The 2012 Transit of Venus

On a lighter note, for all you astronomers out there, Venus is eclipsing the sun as we speak. For us in the Pacific Northwest it happens from 6:45 PM until sunset. Venus can be seen as a sunspot on the sun that gradually moves across it over a six hour period. Don't look directly at the sun. Sunglasses aren't good enough. You need a welder’s glass or punch a whole in a piece of cardboard and use that to project the image on a blank piece of paper. Yet for us in the Pacific Northwest, it's raining so we'll have to watch it online or on TV.

Body Parts delivered to two Vancovuer schools

A day after the suspect in a gruesome Montreal killing and dismemberment was arrested in Berlin, Vancouver police said a human hand and foot were delivered in separate packages to two area schools. Vancouver Police Deputy Chief Warren Lemcke told reporters Tuesday afternoon the first package containing what appeared to be a human hand was opened by a staff member at False Creek Elementary School shortly after 1 p.m. local time.

Another package containing what appeared to be a human foot was found by staff members at St. George's School later Tuesday afternoon. "There is no indication of identity (of the victim) at this time," Lemcke said at a news conference. Freaking wackos.

Turns out that the hand and foot sent to Vancouver schools were from the same victim of the whacko who sent other body parts to Ottawa.

Hells Angels targeted in Winnipeg, Germany and Australia

Police have made their 26th arrest in its Project Flatlined targeting the Winnipeg Hells Angels and their puppet club the Redline Support crew. Police said Jared James Irving, 26, was arrested and taken into custody for an outstanding warrant. He has been charged with participating in or contributing to a criminal organization. Police are still looking for 27-year-old Jesse Richard Thomas.

In Germany, police raided dozens of properties as part of a major investigation into the Hells Angels motorcycle club. The operation targeted 80 properties, including brothels and pubs.

In Australia, the multi-billion dollar Visy packaging company is allegedly using the Hells Angels to collect bad debts and act as "problem solvers". Senior police sources told the Herald Sun police intelligence files have recorded links between Visy and the notorious bikie gang, and detectives are monitoring the connection. What on earth are they riding? That’s a yellow sports bike with not only a full face helmet but a dirt bike helmet. Wow. Times have sure changed. Flower power.

Berlin bans Hells Angels, raid details leaked: Here's an interesting one someone sent in. Germany bans the Hells Angels for criminal activity. Before they implement the raid an informant warns the Hells Angels so they have to execute the raid earlier then they had originally planned. "Unfortunately we have to assume that people from our own ranks gave information to these criminals in return for money,” a police spokesman said, adding that the betrayal was shameful for the police force.

Toronto Mall shooting has possible gang ties - Update

Police have released the identity of the target murdered in the Toronto Mall shooting to be Ahmed Hassan. He was known to the police and had possible gang ties. January 22 2010 someone named Ahmed Hassan was charged with cocaine trafficking and possession of proceeds of crime in Fort McMurray, Alberta. Unlikely the one charged in Fort McMurray is the same one shot in Toronto but it will be interesting to hear what gang ties he had in this astonishingly reckless public murder.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Totonto police have announced over twitter that they have made an arrest in the shooting. Christopher Husbands turned himself in and appeared in court today to face one count of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder. "Our investigation continues to suggest that this is a targeted shooting and not a random act of violence against members of the general public," Borg told a press conference. "Even though there are several persons who have been identified in this case as being known gang members, or who have gang associations, I do not believe this to be a gang-motivated shooting. "Beyond saying that, I am not in a position to address aspects going to motive in this shooting."

Ahmed Hassan, 24, died of gunshot wounds and a 23-year-old male who police believe was with Hassan at the time of the attack remains in hospital in critical condition after being shot in the neck and chest. Borg said on Monday that the two victims and the suspected shooter had ties to the same street gang, but would not elaborate further. Well that's confusing. Just because they were members of the same gang doesn't mean it's not a gang related shooting. those guys betray each other on a daily basis. It's still related to the gang's drug trafficking.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CBC on the National has just reported that the shooter, Ahmed Hassan was under house arrest before the shooting and that one of his previous offenses included forcible confinement in Alberta which means it’s the same guy as the one in Fort McMurray. The National also went on to say that over 30 Somali youths tied to gangs and the drug trade have been murdered in Alberta. Gee I wonder who the prime suspects are in those murders?

Three cheers for simpatico news! Reporting on the Eaton Centre shooting in Toronto they pointed out the obvious. If the shooter and the target are both gang members then the shooting was gang related even if they were members of the same gang. Thanks you! Someone out there can finally do the math.

A Salute to the South Shore Freedom Riders

The South Shore Freedom Riders are a legitimate motorcycle club in Nova Scotia that doesn’t sell drugs. They are affiliated with real veterans not the fake drug dealing veteran on Vancouver Island who was kicked out. Nova Scotia has a proud history of military valor and service.

