too. Whalley exchange isn't a dirty bus loop any more. It's a clean centralized transit hub of activity. The new SFU campus on site looks awesome. Especially at night. The new Holland Park is great. Not to be confused with the other Holland Park on 144st and 104th. I have no idea why they gave two different parks the same name.

Nevertheless, the new Holland Park is awesome. They've kept several old growth trees but cleared away a lot of the underbrush which greatly improved visibility. The lighting also helps reduce crime by making everything visible. The new library under construction looks fantastic. Soon we're told City Hall will even move in to
Surrey Central. Those are some pretty dramatic transformations. Likely the police will continue to be vigilant at arresting crack dealers there when City Hall moves in. It's all good for the community.

We've come too far to let Stephen Harper throw it all away. Remember Surrey is Chuck Cadman's stomping ground so it is. We wasn't a politician, he was an activist. He started a group called CRY - Crime Responsibility Youth after his son Jesse was stabbed because someone didn't like his hat. He felt that young offenders who commit violent crime like murder should be charged like adults. His activism successfully lobbied for that change in legislation.



He became the MP for Surrey North and ran for the Reform Party. When the Reform Party merged with the same Mulroney Neocons they broke away from, someone hijacked a party meeting and signed up a whole bunch of new members right before a candidacy vote and ousted Chuck as the party representative for Surrey North. So he ran as an independent and won. He put Surrey on the map when that seat held the balance of power in a teetering minority government. Harper's government trying to bribe him was just one of many dirty deeds done dirt cheap.

Surrey also had Joan Smallwood, Sue Hammell and Penny Priddy. Penny Priddy was one who said at Dianne Watts Crime Prevention press conference "I'm here because I'm a mother. When it comes to crime, I'm more right wing than my political opponents."

Surrey has a history. The slogan for Guildford Mall is Rich History, Bright Future. Surrey Central logo is The Future Lives Here. Indeed it does. We do have a rich history and a bright future. We really have come too far to let a fraudster like Stephen Harper take it way from us. Or worse yet, claim credit for something he hasn't done.

Years ago the Spice Girls wrote a pop song called What a Girl Wants. I don't know what a girl wants but I will tell you what Surrey wants. Surrey doesn't want a safe injection site. Surrey doesn't even like needle exchanges beside homeless shelters. When you put a needle exchange and stop exchanging needles and just hand out free needles beside a homeless shelter that homeless shelter become a drug house and our complacency has enabled it to become such. Letting crack dealers sell crack outside needle exchanges is wrong. Having a needle exchange beside and in the same building as the homeless shelter is wrong. We should keep the Front Room and move the needle exchange.

Ill tell ya what Surrey wants. Surrey doesn't want you to hand out free crack pipes at taxpayers expense. Surrey doesn't want you to let people sell or smoke crack in public. Ticketing someone for speeding, smoking or seizing your car after two drinks is disproportionate when you let crack dealers sell crack in public. What are you thinking?

Surrey doesn't want mandatory minimum sentences for pot. Surrey wants mandatory minimum sentences for violent crime like murder. Surrey wants mandatory minimum sentences for prolific offenders who steal regularly to pay for their crack or their meth addiction. Surrey wants mandatory minimum sentences for selling crack not pot.

It is clear that Harper lives in his own world. His ivory tower that is very far removed from the grass roots public that Chuck Cadman was so in tune with. It is clear that we need to address these issues provincially and municipally. City Hall funds the police and can set policing goals and priorities. So can the Province. Harper lives in his own world but we are the ones that have to defend our homes and our community. We can do that through City Hall and the Provincial government because Harper's Government refuses to listen. We can't quit now. We have come to far and we still have a bright future if we are willing to fight for it. If they can do it in New York, we can do it in Surrey.

Harper bungled the Crime bills

Harper totally screwed up the crime bills which is not surprising in the least. Interject I told ya so here. The Harper tyranny pats themselves on the back and claims: "Canadians want and deserve to feel safe in their homes and communities," said Justice Minister Rob Nicholson at a press conference Tuesday morning. "We are delivering on our promise to get tough on crime and stand up for victims and law-abiding Canadians."

That is a bold faced lie. As soon as they got their coveted majority, they cut funding for the RCMP and the Gang Task Force. Now they've introduced a long list of "crime bills" and not one word mentioned about crack or crystal meth. Instead we read that anyone caught growing five marijuana plants for the purpose of trafficking would face six months in jail Anyone caught growing more than 500 plants would face at least two years in jail Imposes a minimum one-year sentence for anyone caught trafficking marijuana, with a maximum penalty up to 14 years from the current seven.

The cost of this proposal is simply outrageous and will crash our fragile judicial system just like in California. We needed mandatory minimum sentences for selling crack, cocaine and crystal meth not for pot. The Harper government is inherently evil and completely inept. They are liars. They say they are tough on crime but they are not. White collar crime is rampant in Mr. Harper's caucus and he refuses to deal with the real plague that is crippling our communities: crack and crystal meth. Shame, shame, shame.



Eathon Baron from the Vancouver Province pointed out in today's paper that under the new bungled crime bills a Child rapist will get less time than pot grower. This isn't just stupid. This is outrageous. I could shrug it off and say well I don't smoke pot so it doesn't really affect me but it does. I pay taxes and I live in the community. Raising taxes to put nonviolent offenders in jail is not something I support.

Mandatory minimum sentences will do nothing to curb the Hells Angels profit from all the grow ops they run. All the risk will be passed on to the owner operator while the real gangsters get off Scott free. Mandatory minimum sentences for pot growers means we will not have the resources to address the real concern, that is crack and crystal meth. Nor will it allow us to address the chronic offender insanity where the more property crime a crack addict commits to pay for his addiction, the less time in jail he serves.

We need mandatory minimum sentences for violent crime like swarming or murder, for chronic offenders who commit an insane amount of property crime and for selling hard drugs like crack or meth. That is what we need. Instead Harper took us to the other extreme knowing that is not what the democratic majority of Canadian citizens want just because he can. Mulroney knew we didn't want the GST. Campbell knew we didn't want the HST. Harper knew we didn't want mandatory minimum sentences for pot. Yet they all proceeded unilaterally just because they could. They will go down in history as scoundrels.

John Cummins is much more honest and trustworthy than Stephen Harper ever will be. We need old school Conservatives like Ron Paul not Neo Con fraudsters like Stephen Harper. Harper, Campbell and Mulroney share their own hall of fame. Scoundrels Forever Forever Scoundrels.

Blog Traffic

Not that it matters, but I thought I'd make a simple observation. It took us two years of blogging to break 1 million hits. We just hit our second million in the last six months. That's not including the website. The point is simple. Crack is bad. Letting crack dealers sell crack in public is bad. Reporting a murderer or a crack dealer to the police is not being a rat. Selling crack and shooting a brother over greed is.