undercover officer posed as a struggling debtor and was allegedly robbed by Hells Angels gang members in a police sting targeting unlawful debt collection. Court documents show a special duties constable with an assumed name of "William Baker" was allegedly robbed of a Toyota Hilux by four men working as debt collectors. The sting was part of a long-running operation against organised crime and led to criminal charges for three Hells Angels members and an associate. Police raided properties in Helensville, Manukau and Auckland city on Friday and arrested the patched trio of Andrew Joseph Sisson, 51, Kishor Chandra Singh, 40, and Wayne Brendon Franklyn, 39. They say they found three rifles and 650 bullets at Sisson's Helensville home. A fourth man, 21-year-old Nathan Scott Hampton-Burgess, was also arrested after complaints about debt collection agencies Dirty Debtors and Rapid Recovery. All four men were charged with participating in an organised criminal group and the aggravated robbery of "William Baker" on Friday in the police sting. Sisson was also charged with possession of three rifles - a Ruger bolt action .243, a Ruger bolt action .308 and a .22 rifle - and 650 bullets. The senior Hells Angel was also charged with robbing a Helensville couple of a Suzuki quad bike in March and the theft of a Toyota van in September under the guise of recovering debts for clients. He was also charged with using a document headed "Warrant to Repossess" with intent to obtain property dishonestly. Sisson, who will appear in North Shore District Court today to apply for bail, is the man behind Dirty Debtors Ltd. The debt collection firm runs a website to "name and shame" people who allegedly owe debts to clients. Detective Inspector Grant Wormald, of the Organised and Financial Crime Agency New Zealand, said some debt collectors traded on their gang membership. "More often than not the gangs are used to collect debts in the knowledge that people will pay up through fear and intimidation," he said.

The fatal shooting of Red Scorpions gang boss Jonathan Bacon and the wounding of a known member of the Hells Angels has raised questions about what they were doing together.
    R-C-M-P Superintendent Pat Fogarty, with the anti-gangs task force, says their affiliation was likely based on making drug profits.
    He says there's no loyalty among gang members, who often work for different players.
    Thirty-year-old Red Scorpions gang boss Jonathan Bacon was gunned down on Sunday afternoon while in the company of a full-patch Hells Angels member and an alleged member of the Independent Soldiers.

HELLS Angels have been linked to an alleged vendetta against the Ibrahim family after a bikie was arrested in connection with drive-by shootings targeting the family.

The bikie was arrested and a house raided this week over attacks on two properties linked to the Ibrahim family, one of which is the home of Sydney nightclub entrepreneur John Ibrahim.

Police raided the house at Wetherill Park about 6.40am on Tuesday and arrested a 21-year-old Hells Angel. They allegedly seized three shotguns, three rifles, ammunition, cocaine and steroids.

The raid followed the drive-by shooting of a home allegedly owned by the Ibrahims at Merrylands on June 30, in which several shots penetrated the property.

The home, located behind the home of Mr Ibrahim's mother Wahiba, was occupied by renters.

A woman aged in her 30s and a seven-year-old boy who were inside were not injured.




About 11.30am the next day, police were called to Mr Ibrahim's clifftop home on George St, Dover Heights, after it was shot at and ammunition casings discovered. It was allegedly the third time shots had been fired at the home. The other incidents were not reported.

Police formed Strike Force Bairestow to investigate the shootings. The Hells Angel was released without charge pending further inquiries.

Felix Lyle, 54, the president of the Sydney chapter of the Hells Angels, was about to walk from Long Bay jail on Wednesday when police sat him down for a chat.

They charged him with demanding money with menaces and participating in a criminal group.

He faced Burwood Local Court on Thursday and did not apply for bail, which was formally refused.

"He was about to come out yesterday afternoon and he's been interviewed by other detectives," his solicitor Martin Ricci told AAP on Thursday.

"And at about four o'clock yesterday afternoon he was charged with a further offence.

"He's absolutely shocked and vigorously denies it."

