Two weekend firebombings are being linked to a turf war between outlaw motorcycle gangs in Winnipeg, police say.

In separate incidents, a St. Vital automotive repair shop was firebombed early Sunday along with a West Kildonan home later the same day. Police are linking the two events and attributing them to an ongoing battle between rival gangs: the Rock Machine and Hells Angels.

"The incidents on St. Mary's Road and on Royal Avenue are connected and are part of the current conflict between rival groups," a police spokesman said.

Svenn Tergesen, the owner of DC Automotive on St. Mary's Road, told CBC News that although he knows members of both bike gangs, he denies any involvement in the biker lifestyle and says he is an innocent victim.

It was just after midnight Sunday morning when someone broke the window of his business and apparently tossed an incendiary device inside the shop and automotive bays.

Later on Sunday, a residence on Royal Avenue in West Kildonan also was targeted.

Neighbours say men dressed in black wearing balaclavas threw something inside a kitchen window. Fire crews arrived shortly afterward and put out a small blaze.

Last week, Winnipeg Police Chief Keith McCaskill said he is concerned about the outbreak of a gang war that is being blamed for recent shootings in which two people were wounded.

In late June, a flare was shot through the window of an Elmwood home injuring one person and a Windsor Park home was struck by bullets. And on June 29, a St. Vital home was firebombed and shot at and on July 4, a 14-year-old boy was an innocent victim when shots were fired at a Taft Crescent townhouse.

Hells Angel bikie Samir Jouayde, 30, will be in Silverwater Jail instead of exchanging vows with Susie Arida, the mother of his child, Burwood Local Court was told yesterday.

Ms Arida cried when her husband-to-be was refused bail, with a friend telling her: "Try and be strong".

With friends and relatives at her side, she hid her eyes behind black sunglasses as she left the courthouse.

Her fiance, president of the Hells Angels Parramatta chapter, is accused of trying to extort $120,000 from Terry Mullens, owner of a luxury car dealership at Burwood in Sydney's inner west.

Jouayde, who had his name changed from Moustafa to Samir but is known as Mush, said the money was payment for organising the return of four vehicles stolen from Quality Motors on July 7.



On that day, Mr Mullens was forced to hand over the keys to the cars after being threatened that "all hell would break loose" if he refused, police said.

Gangs Squad detectives allege six men - three wearing Hells Angels jumpers - took a $70,000 black BMW, an $85,000 black Range Rover, a $415,000 silver BMW, and a $60,000 grey Porsche. Mr Mullens was also accused by the men of using the Hells Angels logo without authority, police said.

Jouayde was arrested along with four other men on Monday, after he allegedly told Mr Mullens that he wanted a car instead of $120,000.

Jouayde yesterday pleaded with the court to be granted bail so he could be married at the $32,000 wedding at the Grand Westella Reception Centre in Lidcombe in Sydney's west.

His solicitor Grant Thomas told the court a magician, hip-hop artist, and Lebanese band were booked to perform for 250 guests. The bride and other members of the wedding party had their outfits paid for and a $6000 deposit placed with the reception centre.

It would be a "complete and utter disaster if conditional bail was not granted", Mr Thomas told the court.

As proof, a wedding invitation was handed to Magistrate Christopher Longley, who then refused bail because of the seriousness of the allegations.

Mr Longley also said Jouayde was already on bail for other charges.

Two hours later, Mr Thomas reappeared to ask Mr Longley for the application to be reheard on Friday in a bid to get Jouyade to the wedding.

"I am now responsible for the devastation that has befallen the wedding party," Mr Thomas told the court.

He said he could increase the original offer of $20,000 surety to include a house at Granville in Sydney's southwest, which held at least $200,000 in equity.

Mr Longley said surety was not the issue and it would not have mattered if he had offered "$1 or $1 million".

He did agree to re-list the matter.

Jouyade's Hells Angels' associates Selim Kocak, Jeffrey Sayhoun, Ray Younan Jr and Suat Sarmisakliglu were all granted bail.

Svenn Tergesen, owner of DC Automotive for 17 years, says he's been inaccurately linked with the Hells Angels.

"I'm being crucified as being a biker, which I've never been (in) my entire life," Tergesen, 53, said Monday. He called the suggestion he's a biker "ridiculous."

