Remembering The "No Surrender Crew", Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Bandido Pervert's Farewell Ride

2011-09-19T03:30:00.002-04:00

Now this is impressive, Farewell to Bandido Pervert.

May you always ride free in the Forever Chapter.

You may be Gone, But You Will Never Be Forgotten.....

Carlton Neal Bare aka "Bandido Pervert"

2011-09-19T02:42:00.002-04:00

Carlton Neal Bare aka Bandido Pervert, a member of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club since 2-3-1999 was taken from us on 4-10-2011 by a drunk driver . He was Bandido National Officer that was known worldwide and highly respected in the motorcycling community. He lived life to the fullest and brought laughter and joy to all that had the pleasure of knowing him. He will be mist more than you will ever know. He is survived his Bandido family an two brothers a sister and nieces and nephews. The funereal will be at Northwood Funeral Home in Porter Texas at 12pm 4-16-2011 and buried at Rosewood Cemetery in Humble Texas. Viewing 4-15- from 12-9pm. We Love and will miss you Brother BFFB

Man Charged In Motorcyclist's Death

2011-09-19T02:24:00.004-04:00

Carlos Lengua Accused Of Killing Carlton Bare
Monday, April 11, 2011

Carlton Bare, 39, was riding westbound in the 400 block of Rankin Road about 1 a.m. Sunday.

Harris County sheriff's deputies said Carlos Lengua, who was driving a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck and traveling eastbound on Rankin Road, made a left turn in front of Bare.

Detectives said Bare tried to brake, but there was not enough time. Bare hit the pickup truck and was thrown off the motorcycle. He died at the scene.

Lengua, 37, did not stop to help Bare, investigators said. Deputies said they found him a short time later and gave him a Breathalyzer test that showed he was over the legal limit.

Lengua was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated and manslaughter.

Winnipeg Biker Wars

2011-07-15T19:49:00.001-04:00

Follow my New Blog on the Ongoing Biker Scene in Winnipeg at: http://bikerwars.blogspot.com/

BANDIDOS IN CANADA ARE DONE -- FOR NOW

2010-09-04T05:18:00.005-04:00

BANDIDOS IN CANADA ARE DONE -- FOR NOW (as of Sept 2010 it looks like the Bandidos have recovered & are back In Winnipeg. A Member was seen sweeping out his Driveway wearing a Club T-Shirt)

The eight bodies dumped in Shedden, Ont., were all Bandidos. The primary suspect for their murder is also a Bandido. Although the murders appear to be the result of an internal conflict within the U.S.-based gang, the implications in this country go much further.

With most of its manpower in the morgue or in jail, the Canadian Bandidos have effectively ceased to exist. Although there may officially be some members still lurking in the province, they are unlikely to be able to form any coherent chapter. And, although the Bandidos are the world's second-biggest biker gang, it's going to be very difficult for them to rebuild in Canada. Gangs rely on their credibility to recruit new members and the image of Bandidos killing their own kind won't attract many worthwhile prospects. When the memory of the Shedden massacre fades, the Bandidos may return. But for now, they are gone.

The result is that Ontario -- the most lucrative market for drugs, prostitution and other vice in the country -- now has no effective biker crime organizations other than the Hells Angels. The Bandidos have now joined the Rock Machine, Satan's Choice, Para-Dice Riders, Loners, Vagabonds and dozens of others that have tried to hold onto a piece of the action and either been recruited, pushed out of the way, exterminated or imploded on their own.

Although the virtual elimination of the Bandidos' only Canadian chapter by its own hand may seem nonsensical, it's not unprecedented. To understand why eight bodies showed up in Shedden, it's necessary to understand how bikers work. While being a biker may seem like a glamorous life of freedom and brotherhood to some, it is actually a tortuous life of hard work, rigid obedience and never knowing when or why your own "brothers" will kill you.

On March 24, 1985, the members of the Hells Angels' first Canadian chapter were invited to a party by their brothers-in-arms from the other side of Montreal. As is biker custom, the guests surrendered their weapons as they entered the clubhouse. A few minutes later, most of them were dead. According to police, the chapter in the Montreal suburb of Sorel massacred the chapter from nearby Laval because they were snorting cocaine instead of selling it, costing the entire organization money.

But they missed the man they wanted most. Yves "Apache" Trudeau had served the gang well by murdering 41 people on their behalf. He was the gang's primary weapon in their battle with the upstart Outlaws, but was targeted for death because of his drug use, constant boasting and increasingly random violence. But he didn't attend the party because he was in rehab.

The Sorel bikers made him a deal -- all he had to do was murder two more people and he was free to go. He did, but was arrested on an unrelated weapons charge. In jail, he realized he was still a target and agreed to testify against the gang in exchange for a drastically reduced sentence and government protection. Most of them went to prison.

Years later when prominent Hells Angel Louis "Melou" Roy dared to defy his superiors and sell cocaine for less than their set price, he attended a party and was never seen again.

With the Outlaws out of the way, the Hells Angels declared war on their last remaining rivals in Quebec, the Rock Machine. In a protracted conflict that left more than 160 people dead -- including a few bystanders, two prison guards and an 11-year-old boy -- the Rock Machine were virtually wiped out. The few remaining veterans relocated to Ontario and joined gangs not aligned with the Hells Angels. But when the Hells Angels, under the charismatic leadership of Walter Stadnick, moved in and patched over the majority of Ontario bikers, the desperate remnants of the Rock Machine teamed with a few other independents and joined the Bandidos.

Based in Texas and widespread throughout the southern and western United States as well as Scandinavia, the Bandidos welcomed a chance to establish a beachhead in Ontario's lucrative drug market. It never really took off. With a loose-knit chapter based in Kingston and made up of assorted bikers from all over the province, the Bandidos never wielded much clout here.

But they were, like the Outlaws and Rock Machine before them, an annoyance to the Hells Angels and that made them a target. The primary suspect in the murder, Wayne "Weiner" Kellestine, is a longtime biker who formed his own gang, the Annihilators, in nearby St. Thomas in the 1970s. Later, as most Ontario bikers were choosing sides between the Outlaws and Hells Angels, Kellestine opted for the non-aligned, Toronto-based Loners. While on his way to a friend's wedding in 1999, he was shot at by two Hells Angels prospects but survived. In 2001, when the Hells Angels took over the Loners, Kellestine joined the fledgling Bandidos.

Now he is in jail awaiting trial for the murder of eight men -- six full-patch Bandidos, another a Bandidos prospect and the other a known associate. According to police, this isn't the first time the Bandidos have cleaned house by killing off undesirable members, nor is it something the Hells Angels are above.

But the few Bandidos were the last remaining obstacle to Hell Angels' hegemony in Ontario. While the Hells Angels -- who hastened to proclaim their innocence -- may not have blood on their hands, they can't be too upset about the elimination of what little competition they had left.

Slain biker 'prospect' hailed from Cote St. Luc

2010-07-10T05:37:00.000-04:00

Slain biker 'prospect' hailed from Cote St. Luc

One of the eight victims of Ontario's worst mass murder grew up in Montreal and will be buried here tomorrow.

