Outlaw biker who killed 8 Bandidos members in Ontario dies in prison

 An outlaw biker convicted of helping murder eight Toronto-area clubmates in the largest mass murder in modern Ontario history has died in custody of apparent natural causes.

Marcelo (Bull) Aravena, 50, was serving a life sentence when he died on Monday in Bath Institution, a medium-security prison outside Kingston.

His sentence began on Oct. 30, 2009, after he was convicted of seven counts of first-degree murder and one of manslaughter for taking part in the 2006 murders of eight fellow Bandido bikers from the GTA in a barn near Shedden, Ontario, a hamlet outside of London.

The Correctional Service Canada (CSC) will conduct a routine review of his death and notify the coroner, Corrections Canada said in a prepared statement.

A 280-pound mixed martial arts fighter based in Winnipeg, Aravena was a member of the Bandidos, a Texas-based bike gang that had two chapters in Canada, one in Winnipeg and the other in Toronto.

Court heard that longtime outlaw biker Wayne (Weiner) Kellestine had become convinced that he could seize control of the U.S.-based biker gang’s Canadian operation — and a lucrative trade in methamphetamine — if he wiped out most of his fellow Toronto-area members and then pinned the killings on the Hells Angels.

Eight members of the Toronto chapter called “The No Surrender Crew” were murdered on the night of April 7 and 8th, 2006 in Kellestine’s ramshackle barn. Their bodies were stuffed into vehicles in Elgin County in Southwestern Ontario.

Aravena and five other men were tried and convicted in the bike-gang executions.

He chose to make a statement to the families of the victims prior to his sentencing and expressed remorse. “I truly am sorry for what I’ve put you through,” Aravena said. “I know that nothing I can say will bring your loved ones back, but I did not know this was going to happen.”

Aravena then erupted in anger when he heard the guilty verdict.

He spat on his lawyer, Tony Bryant, and shouted obscenities at the jury from the prisoners’ dock after hearing he had been convicted of seven counts of first-degree murder and another of manslaughter for the massacre of the bikers in tiny Iona Station, west of London.

“F -ing goofs,” Aravena shouted, making obscene gestures with both hands.

“You know that some of us are innocent,” Aravena shouted.

A conviction for first-degree murder brings a mandatory life term with no parole eligibility for 25 years.

The jury in the seven-month trial heard that Aravena didn’t fire any shots in the massacre, but the Crown argued he was still a key part of the crime by acting as a guard who helped confine the doomed bikers.

The trial heard that Aravena feared he was about to be murdered himself that night.

M.H., a Bandido biker who cooperated with authorities after the murders, told court that Aravena was often the butt of jokes inside the Bandidos Motorcycle Club and often had to fetch water, cook pizzas, wash dishes and do chores for more senior members.

M.H., who disappeared into a witness protection program after the trial, was present on the night of the murders. He and Bryant sparred over Aravena’s exact status in the club at the time of the killings.

In the end, Maurice Hudson. said, it didn’t really matter. “That night we were all Bandidos,” he told court.

M.H. dismissed a suggestion by Bryant that Aravena “came within a whisper” of being the ninth murder victim that night.

“I didn’t see anybody put a gun to his head,” M.H. said of Aravena. “I didn’t see anybody threaten him, if that’s what you mean.”

Bryant noted that Aravena didn’t even own a motorcycle or have a licence to ride one.