Members of the Comancheros and Hells Angels were believed to be involved in a clash at Sydney Airport on Sunday, March 22, 2009. The clash resulted in one man, Hells Angels associate Anthony Zervas, being beaten to death and police estimated as many as 15 men were involved in the violence. Police documents detail the brawl as a result of a Comanchero gang member and a Hells Angel being on the same flight from Melbourne. Four suspects were arrested as a result of the altercation. As a result of heightening violence, New South Wales Premier Nathan Rees announced the state police anti-gang squad would be boosted to 125 members from 50.
On the night of March 29, 2009, Hells Angels member Peter Zervas, the brother of the man killed during the Sydney Airport Brawl a week earlier, was shot and injured as he left his car outside his home.
Canada
An April 2009 CBC News article stated that the Hells Angels have 34 chapters operating in Canada with 460 full-fledged (patched) members. The Hells Angels have 15 chapters in Ontario, 8 in British Columbia, 5 in Quebec, 3 in Alberta, 2 in Saskatchewan and 1 in Manitoba. In a speech to the House of Commons, Bloc Québécois MP Réal Ménard (Hochelaga) stated that there were 38 HAMC chapters across Canada in the mid-1990s. The Vancouver Sun newspaper reports that Canada has more Hells Angels members per capita than any other country, including the U.S., where there are chapters in about 20 states.
The Hells Angels established their first Canadian chapters in the province of Quebec during the seventies. The Outlaws and several affiliated independent clubs were able to keep the Angels from assuming a dominant position in Ontario, Canada's most populous province, until the nineties, while the Grim Reapers of Alberta, Los Bravos in Manitoba, and several other independent clubs across the prairies formed a loose alliance that kept the Hells Angels from assuming dominance in the prairie provinces until the late nineties. By 1997, under the leadership of Walter "Nurget" Stadnick, the Hells Angels had become the dominant club not just in BC and Quebec, but all across Canada, with chapters in at least seven of ten provinces and two of the three territories.
British Columbia
Investigations
In late 2004 to 2005 the culmination of investigations into the actions of the motorcycle club led to charges against 18 people including members of the Hells Angels and other associates of the gang.
Background
In July 2003, a man offered to give police information. He became the police agent around whom much of the E-Pandora investigation ensued. Charges arose from project E-Pandora, an extensive police investigation, into the alleged criminal activities of the East End Charter of the Hells Angels (the "EEHA"). The evidence in this case included intercepted private communications including telephone and audio recordings, physical surveillance, and expert evidence. The case would eventually be dubbed the trial of R. v. Giles and see 3 charged individuals appear before the Supreme Court of British Columbia (SCBC). 72 appearances would span from May 14, 2007 until February 20, 2008 and, by order of Madam Justice Anne MacKenzie, include a publication ban on related trials.
Ruling
On March 27, 2008, the SCBC Justice MacKenzie ruled against prosecutors who had attempted to convict a Hells Angels member of possession for the benefit of a criminal organization. Although two associates of the Hells Angels, David Roger Revell, 43, and Richard Andrew Rempel, 24, were convicted of possession for the purpose of trafficking, Justice MacKenzie concluded that with the acquittal of the only Hells Angel member being tried, David Francis Giles, on a charge of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, a second charge against him (count two) of possessing it for the benefit of a criminal organization had to fail as well. In summary, Revell and Rempel were found guilty but Giles was found not guilty on either count. Also, Revell and Rempel were found not guilty on the charge of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
Ontario
In September 2006, after an 18 month investigation conducted by numerous law enforcement agencies and dubbed "Project Tandem," 500 officers and 21 tactical teams raided property connected to the Hells Angels chapters in Ontario. At least 27 members were arrested of which 15 were members of the Hells Angels. Property seized was worth more than 1 million dollars and included $470,000 in cash, $300,000 in vehicles and $140,000 in motorcycles. During the raids, drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy were seized; the total street value of drugs seized was more than 3 million dollars.