The charges relate to an incident on July 8, when five men demanded cash from the owner of a car yard on Parramatta Road, Burwood, in Sydney's west.

Five men, aged 24, 26, 27, 29 and 30, were arrested at the scene. All are said to be bikie gang members.

Four days earlier, several luxury cars were stolen from the yard, police say.

Lyle has been in custody since July 22 on unrelated charges and was granted bail but required to post a $100,000 surety bond as a condition for his release.

The officer in charge had refused to vary the condition, Mr Ricci said, and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had indicated it would oppose a lesser amount.

But Mr Ricci successfully applied last week to have the surety amount reduced to $20,000.

Whoever posted Lyle's bail was required to have no criminal record, not to have ever been a bankrupt and not to have provided bail in a continuing criminal matter.

"Out of the blue on Tuesday afternoon an acceptable person had put up the deposit - I was unaware he was going to do it," Mr Ricci said.

Another condition required Lyle to surrender all passports, which Mr Ricci was ready to do on his behalf to the police officer in charge.

"There was obviously something going on because the cop was being difficult and couldn't meet me," Mr Ricci said.

"And then he finally fessed up and said detectives are trying to interview him about this other matter.

"So everything had been met and then they'd interviewed him in relation to this other matter and he was then charged with that and taken to court this morning."

Mr Ricci said Lyle's chances of being bailed on the extortion charges were "quite good".

"It's just an extortion matter," he said.

"I can't imagine we'll struggle too much.

"It's not as if he's on bail committing offences."

Lyle's matter will next come before Burwood Local Court on August 24.

The three officers were hurt in a collision Tuesday at about 12:30 a.m. after officers tried to stop a Dodge Avenger near Antrim Road and Rockspur Street, part of a police investigation of an ongoing biker-gang battle that's simmered throughout the summer.
Police said the Avenger made "quick evasive manoeuvres" that caused the crash.
After the Avenger allegedly hit two marked police cruisers and an unmarked truck, police took two men and a woman into custody and seized a loaded handgun.
Two men the police arrested have ties to the Rock Machine biker gang, said a source, though police would not specify how Tuesday's vehicle chase was tied to gangs.
Officers from the organized crime unit, the tactical support team and canine unit were involved in the traffic stop.
"Getting into the specifics of that investigation is not something I am prepared to do, nor does it provide the public with any information that we haven't already provided them," said Winnipeg Police Service spokeswoman Const. Natalie Aitken, who said the investigation has been underway since mid-July.
Aitken said police have taken "very proactive, very aggressive measures" in an ongoing gang conflict.
"There's been a number of violent incidents that have occurred in our city and that is something that's not going to be tolerated," she said.
Aitken said the Avenger caused the crash. "I don't think our officers ever have the luxury of dealing with any routine traffic stop anymore," she said.
By midday Tuesday, two of the three officers had been treated and released from hospital.
One remained at hospital, however, with a serious upper-body injury.
Police said the three police vehicles involved in the crash had serious damage.
Joseph Jordan Carl Choken, 19, Guy Wesley Vernon Stevenson, 21 and Amanda Kay Freeman, 23, face charges, including possession of restricted firearms. Choken had an outstanding warrant for arrest, and Stevenson is charged with three probation breaches and possessing a weapon contrary to a probation order.
The three were in custody Tuesday, said police. Freeman and Choken do not have prior criminal convictions.
However, Stevenson was found guilty in 2009 of uttering threats and possessing a prohibited or restricted firearm with ammunition, as well as a robbery and assault with a weapon.

Assistant Police Commissioner Nick Anticich said officers were on high alert after Mercanti walked free from Casuarina Prison more than 2½ years after being jailed for causing grievous bodily harm in a bar room brawl in Northbridge.

Within hours of his release, Mercanti took a Jetstar flight to South Australia where he was met by at least six Adelaide Finks. They were watched by Australian Federal Police officers.

Detectives from the Crime Gangs Task Force pulled over some of the gang members as they left the Adelaide Airport carpark. Adelaide has the biggest contingent of Finks bikie members in Australia.

