Motorcycle gangs, who are considered by Finnish police to constitute organised crime groups, have significantly expanded their operations in the past decade.       The gangs have spread so extensively throughout Finland that police fear that violent conflict might break out among them.       Motorcycle gangs have set up clubhouses especially in the Helsinki region and in the south of Finland, but activities have branched out to other parts of the country as well.       “Organised crime groups use the same methods as players in normal business. If there is a market somewhere, a section is set up there to secure their operations”, says Jussi Oksanen of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).       Police say that the three most infamous organisations, the Hell’s Angels, the Bandidos, and Cannonball have more than 40 subsections around Finland.       Police calculate that there are a total of 80 organised crime groups in Finland, including the subsections.       However, most of the groups using different names are not motorcycle gangs. There are nearly 1,200 members in the various groups. The newest, called the United Brotherhood, was formed out of three others, and has more than 50 members.       In recent years the gangs have avoided clashes, lest their main criminal activities suffer. Most recently Finland experienced a bloody gang war in the 1990s.       “There have been various clashes suggesting a resurgence of tension. In Germany and Denmark, the Hell’s Angels and the Bandidos have been on war footing. These are international criminal organisations, so the trend in other countries is reflected here as well.”       Leaders of the Finnish section of the Hell’s Angels are currently under suspicion in an extensive drug smuggling and dealing case.       This does not come as a surprise to Jussi Oksanen, who says that police have been collecting surveillance material on the organisation’s activities for a long time.       “The Helsinki drug police, along with the West Uusimaa Police can now demonstrate that the members themselves are involved in criminal activities”, Oksanen says.       According to Oksanen, actual members of the motorcycle gangs have previously been careful not to get their hands dirty.       “They have let the others do the jobs where there is a risk of getting caught.”       Police say that surveillance activities have revealed that the Hell’s Angels have used smaller gangs as partners. Traditionally the gang has been very careful of its image, and has avoided committing crimes that could bring bad publicity.       Police say that the Hell’s Angels differ from the Bandidos, and the purely Finnish Cannonball in that it has not set up many new subsections, nor has it taken actual supporter gangs into its organisations.       For instance, Bandidos has several subsections on various levels, which are seen as stepping stones by members who want to advance within the organisation.       The Hell’s Angels have had about a third of the number of members as the Bandidos, which has undergone considerable expansion recently.       “However, now for the first time a new group, the 1% Bad Machine 81 Finland has entered the Hell’s Angels’ official organisation. Why the group made the move right now remains unclear”, Oksanen says.       He notes that one possibility is that the Hell’s Angels are flexing their muscles for possible clashes to come.

The drugs squad of the Helsinki Police and the West Uusimaa Police have uncovered an exceptionally large drug smuggling and growing operation, in which the main suspects are members of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle club.       Police managed to confiscate several kilos of amphetamine and cocaine as well as a number of unlicensed weapons and about EUR 200,000 in cash. Police also found the biggest cannabis growing operation ever discovered in Finland.       Detective inspector Jari Pynnönen describes the case as one of the biggest in Finnish history. What makes it exceptional is that the police were able to trace the drug trafficking organisation to the very highest levels.       “Six members of the Hell’s Angels organisation have been detained or arrested during the investigation. Included are people from the top leadership of the organisation all the way to the presidential level”, Pynnönen says.       A total of 10 people have been held in connection with the case. The investigation began already in the late summer of 2009.       Pynnönen says that the smuggling, transport, and growing of illegal drugs has continued for years. Millions of euros are believed to have been involved in the business. The street value of the drugs that were confiscated was estimated at EUR 800,000.       The drugs have been smuggled from Central Europe in hiding places built in various vehicles. Smuggling has been done largely by couriers hired abroad, who have not had significant criminal records, or any direct connection with the Hell’s Angels.       The drugs were brought to Helsinki, from where they were distributed throughout the greater Helsinki region, and possibly to other parts of Southern Finland. Pynnönen says that helping in the distribution have been a supporter club with close ties to the Hell’s Angels, as well as so-called “hangaround members”.       Pyynönen sees the bust as a major blow to the illegal drug business in Finland for a while, but he also expects the gap to be filled up as new players enter the field.       “In this respect it is important that plenty of cash and many illegal weapons were confiscated. This always slows the reorganisation of the activities.”