By The Gazette (Montreal) April 12, 2006

One of the eight victims of Ontario's worst mass murder grew up in Montreal and will be buried here tomorrow.

Jamie Flanz, 37, a resident of Keswick, Ont., was among the eight people tied to the Bandidos outlaw motorcycle gang killed as a result of what the Ontario Provincial Police described as an internal conflict within the gang.

Leonard Flanz, a Montreal lawyer, said he had difficulty believing his son was a prospect in a biker gang. "It just doesn't fit the image of Jamie.

"He did affect the image of the motorcycle crowd, but not that of a motorcycle gang. He had a Harley-Davidson and liked to wear a leather jacket and shades. He was a big guy. But as is often the case, image is not the reality.

"There were an awful lot of positive things about Jamie."

Flanz was not known to police investigators who probe biker activity in this province. Flanz did not have a record in Quebec.

But police recently searched Flanz's home in Keswick, about 50 kilometres north of Toronto, for evidence in the beating death of a man whose body was found in a woodlot in Pickering, Ont., four months ago. No charges were laid against Flanz, and police are still investigating.

Flanz was described by Ontario police as a "prospect" of the Bandidos. That status meant he was one step away from being a full-fledged or "full patch" gang member. Shortly before he was killed, according to the Globe and Mail, Flanz had told a friend he had plans to leave the gang.

Aerial photos taken Sunday of the area where the eight men were found Saturday showed Flanz's luxury SUV abandoned with its hatch open and a large man in pyjamas lying dead in the back.

The OPP would not confirm whether the body pictured was that of Flanz.

Flanz grew up in Cote St. Luc with his two younger sisters and a younger brother.

He graduated from Wagar High School and attended Dawson College while playing hockey and baseball on teams in Cote St. Luc. He coached hockey and was an ambulance technician with Cote St. Luc's Emergency Medical Services.

His father said Flanz once saved the life of a man who had been shot at a bar in downtown Montreal. He was working as a bouncer at the time but used his life-saving skills to keep the man alive until ambulance technicians arrived.

"In many respects, he could have been a role model to many young people while he was growing up," Leonard Flanz said.

Jamie Flanz moved to Ontario nine years ago. He helped a U.S. computer services firm set up a Canadian company but left the job in 1999 and moved on to direct a Toronto company called Onico Solutions.

Leonard Flanz said he spent weeks with his son this year in Florida. They were in regular contact when they returned and, Flanz said, he spoke to his son on Friday, presumably just hours before the homicides occurred.

Flanz said his son did not express any concerns about his personal life.

The slayings, and the arrest of a full patch member as one of the suspects, have generated media speculation that the Bandidos are on the verge of disappearing in Canada. The international biker gang, which originated in Texas, has several chapters in many countries. But the Bandidos are "steering clear" of the funerals for the slain former members, Texas police said.

"When they have a funeral for a Bandido here in Texas, they come from all over. They have Bandidos represented from all over the world," said a Bandidos specialist based in Houston.

The gang's decision not to rally supports the allegation by police in Ontario and Texas that the eight Bandidos were killed in a matter of "internal cleansing" after a deal cut between their gang and the Hells Angels that surrendered Canada to the Angels.

But Guy Ouellette, a retired Surete du Quebec investigator and an expert on biker gangs, said it's too early to write off the Bandidos in this country.

The gang's chapter in Toronto had 20 members, including those who were killed and Wayne Kellestine, the Bandido charged in the slayings, Ouellette said, citing recent analyses.

Several Bandidos serving lengthy sentences for drug trafficking and other offences related to Quebec's biker war might eventually join the chapter in Ontario when released, he said.

That option was part of a pact the Bandidos reached with the Hells Angels when the former agreed to shut their chapters in Quebec, Ouellette said.

Another slain Bandido with a Quebec connection was Luis Manny Raposo, 41, of Toronto, who was arrested during the Surete du Quebec's Project Amigo in June 2002. Although he spent more than a year in prison - and though several of his co-accused pleaded guilty or were convicted - Raposo was not brought to trial because, the prosecution said, the main police informant in the case refused to co-operate.

Witness named biker as killer in home Invasion 28 Yrs Ago

2010-07-08T18:55:00.000-04:00

Witness named biker as killer

04-15-2007

Accused Bandidos killer Wayne Kellestine was once named in court as the man who gunned down a Toronto clothier during a brazen home invasion 28 years ago.

But in spite of the dramatic courtroom accusation, Kellestine was never charged in the Toronto murder.

A senior Toronto police officer said at the time that the man's testimony was the only evidence against Kellestine.

Kellestine, one of five people charged after eight dead bikers were found 20 km from his farm on the weekend, was accused during a 1982 trial of fatally shooting John DeFilippo, 31, and wounding his father-in-law Vito Fortunato, then 53, in a 1978, North York home invasion.

BULLETS MISSED WIFE

Bullets just missed DeFilippo's wife and their infant son.

A one-time Kellestine associate -- a former London man whose role was to lure DeFilippo to the door by posing as a pizza delivery man -- was convicted of second-degree murder in the slaying and spent 10 years in prison.

The man, known as John Goodwin, testified that he came to Toronto with his drug supplier boss Kellestine for fun and had no idea the trip would end in murder.

He told his first-degree murder trial he was struggling with DeFilippo inside the door when Kellestine burst in and pumped bullets into DeFilippo and then into Fortunato.

He also testified that he had kept quiet in the four years prior to the trial because Kellestine had threatened him and his family.

"All my life I've grown up knowing that you don't squeal ... because squealers get killed," the man told a jury, which ultimately agreed with prosecutors that he was part of the killing anyway and should be convicted of second-degree murder.

"I didn't want to get killed and end up in a cornfield somewhere ... I had nothing to do with it. I'm innocent."

Kellestine, 56, himself a Bandidos bike gang member, and four friends -- Eric Niessen, 45, Brett Gardner, 21, Frank Mather, 32, and a woman, Kerry Morris, 56 -- face eight first-degree murder charges in the executions of six full-patch Bandidos, a prospect member and an associate.

Autopsy findings have still to be released in what OPP have said are the shooting deaths of John "Boxer" Muscedere, 48, Frank "Bam Bam" Salerno, 43, Luis Manny "Porkchop" Raposo, 41, George (Gus) "Crash" Kriarakis, 28, Paul Sinopoli, 30, George "Pony" Jesso, 52, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31.

Their bodies were found, along with four vehicles, near the small Ontario hamlet of Shedden, about 20 km from Kellestine's Iona Station farm.
Contacted last night, the former London man who was convicted and imprisoned in DeFilippo's slaying said he still fears for his safety.

The man, who has moved elsewhere in Canada and keeps a low profile, maintained his innocence in the DeFilippo murder.

Library files show the man was 23 when he said he and his construction company boss Kellestine came to Toronto to collect a drug debt.

He testified he and Kellestine, then-owner of Triple-K Construction in London, met up with a man named "Mike" in Toronto and drove to Fortunato's home. DeFilippo and Fortunato were watching a hockey game when a man, posing as a pizza man, knocked on the rear door.