Mercanti made himself a target for the Coffin Cheaters by defecting to the rival Finks gang just months after he was booted out of his old club in early 2008.

Within months of joining the Finks, he was shot at by an unknown sniper while motorcycle riding with two Finks in Wooroloo.

The sniper missed Mercanti but one of his companions was hit and Mercanti crashed his machine.

On his release yesterday, Mercanti was warmly greeted by up to a dozen Finks who drove in a convoy back to his Duncraig home.

Mr Anticich said police believed his release could spark further violence between the bikie gangs, who clashed in October in a bloody brawl at the Kwinana Motorplex.

Several Finks were beaten with baseball bats and one had fingers severed. “Obviously there is a bit of history between Mr Mercanti and members of outlaw motorcycle gangs,” Mr Anticich said.

“The fact he has been released from prison puts him at risk. But we take the view that potentially he is at risk of being a victim but is also potentially a perpetrator.

“The conflict and potential for extreme violence is our major concern.”
Mr Anticich said police were well prepared to respond to any bloodshed between the gangs.

“We’ve got a good read through our intelligence sources of what is going on,” he said. “We’ve put things in place to monitor and hopefully prevent any violence.”

“We’re going to do that the best we can within the limitations of the law. Our primary intention is to prevent violence from occurring rather than having to react to that. But the hope is that whatever that conflict may have been, that with the passage of time it may have come back to a state of peace.”

Mr Anticich said police would monitor Mercanti to ensure that he did not breach a prohibition order that bans him from entering licensed premises in WA.

Mercanti was last year banned for five years, with police citing his 31 criminal offences and several unprovoked bashings as justification for the prohibition order.

Hells Angels sergeant-at-arms Ricky W. Jenks pleaded guilty in federal court in Spokane today to a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm, but the judge handling the case said he wants more time before accepting the plea.

U.S. District Court Judge Justin Quackenbush questioned why federal prosecutors accepted the plea agreement calling for only two years in prison when Jenks faced twice that prison time had the case proceeded to trial.

“I have indicated I have reservations about a two-year sentence given your criminal history,” Quackenbush told Jenks, who has two previous felony convictions, including one for manslaughter.

The judge ordered defense attorney Tracy Collins and Assistant U.S. Attorney Aine Ahmed to submit written arguments within a week as to why they agreed to the plea agreement.

If Quackenbush decides not to accept the agreement, the matter will be scheduled for trial, which was previously set to begin on Monday.

Ahmed said he understood that the agreed-upon sentencing recommendation is less than half the time Jenks faced at trial.

“Realistically, I can tell you the U.S. government’s primary concern is dragging people in here who don’t want to be here,” Ahmed said.

Quackenbush said he would not interject himself into the plea negotiations.

“I recognize the government has the right not to pursue this case,” he said. “It is my job to determine … if two years is a sufficient resolution to this case.”

At the hearing, Jenks, 33, acknowledged that one of several guns found at a March 3 raid of the motorcycle gang’s clubhouse at 1308 E. Sprague Ave. was his. Since he is a convicted felon, he’s barred from possessing guns or ammunition.

Jenks served as the gang’s sergeant-at-arms, which according to previous testimony meant that he served as the gang’s “enforcer.”

“I’ll accept your plea of guilty but reserve determination whether or not to accept the plea agreement,” Quackenbush said. He set sentencing for Oct. 7, provided he accepts the plea.

At the end of the hearing, Collins asked that the judge release Jenks for a short time or grant a furlough so that Jenks could help his girlfriend, who is undergoing a “difficult pregnancy.”

Quackenbush said he needed more information about the availability of other family members and a doctor’s explanation of her condition.

“The obvious concern is that Mr. Jenks is a longtime member of the Hells Angels. That in and of itself is not enough for me to reject a compassion release,” Quakenbush said. “But with the firearms found at the clubhouse, I would have reservations.”

After an investigation into the Rebels Motorcycle Chapter, police say they seized 800g of methyl-ampethamine with a street value of $200,000 and a quantity of cash.