In April 2007, after another 18 month investigation, this one dubbed "Project Develop," 32 Club Houses were raided in Ontario, New Brunswick and British Columbia. The Hells Angels Clubhouse on 498 Eastern Avenue in Toronto was raided by the Biker Enforcement Unit of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and members of the Toronto Police Service on April 4, 2007, at least 15 members of the Hells Angels were detained and charged with drug and weapons offenses at the Eastern Avenue Clubhouse raid. According to police, Project Develop seized some 500 litres of GHB worth an estimated $996,000, nine kilograms of cocaine, two kilograms of hashish and oxycodone and Viagra pills. Police also seized $21,000 in cash. Project Develop also seized 67 rifles, five handguns, three pairs of brass knuckles and a police baton.
Manitoba
The Hells Angels' expansion into Manitoba began with a relationship with Los Bravos, a local motorcycle club. In 2000 Los Bravos were "patched over," becoming a full-fledged Hells Angels chapter. The following investigations over the last two years have been executed with the following charges.
On February 15, 2006 the Manitoba Integrated Organized Crime Task Force, along with over 150 police officers from the RCMP, Winnipeg Police Service and Brandon Police Service, made numerous arrests and conducted searches as part of the investigation of Project Defense. Thirteen people were indicted on a variety of charges, including drug trafficking, extortion, proceeds of crime, and organized crime related offenses. Only 3 were members of the Hells Angels.
Project Defense was initiated in November 2004 and focused on high level members of drug trafficking cells in the province of Manitoba, including members of the Manitoba Hells Angels. During the investigation police made numerous seizures that totaled in excess of seven kilograms of cocaine and three kilograms of methamphetamine from drug traffickers within the Manitoba Hells Angels organization and other drug trafficking cells. Arrest warrants were issued for thirteen individuals and 12 search warrants were authorized for locations in Winnipeg and area.
This long-term covert investigation was initiated by the Manitoba Integrated Organized Crime Task Force, which was established in the spring of 2004 when an Agreement was signed between the Winnipeg Police Service, the RCMP, the Brandon Police Service and the Province of Manitoba. The mandate of the task force was to disrupt and dismantle organized crime in the province of Manitoba.
On December 12, 2007 Project Drill came to an end, with Winnipeg Police raiding the Hells Angels clubhouse on Scotia Street. Project Drill started the previous evening with arrests in Thompson and continued throughout the night and early morning in Winnipeg and St. Pierre-Jolys. During the course of Project Drill, police seized vehicles, approximately $70,000 cash, firearms, marijuana, Hells Angel related documents/property and other offense related property. As of December 12, 14 people were in custody and four were still being sought.
Quebec
The Quebec Biker war between the Hells Angels and the Rock Machine that began in 1994 and continued until late 2002 claimed more than 150 lives, including some innocent bystanders.
The emergence of biker gangs in Quebec happened at the same time as they were emerging in the United States. Although instead of the gangs being created by World War II veterans, it began as a part of Quebec's social history because of the economic crisis of the 1920s many of Quebec's urban population began heading for the rural communities in order to cultivate lands to provide for themselves and their families. The settlers children , like many youth of this era wanted to rebel, resulting in the formation of motorcycle clubs which was seen as an expression of rebellion. By the 1960s there were about 150 motorcycle clubs in Quebec that mimicked almost all the same characteristics as the American biker clubs although they operated in rural communities instead of in major cities. The expansion of these groups really began flourishing during the 1970s as a few popular gangs notably the Hells Angels and the Outlaws grew almost 45 % due to Quebec's biker groups affiliated themselves with their America counterparts. The Quebec chapter of the Hells Angels at its prime included various clubhouses across Quebec which housed many of the gang’s puppet groups who would often carry out many of the gangs criminal activity. Every Quebec region had its own puppet club: Rowdy Crew Montreal, Evil Ones Drummondville, Satan’s Guard Saguenay, and Jokers St-Jean, which includes Maurice Boucher's son Francis Boucher as a full-fledged member.
