State authorities have banned the Hell's Angels motorbike gangs in Frankfurt, on the grounds that they were engaged in criminal activity. Boris Rhein, interior minister for the state of Hesse, accused the gangs of running drug and prosecution rackets through which they had seized control of the streets. "This is a clear signal that we won't allow a state within the state," said Rhein, adding that the gangs were disciplined by a vow of silence. All assets of the outlawed Westend and Frankfurt chapters of the Hell's Angels were seized under the ban. Each chapter is believed that have around 90 members. Two other Hell's Angels groups were banned in other parts of Germany in June and last year, although gangs in the rest of Germany remain legal.
Police towed away this Hells Angels motorcycle from a clubhouse Wednesday after a raid also found drugs, weapons and Hells Angels paraphernalia. Ottawa police
Despite intense security for a national meeting of Mexico's state prosecutors and tough talk from top cops, criminals dumped more bodies in Veracruz three days after gunmen left 35 corpses on a major avenue during rush hour. An official said Friday that police found 11 bodies around town Thursday, even as this Gulf of Mexico port city ramped up security for the prosecutors meeting by deploying hundreds of soldiers, sailors and police on the streets. It was unclear who left the most recent group of bodies. Officials believe the New Generation gang was behind the dumping of 35 bodies Tuesday on a busy street just a half-mile (kilometer) from the convention hall as a grim message to the Zetas drug cartel, which dominates the region. Authorities had established a security perimeter around the metropolitan area, with soldiers in trucks stopping people in town they considered suspicious. The prosecutors meeting was Thursday and Friday. Residents in Veracruz said this week's horrors had only deepened the fear scaring visitors away from the tourist destination and keeping some residents at home at night. In August, panicked parents rushed to fetch their children from Veracruz schools after a couple posted Twitter messages warning of nonexistent drug cartel attacks on banks and schools.
Langley gangster linked to both the Red Scorpion gang and the Independent Soldiers was sentenced to 14 months in jail this week on two firearms counts. Tyler Willock, 30, was also hit with a mandatory 10-year firearms prohibition after pleading guilty to occupying a vehicle with a firearm in it and careless use of a firearm. He appeared in Surrey Provincial Court to be sentenced Thursday morning. The charges were laid after a Gang Task Force investigation in the summer of 2008 during which Willock was stopped in a vehicle in Langley . Several months later in February 2009, Willock was shot at while in a vehicle with friends in Surrey, resulting in charges being laid against rival gangsters in the United Nations gang. That case is yet to go to court and Willock was not injured. And then on March 8, 2009, Willock's Red Scorpion associate Albert Jackman viciously attacked Willock with a sledge hammer, striking him more than 20 times. Jackman was livid over comments Willock made about their associate Kevin LeClair who was shot to death a few weeks earlier. Jackman had been told Willock said that he wouldn't have to repay LeClair $40,000 he owed him. Willock didn't testify at Jackman's trial or provide a victim impact statement. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Robert Crawford said in his decision that he could only imagine the impact of the attack on Willock's life from the photos the Crown entered at trial. Willock suffered broken bones and other injures and has not fully recovered. Crawford heard how Jackman arrived at Willock's house with an associate and ordered Willock to the floor of his bedroom. Jackman then tied him up using zap straps and duct-taped his mouth and eyes. He then struck Willock more than 20 times with the sledgehammer. "Willock was literally smashed to pieces," Crawford said in his decision. Willock's bedroom walls and ceiling were splattered with blood. In July, Jackman was sentenced to 10 years for the attack on Willock. Jackman, 25, is also serving a life sentence for first-degree murder in a stabbing death that took place 20 days later in March 2009.
