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 January, 2003: Round-up
in Saskatoon | Letter from Simcoe
County | The Hells Angel biker
vs. Ontario
Disclosure
withheld and Ontario bikers detained in Quebec for over a year
without a proper hearing could someone please send
me updates
on these stories?
The following notes are
from Kathi Anderson, 22 year companion of Walter Stadnik:
Donald Stockford was arrested
March 28th, 2001 in Ancaster, Ontario. Walter Stadnik was arrested
March 30th, 2001, in Montego Bay, Jamaica at the Ritz hotel.
(By the way, the papers etc. said that we were "On the Run",
what we did was tried to change hotels the Sunday before, were
told that there were no rooms available, and then after having
dinner at the Ritz Thursday night we stopped at the front desk
on our way out and asked if any rooms had become available, they
had, so we made plans to move there the next day.
It was the hotel right beside
the hotel we were staying in.) Mr. Stockford was flown from Hamilton
to Montreal's Bordeaux prison. Walter was put in a hell-hole
cell overnight and then transported to the prison in Kingston,
Jamaica where he was held until April 10th. He was flown by private
jet to the Riviere de Prairie jail where he stayed until May
10th, at which time he was moved to the Bordeau jail in Montreal.
Mr. Stockford went for bail June 6th, his bail hearing lasted
4 days and he recieved bail June 12th. On August 20th the crown
appealed and won the right to overturn the bail as they were
"ready to begin the trial in September".
On September 17th there was
a motion for an English trial. It was granted a week or two later.
On October 24th they were still arguing about whether the crown
should have to tranlate the evidence into English. They did not
feel it was there problem.
On the 19th of December Mr.
Stockford again tried for bail but, was refused as he had brought
nothing "new to the table". From that time until now,
they are still arguing over translating disclosure The only thing
that has been returned to me from the hundreds of items taken
in the raid on my home (which they damaged and burnt with 2 percussion
grenades-even though they knew we were not home) is the brain
of my desktop computer (they are still hanging onto the printer,
moniter, keyboard, mouse, scanner and all the cd programs I had,
for some reason) and the laptop I am writing on now. They took
my fax machine, my telephone, every vhs tape I owned, pictures
right off the wall, dozens of photo albumns, etc. They also smashed
the front and side door in (although they are within 8 to 10
feet of each other) and left my home unwatched and open for the
5 days it took me to get back to Hamilton from Jamaica and replace
both doors. Out of all the things that they took only about 6
items are listed as "evidence to be used in court"
by the crown.
Our lawyer has requested the
return of my property numerous times over the last year and he
has been ignored. As far as the raid goes I would just like to
say that the neighbors said that the police waited for the news
and tv. cameras to arrive before getting into it and that in
Quebec everyone else was arrested by simply knocking on the door
and asking for them. Also, at the time they arrested Walt in
Jamaica we were to return to Canada 2 days later and fully expected
his arrest when the plane landed here. Also we were down there
alone, not with anyone else and were there to celebrate our 22nd
anniversary.
Hells Angels leader appears
in Jamaican court
Tuesday, April 3, 2001
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP-CP) --
A Hells Angel leader wanted in Canada for 13 murders appeared
in a Jamaican court Monday, saying he knew nothing of the charges
and wanted to return to Canada to fight them.
Walter Stadnik was arrested
Saturday during a joint operation between local police and Canadian
officers at the Ritz Carlton Hotel outside resort town of Montego
Bay, police said.
On Monday, Independent RJR
Radio said Stadnik told the court he was anxious to return to
Canada and welcomed extradition.
But Magistrate Martin Gayle
ordered that Stadnik return to court Wednesday, because the official
application for his extradition had not yet arrived from Canada,
the Hamilton Spectator reports.
He was also expected to face
a bail hearing on Wednesday.
Stadnik is a leader of a chapter
of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang in Hamilton and a former
president of the Canadian Hells Angels.
He had also been scouting for
recruits for a new chapter of the gang in Ontario's Niagara region.