"I'm the one that's getting the bad name. I'm the one that's getting my business destroyed that I've worked my entire life for, for something that I'm not part of," he said. "I've never owned a Harley-Davidson, don't want to."

A Winnipeg Police Service spokeswoman said Monday there have been no arrests made in connection with the blaze, which broke out just after midnight Sunday. Witnesses parked at a convenience store across the street from DC Automotive said two men wearing bandanas ran by with "fireballs" in their hands. One man threw a Molotov cocktail though the dealership's office windows, while the other threw one at a door, and it bounced off.

The arson strike force and organized crime unit are also investigating a fire that happened Sunday at about 4:20 p.m. at a home the city's West Kildonan neighbourhood. A police source told the Free Press the home is linked to a member of the Redlined Support Crew, who are affiliates of the Hells Angels.

The two attacks are the latest in a string of crimes including shootings and fire-bombings that police say are part of an ongoing turf war between the Hells Angels and Rock Machine gangs.

The president of the Rock Machine had his home shot up last month, as did another full-patch member of the gang. A Redlined member had a flare shot through his window and a Logan Avenue business that employs several Hells associates was firebombed.

In the most serious incident to date, a 14-year-old boy was wounded by gunfire last week when a townhouse was sprayed with gunfire. Police said the boy, who may have been an innocent bystander, is lucky to be alive. There were nine people inside the residence at the time, including a baby. Sources said the home was targeted as part of the ongoing gang hostilities.

Tergesen's business made headlines in January 2010 when a member of the Rock Machine was beaten at the dealership, allegedly by members of the Redlined Support Crew. Tergesen said police tried to speak with him about that incident, but he refused.

"It's something I don't want to talk about because I value my life," he said Monday. The victim of the attack suffered extensive injuries but has also refused to co-operate with police.

Tergesen said police haven't told him who's responsible for the fire this weekend, but he turned over camera footage to police in hopes it could crack the case. He estimated the fire caused about $200,000 damage to his business and he believes it's connected to a gang.

"(The police) said 'You can probably figure out who did this,' " he said.

THERE is significant forensic evidence in a case against a group of bikies allegedly involved in a wild brawl in an Adelaide nightclub, a court has heard.

Police have arrested 19 members or associates of the Hells Angels and Finks bikie gangs, charging them with aggravated riot in relation to the incident in May.

Among those charged over the incident was Finks member Nicholas John Forbes, 41, who was arrested on the Gold Coast last month and extradited to Adelaide.

Police alleged he was part of the gang's ''terror team'', a group of bikies who were overtly violent.

Some of the bikies appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court today when prosecutors said the case was complex and involved the processing of a large amount of forensic material, including fingerprint evidence.

Police previously alleged the rival gangs attacked each other with bar stools and bottles during the brawl, which forced other patrons of the nightclub to flee for their safety.

It was captured by security cameras, with police using the footage to make arrests.

Magistrate Alf Grasso today adjourned the case to October 4, when the prosecution will be required to provide declarations.

The defendants will be asked to answer the charges on a later date.

The president of the Downtown Toronto chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, John Neal, 61, and member Lorne Campbell, 62, were sentenced Thursday to six years in prison for drug trafficking related charges.

But they are free, having served their time in pre-trial custody.

Club members Douglas Myles, 54, and Mehrdad Bahman, 48, convicted of drug charges, and Larry Pooler, 61, guilty of possession of a restricted firearm, are yet to be sentenced by Ontario Superior Court Justice Maureen Forestell.

Last month a jury found the bikers guilty of those charges but not guilty of belonging to a criminal organization.

Former gang member who testified against his fellow gang members gets no sympathy from the court
The Supreme Court today upheld a 12-year prison sentence handed down by the Eastern High Court to a former gang member who is due to testify against 16 of his former brothers-in-arms.

The 25-year-old, known as MFP, was convicted by a district court for attempted murder and assault. The decision was later upheld by the Eastern High Court.

The Supreme Court had to decide whether MFP would qualify for a reduced sentence in exchange for co-operating with the police to provide testimony against members of biker gangs AK81 and Hells Angels.

MFP, a defected member of Hells Angels affiliate AK81, has confessed to five counts of attempted murder and two counts of assault.

