Judge Bruce Young dismissed criminal charges Friday of intimidating a witness and street terrorism against Ethan Akins of Ventura, who was arrested in April last year. Akins, who is a former member of the Ventura chapter of the Hells Angels motorcycle club, was initially arrested for domestic violence, said one of his attorneys, Robert Sheahen. Sheahen said Akins lost his job and spent a week in jail as a result of the arrest. Akins' lead attorney Kelly Sheahen Gerner of Los Angeles said in a news release that she was pleased the district attorney acted "honorably and fairly" in this case

member of the Hells Angels is being held on $1 million cash bail on charges of child pornography and extortion, while the search continues for a key witness scheduled to testify against him in a separate upcoming criminal trial and two others. Adam Lee Hall, shackled and wearing the motorcycle club's T-shirt, arrived at the Berkshire County courthouse complex Tuesday morning under an unusually heavy police presence. Meanwhile, authorities continued Tuesday to investigate the disappearance of David R. Glasser, 44; Edward S. Frampton, 58; and Robert T. Chadwell, 47. They have been missing from the apartment Glasser and Frampton shared at 254 Linden St. since Aug. 28, the day Tropical Storm Irene hit. Glasser is a witness in a criminal case against Hall and is also the victim of a scheme aimed at derailing him from testifying against Hall, according to authorities. On Monday, District Attorney David F. Capeless said the three men, now missing for more than a week, may have been the victims of foul play. Capeless is not commenting on any connections between Hall and the men's disappearances. Authorities searched for the men in Pittsfield State Forest on Sunday and Monday, then concentrated their efforts Tuesday in the neighborhood from which they went missing. There was no sign of a struggle at the residence where the three men were last seen on Aug. 27. While authorities have declined to Advertisement comment on whether Hall is considered a suspect in the three men's disappearances, Hall's attorney, William M. Rota, told The Associated Press on Tuesday, "I would not be surprised with the authorities to suspect [Hall's involvement], but I have no reason to suspect that it's true." Rota said that as far as he knows his client hadn't been questioned by police in the matter of the men's disappearance. Hall, who has been out on $250,000 bail for his other cases, was picked up on Sunday on new charges -- extortion and two counts each of possessing child pornography, dissemination of child pornography and solicitation of child pornography. Police and prosecutors allege Hall coerced a 16-year-old girl to send him lewd photographs of herself or else she wouldn't see her friend again. In court on Tuesday, Hall pleaded not guilty to those charges. Rota told the judge the charges were "a bit of a stretch." Nevertheless, Central Berkshire District Court Judge Rita Koenigs agreed with Berkshire Assistant District Attorney Gregory Barry's bail request -- that Hall be held on $1 million cash or $10 million bond. Barry cited Hall's five cases pending in superior court and his alleged history of witness intimidation. Barry also won his request to have Hall's $250,000 bail in his other pending criminal cases revoked. Hall is being held at the Berkshire County Jail & House of Correction and has an Oct. 3 court hearing. Hall can be held for 60 days without the right to bail on the revocation. "They threw the book at him," Rota later told The Eagle. The 34-year-old Hall, a resident of the town of Peru, is scheduled to go to trial in Berkshire Superior Court on Sept. 19 on charges that include kidnapping, assault and battery with a baseball bat, and witness intimidation. In 2009, Hall allegedly beat Glasser with a baseball bat, believing he had stolen a car part from him, and forced him to turn over his truck as payment. Authorities also allege Hall tried to frame Glasser by pinning him to a phony robbery in order to prevent him from testifying against him in one of his criminal cases. The brother of missing man Robert T. Chadwell told The Eagle on Monday that Robert hung out with Glasser and Frampton. Les Chadwell said he was aware of Glasser's "tangle" with the Hells Angels, but that his brother and Frampton were not involved. Les Chadwell said he feared the worst and that his brother was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Joshua Leo Johnson, vice-president of the Sonoma County Hells Angels, surrendered to Lake County authorities in connection with the beating of a rival gang member and a companion at Konocti Vista Casino in June, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office. Johnson, 35, an iron worker, remains in jail pending a hearing on his $500,000 bail, officials said Tuesday. Two other Hells Angels — Nicolas Felipe Carillo, 32, and Timothy Robert Bianchi, 33 — were arrested during a warrant sweep in Santa Rosa and Petaluma last week, authorities said. A fourth suspect, David Dabbs 32, remains at large. Dabbs also is being sought on a San Diego no-bail warrant for alleging kidnap and torture, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office. The suspects are charged in the vicious beating of Michael Burns, 39, a rival motorcycle gang member, and Kristopher Perkin, 48, during a tattoo convention at the casino. Perkin was not seriously injured.