Maurice (aka Mom) Boucher was the leader of the Quebec chapters and second-in-command of the Canadian Nomad chapter, a chapter with no fixed geographic base. In May 2002 Boucher received an automatic life sentence, with no possibility of parole for at least 25 years, after conviction two counts of first-degree murder for the killings of two Canadian prison guards, ambushed on their way home. On April 15, 2009, operation SharQc was conducted by the provincial police force Sûreté du Québec.
The first specialized organized crime law enforcement task force in the province was composed of the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) , the Sûreté du Québec and the Montréal Police.
Germany
The first German charter of the Hells Angels was founded in the 1970 in Hamburg and was active in the red-light districts of St. Pauli and Sternschanze.
In 1980, Hells Angels members murdered a nightclub manager on the island of Sylt. On August 11, 1983, 500 police officers stormed the clubhouse "Angels Place" in the red-light district Sternschanze and arrested the leaders of the Hells Angels of Hamburg. In 1986, thirteen members were sentenced between 6 months to 7 years in prison and the Hamburg charter and its symbols were banned. Despite the ban, today there is again a Hells Angels charter in Hamburg under the name of "Harbor City", because the association is not prohibited as such, but only wearing its symbols.
The other Hells Angels members and 250 of 497 members of the motorcycle club "Bones" in Hannover under its President Frank Hanebuth, who is a colorful character in the red-light scene of Hannover, took over the power in the Hamburg Kiez and controlled numerous brothels, including the „Laufhaus“ and the „Pascha“, on the Reeperbahn. Some women were forced into prostitution with brutal violence. At the height of its power in the summer of 2000, the monthly brothel sales amounted to €150.000 (DM300.000). After a leading member of the Hells Angels, Norbert "Butcher" S., 34, had beaten up a 42-year old woman, waitress, prostitute, cocaine addict and drug courier, who tried to burn herself to death, she pointed him to the police and disappeared. Meanwhile, Butcher fled to Brazil because the Hells Angels had set a bounty on him. German investigators tracked him to South America and persuaded him to give evidence. On November 1, 2000, 400 police officers moved to a major raid and arrested the new leadership of the association. In Germany, Sweden and Poland 17 suspects were arrested and more than 50 kilograms of narcotics were seized. The witnesses are now living under police protection because they fear for their lives.
Helmut "Miko" M., leading figure of the Karlsruhe Hells Angels, a 42-year-old brothel owner and notorious red-light figure in Karlsruhe, was shot dead in January 2004 in a coffee shop downtown in broad daylight. Previously, in December 2003, a bomb attack perpetrated on him failed due to an intermittent contact in the explosive device. Background of the crime were disputes over open money claims in the red-light district.
In March 2006, a group of Hells Angels raided a Bandidos clubhouse in Stuhr where they assaulted and robbed five Bandidos members. Three were given jail sentences and another eleven were handed down suspended sentences at the trial which took place in Hannover on December 16, 2008.
Later in 2008, Bandidos members attacked a Hells Angels member in Berlin[96] and shots were fired at an Hells Angels member in the city of Cottbus. In Kiel, it came to a mass brawl between members of the Hells Angels and alleged right-wing extremists. During the brutal conflict a Hells Angels member and tattooist from Neumünster was seriously injured with a knife.
On December 6, 2008, Rayk F., who is the front man of the Hells Angels "Nomads", lined with scars and a living fighting machine, was brutally beaten in the nightclub „Omega“ in Eberswalde. The perpetrators were members of the Chicanos, a support group of the Bandidos motorcycle gang.