They allege that a further $250,000 worth of drugs has been trafficked in the past six months.

Police have so far arrested 12 past and current members of the group, and say they expect further charges to follow.

All 12 have been charged with trafficking in methyl-amphetamine and summonsed to appear in the Launceston Magistrates Court.

Jeffrey Albert Lynds was already facing charges related to the murders of two men, Kirk Murray and Anthony Onesi, who were gunned down in NDG in January 2010.

Now Lynds has been charged with ordering the February 2010 death of a man who was shot and killed in Longueuil.

Prosecutors say that Lynds joined the Nomads chapter of the criminal gang after the Halifax chapter disbanded a decade ago, and that he ordered the deaths of several people.

Timothy and Robert William Simpson, who have been convicted and sentenced to life in prison for shooting and killing Murray and Onesi, say they were working for Lynds at the time.

Murray served a 15-year sentence for the second-degree murder of two men in 1983.

After Murray was granted parole he moved to the South shore and made friends with people who did not necessarily know his criminal history.

It was one of those friends, Onesi, who gave Murray a lift from Chateauguay to NDG the night both were killed. Onesi was shot because he was an inconvenient witness to Murray's murder.

The Simpson brothers say that Lynds ordered them to kill Mark Stewart in Longeuil a few weeks after the NDG murder.

In the first incident, police searched a Weston area home Tuesday morning after gunshots were reportedly heard in the area.

The sound of two quick shots was reportedly heard at an address in the 1500 block of Roy Avenue, between Cecil Street and Langford Street, at about 10:30 a.m.

The landlord said he was told by police that the tenant had links to the Rock Machine motorcycle club.

A number of streets in the area were blocked to traffic and police used a loud-hailer to try to get the attention of anyone inside the residence. Neighbours said they had heard gunshots several times in the past few weeks.

Geraldine, who lives in the neighbourhood, said the tenants were recently evicted from the home and that the place had been linked to bike gangs. "I do hope that whatever's going on between the gangs and that situation that it cools down and they realize that there are innocent people out there that could get caught in the crossfire," she said, asking that her last name be withheld for fear of retaliation.

Police said the report of gunfire there early Tuesday was unfounded.

Meantime police and fire crews responded to a call at a home in Elmwood Tuesday afternoon — the same address that was the target of a weapons raid last fall.

Court documents show the owner of the home on Mighton Avenue is linked to the Hells Angels motorcycle club.

Members of the Winnipeg police Tactical Support Team were at the home Tuesday afternoon, although there was no sign smoke or flames and firefighters were in standby mode.

The residence on Mighton was the subject of a search warrant and police raid last year. Police found weapons and three people — two men and a woman — were charged with several offences.

Authorities allege a man found dead on a downtown sidewalk in March was the victim of one of 18 motorcycle gang members facing a federal indictment on charges ranging from racketeering to murder.

Anthony R. Robinson, 24, Chicago, is accused of killing Javell T. Thornton, 32, Chicago, early the morning of March 6, according to the indictment unsealed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis. A federal grand jury handed up the indictment June 9.

Robinson was indicted on two counts of murder in aid of racketeering activity, two counts of attempt to commit murder in aid of racketeering activity and one count of racketeering conspiracy. He is accused of fatally shooting a man two months before Thornton was killed, the indictment states.

Robinson was a member of Wheels of Soul Motorcycle Club, which was holding a regional meeting in Marion at 126 S. Main St. Now a vacant storefront, the site was a clubhouse for the Undenied Riders Motorcycle Club, which in fall 2010 joined Wheels of Soul, police Maj. Bill Collins said.

On March 6, police investigated the death of Thornton, whose body was found lying on the sidewalk in front of the clubhouse. Three other men were injured when a fight occurred during an after-hours party at the clubhouse.

Relatives of two of the victims, Daryl Collins, 30, and Michael Collins, 31, said the brothers intervened when other people inside the club were beating Devin Jones, 44. The fight spilled into the street, and guns were fired, they said.