Authorities in Canada want
to try Stadnik on 13 counts of murder, three counts of attempted
murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder, two counts
of narcotics trafficking and two counts of attempting to smuggle
narcotics, police said.
Stadnik was being held by Jamaican
authorities at the Remand Centre, a razor-wire-enclosed jail
in Kingston, guarded by heavily armed police officers and soldiers.
Police in Canada arrested dozens
of Hells Angels across the country last week but Stadnik was
on holiday and missed being caught up in the raids.
Quebec biker
denied bail: Judge rules right to fair trial not violated
Thursday, June 21, 2001
MONTREAL (CP) -- A Quebec judge
denied bail Thursday to a biker who had argued he needed better
access to computers to prepare his defence on 13 murder charges
and various other offences.
Daniel Lanthier should stay
in jail because his trial could begin as early as September,
ruled Justice Jean-Guy Boilard of Quebec Superior Court.
Boilard dismissed claims by
Lanthier's lawyer, Gilles Dore, that his client's rights are
being violated because he isn't getting sufficient access to
mountains of evidence collected on CD-ROM and audio and video
cassettes.
Lanthier is one of more than
130 bikers rounded up last March in provincewide raids called
Operation Springtime. The raids, which were three years in the
making, were aimed at crippling the Hells Angels' operations
in Quebec.
In addition to the murder charges,
Lanthier faces three counts of attempted murder as well as charges
of conspiracy to commit murder, gangsterism and drug trafficking.
Lanthier's case has been closely
watched by the many prosecutors, defence lawyers and police working
on the coming trials.
Because Boilard released another
biker arrested during the raids on bail last week, observers
had said the release of a second could be seen as opening the
door wider for more bikers to try to get out of jail before their
trials.
Last week, Donald Stockford,
a high-ranking member of the Hells Angels' elite Nomad chapter,
was released on $210,000 bail. Boilard cited the fact the trial
for Stockford, an anglophone, would be delayed because the evidence
would need to be translated.
Boilard said Thursday there
are few similarities between the two men's cases because Lanthier
faces more serious charges than Stockford and has a previous
record, which Stockford does not.
In rejecting Lanthier's bail
application, Boilard also dismissed a request for a stay of proceedings,
calling it ridiculous.
The evidence collected throughout
the investigation is compiled on 69 CD-ROMs, 120 video cassettes
and more than 70 audio tapes. There are also stacks of paper
documents.
Boilard issued a publication
ban on the details of the bail hearing earlier this week.
But in court documents submitted
earlier this month, Dore said work conditions at the jail did
not give each prisoner enough daily access to computers and private
cubicles to talk with their lawyers.
The Quebec government responded
by saying last week the prisoners would get better access to
the evidence against them.
The Hells Angel biker vs. Ontario
By Gary Dimmock, Ottawa
Citizen, May, 2002
In an unprecedented public
statement, Ontario Hells Angels have distanced themselves from
their Quebec brothers, saying the conviction of Maurice (Mom)
Boucher is now being used by government to justify the 'harassment'
and 'demonization' of what it considers to be a law-abiding motorcycle
club.
"Contrary to innuendo,
the Hells Angels in Ontario are not a criminal organization nor
has such a finding been made in any court. The highly publicized
actions of certain individuals found guilty of criminal acts
in Quebec have been used to justify ongoing personal harassment
and the demonizing of membership in a motorcycle club or or identification
as a 'biker', rather than concentrating on illegal activities
which might be engaged in by bikers or others," said Donny
Petersen, a prominent member of Ontario Hells Angels.
"A considerable law enforcement
infrastructure has been developed in Ontario at great public
expense, which must continue to justify its existence and the
vast expenditure of public funds to investigate a group which
makes no secret of its members' identities," Mr. Petersen
said.
Mr. Petersen's statement is
found in a lawsuit against the Ministry of Training, claiming
his constitutional right to free association was denied when
he was dismissed from a government committee because of his association
with the biker club.