In February 2009, the Hells Angels published a statement about the mass brawl in Kiel. The statement said, the rocker club distances itself from contacts to the right-wing scene. "The Hells Angels MC was, is and remains a non-politically motivated club" and "new members have to leave the right-wing scene", Frank Hanebuth, President and leading figure of the Hannover Hells Angels, said in the statement. The attempt to draw the club in the right-wing haze is a personal insult for every member, the Hells Angels indicate. "We have eight different nations in our club. One comes from Israel, one from Palestine, one even from Surinam. And we are xenophobic?", he asked.
On March 17, 2010, a Bonn Hells Angels member shot dead a 42-year-old police officer of the SEK (Spezialeinsatzkommando) during a house search. The district court of Koblenz issued arrest warrant for murder. Reports also say there are investigations against seven persons, including two Hells Angels members, because of clashes in the red-light districts of Westerwald.
Also in March 2010, a report claims that the Hells Angels are now selling beer, hard alcohol, cigarettes and clothing using 190 retailers and the German supermarket chain "Real." The brand is called "Original 81" meaning "Original Hells Angels." NDR-Online claims that the Hells Angels have successfully managed the way out of the shadow economy. After the report the supermarket chain "Real" claimed to be unaware and would take the brand off the shelves.
Since March 2010, a Hells Angels member is standing trial in Duisburg. The 31-year-old, Timur A., a ethnic Turk, is accused having murdered the 32-year-old Oberhausen Bandidos member and former hooligan "Ashley" in Hochfeld, Duisburg on October 8, 2009. The Bandidos member was shot dead in the red-light district of Duisburg. He was executed with a headshot. Police reports say the scene is very nervous because there are nine Hells Angels charters, four-teen Bandidos chapters, eight Gremium chapters and four Outlaws chapter in North Rhine-Westphalia. And the Hells Angels are expanding in Köln, Bielefeld and Siegen, where their rivals claim supremacy.
The Netherlands
The Hells Angels control much of the drug trade in the Netherlands, and are also involved in prostitution. The Dutch police have stated that the Hells Angels smuggle cocaine into the country through terrorist organizations and drug cartels in Curaçao and Colombia, and also deal in ecstasy and illegal firearms.
In October 2005, the Dutch police raided Hells Angels' clubhouses in Amsterdam, Haarlem, IJmuiden, Harlingen, Kampen and Rotterdam as well as a number of houses. Belgian police also raided two locations over the border. Police seized a grenade launcher, a flame thrower, hand grenades, 20 hand guns, a machine pistol and €70,000 (US$103 285) in cash. A number of Hells Angels members were later imprisoned on charges of international trafficking of cocaine and ecstasy, the production and distribution of marijuana, money laundering and murder, after an investigation that lasted over a year.
In 2006 two Dutch newspapers reported that the Amsterdam whorehouse Yab Yum had long been controlled by the Dutch Hells Angels, who had taken over after a campaign of threats and blackmailing.The city council of Amsterdam revoked the license of Yab Yum in December 2007. During a subsequent trial the city's attorney repeated these allegations and the brothel's attorney denied them. The brothel was closed in January 2008.
Scandinavia
A gang war over drugs and turf between the Hells Angels and the Bandidos, known as the "Great Nordic Biker War", raged from 1994 until 1997 and ran across Norway, Sweden, Denmark and even parts of Finland and Estonia. By the end of the war, machine guns, hand grenades, rocket launchers and car bombs had been used as weapons, resulting in 11 murders, 74 attempted murders, and 96 wounded members of the involved motorcycle clubs. This led to fierce response from law enforcement and legislators, primarily in Denmark. A law was passed that banned motorcycle clubs from owning or renting property for their club activities. The law has subsequently been repealed on constitutional grounds.
In 2007, a Hells Angels-associated gang named Altid Klar-81 ("Altid Klar" is Danish for "Always Ready" and 81 is synonymous with the letters HA) was formed in Denmark to combat immigrant street gangs in a feud over the lucrative illegal hash market. AK81 has been recruiting much quicker than the mainstream Hells Angels as members are not required to own a motorcycle or wear a patch, and racial tensions are running high in parts of Denmark.On August 14, 2008, Osman Nuri Dogan, a 19-year-old Turk, was shot and killed by an AK81 member in Tingbjerg.