WRESTLED WITH HIM

The man testified at two trials - the first was declared a mistrial - that when he told DeFilippo "Mike" wanted to see him in the car outside, DeFilippo wrestled with him.

"He grabbed hold of me, knocked the pizza out of my hand and we sort of struggled ... I heard a bang, a gun, and he let go off me and fell down."

The man testified that "Mr. Kellestine came in shooting."

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Law/200...533068-sun.html

MASSACRE A DRUG RIPOFF

2010-04-24T23:15:00.001-04:00

MASSACRE A DRUG RIPOFF

The night started with the transfer of $400,000 worth of cocaine to Wayne Kellestine's farmhouse and it ended with Ontario's largest mass murder.

Hours before Ontario's largest mass murder, Durham Region police officers followed three of eight Bandidos from the Toronto area to a southwestern Ontario farmhouse belonging to the man now charged with killing them, sources have told the Toronto Star.

Suspecting a major drug deal could be in the works, investigators tailed the trio west along Highway 401. But they were unaware the men were transporting a cargo of 200 kilograms of cocaine that night to fellow Bandido Wayne ( Weiner ) Kellestine's London-area farm, law enforcement sources say.

After watching the three men enter the farmhouse, the officers left, assuming the bikers were there for a party, the source said.

What transpired was a deadly drug ripoff that left the three Bandidos shot dead, their bodies stuffed into cars that were driven into a field. It's believed five other Bandidos arrived separately later that night, only to be systematically killed and their bodies similarly disposed of.

It's unclear whether the ripoff of $400,000 worth of cocaine was planned. It's believed the killings were going to be justified to fellow bikers as punishment for refusing to participate in a national "run," an outlaw motorcycle tradition involving members riding in formation according to club hierarchy.

Four others, including a woman, were each charged with eight counts of first-degree murder. They were to appear in a St. Thomas courtroom today.

More details, meanwhile, are emerging about Kellestine, who relished playing the role of a dangerous man.

The 56-year-old loved to pose in front of his collection of Nazi memorabilia in his rundown farmhouse, near Dutton, about a 20-minute drive from where police discovered the bodies of eight Toronto-area members of the Bandidos motorcycle gang on the weekend.

"His reputation is being an absolute renegade," said someone from the area who knows him well. "A dangerous, dangerous guy. He's always had that reputation."

Michael Simmons, who worked undercover for the Mounties and the OPP against motorcycle gangs 15 years ago, said he purchased cocaine and guns from Kellestine on several occasions and that his work helped put away 18 bikers, including his own brother, Andrew "Teach" Simmons -- onetime president of the Outlaws.

"I witnessed him shoot his girlfriend in the back with an air pistol just for a joke," said Simmons, who entered the witness protection program in 1992. "He pointed a .45-calibre at my big toe and asked me if I could blow it off, when I was trying to buy some cocaine off him."

On another occasion, Simmons said he witnessed Kellestine "come flying down the stairs" in a combat arctic suit, armed with an Uzi, after a motion detector was set off on his rural property during a party.

"There was a big party and he freaked out, went upstairs, and he was down and ready for full combat, and that scared the s--- out of me," Simmons recalled.

Before Kellestine was sentenced to two years in prison in 2000 for weapons offences and running a marijuana operation, the court was shown photos of him posing with his personal arsenal, which included machine guns and Luger pistols like those the Nazis used.

"He always had lots and lots and lots of guns," the person who knows him well said. "He had quite an arsenal of guns."

Kellestine loved to dress the part of a dirty biker, with lots of leather. But in court, he tried to dress like former New York City mobster John ( the Dapper Don ) Gotti.

"He always wore a three-piece suit to court," said the person who knows him well. "When he came to court, he presented himself as a professional gangster."

Kellestine was president of his own local bike gang, the Annihilators, which evolved into the Loners and was affiliated with Toronto-area Loners.

That group eventually evolved into the Bandidos, and Kellestine remained a member.

While considered a dangerous force in southwestern Ontario, he wasn't on the level of those in bigger bike gangs such as the Outlaws and Hells Angels, the person who knows him well said.

"He was never in with them," the person said. "He stuck with his own crowd. ... He's always been a renegade kind of guy."

Billy Miller, who was once part of the Loners with Kellestine, went on to become president of the London Hells Angels.

Kellestine's houseguest, Frank Mather, 32, is a far different man. He has a lengthy criminal record that includes eight break-and-enters but no violence. He served a three-year term in prison in his native New Brunswick and was on parole for possession of break-and-enter tools when arrested while trying to steal a truck.

He has never been a biker, and his consistent record of arrest suggests he would be a liability to any organized-crime group.

"He'd be a follower, not a leader," said someone from the area who knows him.

He did land a six-month sentence in 2002 for growing marijuana near London, and was convicted again in 2005 for possession of break-and-enter tools.

The person who knows Mather's criminal activity well said he can't see him taking the lead in any kind of organized-crime hit.

"It's not his play," the person said. "Frank Mather is no biker."

Guy Ouellette, a retired Quebec Provincial Police biker expert, said the Bandidos were irritating for the Hells Angels in southwestern Ontario.

He said it's too easy to pronounce the Bandidos dead, even though they have only a dozen members in Toronto -- who meet in a Parkdale social club -- and five members in Manitoba with a puppet club called Los Montoneros.

Drug rip-off triggered Bandidos slayings: author

2010-03-11T15:55:00.002-05:00

Alex Caine knows well the world of outlaw bikers.

The retired criminal investigator spent years of his life infiltrating biker gangs and spilling their secrets to law enforcement.

At different times, the Quebec-born Caine has lived among Hells Angels and Bandidos, repeatedly worn a wire and helped to bring down dozens of bikers on criminal charges.

In the 1980s, Caine infiltrated a Bandidos chapter in Bellingham, Wash., working his way up from a prospect -- the equivalent of being an intern in the biker world -- to the position of secretary treasurer at the national level.

He even got an official membership card that warns that Bandidos are "the people our parents warned us about."

It's given him a unique insider's perspective on the Bandidos -- the powerful worldwide motorcycle club that saw six of its members and associates convicted for the murders of eight bikers at an Ontario farm in April 2006.

Just over 5 months had passed since the Oct. 30 verdict, when four of the convicted men -- Dwight Mushey, Michael Sandham, Frank Mather, Wayne Kellestine, Brett Gardiner, and Marcelo Aravena -- launched appeals from inside prison.

In a new book, Caine has put forward a version of events that he believes spurred the massacre that took place near the small hamlet of Shedden, Ont., three-and-a-half years ago.

Caine's theory begins with an opportunistic drug rip-off that left a young Bandidos prospect open to retaliation and it ends with the well-known murders that made headlines across the country.

"There are eight dead guys and there are six guys accused of doing it," Caine said in a recent telephone interview with CTV.ca.

To Caine, those are the undisputed facts in the case.

"It's like layers on an onion," said Caine, explaining that he believes the real Shedden story to be a complex narrative with many storylines connected to one another.