Lawyers for the 16 gang members facing trial have stated that they will seek to undermine the credibility of the witness as well as the police’s arguments for convincing him to speak about his former friends.

The assault case against a member of the local Hell’s Angels motorcycle club is built on flimsy evidence, unreliable informants, and broad yet shaky claims of criminal racketeering activity by the organization, a defense lawyer argued today.

At a detention hearing for Robert “Bugsy” Moran Jr., attorney Scott Green maintained that the government has spent years apparently trying to build a criminal case against club members and came away with nothing but a five-year-old assault that prosecutors charged last week before the statute of limitations expired.

Moran, 59, is accused of using a baseball bat to assault a drunken man at a Lyell Avenue bar in May 2006. Prosecutors also last week charged four others with either helping set up or covering up the beating of the man, who supposedly made a disparaging comment about the club.

Authorities allege that the beating was part of a racketeering enterprise, carried out to strengthen the individuals’ standing with the Hell’s Angels.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett Harvey urged U.S. Magistrate Judge Marian Payson to keep Moran jailed pending trial. Federal probation officers recommended that Moran, who only has a minor criminal record, be released on electronic monitoring.

Payson today did not rule on Moran's detention, asking Green to provide more information about the property of a Moran friend that might be used to post bond. Payson also asked Green to determine whether Moran could maintain a job other than his current employment as a commercial driver, which does not have set hours.

Harvey has claimed that Moran is too violent to release, but Green pointed out that police have no claims of violent crimes by Moran since the alleged assault. Since police suspected Moran of the assault in 2006, “one must wonder why don’t you take this kind of person off the street,” Green said.

“The case that they have now is no different than the case they had four years, 11 months ago against my client,” Green said.

Harvey said this week that the arrest in the assault took so long because of the cover-up by alleged co-conspirators.

Norman Clay Stanton was originally sentenced to six years concurrent for five offences: Conspiracy to commit unlawful confinement, unlawful confinement, robbery and assault causing bodily harm.

In a unanimous judgment this week, a three-judge panel of the B.C. Court of Appeal allowed his appeal and varied the sentence to four years for the offences. In written reasons, Justice Daphne Smith cited the trial judge's failure to consider Stanton's efforts at rehabilitation, resulting in a sentence "that fell outside the range of sentences for similar offences and similar offenders and that was demonstrably unfit."

The charges stemmed from October 2001, when a man named Alexander Goldman had his Surrey marijuanagrowing operation taken over by Stanton's brother, former East End Hells Angels member Juel (Juels) Ross Stanton, who was fatally shot outside his home last year.

Goldman recalled that Juels and his associates arrived and said they were taking over the grow operation, telling Goldman to get lost.

When Goldman, then in the witness protection program, appealed to Juels for money to live on, Goldman was taken to a Coquitlam warehouse and beaten so badly he spent five days recovering in hospital with black eyes, broken ribs and fractured facial bones. After the attack, the Crown contended, Goldman started getting calls from Richard Doucet, who convinced Goldman to meet him at a grocery store in Surrey on Oct. 15, 2001.

At the time, Doucet was under surveillance by police investigating two murders at a Surrey crack house known as the House of Horrors.

A police wiretap operation captured Doucet calling Juels's brother, Norman, and discussing how people were looking for Goldman. Norman was heard directing Doucet to confine Goldman if he was found. At the trial of the Stanton brothers and two coaccused, police testified they watched a van leased by Norm Stanton arrive near the arranged meeting place. However, Goldman and another man met Doucet and followed him in their vehicles to a nearby basement suite, where Goldman was restrained and assaulted with brass knuckles by Juels.

The national president of the Oulaws organization, Jack Rosga, aka “Milwaukee Jack,” 53, was found guilty on December 21, 2010, of conspiring to engage in racketeering activities and conspiring to commit violence in aid of racketeering.
 
To date, 27 individuals have been charged as a result of a long-term investigation into criminal activities of the Outlaws motorcycle gang. Twenty have either pled guilty or were convicted at trial.
 