Spain
Spanish police carried out a number of raids against the club on April 21, 2009, arresting 22 members in Barcelona, Valencia, Málaga, Madrid and Las Palmas. Two of them were members of the club's Italian chapters. The Hells Angels arrested were charged with drugs and weapons trafficking, and extortion. Law enforcement seized military-style weapons and ammunition, bulletproof vests, a kilo of cocaine, neo-Nazi literature and €200,000 in cash during the searches of 30 properties. One suspect also attempted to use a firearm against police officers as he was being arrested. It was part of an investigation into the club, known as Valkiria, which began in October 2007 and also led to eight arrests in December 2007. Prior to this, the only operation against the club in Spain took place in March 1996.
Turkey
On July 30, 2010, the European police agency Europol issued a warning on an increase of Hells Angels and Bandidos activities in Southeast Europe and Turkey.. The newly founded Hells Angels Turkey denied the warning's content, calling the relevant report "utter nonsense" and alleging Europol officials are after more European Union funds. On July 2nd, 2011, around 20 Hells Angels Turkey members in Kadıköy, Istanbul attacked people in a bar and injured 7 of them (2 severely) pleading that these people were drinking alcohol on the street and disturbing the neighbourhood. It had been earlier reported that Turkish defectors from Bandidos Germany chapter have joined the ranks of Hells Angels Turkey.
United Kingdom
In August 2007 a Hells Angels member, Gerry Tobin, was shot dead on the M40 motorway by members of a rival motorcycle gang, the Outlaws. Those responsible received life sentences in November 2008. Tobin was returning home to London, where he worked as a Harley service manager, from the Bulldog Bash.
In January 2008, there was a brawl between up to 30 Hells Angels and Outlaws at Birmingham International Airport. Police recovered various weapons including Knuckledusters, hammers and a meat cleaver. Seven Outlaw members and five Hells Angels faced trial as a result.
United States
California
One major event in Hells Angels' history involved the December 6, 1969, Altamont Free Concert at the Altamont Speedway – partially documented in the 1970 film Gimme Shelter – featuring Jefferson Airplane, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and The Rolling Stones. The Grateful Dead were also scheduled to perform but canceled at the last minute owing to the ensuing circumstances at the venue. The Angels had been hired by The Rolling Stones as crowd security for a fee which was said to include $500 worth of beer.The Angels parked their motorcycles in front of the stage in order to create a buffer between the stage and the tens of thousands of concertgoers.
Crowd management proved to be difficult, resulting in both spectator injury and death. Over the course of the day, the Hells Angels became increasingly agitated as the crowd turned more aggressive. At a later murder trial of Hells Angel Alan Passaro, a security guard testified he heard the Hells Angels being summoned over the loudspeakers when the helicopter bearing The Rolling Stones landed. Debate after the event was over whether or not the Hells Angels were to manage security for the entire concert or just for The Rolling Stones. Sam Cutler, the Stones' agent who had arranged to pay the Hells Angels said their role was as bodyguards to the Rolling Stones. This was denied by the Hells Angels as well as others connected to the event. During the opening act of Santana, the Hells Angels surged into the crowd numerous times to keep persons off stage.
A shoving match erupted near the stage during a rendition of the song "Under My Thumb". A man in the audience named Meredith Hunter produced a handgun. Hunter was stabbed to death. A Hells Angel member, Alan Passaro, was later acquitted of murder on grounds of self-defense. After the concert and critical media attention given to the HAMC, Sonny Barger went on a local California radio station to justify the actions of the Hells Angels and to present their side of the story. He claimed that violence only started once the crowd began vandalizing the Hells Angels' motorcycles. Barger would later claim that Meredith fired a shot which struck a Hells Angels member with what he described as "just a flesh wound.