Gangster who bragged that he “ran Tottenham” after opening fire on his rivals with a machine gun in the street has had his appeal against conviction turned down by top judges. Former decorator Yusuf Arslan, now 21, was put behind bars indefinitely for public protection at Kingston Crown Court last September. Arslan belonged to the “Tottenham Boys” gang, which had a long-running feud with a rival Hackney gang, said Mr Justice Wilkie, sitting at London’s Appeal Court. He had opened fire with the sub-machine gun in Lansdowne Road, Tottenham, on September 30, 2009, in revenge for the shooting of a friend who ran a nearby shop. He had blocked his victim’s car in before letting off a volley of shots. A fragment of shell hit one of his targets’ left arm, but the majority of the shots hit their car’s body and windscreen. Arslan, of Oxford Close, Edmonton, was also prosecuted over an incident in December that year in which he and others were stopped in a car wearing body armour and carrying a revolver. One police officer said he heard Arslan brag he “ran Tottenham” and had access to more guns than the police. He was convicted of attempted murder, possessing guns and ammunition and was ordered to serve a minimum 10 years before being considered for parole. His lawyers challenged the convictions on Friday, claiming the identification evidence against him was flawed. But Mr Justice Wilkie, sitting with Lord Justice Pitchford and Mr Justice Holroyde, said the “sure identification” had been made by one of the men Arslan shot at. “This appeal against conviction is unarguable,” he concluded.
explosives have been uncovered at the home of a Comancheros bikie after police raided two properties in their hunt for a gunman. The raids come after up to five rounds were peppered bullets into a Darch house - where Comancheros bikies live - on Wednesday. Gang Crime Squad detectives today descended on a house in Tangmire Way, Balga where they allegedly discovered 1kg of powergel, an explosive commonly used in the mining industry. Senior police said intelligence suggested the powergel could have had the potential to cause significant damage or even death. ``It's approximately 1kg in weight and could cause extreme damage or loss of life if it was primed and detonated,'' Detective Superintendent Charlie Carver said. A police raid of a gym in Wellman St, Northbridge - which has become the Comacheros' headquarters - allegedly unearthed steroids, including four viles of testosterone and 17 viles of growth hormones. Related Coverage Darch: Bikie war: House, car sprayed with bullets Explosives seized in Bikie raid Bikie war: House, car sprayed with bullets Perth Now, 1 day ago Man faces drug charges after bikie raid Perth Now, 18 Aug 2011 Bikies 'accessing secret police files' Perth Now, 18 Jul 2011 Hells Angel arrested in steroid raids Perth Now, 14 Jul 2011 Bikie 'threatened to shoot victim' Adelaide Now, 8 Jul 2011 No one was at the clubhouse at the time of the raid and police inquiries are continuing into the steroid seizure. Det-Supt Carver said today's action was a direct response to this week's shooting in Darch, but stressed police did not believe the Comancheros were involved in cross-club rivalry. On Wednesday, up to five shots were fired into a house and car in Matlock Heights, Darch, around midnight - fuelling bikie hostilities. The front door and a front window of the house were damaged in a hail of bullets, along with a white car parked in the driveway. Two men and a woman, who police say have links to the Comancheros, were inside the house at the time but were not injured. ``We know that bikies by nature are fighting for drugs, supremacy, territory and monies,'' Det-Supt Carver said. ``They are a fledgling club and they are trying to establish themselves and obviously that causes conflict.'' A 27-year-old Balga man, a Comancheros nominee, has been charged with possessing explosives. No one has been charged over the Darch shooting. The Comancheros, a notorious gang in New South Wales, have been attempting to gain a foothold in WA for 18 months. The gang is renowned for violence, including the brawl at Sydney airport last year which left a Hells Angels associate dead, and the infamous Milperra massacre in 1984 in which seven people were killed. But Det-Supt Carver said police were winning the war on bikies in WA, saying there were nine gangs in WA in 2007 and now there were just six. He said police had all but decimated the Rock Machine and had temporarily dismantled the Finks with five members jailed over the Kwinana Motoplex brawl in October. Comancheros from Sydney and Melbourne have moved to WA to help recruit locals to the gang, he said. In February, police uncovered more than 50 sticks of powergel and detonators during a raid of the Rock Machine's Myaree headquarters.