“Jack Rosga led an outlaw motorcycle gang that was violent at its core,” said U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride. “As the gang’s national president, Mr. Rosga declared war on the rival Hell’s Angels and ordered violent acts on rival gang members. Mr. Rosga admitted to undercover federal agents that he expected to go to jail for leading this violent motorcycle gang, and the jury convicted him of conspiracy to commit racketeering and violent acts. He spent decades dedicated to a criminal way of life, and he’ll now spend decades in prison paying for those crimes.”
 
According to court documents and evidence at trial, the Outlaws motorcycle gang is a highly organized criminal enterprise with a defined, multi-level chain of command that is ultimately overseen by Rosga, the national president. Leaders and members of the Outlaws in multiple states including Wisconsin, Maine, Montana, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina and Virginia are charged in a June 2010 indictment.
 
Under Rosga’s leadership, the enterprise is alleged to have engaged in violent racketeering activities with the intent to expand its influence and to control various parts of the country against rival motorcycle gangs, particularly the Hell’s Angels.
 
Court records indicate that the Outlaws planned multiple acts of violence against rival motorcycle gangs, including shows of force at the Cycle Expo in Henrico County, Virginia, in 2006; Dinwiddie Racetrack in Virginia in 2008; the Cockades Bar in Petersburg, Virginia, in 2009; Daytona Bike Week in Florida in 2009; and the Easyrider Bike Expo in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2010.

The weather last Sunday was beautiful, unspoiled blue skies and the temp a comfortable 80. It felt like a dry run for the (any day now) upcoming summer. And you know what good weather means, right? It means outdoor riot season! The prime time of year for beer-courageous sports fans and the all day meth-wired delinquents to get out on the pavement and have some fun.

A whole gang of folks in Lorain weren’t about to let Sunday go without a little recreational upheaval, according to the Chronicle-Telegram. The subsequent riot was the kind of street fight you wish you could only find in the movies. Warring families! Pregnant women grabbing on cops! A late arriving motorcycle gang!

The trouble seemed to have started off stage, but our snapshot into the melee begins when a juvenile drove up to a home on E. 31st Street, jumped out with a board in hand, and began talking smack to a nearby group of teens. Out of nowhere he was “bum rushed” by 23-year-old Ismael Ostolaza. Everyone jumped into the pool after that, armed with boards and pipes. The fight was reportedly between two families, with fathers and sons battling alongside one another for la familia.

The police arrived on the scene but backup was late. Luckily, a group of firefighters had been dispatched on a false alarm in the vicinity and stayed around to get the crowd under control. Six arrests were made: Ostolaza, 38-year-old Juan Negron, 45-year-old Angel Cruz and two juvenile males. As police were putting the cuffs on the suspects, a pregnant woman got all f*ck-the-police and started pulling on the officers. She was arrested for resisting arrest.

Finally, the coda on this is kicker: just as the proverbial dust was beginning to drop, who should happen to roll in but the cavalry, three hog-strapped members of the Baricua motorcycle club. Alas, they were too late, and the police told them so. The bikers road off, but not before ominously varooming their hogs for good measure. Like mom always said, if you can’t swing a lead pipe, you might as well make a statement.

A man suffered life-threatening injuries when he was stabbed on San Francisco's Market Street late Tuesday night by a group of men believed to be members of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang, a police spokesman said.
The stabbing was reported at about 11:50 p.m. Tuesday near Market and Taylor streets, police said.
Two men, ages 35 and 39, were approached by a group of about 10 men who were wearing Hells Angels jackets, police said.
One of the suspects asked the 35-year-old victim if he was a member of the Mongols, a rival motorcycle gang, police Officer Albie Esparza said.
The victims ran away and were chased by the suspects, who caught up with them and stabbed the 35-year-old man several times, police said.
The man suffered stab wounds to the back of his head and neck and a laceration to his lip. He was taken to San Francisco General Hospital to be treated for his injuries, which are considered life threatening, Esparza said.
The other victim was not injured in the attack.
The suspects fled the scene on their motorcycles and had not been found as of this morning, police said.

A May 23 trial date was set Tuesday for two men who are charged with illegally possessing firearms during an April 2010 raid on a motorcycle gang clubhouse in which a man was fatally shot by deputies.

Also Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell found one of the defendants, Scott Lee Sollars, mentally competent, clearing the way for a trial to be held next month in the case against him and co-defendant Albert Dee Ahlfinger.