In 2005, after a two year exhaustive cold-case renewal of the file, the Alameda County District Attorney's office permanently closed the case. An enhanced and slowed down version of the original film footage was produced for the police, and after examining it Alameda County Sheriff's Sgt. Scott Dudek said Passaro, who died in 1985, was the only person to stab Hunter and he did so only after Hunter pointed a handgun at the stage where the Stones were performing.
Nevada
The River Run Riot occurred on April 27, 2002, at the Harrah's Casino & Hotel in Laughlin, Nevada. Members of the Hells Angels and the Mongols motorcycle clubs fought each other on the casino floor. As a result, Mongol Anthony Barrera, 43, was stabbed to death, and two Hells Angels, Jeramie Bell, 27, and Robert Tumelty, 50, were shot to death. On February 23, 2007 Hells Angels members James Hannigan and Rodney Cox were sentenced to two years in prison. Cox and Hannigan were captured on videotape confronting Mongols members inside the casino. A Hells Angel member can be clearly seen on the casino security videotape performing a front kick on a Mongol biker member, causing the ensuing melee.
However, prior to this altercation, several incidents of harassment and provocation were noted in the Clark County, Nevada Grand Jury hearings as having been perpetrated upon The Hells Angels. Members of the Mongols accosted a vendor's table selling Hells Angels trademarked items, had surrounded a Hells Angel and demanded he remove club clothing. In addition, nine witnesses claimed the fight began when a Mongol kicked a member of the Hells Angels. Regardless of which minor physical incident can be said to have "caused the melee", it is clear that The Hells Angels had come to confront the Mongols concerning their actions.
New York
On January 28, 2007 a woman named Roberta Shalaby was found badly beaten on the sidewalk outside the Hells Angels' clubhouse at 77 East Third Street in the East Village, Manhattan. The resulting investigation by the NYPD has been criticized by the group for its intensity. The police were refused access to the Hells Angels clubhouse and responded by closing off the area, setting up sniper positions, and sending in an armored personnel carrier. After obtaining a warrant, the police searched the clubhouse and arrested one Hells Angel who was later released. The group claims to have no connection with the beating of Shalaby. Five security cameras cover the entrance to the New York chapter's East 3rd Street club house, but the NY HAMC maintains nobody knows how Shalaby was beaten nearly to death at their front door. A club lawyer said they intended to sue the city of New York for false arrest and possible civil rights violations.
Ohio
On February 27, 1988 David Hartlaub was murdered in his van at a bank parking lot near the Musicland record store that he managed, as he was dropping off the nightly deposit. The deposit bag contained about $4000 in cash and was not taken. Three members of Hells Angels motorcycle gang; Steven Wayne Yee, Mark Verdi, and John Ray Bonds were carrying out a hit. Cleveland Hells Angels were planning to retaliate against a Sandusky Outlaw gang member for the Joliet, IL. shooting of an Hells Angels member the previous year, at which Bonds had been present. The Outlaw member drove a van almost identical to Hartlaub's. The trio mistook Hartalub's van for their enemies and shot and killed him by mistake. Both the gun and the van's carpet were spattered with blood, allowing police to use DNA evidence, and discovered that John Ray Bonds was the shooter who had hid inside Hartlaub's van and was waiting to kill him. He shot him with a MAC-11 9-mm semi-automatic pistol fitted with a homemade silencer. Bond's DNA profile analyzed by the FBI matched the bloodstains found in Yee's car and based on this they were able to use it as key evidence.
Washington
In 2001 Hells Angels Rodney Lee Rollness (Former Hells Angel) and Joshua Binder murdered Michael "Santa" Walsh, who had allegedly falsely claimed to be a member of the Hells Angels. Paul Foster, hoping to join the Hells Angels, aided in the murder by luring Walsh to a party at his house and helping cover up the crime. West Coast leader Richard "Smilin' Rick" Fabel, along with Rollness and Binder, were also convicted of various racketeering offenses.
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