TRADITIONALLY most police don't like working on bikies and for good reason. The gang leaders are usually cunning, ruthless and a little whiffy in the armpit department. The Special Operations Group, on the other hand, always enjoy a good bikie raid as it gives them a chance to use their extremely impressive armoury of boys' toys. Bikies love to fortify their clubhouses with large gates, reinforced doors and state-of-art electronic security. Police have even seen some of them wearing infra-red night goggles while patrolling their compounds. Advertisement: Story continues below Bikies usually need such security to protect themselves from other gangs, but this creates problems when police wish to make unannounced visits. Enter the SOG (both figuratively and literally) with the answer. Once it was as easy as attaching a heavy chain to the gates and gunning the four-wheel-drive. Then they needed an industrial-strength bobcat. Now they think laterally to gain access. Such as when one gang barricaded the doors, the boys-in-black used a small amount of plastic explosives to blow a big new entrance in the side brick wall. And they didn't even charge for the ad-hoc renovation. Once an outlaw motorcycle gang leader spotted a former SOG member in a rare off-duty moment at an inner-suburban pub. The bikie suggested the policeman was not so tough now that he worked in the divisions and no longer had access to his black bag of tricks. He then suggested they continue discussions outside. The result was the bikie woke to find his jacket displaying the club colours had been replaced by a plain hospital gown. And the next man he saw wearing a mask was not a gang brother with a knife coming to his rescue but an orthopaedic surgeon with a hacksaw planning to reset several shattered bones. So what's the big deal with bikies? (And before every ''bad dude'' with a pair of leather pants and a 100cc step-through scooter splutters on his multi-grain cereal, we are talking about outlaw motorcycle gangs.) In Victoria, there are only 700 or so patched members in 24 gangs split into 56 chapters. On pure numbers they would lose a war with Rotary - particularly if the Rotarians were armed with that blue cheese they serve at monthly meetings. The Hells Angels was the first of the major groups to gain a foothold in Australia when a small chapter with 11 members was formed in Melbourne in the early 1970s. By 1977, according to a secret police report, they ''came under attention of the police for possession of amphetamine''. Soon foundation member Peter John Hill travelled to California, where he visited a prison to see a senior Angel who told him how to make speed. For three years, police say, the Melbourne chapter became the biggest amphetamine producers in Australia. From that point, a litany of key bikies have been identified as connected to organised crime and linked to murders, witness intimidation, blackmail, drug manufacture, industrial standover work and firearms trafficking. Then something strange happened. Police, for whatever reason, stopped monitoring the gangs. In recent years bikies have had a disproportionate influence in the underworld and have been able to flout the law with apparent immunity. On club runs they appear to have little regard for road rules and, more disturbingly, the police have done stuff-all to stop them. When your corespondent attended a major bikie funeral a few years back, there was not a policeman to be seen. When the service ended, 400 bikies roared off in procession, with few wearing helmets, giving the impression they were untouchable (and unwashable). Bikie crimes are rarely reported because either the victims are (a) rival gang members who won't talk to police, or (b) members of the public too frightened to make statements. So, without a dedicated outlaw motorcycle gang squad, no one really knew what they were doing. It was an old police trick. If you don't look you don't find the problem, and if you don't find the problem you don't have to respond with expensive investigations. That was until six months ago, when the Echo bikie taskforce was formed. Now the landscape has changed markedly. Police now openly admit that bikies are a potential menace that require active and aggressive investigation. Detective Superintendent Doug Fryer points out that this does not mean harassment, nor does it mean police think most members of bikie groups are up to their hairy armpits in organised crime. (Actually that's not quite right. Many bikies have gone all metrosexual and wax up, so these days they have designer stubble to match their designer drugs.) ''They need to know they will be treated the same as any other group and they must comply with the law,'' Fryer says. Recently the Black Uhlans gang told police they would not be wearing helmets during a major ride following a Geelong funeral. Police gently but firmly pointed out this would be a breach of the traffic code. To back the point, 200 police were assigned for the ride. The bikies wore helmets. ''We now have the numbers to make sure laws will be enforced,'' Fryer says. And these are not empty words. Echo has conducted 50 raids and seized stun guns, rifles, handguns, ballistic vests, stolen bikes, drugs and counter-surveillance gear. And the SOG was able to blast through a triple brick side wall at one club house, which they enjoyed immensely. According to the Echo Taskforce chief, Acting Inspector Chris Murray, the first step is to react quickly to crime ''spot fires'' while developing an intelligence base to target those involved in organised crime. ''We need to actively monitor what is going on so we can investigate serious crime and defuse