I’ve just received an anonymous tip that disturbs me greatly. Indeed I am greatly disturbed. Someone claims that the Darksiders have been threatening and bullying the Freedom Riders and as a result the Freedom Rriders have given up their club. That is unacceptable.

Their web site has been taken down. It appears they were also a Christain club. Christian bikers never hurt anyone. They are nonviolent, turn the other cheek types. That’s like beating up Gandhi or Mother Teresa. It is not cool. Darksiders suck. Literally. Just look at their logo. They suck the big boys and think that gives them the right to pick on a Christian club. It’s time for the Darsiders to be deemed a criminal organization and have their clubhouse seized. Pride cometh before the fall. Their clubhouse in Halifax is in the same building the Hells Angels had their clubhouse in before it was seized.

In New Brunswick a club called the Iron Order are getting the same BS from Bacchus over patches. The Iron order are very apposed to the 1% clubs and have strict rules of no criminals. Bacchus? They’re the patron saints of homosexuality. Just look what they did to Rusty and Ellen. That was an inside job. They were ripped off by their own people. They weren’t killed by a rival.

Reports are coming in about the Charlottetown Harley club also bullying other clubs around. Here we have three Hells Angel puppets bullying smaller clubs around because they are worthless. This is a picture I pulled off the cache from the Freedom Riders old web site:



They just want to ride and claim their right to religious freedom. Something we’ve fought wars for in the past. This is a song about Nova Scotia I noticed in their cache. It’s called Nova Scotia Nature's Music by Bob Quinn. Here are the lyrics. Nova Scotia is a lot like BC only more sincere. The salmon spawn in their rivers too and the eagles come to feed on the spawning salmon just like they do here. Upon eagles' wings. My mother was born in Amherst. I salute the South Shore Freedom Riders. To us from failing hands they throw the torch.

I’m not a very good Christian but I can see good and evil and I do believe in a higher power. Thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Like Martin Luther King of old, mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the lord. He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat. He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat. Oh be swift my soul to answer him be jubilant my feet. Our God in marching on. Word.

Three Canadians arrested in South Pacific cocaine seizure

Australian, New Caledonian and United States authorities have disrupted an international cocaine syndicate attempting to import an estimated 200 kilograms of cocaine into Australia from South America. New Caledonian authorities boarded the vessel on Saturday, 31 March 2012 and seized approximately 200kgs of cocaine and have charged three people with a range of offences.

The Vancouver Province is reporting the three arrested are Canadains from Keremeos - Gary Yuzik, Robert Stanley and his wife Cindy Stanley. This one breaks my heart. Gary Yuzik is the former owner of RE/MAX Keremeos Realty. A source told the Province Cindy Stanley was employed by Yuzik, and Yuzik "ran a profitable business into the ground" after buying RE/MAX Keremeos Realty from Penticton realtor Bill Barkhausen in 2007. Barkhausen said he has heard about the arrest of Yuzik and the Stanleys. "Gary did close the office and opened another real estate office in Okanagan Falls, which was also closed,"

Gary seems like a used car salesman. The part that breaks my heart is that Bob and Cindy seem like a really nice couple who have a really good relationship with their daughter. Money can't buy that. Now because they listened to a con mans scam they could be spending the rest of their life in prison. This is the reoccurring problem. All this hype about a huge drug bust and the real criminals just find another mule to take the fall while the real criminals remain untouched and unmoved.



Yet they are adults responsible for their own decisions. 200 kg is a lot of cocaine. That fills an awful lot of crack pipes and destroys an awful lot of lives. Why is it that BC is so involved in the Australian drug trade? We know the Hells Angels have set up shop and are taking over the drug trade there. Surely that has nothing to do with it.

Hope in Shadows

Two conflicting news reports about East Van in the news today. One was a step forward, the other was a step backward. Hope in Shadows represents a step forward. It’s a project where residents of the downtown east side participate in a competition to photograph glimpses of life in the community that are put on a calendar. Pivot legal is handing out free disposable cameras for local residents to participate.

It gives the residents something positive to do, it is a great fund raising tool and it helps raise awareness about the DTES. The other story was about yet another protest against a condo development in the DTES in a rat invested building which has been vacant for two decades.

I realize everyone wants more social housing. Maintaining the rat infested slum lord exploitation is not the answer. East Vancouver is a toilet that needs to change. It is what everyone knows to be the poorest neighborhood in the country. Along with that poverty is an outrageous amount of exploitation and abuse. Two things need to change.

People who are struggling to over come addictions need to get out of the East End. They need affordable housing somewhere else. If a building has been vacant for two decades and someone wants to develop it, feel free. The Woodwards building is a great example of a private and subsidized housing partnership.

Yes we need more social housing. We also need more development in the East End to help raise that community out of the gutter. Enabling that addiction and abuse for so long is wrong. People need Homes not Drugs.