Sollars, 55, and Ahlfinger, 50, were charged last spring with firearm and ammunition possession despite having felony records.

The charges stem from an April 9, 2010, raid by law enforcement officers at a building in the 1800 block of North Kingston Place, during which Russell Doza was fatally shot by Tulsa County sheriff's deputies. Doza had picked up a pistol and turned toward them, the deputies said.

The raid was conducted after an informant alleged that drugs were being sold at the building, which was then the "Rogues Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Clubhouse," according to an FBI affidavit.

In the building, firearms were "accessible to all subjects in the house," arrest reports state.

The indictment says Ahlfinger's record includes a 1996 conviction for possession of a controlled substance and a 2008 stolen-property conviction, both in Tulsa County. It says Sollars has convictions in Kentucky, Florida and Oklahoma for crimes such as burglary, auto theft, possession of a controlled drug and illegal gun possession.

On Sept. 9, Frizzell ordered Sollars to undergo a mental examination to determine his mental competency. The report has not been made public, but Frizzell said it indicates that Sollars' "status has improved."

"chairman of the board" of a multi-million dollar drug smuggling operation was handed a five-year sentence in a Seattle courtroom Friday morning.

Chief U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik told Jody York the smuggling ring was "a major drug organization that had a terrible impact on lower British Columbia and this part of the U.S. . . . Your kids and other people's kids are the ones that suffer when a community is riddled with violence the way Vancouver, B.C. is."

However, he credited York, 36, for leaving the violent drug gang before others were arrested in 2008.

He noted that York would have been serving a much-higher sentence if he had not struck a plea bargain and surrendered himself to U.S. authorities.

York, who has been associated to both the Hells Angels and Independent Soldiers gangs, told Lasnik his criminal connections have been exaggerated by police and the media.

His "managing director" in the drug ring, Edward "Skeeter" Russell got handed a 4.5 years behind bars, three years of supervised release and a $10,000 fine.

Russell, who has both Canadian and American citizenship, told Lasnik he got roped in by the lure of money.

"It was a great feeling. They are great guys," he said of co-conspirators York and Rob Shannon.

"You just don't think of the hundreds of people you hurt along the way."

Prosecutors asserted the two men, allied with the Hells Angels, trafficked thousands of pounds of marijuana and cocaine across the U.S./Canada border.

The marijuana was moved south into the States in PVC pipes, hollowed-out logs, wood chips and hidden compartments in tractor-trailer rigs.

The leader of the conspiracy, Rob Shannon who operated a Fraser Valley trucking company with York, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in March 2009.

Shannon and Abbotsford car dealer Devron Quast were arrested in June 2008, following a three-year undercover investigation resulted in the seizure of more than 1,700 pounds of cocaine, 7,000 pounds of BC Bud and about $3.5 million.

Quast, who testified at Shannon's trial, was sentenced to more than six years in jail in July 2009.

York and Russell were taken into custody immediately after their sentencing.

"I did the hardest thing in the world yesterday - I had to say good-bye to my two kids," York said as his wife wept in the gallery.

Five other men associated with the drug ring were also sentenced Friday.

Andrew Hall, 33, and Darren Hotner, 42, both from Abbotsford were both handed $5,000 fines, 120 hours community service and two years probation.

Hall, who loaded up the clandestine compartments in trucks and campers with drugs, told the court York and Shannon were his friends and he provided them manual labour only.

Lasnik said he thought Hall was more deeply involved than he claimed, but was still willing to take a chance on him.

Hotner's Abbotsford farm was used as a site to load and hide the marijuana before it was transported.

Bryan Hanna, of Vancouver, was handed a yearlong sentence in jail, but was allowed to return to B.C.for a medical appointment related to some recent seizures.

He told Lasnik he got lured in by the money, a total of $50,000, while working as a car salesman.

The final Canadian, Frederick Davey, 63, was sentenced to one-year probation.

Nineteen Hells Angels members and associates remain on the lam nearly two years after they escaped the biggest biker bust in Canadian history. 

The names and faces of the wanted men have been posted on the websites of the RCMP and Interpol, the international crime-fighting agency that’s active in 188 countries.