In addition to taking a look at the Shedden killings, Caine's "The Fat Mexican: The Bloody Rise of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club," provides a detailed history of the 43-year-old club.

The book is named for the Bandidos logo -- a chubby cartoon character who wears a sombrero and is armed with both a knife and a gun.

Since it was formed in 1966, the motorcycle club has grown to global proportions, and now includes Bandidos chapters in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia.

The worldwide club's official website no longer lists any chapters in Canada and Caine's book suggests that any of the Canadian Bandidos that remained after the Shedden massacre "patched over" -- the biker-world term for switching allegiances -- to a rival motorcycle club.

Caine believes the trouble for the Ontario-based Bandidos started about a month before the infamous killings, when a young prospect was working a shift as a towtruck driver in west-end Toronto.

He says that Jamie Flanz, a 37-year-old man who lived in the town of Keswick, on Lake Simcoe, was the person who found the drugs.

An ex-bouncer, Flanz was working a shift for 52-year-old George Jessome, another one of the soon-to-be-victims of the Shedden massacre.

According to Caine, Flanz found a car parked illegally on the street in March 2006 and decided to tow it.

The car had Quebec plates and a gym bag inside its trunk filled with cocaine "in a quantity that had to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars."

But the drugs were owned by the Hells Angels, and Caine believes Flanz happened upon a delivery vehicle that was left alone for too long.

"The car ended up sitting unwatched for much longer than it should have -- long enough for a tired, bored, part-time tow-truck driver to come around and check it out," Caine writes in The Fat Mexican. "As soon as they realized their coke had gone missing, the Hells Angels started kicking down doors in Toronto looking for their lost product."

Caine says Flanz tried to broker a deal with another Bandidos member to sell the drugs.

From there, Caine describes a complicated series of biker-world interactions, which he believes eventually led to a group of Winnipeg-based Bandidos coming to the Shedden-area farm and wiping out the eight bikers from Toronto.

The last day Flanz was seen alive was the day he drove to the farm owned by Kellestine, the place where the eight men were murdered, placed in vehicles and dumped a few kilometers away.

Flanz travelled to the farm with Paul Sinopoli, 30, where both men would end up dead within a few hours, along with Jessome; George Kriarakis; 28, John Muscedere, 48; Luis Raposo, 41; Frank Salerno, 43 and 31-year-old Michael Trotta.

Flanz was actually followed to the farm by Durham Regional Police, who were watching the prospect as part of a murder investigation into the death of a 35-year-old Keswick drug dealer named Shawn Douse.

While the Durham officers never entered the farm that night, many of the phone conversations they had been secretly listening into for their investigation were later used in the trial that convicted the six men in the Shedden killings.

Douse's murder was later solved, with four other bikers connected to the Toronto Bandidos members pleading guilty to the act in January 2008. Flanz died before the first arrests were made in the case.

Caine admits that his theory about the cocaine theft was not explored at the recent trial which four of the convicted men are now appealing.

"What I would like people to understand is that I've presented an alternate set of events," he said, explaining the context of his book.

In any case, Caine stands by his research.

"Everything I say in that book is backed up, or else I wouldn't have said it," Caine said.

Joey Morin aka Joey Campbell

2010-03-08T20:53:00.001-05:00

Joey Morin aka Joey Campbell, 34, was shot to death January 30th, 2004.

Case status is open and active.

Late in the evening of January 30th, 2004 gunshots erupted in the parking lot of the Saint Pete's strip club at 11125 156 Street. Two men died as a result of the attack and police at the time feared the start of a war between rival motorcycle gangs.

Shot were 34-year-old Robert Charles Simpson, who died at the scene, and Joey Morin, who died in hospital the next day. The double homicide were Edmonton's third and fourth murders of 2004.

Police did not release any information on what calibre of weapon was used, how many shots were fired or how many times each man was shot.

Media reports quoted sources as saying there were multiple shots to almost every part of their bodies.

Morin was reported to be hit with as many as seven bullets, with one arm almost severed.

A criminologist speculated "Two guys, maximum four bullets, that's a professional hit and if the whole place was sprayed, then it was either done by really frightened amateurs or by another group trying to make a very serious point."

Witnesses reported seeing two vehicles speed away after the shooting.

Peter Bodenberger, Saint Pete's owner, said his club had no affiliation with gangs and said the shooting happened about 20 metres away from the club's entrance.

"We as a club had no involvement with the incident," he said. "We don't even get fights in the bar so this is very unusual. The staff is pretty upset."

Joey (Crazy Horse) Morin -- who changed his name from Joseph Robert Campbell in 2001 -- was a probationary member of the Bandidos motorcycle club, a Hells Angels' rival which was setting up a chapter in Edmonton.

Morin was long associated with the defunct Rebels club, which closed down in 1997 soon after the arrest of Scott Jamieson, the club's secretary-treasurer. Morin was also briefly a Hells Angel.

Sources close to the investigation suggested that Simpson was also associated with the Bandidos gang and was in Edmonton to help set up shop.

At the time of the killings the Bandidos web site identified Joey Morin as a "probationary" member and Robert Simpson as a "hangaround."

Morin worked for a floor-laying company and as an agent for Independent Artists, an Alberta-based firm that booked nude dancers for clubs throughout Western Canada.

The Saint Pete's club where he was murdered was an IA client. The exotic dancing industry has been traditionally been controlled by the Hells Angels.

In October 2004, the Bandidos patched over to the Angels in a quiet Red Deer ceremony. The Angels-Bandidos detente was already in place when Morin was shot.

More than 200 friends, family and business associates attended Morin's funeral held at an south-side Edmonton chapel on February 6th, 2004. On a flatbed outside the chapel was displayed Morin's chopper.

In attendance were a half-dozen Bandidos in full gang colour -- including John Muscedere, Paul Sinopoli, and George "Crash" Kriarakis.

Muscedere, Sinopoli and Kriarakis were among eight Bandidos murdered on April 8th, 2006 near Shedden, Ontario.

On March 23rd, 2001 a friend of Joey Morin was killed in a collision with a train.

Ken Mire, 46, drove his 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee into a southbound train at a marked level crossing on 114th Avenue west of 142nd Street.

Mire had been a member of motorcycle clubs for 20 years. He was a long-time Rebels motorcycle club member before he joined the Nomads chapter, which fell under the umbrella of the Hells Angels organization.

In July 1997 Morin and Rebels associate member Kevin Dale Ostaszewski were charged after a police raid on the gang's club house at 115th Avenue and 85th Street. Both faced one count each of obstructing a peace officer.

Acting on word that alcohol was allegedly being sold illegally, police obtained a search warrant for the club house.

Seized were more than 660 bottles of beer, 50 bottles of hard liquor, about $165 and two shotguns which were located behind the bar and not legally stored.

The arrests were made when Morin and Ostaszewski allegedly interfered with a police officer's attempt to locate money believed to have been obtained from the illegal sale of liquor.

Morin received a medal of bravery from the Governor General in 1991 for his role in the rescue of three people from a burning truck in October 1989 in Edmonton.