potential gang wars when there is a build-up in inter-gang rivalry,'' he says. It also, he says, requires a change of attitude within policing to stress that bikies should be treated like anyone else. ''This is not us versus them. So far our approach has been accepted without animosity.'' Not that Echo and the Hells Angels are likely to have a friendly game of croquet any time soon. ''If any of our members are intimidated or threatened there will be consequences,'' he says, adding quickly, ''Within the law.'' This is a welcome change. Not so long ago a detective who worked on a bikies investigation learned a gang member drove his Harley-Davidson to visit the detective's neighbour at his semi-rural property. He asked for the policeman by his first name, to be told he lived next door. No threat was left but the message was clear: ''We know where you live.'' The new approach is already filtering from Echo to rank-and-file police. Just a few weeks ago a group of Comancheros decided they could ride up an emergency lane without consequences. They were pulled over - by a lone uniformed policeman, who was soon backed by Echo investigators. ''We are training all our members, from recruits up, so they can have confidence in dealing with members of outlaw motorcycle gangs because we are here to support them,'' Fryer says. Asset forfeiture laws will also be used. Unemployed bikies with flash cars and investment properties will soon be asked some stern questions. And if illicit funds have been used to build gang clubhouses, they may be seized. The traditional defence of bikies is to launch a PR campaign to suggest they are rough diamonds who have been badly misjudged. While it is true some bikies collect soft toys for sick kids and are kind to small animals, that hardly outweighs removing a rival's big toe with bolt cutters. After all, Judy Moran could make a mean macaroni cheese but that won't get you to heaven if you kill your brother-in-law. According to Assistant Commissioner Graham Ashton, ''Charity bike runs for example are used to create the impression in the community that they are misunderstood motorbike enthusiasts. At the rate Taskforce Echo is currently seizing guns and drugs from these gangs, they are anything but.'' The bikie groups want to present a united front to fight proposed anti-gang laws they claim are biased against them. International corporations know it is vitally important to pick the right ''face'' to promote your image. Nespresso Coffee has George Clooney; Louis Vuitton, Sean Connery; and TAG Heuer, Brad Pitt. The bikies are about to settle on a fellow called Mick MacPherson as their likely spokesman. This is certainly an interesting choice since he has been described as a Finks enforcer who has been questioned over a cocaine importation and, just recently, had the misfortune to be shot in the guts.
Sky News can reveal how rioting gang members have stored away firearms ready for further disorder after the unrest in England last month. Our exclusive investigation allowed Metropolitan Police detectives to seize a stash of five guns. The weapons were bundled up in a bin store in Brockley, southeast London. Sky sources said they were concealed by gangs in anticipation of further clashes with officers. The information came to us from an anonymous individual who felt they could not deal directly with the police. :: Join Tom Parmenter for a Webchat at 12pm But the person did have genuine concerns about what might happen if the gangs were given another opportunity to use the weapons. Once we were told of the existence of this haul, we alerted detectives at the Metropolitan Police. Their priority, and our own, was to recover the firearms as quickly as possible in case they were either moved or even used in a shooting. SHELDON THOMAS, DIRECTOR OF TARGET AGAINST GANGS The location of the stash was revealed in a text sent to Sky on September 2. We do not know who sent it. It read: "Guns in yellow and orange jd bag at st peters court wickham road brockley london se4, open the bin area at entrance, on left hand side, this is a black metal door, you will find in bin the guns within the bag, describe, the bin area has st peters court written above in big writing on sign, remember left hand side bin, st peters court are a small block of flats." Within moments of the text messages arriving, we got back in touch with the Met Police detectives, who had a team of officers on standby to conduct the search. Communication with the police can take many forms and on this occasion Sky News happened to be the facilitator for the information to reach us. Detective Chief Inspector Theresa Breen, Met Police Within an hour and a half, more than 30 officers were swarming around the flats in Brockley. They had soon dragged the bin from behind the black door specified in the message. Moments later an officer found the orange and yellow bag. Forensics officers were then brought in to record the find. Armed police officers were the next to arrive. They had the experience and expertise to examine the guns and make them safe. Police discovered the guns in a bin The guns were wrapped in three plastic bags. The green inner bag contained five weapons which were carefully removed. Among them were two flare guns, two old pistols and one revolver. Detective Chief Inspector Theresa Breen told Sky News: "This is a hugely successful operation not just for the Metropolitan Police but for the community at large. "A member of the community has felt confident enough to use Sky News to come to us with information that there were weapons somewhere within this area. "I think that shows the community still has confidence in the police."