The injured men were treated at Marion General Hospital, transferred to Grant Medical Center, and eventually discharged. The brothers, who live in Marion but are from Chicago, suffered gunshot and stab wounds.

Within 24 hours of beginning its investigation, the police department was put into contact with the U.S. Attorney's Office in St. Louis, Mo., which had an ongoing case involving Wheels of Soul. Federal investigators adopted the Marion police investigation.

Federal investigators worked in conjunction with police "because they try to shut down the whole organization rather than taking one member here, one member there. ... Because when you have crimes that span different states like that it's easier to put them together in a federal case than to try all these in different states," Collins said.

"Early on we're not able to say much because we're investigating this case, we're taking some flak like 'You're not doing anything about this homicide,'" he said. "We have to hold our cards close to our chest until the right time, and that certainly was the fact in this case."

Thornton died from one gunshot that went through his back into his heart, Collins said.

Two others also were shot, but ballistics have not identified those shots. The indictment alleges Robinson and Allan Hunter fired numerous shots at fleeing victims, striking some.

Police received a "huge" assist from the Marion Township Road Department when one of its workers March 23 found a gun in a sewer under James Way and contacted the Marion County Sheriff's Office, which contacted police, Collins said.

He said police knew people involved in the shooting had stayed in a hotel near James Way, and had the gun tested. He said investigators "can tell that the bullet that we retrieved from Javell Thornton's body was fired from that weapon."

No local charges have been filed, but some could be forthcoming against people other than Robinson, he said.

"It certainly was a big team effort on everybody's part," Collins said of the investigation. "... A lot of times you can't see what we're doing, but believe in the fact we are doing something."

Robinson waived his right to detention and removal hearings and was to be transferred from Chicago to St. Louis, where the indictment was issued, said Randall Sanborn, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago. Robinson, who appeared in federal court in Chicago on Tuesday, was being held in a federal detention facility in downtown Chicago pending transfer by U.S. marshals.

Some of the accusations in the federal indictment of the 18 club members are breathtaking; one member allegedly stabbed another person in the head during a fight at a Chicago motorcycle club, then shot another in the stomach. The indictment says gang members are required to carry weapons, mostly guns but also hammers, knives and others.

Federal authorities cite meetings in St. Louis in 2009 in which a Wheels of Soul member, Dominic Henley -- known within the gang as "Bishop" -- told others in the gang that a member in Gary, Ind., had been threatened. He instructed them to retaliate by robbing the rival gang members of their colors by "any means necessary."

Gang members raised money through robberies and by distributing drugs, especially crack, but also heroin, the indictment alleges. They are accused of plotting and carrying out several acts of violence including kidnapping, robbery and murder.

Hells Angels biker gang was interested in purchasing a Fredericton strip club before the city decided to buy it this week, according to a councillor.

Coun. Stephen Chase, the chairman of the city's development committee, said on Wednesday the police informed city council of the biker gang's interest in the North Star Sports Bar.

"They may already own property here, they or people like them, may already own property. But to carry out the kinds of activities they might have carried out in this location that is something we can control," Chase said.

The city councillor said the police highlighted the potential sale to the biker gang as a "potential problem."

However, Chase said the idea of the Hells Angels buying the bar was not the driving force behind the deal.

"It is a factor but I think the purchase stands on its own merits. The need to develop that area. The Union Street area is in need of development," he said.

The North Star Sports Bar was assessed at $364,900 by Service New Brunswick, but the city is paying $500,000 for the bar and some additional property.

Chase said city staff are confident the property, which currently generates $7,000 in tax revenue, can be flipped to a new developer "in the very near future."

"We can easily generate 10 times that," Chase said.

Chase said he is confident once the building is torn down someone will want to buy the site to build new housing.

The city's development plan calls for more residential units in that area and a few developers have expressed interest.

Ken Flinn, the bar's previous owner, died last fall. It was passed on to five of his children.

Krystal Dawson-Wedge, a daughter of the former owner, said the family was content to sell.

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.