Morin and a friend, Eugene McLean, noticed that the back of a truck was on fire as they were driving through the Oliver district.

Morin grabbed Ron Pazder and pulled him to safety. Pazder said his son was also in the truck, so Morin and his friend returned to rescue the son, who said his friend was also in the truck. Morin went back a third time and was able to pull the friend from the flaming vehicle.

Bikers Linked To Gym Shooting

2010-03-08T15:40:00.008-05:00

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

The Bandidos began their move into Canada a decade ago, when they were wooed by members of the now-defunct Rock Machine gang, who were in the midst of a bloody war with the Hells Angels in Quebec over drug turf.

The Bandidos expanded into Ontario in the early 2000s, setting up their Toronto base in the basement of a Queen St. E. restaurant in south Riverdale.

They called themselves "The No Surrender Crew," a name they copied from a faction of fighters in the Irish Republican Army.

The King Township man who was shot dead outside a Richmond Hill fitness club Wednesday morning had dangerous enemies in biker gangs and the mob, sources say.

Jason (Jay) Pellicore, 34, of King Township, was also facing mortgage-fraud and weapons offences in Peel Region.

He had run afoul of a biker, who has since been drummed out of the Hells Angels for erratic behavior, after the biker accused him of taking his girlfriend. Pellicore’s contacts included York Region mobsters, sources say.

Pellicore had also talked about reviving the Bandidos biker gang north of Toronto, according to sources close to the York Region underworld.

In this week’s shooting, York Regional Police were called to 354 Newkirk Rd., south of Major Mackenzie Dr., after the sound of gunshots were heard.

Pellicore had no vital signs when his body was found by police and Emergency Medical Services personnel.

Sources say tensions are high between the local Hells Angels and Bandidos Motorcycle Clubs, especially since the shooting of three Hells Angels at a Vaughan strip club last December.

In that incident, David (Dred) Buchanan, 32, the sergeant-at-arms for the Hells Angels' west Toronto chapter was shot to death around 1 a.m. on Dec. 9 at the Club Pro, formerly the Pro Cafe, near Highway 7 and Jane St.

Security camera photos released by police show a suspect on a motorcycle or scooter.
Francisco (Frank, Cisco) Lenti, 59, faces second-degree murder charges for the shooting. His trial begins Sept. 7 in Woodbridge, and local Hells Angels may be called to testify about tensions between the clubs.

Lenti had been a member of the Bandidos, quit the club, and then tried to revive it after the murder of eight Bandidos in April 2006 outside London, Ont., in what police called “an internal cleansing” of the gang.

Two Hells Angels from the club’s Oshawa chapter face charges of attempting to murder Lenti, and police warned him last fall that his life was in danger.

Buchanan was the first Ontario Hells Angel member slain since the club moved into Ontario six years ago.

Carlos Virrilli, 28, a prospect in the west Toronto Hells Angels, and Dana Carnegie, 33, a full member of the same chapter, and former semi-professional hockey player with the Flint Generals, were both treated in hospital and released after the shooting.

Police are asking the public for help in identifying a suspect who was seen in the area at the time of this week’s homicide.

The suspect wore dark-colored clothing and rode a scooter or small motorcycle. His face was covered by a full face cover, mounted on a grey or light-colored helmet.

Jason (Jay) Pellicore, 34, One of the last Bandidos members on the GTA streets, was shot gangland-style outside Richmond Hill fitness club in August.

Pellicore was a former probationary member of the West Toronto Hells Angels, who quit the club after becoming irate about having to do menial chores at biker functions.

In the summer of 2006, he received a serious beating from West Toronto Hells Angels, the biker said.

Pellicore went to York Regional police two weeks before his murder to say he felt his life was in danger, the Star has learned.

He was about to stand trial in a mortgage fraud scheme. He had also run afoul of York Region mobsters by collecting mob debts without permission of local mobsters, the biker said.

Sometimes, Pellicore would pocket some of the money for himself and other times he would keep it all, the biker said.

Other times, people approached by Pellicore would contact police, which "burned" the mobsters, since it was then considered too risky to collect the money.

His murder remains unsolved.

They were originally calling this person a 'person of interest', but he now appears to be more than that. And the vehicle he was driving wasn't your usual van or automobile. He was operating a moped or a motorbike. Police also don't have a motive and no other information has been released about the victim, Jason Pellicore.

Police are hoping video surveillance will allow them to hone in on the man. But they're not hopeful it will show his face. He was apparently wearing a helmet with a full cover down over his visage.

UPDATE: People interviewed at the Fitness Club indicated that he used to talk about the Bandido bike gang although he was not a member of the club but a "friend." If this is true it might explain the "hit".

FURTHER UPDATE: The Star suggests through "underworld" sources that Pellicore had gotten jnto the bad books of a former Hells Angels who had accused him of taking his girlfriend. Pellicore had also talked about reviving the Bandidos biker gang north of Toronto. Pellicore was also facing mortgage-fraud and weapons offenses in Peel Region. Not such a nice guy as earlier reported.

2010-03-08T15:29:00.000-05:00

Massacre of Bandidos Motorcycle Club members sheds more light on the lives of several York Region residents connected to the club.
Friday, 5 February 2010

