BY RATTAN MALL
A fierce gang war between the Hells Angels and the Mafia has been raging in the lucrative market of Ontario with half a dozen attacks on Hells Angels turf in Ontario and the Gatineau area of Quebec over the past month.
The Toronto Star reported this week that there were fire attacks on a tattoo parlour owned by a Hells Angel from the Woodbridge chapter, and a massage parlour owned by a senior Hells Angel in London, Ontario. Also, a Muskoka cottage owned by a senior Hells Angel from London was gutted by a fire in December.
But all that hasn’t affected any gang equation here in B.C., Sgt. Brenda Winpenny of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit – BC (CFSEU-BC) told The VOICE on Thursday.
She also noted that the recent arrest of Hells Angel Larry Amero, 40, has not impacted gang activity as such in B.C. though it was significant that police were successful in getting him out of the game.
“Yes, he’s a fairly high profile member, but they still continue their activity,” she noted.
Last month, Vancouver Police had arrested Amero for one count of conspiracy to commit the murder of Sandip Duhre and one count of conspiracy to commit the murder of Sukhveer Dhak.
The United Nations gang and all the remnants and allies of the Dhak-Duhre crime group have been battling it out with the so-called Wolf Pack that comprises certain Hells Angels like Amero and their allies and associates, the Independent Soldiers and the people that they brought to the equation and the Red Scorpions.
Retired RCMP organized crime analyst Pierre de Champlain told the Star that bikers from
neighbouring Quebec are being lured by the Ontario market – there are some seven million people in the Greater Toronto Area itself. Compare that to Quebec province’s population of about 8.4 million people – B.C.’s population is only about 4.7 million.
The Star pointed out that six of Ontario’s 15 Hells Angels’ charters are within an hour’s drive of the CN Tower.
De Champlain said: “For several years the Hells Angels want to modernize and develop, with a wider range of new criminal activities, which previously were the stronghold of the Mafia, including the Rizzuto family.”
Last July, Peter Edwards, who has authored 10 books on organized crime, in an article in the Star had reported that B.C.’s notorious Wolf Pack alliance was involved in the massive power struggle going on in the violent world of organized crime in southern Ontario.
Edwards pointed out: “On one side are the aggressive young computer-friendly newcomers from B.C. and Quebec allied to a gang called The Wolfpack Alliance. On the other side are the old guard — the GTA [Greater Toronto Area] arm of the traditional ’Ndrangheta family of Cosimo (The Quail) Commisso of Siderno, Italy.”
At the time, Sgt. Winpenny had told me: “We’ve publicly confirmed in the past that the Wolf Pack has a presence not only across Canada but internationally. They have had a presence in other provinces, like Ontario, for at least a couple years.”