4 million hits and still climbing

This blog, which has been up and running for three years, just broke 4 million hits. It took two years to break a million. Now it breaks a million hits in less than six months. I was surprised to hear at the Chris Mohan Memorial forum that Kim Bolan’s blog gets over 200,000 hits a month. My blog gets that. I thought Kim’s blog got way more traffic than mine did.

By far the majority of the traffic on this blog is from Canada. Over 13 to 1 which is unusual for the Internet since there is a larger number of people online in the States. Yet is understandable given the fact this blog covers Canadian gangs and crime.

Everyone talks about how we need a web site that identifies known gang members. Indeed we do. We do have to balance that with privacy rights and slander. A Kwantlin professor asked the panel at the Chris Mohan forum about ways to help discourage youth from glorifying gangs. She said she teaches a class on the subject and one of the books assigned had the opposite effect. It was written with the intent of discouraging gang involvement but in reality the youth started glorifying the gangs after reading it.

Kim Bolan shared some of her concerns and observations. Some people criticize her of glorifying the gangs yet she points out that she always reports on the dark side of the gangs. This person was shot. This person was betrayed. She shared a story about how she wrote about Bal Buttar after he was shot and became a paraplegic. She understandably thought that would discourage kids from getting involved. Then she found out how one kid posted the picture of Bal in his locker and said, he killed Bindy and lived, wow. That is about as absurd as you can get. Kids will be kids but clearly anyone with a brain can see through the gang violence and see a sad world of greed and betrayal.

That is my emphasis. The Hells Angels are the biggest players on our field right now. They are driven by greed and betrayal. People need to understand that so they don’t get involved unknowingly. There will always be aspiring traitors like Biff Hamel who will exploit every murder to climb the ladder and get their moment of fame. Yet the older ones can see through that insanity. The older ones are the ones that know what old school means. They are the ones that know what integrity means. You can't find that in a pill or buy it in a bottle. With proper education the older ones will step back and let the police deal with the younger ones to finally rid ourselves of this insane violence tied to the drug trade.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to this blog and web site by sending in tips and pictures. This blog is a group effort. It is a community response. It’s not a one man show. Freddy contributes by posting links and sharing insights. We live in the great Canadian mosaic. We all have different perspectives.

Many people contribute to the blog and ask to be anonymous for understandable reasons. We thank them and we applaud them. People ask me where I got that photo of the guys in prison at Stony Mountain and I can honestly say I don’t know. Someone sent it to me. That is how I protect my source.

We all have different opinions about different issues. No two people agree on every issue. Yet most us us agree the drug related violence that is plaguing our communities is getting out of hand and needs to be dealt with. This is our united stand against that violence.

Ottawa wins appeal to block RCMP union

I’m not a big fan of unions but I am a big fan of democracy. There are good and bad unions just like there are good and bad employers and politicians. Although a good politician is harder to find.

The RCMP is not unionized but most city police forces are. To me it’s not a big deal. If the employees want to form a union fine. If they don’t, so be it. Saying they are not allowed to form a union if they so choose is wrong. It is a violation of democracy and the freedom of association.

In the case of the RCMP a union might make it harder to fire bad cops. One could argue that point either way. However, one thing a union does do is help protect it’s members from sexual harassment in the workplace which is such a huge ongoing concern within RCMP management.

Carlo Verna and the Kelowna Hells Angels

Update: Two bodies found in Kelowna - one is of Marcello Verna.

Speaking of the Kelowna Summer Jam and how the Hells Angels like to betray their own for the almighty dollar, let’s take a look at Carlo Verna. Carlo is a member of the Kelowna Hells Angels. Or at least he was. People are starting to talk and since other Hells Angels are publically making fun of him and he seldom wears colours in public, people are starting to wonder if they’re going to pull a Mike Robatzek and kick him out now that they have sucked him dry.

Carlo became a full patch member of the East End Hells Angels along with Richard Goldammer, Hans Kurth, and Joseph Bruce Skreptak in 2005. Robert Thomas was at that time a prospect. This had police thinking they were planning on starting a Kelowna chapter. Carlo owned property in Kelowna along with various other East End members.

Carlo was also recorded on wire tap in David Giles’ trial with Revell and Remple who were convicted of cocaine trafficking. In the decision it states Carlo came by Giles' house and advised Giles that Revell’s car lot and gym had been searched by the police.

Carlo used to own Pier Marine pub and Splashes Night club in Kelowna. Now that things aren’t going too well for him financially it looks like the club is ready to cast him aside like an old shoe. The Kelowna Marine Pub burned down October 2007. Arson is suspected.

We’ve heard a lot of stories about people with money getting fast tracked into the Hells Angels. Now we are starting to hear a lot of stories of people with money who were fast tracked into the club getting tossed aside when their money runs out. Buyer Beware.