key witness in a case against a Hell's Angels member accused on drug and gun charges is missing along with two other men, raising the suspicions of relatives and authorities in a western Massachusetts town. Police say 44-year-old David Glasser, 58-year-old Edward Frampton and 47-year-old Robert Chadwell, haven't made any banking or credit card transactions and haven't been in contact with family members since they vanished more than a week ago. The men shared an apartment in Pittsfield. "Three people, all in the same house, missing — yeah, something happened, something tragic," Les Chadwell, brother of Robert Chadwell, told The Berkshire Eagle newspaper. "We'll never hear from them again, and you can quote me on that." Glasser was expected to testify this month in the robbery, assault and kidnapping trial of Adam Lee Hall, the reputed sergeant at arms of the Berkshire County chapter of the Hells Angels. Hall has pleaded not guilty in Berkshire Superior Court to a host of charges including kidnapping, assault, witness intimidation, extortion, cocaine distribution and weapons crimes. He had been free on bail but was arrested Sunday on extortion and child pornography charges alleging he got someone to text him inappropriate photos of a 16-year-old girl. Hall was arraigned on the new charges Tuesday in the Berkshire court. A judge ordered him held on $1 million bail, and his case resumes Oct. 3. He still is scheduled to go on trial on the other charges Sept. 19. Authorities said the criminal cases against Hall stems from a dispute he had with Glasser. They said Hall believed Glasser stole an automobile part from him in 2009, so he retaliated by threatening Glasser, beating him with a baseball bat and forcing Glasser to turn over his car to him. Hall later tried to frame Glasser, hoping it would stop Glasser from testifying against him about those allegations, authorities said. They said Hall got a woman he knows to falsely accuse Glasser of robbing her at gunpoint. Glasser was cleared of any wrongdoing. William Rota, Hall's attorney, said his client denies all the allegations and looks forward to his trial. He said he doesn't know what to make of Glasser and his two roommates all missing at the same time. "I would not be surprised with the authorities to suspect (Hall's involvement), but I have no reason to suspect that it's true," he said. Pittsfield police Capt. Patrick Barry said the men have been missing since the night of Aug. 27 or early the following morning — the weekend that Tropical Storm Irene hit New England. They were last seen at their apartment, he said. Barry and Berkshire District Attorney David Capeless would not comment on any possible ties between Hall and the disappearance of the men, but they said they can't rule out foul play. "It's now well past a week, and other information we have indicates that this was not just a matter of them leaving for parts unknown," Capeless told The Associated Press on Tuesday. He declined to elaborate.