Police insist they’re still hot on the trail of those who so far have gotten away with murder, drug trafficking and gangsterism. 

“These files are as hot as they were at the start of the operation,” Quebec provincial police Sgt. Richard Gagne told QMI Agency. “There is still work to do to find these men.”

Project Sharqc involved 1,200 police officers and led to the arrests of 137 bikers and associates in April 2009. Defendants will be prosecuted in groups of eight or nine in a series of mega-trials scheduled to begin next month.

The last biker to be arrested was Normand (Casper) Ouimet, who was picked up outside his Montreal dentist’s office last fall and now faces 22 counts of murder.

Interpol has files on the 17 Hells members and two associates who are still at large. The fugitives have also been flagged with a “red notice” designation that would allow foreign police forces to arrest and detain them pending extradition to Canada.

Last year Mexican police used Red Notice markers to arrest Hells members Yannick Gauthier and Martin Robert while the pair were living under false names.

former Outlaws motorcycle club enforcer in Maine has been sentenced to more than five years in prison for charges stemming from the shooting of a rival Hell's Angels club member.

U.S. District Judge George Singal on Tuesday sentenced Michael "Madman" Pedini to 63 months for two racketeering-related charges. Pedini pleaded guilty last fall.

Prosecutors said Pedini and fellow Outlaws member Thomas "Tomcat" Mayne ambushed a Hell's Angels member outside a Hell's Angels clubhouse in Canaan in October 2009. The Hell's Angels member was seriously injured, but survived. Mayne died later in a shootout with federal authorities.

Court documents indicate the attempted hit was ordered by the Outlaws' national president as payback for an earlier attack by Hell's Angels members on Outlaws' members in Connecticut.

An international drug smuggling operation centred in the Fraser Valley had nothing to do with the Hells Angels or any other B.C. gang, one of the convicted smugglers says.

Jody York said the scheme to move thousands of kilos of marijuana across the U.S. border was hatched by a few friends who grew up together in the Abbotsford area.

York and several other B.C. men are to be sentenced in a Seattle courtroom March 25 after working out a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney, who wants York behind bars for six years.

Washington state law enforcement agencies have said that York’s group, headed by convicted trafficker Rob Shannon, was working on behalf of the B.C. Hells Angels, a claim York denies.

“We were never a gang or thought of ourselves as a gang. We were anti-gang. We hated most clubs and groups out there and never wanted to be a part of their drama or inner crap,” York said in a letter to U.S. District Court Chief Judge Robert Lasnik.

“As for working for the Hells Angels, nothing could be further from the truth. When I was involved, we wanted to stay as far away from them, due to a fight I had with a member in a night club. I just knew how they worked things. As for them or any one else being involved with other people in this case, after I left, it is not, nor do I want to make it my business.”

Both York, and Shannon, who was sentenced to 20 years in a U.S. jail in 2009, were featured in a rap video made by Vancouver full-patch Hells Angel Hal Porteous.

And York was described by police in B.C. as linked to the Independent Soldiers gang. He was arrested in Kelowna three years ago with IS member Joe Krantz, who was later gunned down in Abbotsford.

York also denies allegations made by co-accused Devron Quast that he paid for someone to shoot Anton Hooites-Meursing, who at the time was another member of their drug gang.

“Devron saying I took money from people to have someone killed is ridiculous,” York wrote. “I had a problem with someone here who was trying to take money from me. The decision as a group was we would pay him to leave me alone. It is embarrassing but true. Mr. Quast is very wrong. That has become public knowledge and that person is now in prison for the rest of his life for three or four murders up here. He wasn’t the kind of man you said no to. It was better to just pay him and move forward which we did.”

Hooites-Meursing earlier told The Sun he was targeted in a shooting in the underground parking lot of his Vancouver condo. He pleaded guilty last year to two murders and is now serving a life sentence.

York does tell Lasnik that he is sorry for his part in the drug ring. He said he only got involved because Shannon, a good friend of his, “had someone approach him on smuggling pot across the border.”

“I knew every second what we were doing was wrong and illegal and did profit from it in every aspect,” York said. “I would like to apologize to the United States of America for any sadness, pain or hardship that any of my actions may have impacted on anyone.”