The Bandido Massacre: A True Story of Bikers, Brotherhood and Betrayal, was compiled after three years of interviews and trial coverage said author and Toronto Star crime reporter Peter Edwards. The book published Tuesday.massacre of Bandidos Motorcycle Club members sheds more light on the lives of several York Region residents connected to the club. The outlaw biker club is perhaps best known publicly in Ontario for a mass murder and subsequent trial, which concluded late last year with the conviction of six men, after the bodies of eight bikers were found near Shedden, ON.
Among those murdered in 2006 were York residents Paul "Big Paul" Sinopoli, 30, of Jackson's Point, the secretary-general of the Bandidos Toronto chapter and Jamie "Goldberg" Flanz, 37, of Keswick.
The book offers a rare glimpse into the often insular biker realm. But rather than just its seedy, dark image, Mr. Edwards paints a different picture of some of the men.For instance, Mr. Flanz, owned a computer business and was a Bandido prospect for six months before his death, and Toronto's George Kriarakis, who reportedly had a strong marriage, likely wanted camaraderie, according to Mr. Edwards.In late October, six men, Wayne Kellestine, Frank Mather, along with Winnipeg residents Marcelo Aravena, Brett Gardiner, Michael Sandham - a former police officer - and Dwight Mushey were found guilty for their roles in the killings.The Texas headquarters of the club was upset with the Canadians for breaching club rules. The night of the murder, there was an attempt to rescind the membership of several men, Mr. Edwards wrote.Even before the Bandidos massacre, Mr. Flanz's home was connected to another violent incident.In December 2005, a 20-year-old woman, who is now in witness protection and who Mr. Edwards referred to as Mary Thompson, was in a home on Hattie Court, in Gerogina, owned by Mr. Flanz.Ms Thompson had experienced a rough home life and a car accident and a high school friend of hers recommended Flanz's home as a good place to stay, he said.
She got a room upstairs and had been there a few weeks when Keswick resident Shawn Douse, who Mr. Edwards described as a husband, father and drug dealer, arrived at the home. Mr. Flanz was not home at the time.After a confrontation about drugs, Mr. Douse was taken into the basement. Upstairs, Ms Thompson could hear Mr. Douse screaming, Mr. Edwards wrote.
Mr. Douse's body was later found in a north Pickering field.Four men, who Mr. Edwards has described as connected to the Bandidos, including Keswick resident Cameron Acorn, a Bandido, and former Keswick resident Bobby Quinn as well as Randy Brown of Jackson's Point, were later convicted in connection with Mr. Douse's death. An Oakville man was also convicted.Mr. Flanz had nothing to do with the death of Mr. Douse, according to Mr. Edwards.Mr. Flanz's home was simply a "good place to meet", Mr. Edwards said.Mr. Flanz had a good rapport with Ms Thompson, the book states."He was like a big brother," Mr. Edwards said. "(Ms Thompson) was terrified the next day, she listened to the beating, which was really traumatic and then the next morning she has to clean up the blood. Her reaction was more emotional more than anything else. There was also a real fear for her life ... that she's a witness and not really part of the group."In the book, Mr. Edwards thanks Mr. Douse's father for reminding him of the human toll the murder took.
Meanwhile, Mr. Edwards said Mr. Sinopoli weighed several hundred pounds and constantly fretted about his health. Mr. Edwards describes Mr. Sinopoli, a former security guard, as having "dabbled in selling drugs".However, he was well like, Mr. Edwards said.While acknowledging the men were outlaws, Mr. Edwards said it was important to show that they were also people."A lot of them are like people we went to high school with," he said. "They might not have been on the honour roll but they were still human. A lot of them, if they stayed around a little bit longer, they probably would have floated out of it. Sometimes it's the situation that makes people the way they are."
York Regional Police is monitoring the activities of outlaw biker groups in the region, investigative services Insp. Richard Crabtree said.Today, there are two outlaw biker clubhouses in York, including one in Keswick and one in King Township, York police said.Meanwhile, Mr. Edwards also writes about Francesco "Cisco" Lenti, a Vaughan man who court records show was the subject of a Hells Angels plot to curb his attempts at Bandidos expansion. In 2008, Mr. Lenti pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the shooting death of David John "Dread" Buchanan the sergeant at arms for the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club West Toronto chapter and aggravated assault for the wounding of another Hells Angel and a then-prospect member of the club. The shooting took place at a Vaughan club."He's what someone would call a one-percenter's one-percenter," Mr. Edwards said of Mr. Lenti, referring to the term by which some motorcycle riders identify themselves or are identified as being outlaws."If Lenti had been listened to, the massacre probably wouldn't have happened," Mr. Edwards said. "Lenti had a really strong, uneasy feeling about Sandham. There was something in his antennae about Sandham that he didn't trust."Mr. Edwards said he finds it unlikely that the Bandidos will make a push to expand into Ontario again soon. According to Mr. Edwards, the club is headquartered in the United States.
"The best of them were murdered and the worst of them went to prison for the murders," he said

The Bandido Massacre: A "So-Called" True Story of Bikers, Brotherhood and Betrayal

2010-03-05T20:49:00.017-05:00

Message from Boxer’s Brother
February 20th, 2010

Joe Muscedere, the younger brother of murdered Canadian Bandido president John (Boxer) Muscedere, wasn’t able to attend court to give his victim impact statement in the fall of 2009. He asked me to post it on my website:

Your honor, jury members, people of the court or the Parole board, my name is Joe Muscedere, brother of John Muscedere, also known as Boxer.

What you didn’t hear in this trial, was how my brother John took his factory pay check and provided for Wayne’s [convicted killer Wayne Kellestine's] family when Wayne was in jail on a previous conviction. Making provisions for the same family that Wayne whisked away before the morning of April 8th.

What you didn’t hear in this trial was how the No Surrender Crew [Toronto Bandidos chapter], with their donations, paid up Wayne’s past due mortgage payments so he would not lose his farm house. The same farm house that they would all later be murdered at.

What you didn’t hear in this trial was that Wayne’s motorcycle was a gift from Chopper [Luis Manny (Chopper) Raposo]. Chopper as you all have heard was the first to die, during which Wayne performed his first Deutsch song and dance routine of the night of the killings.

When I decipher the patch’s that these accused wore or tried to wear alongside the No Surrender Crew, the one that stands out the most to me is L.L.R. (Love Loyalty and Respect). I stand here today and know that these accused have never had Love, Loyalty and Respect for anyone or anything. They are liars and a disgrace, with no idea what Love, Loyalty and Respect mean.

During the trial and prior they pointed fingers at each other and everyone else but themselves for self preservation. They don’t care who they bring down or endanger as they try to slither to freedom, as any snake would do.

These crimes were not the result of 8 accumulated errors in judgment or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were planned and calculated executions. The executions were deliberate and spanned over 5 hours to complete. During this time they confined these men and tortured them physically, and mentally. Recall the anti-Semetic abuse of [Jamie] Flanz, the dancing to the Deutsch song, the mock kneeling to join in prayer as some prisoners knelt after the first man shot, Chopper bled to death.

I am not here to dimension the hurt this has caused, or the new memories that will be no more, especially with the kids and grand kids. I am sure the other family members you will hear from will do that. I am here to underscore the fact that these were supposed to be friends and brothers not enemies.

They violated the code of brotherhood and friendship as well as committing cold blooded murder.

These murders were a culmination of a life each one of these accused was living that added no value to society. These men only take. Whether it was being a dishonest cop, drug dealer, thug, murderer or sociopath they only took from our society. Now we the people say ENOUGH! You will not take anymore and you will be punished for taking these lives.

If any of these people are released, would they change and add value to society or their families or would they continue to take? Once these criminals officially graduate to their perspective penitentiaries, another trial may start. There is honor even amongst thieves and a code amongst criminals which they have all violated. In other words this behavior isn’t even condoned by hardened prisoners. Why then should we condone it?

My father Domenico was never the same once John died. No one wants to outlive their children. Even though John was laid to rest 50 miles away, my father would visit him often and cry. Thirteen months after John’s death my father died totally unexpectedly. How does extreme sorrow affect a father’s health, state of mind and will to live? I don’t know for sure but I do know it is a heavy weight to carry every day, every moment and every second.

My mother, the kids; Julie, Tereasa, Angelina, Johnny, Steven; the grandkids; Julina, Anthony, Anasia, Rihanna will never have a Son, Dad or Nonno to turn to in times of happiness or sadness and I have lost my big brother. John was a one of a kind; he loved with all his heart and was loved by all of us.

I know why my brother laughed as he faced his final moments. He knew they were all a joke, especially Wayne. John Boxer Muscedere died with his dignity, his honor and his values intact. I will never forget John and always Love him. He was my big brother. I will protect and provide for his family just like he would have done for mine.

Please keep these murderers behind bars and stop them from causing more harm.