The 54-year-old biker, who
is in Spain this week for Hells Angels World Run, was dismissed
from a committee that inspects training standards for motorcycle
technicians in January 2002, after serving less than two years
of his three-year term.
Before Deputy Minister Kevin
Costante revoked the biker's appointment, he asked him if he
in fact was a member of the notorious Hells Angels.
"I confirmed," Mr.
Petersen told the Citizen, "at which point he verbally fired
me for being a Hells Angel. I asked him to write it out and for
whatever reason I cannot discern...he did."
In a letter to Mr. Petersen,
dated January 22, the deputy minister wrote that the appointment
was being revoked immediately "because of your association
with the Hells Angels."
It is interesting to note,
that Mr. Petersen, a former member of Para-Dice Riders - since
absorbed by Hells Angels - has always been open about wearing
colours.
"My membership in a motorcycle
club has always been and continues to be an important part of
my personal belief system in individual freedoms and defiance
of arbitrary and unlawful authority," the document reads.
Though police have yet to prove
its case in court, police have branded Ontario Hells Angels as
'outlaws.'
"The police recognize
outlaw motorcycle gangs as the No. 1 organized crime priority
in the province," said Det-Insp. Don Bell.
Police believe the gang is
involved in importing and distributing drugs, trafficking firearms
and explosives, extortion, fraud, prostitution and money laundering.
In Ontario, 83 per cent of
the group's members have a criminal record, Bell claimed.
But Petersen's lawyer said
his client's case affects all citizens, not just the Hells Angels.
"The issue is to look
beyond that the applicant is (Donny) Petersen and look at the
implications of what the government has done here," said
Morris Cooper, the biker's lawyer.
"It's a well-established
cause of concern that when one individual's freedoms are imperilled
all of our freedoms are imperilled."
In February 2000, Diane Cunningham,
the minister of training, colleges and universities, appointed
Petersen to a committee to assess apprenticeship training programs
for mechanics.
In a letter to Petersen, Cunningham
said his "expertise and experience" would be an asset
to the government.
Petersen, who owns a motorcycle
shop in east-end Toronto and has taught at Centennial College,
was then appointed chairman of the committee by the other members.
In January, he acted as a spokesman
for the Hells Angels' highly publicized Toronto convention, where
Mayor Mel Lastman was widely criticized for welcoming the bikers.
Days after the convention,
Petersen received a letter from Cunningham's ministry stating:
"your appointment ... has been revoked because of your association
with the Hells Angels."
"My understanding is that
this type of appointment can be revoked at any time," ministry
spokesman Andrew Bennett said Tuesday.
The ministry will "vigorously
defend" its position before the courts, Bennett said.
Ed Morgan, a University of
Toronto law professor specializing in constitutional law, said
Petersen's dismissal represents a new tactic in law enforcement.
"(Law enforcement agencies)
are trying to look at novel ways of law enforcement, but they
have to be careful when they touch on individuals' rights not
to overstep themselves," he said.
In late 2000, the Hells Angels
patched over 168 Ontario bikers from rival gangs to counter expansion
by Bandidos, a U.S.-based biker gang that had secured a foothold
in Ontario.
Though police across Ontario
have predicted a bloody power struggle, the so-called war party
has yet to materialize in Ontario.
In fact, in separate statements
from both Hells Angels and Bandidos, prominent members have told
the Citizen that they are calling for peace, not blood.
In Quebec, the rival bikers
staged a turf war that claimed more than 150 lives - including
six innocent bystanders, and an 11-year--old Montreal boy killed
in 1995 when he was hit by shrapnel from a bomb.
It is understood that several
Ontario Hells Angels are distancing themselves from events in
Quebec, capped most recently by the high-profile trial of Quebec
boss Maurice (Mom) Boucher, convicted for the contract-killings
of two prison guards in 1997.
Bikers moving quickly to separate
themselves from criminal affairs include prominent members of
both Hells Angels and Bandidos who do not have criminal records
and hold down honest jobs, ranging from motorcycle distributors
to computer programmers.
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