York also refuted other claims of Quast, who cooperated with U.S. authorities after his 2008 arrest, and provided information about Shannon, York and others.

York told Lasnik he has changed his life around since leaving the drug gang in 2006. He said he is now a devoted husband with two children who built a house on 10 acres 400 kilometre away from Abbotsford.

“I have made huge steps to move on. I am destroyed that this has come down, but am willing to do my part to make this go away,” York said. “I can only ask for you to judge me on the man I am today and not the man I was five years ago.”

high-ranking Head Hunters charged with possession of more than $1 million of methamphetamine can now be named.

Eleven members and associates of the motorcycle gang, including the recently elected president of the West Auckland chapter, have appeared in the Waitakere District Court.

David James Dunn, 46, who took over as president last year from Dave Smith - who died soon after - was arrested last week after police raided the gang's headquarters in View Rd, Henderson.

He has been charged with possession for supply and remanded in custody.

More than 1kg of methamphetamine valued at more than $1 million was found in the clubrooms,

Dunn has a colourful history.

The senior Head Hunter got a police call-taker with access to the national intelligence system to leak sensitive information until she was caught in 2006.

A year later, Dunn began contract work on the driveway of a $6 million Herne Bay home owned by property developer Lynne Carter. He turned up for work but did not leave for months. At one stage her Ferrari vanished - a practice known as "taxing".


Another Head Hunter seen at the Argyle St home was Wayne Doyle, president of the East Chapter based in Ellerslie.

Dunn and Doyle are founding trustees of the That Was Then, This Is Now charitable trust which runs Fight Night events at the Marua Rd headquarters.

The third trustee is Lee Francis Bell, 46, who was also charged with possession for supply in the West Auckland raid last week.

Others arrested include Cain McFarland, 29, Craig Patterson, 49, Hemi Taramoeroa, 35, Nathan Hemana, 35, Christopher Morris, 50, Mark Barnes, 35, Anthony Neho, 46, as well as two younger women, Sorel Wichman, 20, and Candice Maloney, 24.

Morris, also known as "One Eye", is the father of Connor Morris - the boyfriend of Millie Elder.

Inspector Gary Davey, the Waitakere area commander, said the seizure of 1kg of methamphetamine from the Head Hunters' West Auckland HQ was significant.

"This is an incredibly damaging drug and police remain committed to disrupting its distribution."

The arrests are unrelated to an 18-month inquiry in which police infiltrated the Red Devils in Nelson, a puppet gang for the Hell's Angels.

Deputy Commissioner Rob Pope said the undercover Red Devil was "welcomed into the fold" at the Hell's Angels pad in Mt Eden. Through the Hells Angels, undercover officers were also able to enter the Head Hunters pad.

The unprecedented intelligence gathered by police confirmed the links between different gangs in the organised crime structure.

Police arrested 28 people in the raids on the Red Devils and charged them with dealing drugs - including LSD, methamphetamine and Ecstasy - and being a member of an organised crime group.

Rebels WA president Nick Martin was in high spirits yesterday despite Friday night's attempt on his life in what may have been the latest tit-for-tat exchange between his outlaw motorcycle club and fledgling rivals Rock Machine.

Sporting a small bandage on his heavily tattooed left arm, Mr Martin said police had seized security camera footage of the shooting, which happened about 8.30pm as he pulled his Harley-Davidson motorcycle into his Attra Street property in Balcatta.

Mr Martin, who has previously said he believed hostilities were about "honour and integrity" rather for control of the drug trade as police consistently claim, said the injury was minor.

He had surgery on Saturday to remove shrapnel from his left elbow but is not expecting any long-term damage.

"Better luck next time," Mr Martin said, pointing to a bullet mark on the fuel tank of his motorcycle.

Despite Mr Martin's jovial mood and the minor damage caused by the shooting, Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan said the incident would lead to increased police activity against feuding bikie gangs.

"We have a lot more work to do on both the Rebels and Rock Machine in the next few weeks and you will see some elevated police action," he said. "There is potentially an escalating war, we're on top of it.

"We know a lot about it, we have a lot of intelligence and we are responding. You have seen us putting significant heat on bikies in recent times and you can expect to see some more coming shortly

THE Hells Angels in Sydney have secured what may be the greatest mass defection in the history of the Australian outlaw clubs, recruiting at least 50 members from rival gangs.