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About The Book

On the morning of April 8, 2006, residents of the hamlet of Shedden, Ontario, woke up to the news that the bloodied bodies of eight bikers from the Bandidos gang had been found stuffed into cars and trucks by a local farm. The massacre made headlines around the world, and the shocking news brought a grim light to an otherwise quiet corner of the Canadian province. The day after the bodies were discovered, Bandido Wayne “Weiner” Kellestine was arrested for the murders of their own crew in what remains as one of the worst mass murders in Canadian history and the largest one-day slaughter anywhere in the outlaw biker world.

The story of the biker massacre is alternately frightening and pathetic. Like other outlaw bikers, Bandidos portray themselves as motorcycle enthusiasts who are systematically misunderstood and abused by police and feared by the public. However, unlike other biker gangs such as the Hells Angels, who run highly sophisticated criminal empires, the Bandidos were anything but motorcycle enthusiasts—in fact, many of them broke the gang’s cardinal rule of even riding a Harley. Highly disorganized, prone to petty infighting and sabotage of fellow members, and—fatally—dismissive of the warnings of the powerful American leadership, the Canadian club, known as the No Surrender Crew, imploded over one dark night when, one by one, the former brothers were led to slaughter.

Peter Edwards was on the scene as the story broke and has followed the proceedings from the arrests in 2006 to the highly publicized court case in 2009, when all six defendants were found guilty of first-degree murder. He spoke with mass murderer Wayne (Weiner) Kellestine hours after the murders and interviewed outlaw bikers and cops, on the streets and behind bars, to research this story. He also covered the trial of the killers and related trials, from start to finish.

The Bandido Massacre tells, in chilling detail, how Nazi-loving Kellestine betrayed his fellow Bandidos at his farm outside of quiet Iona Station, Ontario; and how Michael “Taz” Sandham, a former theology student and police officer turned biker, found himself in the rafters of Kellestine’s barn with his rifle trained on his former comrades. But The Bandido Massacre also tells the very human side of the story, of John “Boxer” Muscedere, the head of the Toronto Bandidos, who laughed even as he ordered Kellestine to kill him first in a vain attempt to save his brothers; George “Crash” Kriarakis, wounded in the opening volley and shot dead as he sat in a car awaiting a ride to the hospital; and Jamie “Goldberg” Flanz, the only Jewish member of the Canadian crew, made to wait at the end of the line as his brothers were marched out of the barn into the early morning darkness.

As gripping as any crime novel, The Bandido Massacre is the shocking inside story of a crumbling brotherhood bent on self-destruction and betrayal.

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Excerpts
Abbreviated Introduction

THE SHEDDEN MASSACRE WAS NOT THE WORK of criminal masterminds. As a whodunit, the story of the murder of eight members of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club by fellow members in a barn outside London, Ont., could be told in a few sentences. But look at it as a whydunit, and it becomes a mystery of fascinating complexity. Not even outlaw biker insiders have an easy answer for this. Police, family members, even rival gangs can only shake their heads.

On the surface, the slaughter is patently absurd. In order to gain control of the club in Canada, the killers destroyed it. Instead of expediting their dreams of wild freedom and rough-hewn glory, the crimes quickly landed the ambitious Bandidos in prison. It was as though the killers were fighting for a bigger share of nothing. An agonizing irony is that several of their victims secretly wanted to quit the club anyway, but stayed on under the threat of violence. All they would have had to do was hand in their patches, and all the men who converged on Wayne Kellestine’s blighted farm near the hamlet of Shedden on the night of April 7, 2006 – both the betrayers and the betrayed – would today be leading the lives they dreamed of. But some shared underworld code doomed them all. Because the unfolding of this tragedy is so pointless, the why is that much more poignant.

During the more than three years of interviews and trial coverage to prepare The Bandido Massacre, I often thought of the irony of how many rules it takes to run a club devoted to freedom and life outside the law. In the end, the Bandidos were as bound by rules as the rest of us, perhaps more so. As I typed what appears here, I couldn’t help thinking of the lyrics of Bob Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody,” where he notes everyone, barbers to presidents, inevitably ends up serving someone or something. He could have added outlaw bikers to his list.

Perhaps the best explanation I could find for the carnage that came to light in Shedden comes from the writings of cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker. He wrote in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Denial of Death that much of what men do – from fathering children to attempting to produce timeless art to death-defying acts of heroism – is an attempt to win some illusion of immortality. Becker argued men routinely join groups where they can feel uplifted by shared heroic dreams, and which promise an intoxicating rush of power and heroism. Some join sports teams, political parties, faculty clubs, fraternities or religious sects, while some write books. Others, like the men who met at midnight at Kellestine’s barn, join outlaw motorcycle clubs.

Chapter 1

Church

It is now dead midnight.Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh. Richard III, Act 5, Scene 5

Kill ‘em all, let God sort it out - Sign in Wayne (Weiner) Kellestine’s window

JAMIE (GOLDBERG) FLANZ DIDN’T SUSPECT A THING when the surveillance car slipped behind his luxury sport utility vehicle as he drove out of Keswick, north of Toronto. With him in the grey Infiniti FX3 was Paul (Big Paul) Sinopoli, a gargantuan full-patch member of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, and when Big Paul was around, it was hard to notice anything or anybody else, since he all but blocked out the sun.

Flanz had just been a prospect member of the Bandidos, the lowest rung on the club’s ladder, for six months. His lowly status meant he was required to be on call for round-the-clock errands like fetching hamburgers and cigarettes or chauffeuring full members like Big Paul. Prospective members like Flanz generally performed such grunt work without complaint, in hopes that they too would someday be allowed to wear a “Fat Mexican” patch on their backs to announce that they were full members in the second-largest motorcycle club in the world, behind only the Hells Angels.

Given their difference in rank, it made sense that Flanz had the chore of driving Big Paul to the emergency club meeting at Wayne (Weiner) Kellestine’s barn in tiny Iona Station (population 100) in rural southwestern Ontario on the evening of Friday, April 7, 2006. Club meetings were called “church,” “holy night,” “the barbecue” or “dinner,” and attendance at this particular gathering was mandatory, much to Big Paul’s chagrin. Weiner Kellestine’s barn was a couple hours’ drive from the Greater Toronto Area, where most chapter members lived, and Big Paul was only attending because senior members had made it clear that if he didn’t, he would likely be kicked out of the club.

The York Regional Police surveillance team had been quietly tailing Flanz and Big Paul for almost four months, since shortly after a man walking his dogs in neighbouring Durham Region on December 8, found the body of a small black male bound, gagged and badly burned in a forested area near the York-Durham Region Line. The grisly corpse was all that remained of small-time drug dealer Shawn Douse. The reason Flanz and Big Paul were on the police radar was a simple one: the last time Douse was seen alive, he was stepping out of a cab late on the night of Saturday, December 2, to attend a party at a townhouse in Keswick owned by Flanz.

In many respects, Goldberg Flanz seemed an unlikely target for a police surveillance crew probing a particularly grubby and violent murder. With his shaved head, goatee, pirate-styled hooped earring and muscled-up football lineman’s physique, Flanz looked intimidating enough. However, if you stopped to look into his eyes, the tough-guy effect quickly evaporated. Once you saw his smile and his eyes, his bruiserish appearance seemed nothing more than a carefully constructed persona, much like the performance of his namesake, the professional wrestler Goldberg. He was only playing tough.