erstwhile associate kinesiology professor at California State University at San Bernardino remains on the lam after police raided his home last week and found a pound of methamphetamine and a cache of guns. Police are charging that Stephen Kinzey, who had been on the San Bernardino faculty for a decade, was leading a double life: teaching and researching by day; directing the local chapter of an outlaw biker gang, and its drug business, by night. Not long after the manhunt began, Albert Karnig, the university’s president, emphasized that no one on the Southern California campus saw this coming: “To our knowledge, this is the first notice that anyone on our campus has had regarding this situation,” Karnig said. “…If the allegations are indeed true, this is beyond disappointing.” newspaper accounts described neighbors, students, and even Kinzey's father as having little or no sense of the professor's alleged outside activities. The Contra Costa Times quoted Kinzey's father as saying that he knew that his son belonged to a motorcycle gang and was not "thrilled" about it (the father taught him to ride). But Hank Kinzey also described his son as "a good Catholic boy" and a Republican, and added: "Everybody's always in denial when it's something to do with their family, but this is really surreal," he said. How could a full-time college professor run a drug ring on the sly without tipping his hand? Tom Barker, a professor of criminal justice at Eastern Kentucky University and leading scholar on outlaw biker gangs, says it is not hard to imagine. “It’s not uncommon for leaders or members of motorcycle gangs to hold down seemingly legitimate lives,” says Barker, even if part of their responsibility is to oversee an illegal drug business. “A college professor could easily pull it off.” Barker says he knows of at least two other college professors who are members of outlaw biker gangs, though he would not disclose their names because he says it could cost him his life. If Kinzey is the kingpin that police suspect he is, “he’s not actually that much involved in actual delivery of drugs,” says Barker. “He’s probably setting up the networks, and he can do that in the way he’s away from the classroom very easily.” In such crime organizations, most of the number-crunching falls to the secretary-treasurer, Barker says. The actual distribution falls to the members and their associates, the enforcer handles the dirty work, and the president’s leadership duties can be delegated to the vice president when necessary. While the chapter head is like the CEO of a small company, the illegal nature of the business means “there’s not a lot of paperwork,” says Barker. Barker says he is familiar with the Devil’s Diciples [sic], the gang Kinzey is alleged to have been running. And while he does not know specific details about the San Bernardino chapter, he says that the president of that chapter would have been in charge of anywhere between seven and 25 full-fledged gang members and a broad network of associates and business partners. He guessed the president of the chapter would personally pull in about a million dollars per year. As an associate kinesiology professor at San Bernardino, Kinzey was probably making around $70,000, according to the annual data produced by the American Association of University Professors. So if Kinzey was indeed the head of a lucrative drug ring, why continue to teach? Barker says that it may have been a fallback in case the kinesiology professor ever wanted to get out of organized crime. Heading the Devil’s Diciples might pay well, but it lacks the stability and retirement benefits of a state teaching job, Barker says. Another theory, he adds, is that Kinzey just loved to teach. Terry Rizzo, the chair of the kinesiology department at San Bernardino, did not respond to multiple requests for an interview; neither did Kinzey’s other colleagues. But student reviews on RateMyProfessors.com suggest that Kinzey had been popular among many students and passionate about his work. “Dr. Steve Kinsey is an amazing [professor], who helps his students in every situation, including in their greatest need,” wrote one student in 2007. “He is a good friend of mine and we continue to get together on a quarterly basis to catch up on life. Thank god for him, because I wouldn't be a graduate without him!!!!!” “He's so awesome!” wrote another, later that same year. “He has a passion for everything he does and it shows in his desire for students to succeed and understand.” More recent reviews paint a less flattering portrait, however. Kinzey “seems like he does not care anymore,” reported one reviewer in 2008. “im sure he is good at what he does he just isnt clear at all. talks all class and does not get anything done. kinda unorganized, but nice enough.” In 2010, a student wrote: “the professor sucks, he comes in late and doesn't care, if he try's to help you he'll end up rambling about himself.” And the last review before Kinzey became a fugitive, written last May, depicts a perpetually distracted instructor: “He's a really good guy and would give you the shirt off his back,” the reviewer wrote. “But something serious must have happened to him because he shows up late, and rambles on about random and controversial topics. He lost his focus & passion for teaching. His behavior lately makes it seem like he wants to get fired.” “Sad,” the student added, “because I really enjoyed all of his classes.”

longtime leader of the Hells Angels' Ventura County chapter charged in connection with the firebombing of two tattoo parlors has been granted bail. The Ventura County Star ( http://bit.ly/pPC00U) says a judge Friday ordered 64-year-old George Christie Jr. detained at home with an electronic monitoring bracelet. It was unclear early Saturday whether Christie had posted the $200,000 bail. Christie was arrested three weeks ago after being named in a six-count indictment that charges him and four others with conspiracy, extortion and arson. The indictment alleges that Christie, who owns a tattoo shop in Ventura, ordered Hells Angels members to threaten his competitors in an attempt to shut down their businesses. He has pleaded not guilty.

Dutch police leads the convoy as members of the Dutch divisions of motorcycle clubs Hells Angels and Satudarah gather to demonstrate in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 04 September 2011.

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.