Police fear the defections - involving at least three Bandidos chapters in NSW - may lead to a new war between bikie gangs. It could be the most significant event since the Comanchero split of 1982, which led to the Milperra massacre two years later when seven people, including a 14-year-old girl, were shot dead.

''We've had small numbers move around before but this number is unheard of,'' a senior law enforcement source told The Sun-Herald.

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The underworld has been abuzz since a deal, apparently months in the making, was cemented 11 days ago. Between 50 and 60 men left the Bandidos and joined the Hells Angels.

It is understood the deal was organised by Felix Lyle, a rising force within the Angels and a former Bandido. Offers to defect and join the Angels were also made to other clubs.

Leaving one club for another is considered the most serious of transgressions and often leads to outbreaks of violence. It is believed the main motive for the deal was to bolster Angels numbers to provide a strong front against the Comanchero.

It may also be in response to the establishment of a chapter of another traditional Angels foe, the Mongols, on the central coast.

The clubs have been feuding since a Hells Angels tattoo parlour was firebombed by the Comanchero in 2008. The fatal airport brawl of March 2009 and subsequent shooting of Hells Angels member Peter Zervas were allegedly results of that.

It is understood Bandidos were paid to defect and all were granted full membership, which usually takes at least a year. Some got Harley-Davidson motorbikes as a reward.

Last week the Bandidos announced on their website: ''Chapter Parramatta is no longer part of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club Australia!!!''

The defection rumours were confirmed on Friday when Strike Force Raptor officers watched 20 to 30 former Bandidos meet at a Parramatta restaurant. Wearing Hells Angels T-shirts and other club gear, they were joined by several senior Hells Angels.

A law-enforcement source who has investigated outlaw clubs for decades said: ''If it was just one chapter that would be one thing but what's strange here is it's bigger than that.''

Police are concerned that the move also mirrors recent action in Europe. Last year 80 Bandidos defected to the Berlin Hells Angels.

The defections are indicative of a remarkable morphing of Australia's outlaw clubs. They have moved up several notches to form formed links with international syndicates suspected of organised crime. Some bikies are also involved in multimillion-dollar property developments with loans from Australia's top banks.

The Hells Angels have at least doubled their size overnight. With at least 110 members they are now the third-largest outlaw club in NSW, after the Comanchero and the Rebels.

Yavapai County Superior Court Judge Ralph M. Hess granted Brian Apfel and Jess Ramirez Flores' motion to dismiss their case without prejudice in connection with a shooting between the Hells Angels and Vagos motorcycle gangs.

The shooting was in an unincorporated area northwest of Chino Valley on Aug. 21, 2010.

Apfel, 38, of Las Vegas had been charged with discharging a firearm at a residential structure in that incident. Flores, 61, of Glendale was facing charges of discharging a firearm, possession of narcotic drugs, and possession of dangerous drugs.

On Friday, Jan. 28, Yavapai County Superior Court Judge Celé Hancock sent the cases of the two men affiliated with the Vagos motorcycle gang back to the grand jury. 

At that time, Hancock noted that a detective's testimony "regarding the one-percenters may have unduly influenced the grand jury to assume that Apfel was an outlaw and thus may have influenced the grand jury's determination of probable cause." 

Hancock also wrote that documents regarding Flores' prescription for the two types of pills he was charged with possession of were given to the prosecutor before the grand jury and should have been presented to grand jurors.

On Monday, Apfel's attorney Craig Williams asked the state to release Apfel's property, and Flores' attorney David Shapiro asked the state to relinquish property and evidence that belonged to his client as well.

Hess exonerated the men's bonds and told the attorneys to contact the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office about the property.

In December 2010, Shapiro's motion to dismiss stated that on Aug. 31, defense counsel presented a deputy county attorney with Flores' prescription history and a letter from his doctors that indicated he was prescribed the 10 hydrocodone and seven clonazepam, which Flores carried in a Mentos container the day of the shooting. 

Shapiro also wrote that the state had ample evidence that deadly force was used by Apfel who fired in defense of himself and other Vagos members that were fired upon as they drove past the Hells Angels house.