West Vancouver man linked to the United Nations gang disappeared earlier this week - two days before he was to be sentenced in a drug trafficking case in Ontario. Omid Bayani, 36, was last seen Monday afternoon en route to the gym, West Vancouver police Det. Tom Wolff von Gudenberg said Thursday. His worried family reported him missing a day later, saying it was out of character for Bayani not to return home or call anyone. Police are investigating whether Bayani's gangland history has somehow caught up with him, or whether he took off to avoid his sentencing. The Crown was seeking a jail term of between eight and nine years. Bayani was arrested in 2007 along with Hells Angels in B.C. and Ontario after a massive Ontario Provincial Police undercover operation targeting the biker gang. Despite being a ranking UN gang member at the time, Bayani had worked with the rival Angels in a conspiracy to traffic 600 litres of GHB - the date rape drug. This past July, prosecutors stayed a charge of belonging to a criminal organization against Bayani and his co-accused. But Bayani was convicted on the drug charges. Wolff von Gudenberg said Bayani, who is six feet tall and weighs 240 pounds, was last seen wearing a white or grey Under Armour shirt, blue Under Armour shorts, running shoes and ankle socks. Bayani worked out at two different North Shore community centres, he said. "We don't have any confirmation that he got to the gym," Wolff von Gudenberg said. Despite his criminal history, Bayani had not been on the radar of West Vancouver Police in recent months. "It is impossible to speculate because we don't know anything about his real connections locally," Wolff von Gudenberg said. "He has been totally off our radar." He said other Lower Mainland law enforcement agencies, including the Gang Task Force, have been contacted. "Everybody's been notified just because of that history. Who knows if somebody has a source out there who knows something? He could be missing. He could have taken off," Wolff von Gudenberg said. Port Moody police Insp. Andy Richards led the B.C. component of the Ontario investigation when he was with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit. Richards said Thursday that he hasn't heard anything about Bayani since the 2007 arrest. "He was a player. He was a big player at one time," Richards said. And he said Bayani had gang connections far beyond the UN, as indicated by his involvement with the Hells Angels. News of Bayani's disappearance comes just a day after the head of the Gang Task Force, Supt. Tom McCluskie, said the police fear retaliation for the Aug. 14 murder of Red Scorpion Jonathan Bacon and wounding of Hells Angel Larry Amero and Independent Soldier James Riach. Another West Vancouver man with gang links, Vahid Mahanian, vanished under similar circumstances June 27 and was found dead on Cypress Mountain two weeks later. Bayani came to Canada as a refugee, but was ordered deported in 1999 after a series of armed robberies in Calgary. He filed a series of unsuccessful challenges against the deportation, but was never removed from Canada.

A man was left nursing stab wounds to the neck after a mass brawl involving some 20 men belonging to rival biker gangs in central Stockholm on Tuesday.Another man is also reported to have required treatment after the brawl on the open street outside a bar on Södermalm in central Stockholm. According to witness reports some 15 members of the Red and White Crew, a supporter club of the Hells Angels, stormed the El Cocodrilo restaurant on Ringvägen. Armed with knives, tear gas and firearms the group attacked a rival gang, reported by the police to be either Outlaws or Bandidos. "I heard screaming and shouting, then I saw a mob run in and out from the restaurant. Then they came out carrying a half-naked guy, who fell to the ground and who they continued to assault," an eye witness told the TT news agency. The witness watched as the man was beaten bloody outside the restaurant before the police managed to break up the fight. There are reports of shots being fired inside the restaurant, but these are denied by the police. "They waved a weapon, but no one has been shot," said Stefan Nordemark at Stockholm police. The police detained a person during the night, with a second man subject to a warrant for his arrest. "We have conducted a number of raids, including a club premises. We are working on the case and it feels as if we have a good situation."

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.