Flanz was the rare Toronto-area outlaw biker who didn’t have blue-collar roots or a trade that involved soiling his hands. In real life, he had far more money and social status than his biker mentor, Big Paul. Flanz’s father, Leonard, was a senior partner in a prestigious Montreal law firm, specializing in insolvency cases, while Goldberg ran a small computer consulting business that provided on-site technical support to companies. While most of the Ontario Bandidos didn’t qualify for credit cards and lived on the brink of having their cellphones cut off, Goldberg owned a couple of properties, one for his real family and another as a hangout for his Bandido friends. His “Goldberg” nickname was a not-so-subtle reminder that he was Jewish, which also made him an odd fit in his circle of friends in the outlaw biker work. It was hard to think of any other Jews in Canada’s outlaw biker world, but there were hardcore anti-Semites, including the man they were going to visit that night, Weiner Kellestine, who once ran a gang called the Holocaust.

Weiner Kellestine was under two lifetime weapons bans, but remained an enthusiastic collector of Nazi memorabilia and military weapons, including machine guns, pistols, bayonets, knives and explosives. He encouraged rumours that he was a biker assassin by signing his name with lightning bolts resembling the insignia of Adolf Hitler’s Schutzstaffel, the Nazi murder squad more commonly referred to as the SS. Lest that not be unsettling enough, Kellestine surrounded himself with skinhead white supremacists and once cut a massive swastika onto his farm field with a scythe. He ran a business called Triple K Securities, a not-so-subtle nod to the initials of the Ku Klux Klan. Triple K offered “complete electronic privacy,” “telephone taps,” electronic sweeps for hidden recording devices and “discreet professional service.” When he gave Goldberg a business card, Kellestine wrote “SS” on the back with his phone number.

Many members of the Bandidos are considered by police to be criminals, but there was no sound business purpose for Flanz to be cozying up to the Bandidos. Truth be told, the Toronto Bandidos may have had the ambition, but most of the profitable crime was being committed by other groups, who worked hard at being criminals. Part of Goldberg Flanz’s appeal to the Toronto-area Bandidos was that they could borrow money from him. The attraction the Bandidos held for Goldberg was harder to define. He might be a whiz with computers and have solid business sense, but he saw himself as more complex than that, and something about the dangerous image of an outlaw motorcycle club appealed to him in a way he couldn’t fully understand.

Aside from Kellestine, most of Goldberg Flanz’s Greater Toronto Area biker buddies didn’t have a problem with the fact that he was a Jew. They might have cringed, however, had they read his profile in an Internet chat room, where he looked for love under the code name BigDaddyRogue. At the very least they would have teased him mercilessly, had they read how he wrote, using horrible grammar and spelling: “If you are stong [sic] enough to love you have more strength then most. I have that strength, the will, and the confidence to give what I expect in return. IM a diehard romantic who beleives in giving all of HImself when he finds that somone special.” He went on to describe himself as “a strong Man” who was searching “for something most seem to have forsaken … true love.” He didn’t exactly describe himself as an outlaw biker, but came close, writing, “This Man comes with a Harley.” He also said in the online profile that he believed in happy endings, writing of himself, “He is a romantic diehard who still believes in finding His fairy tale.”

There was no record of his friend and mentor Big Paul Sinopoli also being a diehard romantic, unless one counted an enthusiastic love affair with large plates of food and biker brotherhood. Big Paul was thirty years old, but still lived with his folks in a basement apartment of their ranch-style home, set among a thicket of trees in Jacksons Point, north of Toronto.

No one could remember Big Paul ever having a long-standing girlfriend, or any friends at all, for that matter, apart from other bikers. He was chummy with a few local Hells Angels, but kept this quiet, as Bandidos and Hells Angels were supposed to be mortal enemies. A one-time security guard and salesman at a sporting goods store, Big Paul dabbled in selling drugs, but didn’t make enough money at it to move out into a place of his own. Those who knew him appreciated his quick, easy sense of humour and apparent absence of ego. Those qualities made his bulk less threatening, and some women who knew him called him “the big teddy bear.” Once, he pointed to a black Bandidos T-shirt that was tightly stretched across his abdomen, smiled broadly and asked biker cops who were standing nearby, “Does this make me look fat?”

Privately, Big Paul was extremely insecure about his massive weight, estimated at somewhere on the hefty side of four hundred pounds. He had been teased about it since his childhood, when he emigrated to Canada from his birthplace of Argentina. He had occasionally talked wistfully about returning to South America to rediscover his roots, but his more immediate concern was shedding a couple of hundred pounds to stave off what seemed to be an inevitable heart attack. Although Big Paul was a full member of an outlaw motorcycle club, he wasn’t particularly interested in motorcycles, and still hadn’t paid off his second-hand Harley-Davidson. He was rarely seen on it, since it was in no better shape than Big Paul. Perhaps he also knew he would look like a bear in the circus riding it.

While Big Paul didn’t love motorcycles, he revelled in his version of the biker lifestyle, which offered massive men like himself the prospect of respect, in addition to ridiculous nicknames like “Tiny” rather than the “Fatso” or “Hey you” they might hear in the outside world. A Bandidos patch had a way of covering over some pretty glaring imperfections. As fellow club member Glenn (Wrongway) Atkinson noted, “How many guys that weigh four hundred pounds get laid that often?”

That evening, Goldberg Flanz, Big Paul and the police surveillance team snaked their way south down Highway 404, west on Highway 407, and then onto Highway 401. When the Infiniti pulled close to the town of Milton, northwest of Toronto, the York Regional officers peeled off, leaving the pursuit to a team of five officers from neighbouring Durham Region. Those officers were in a minivan and tow trucks and took turns travelling in front of and behind the Infiniti, making them hard for the bikers to pick out, even if they had been looking.

The surveillance team lost sight of the Infiniti for almost half an hour, before finding it again at an Esso station just west of Woodstock at 9: 30 p.m. The bikers were none the wiser, and when the officers spotted Goldberg once again, he was talking with two other men. A police officer pumped gas into his tank nearby as the two men got into a silver Volkswagen Golf. Flanz didn’t bother to fill his tank as he also drove away. The Volkswagen was already familiar to the Durham Region officers working on Project Douse, and they knew it was registered to Luis Manny (Chopper, Porkchop) Raposo, a full-patch member of the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos, who grandly called themselves the No Surrender Crew. Chopper was with another man they would later learn was Giovanni (John, Boxer) Muscedere, Canadian president of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club.

Chopper Raposo was a different sort of biker than Big Paul or Goldberg Flanz. Even though he was considerably smaller than the other two men, his eyes could take on a glassy, crazed quality, and at those times he looked like a man who would shoot first, and often. Chopper Raposo could be painfully polite and respectful, especially on the phone, but whenever he was photographed in biker social settings, he always seemed to be grinning dangerously and giving someone the finger.

It was a hard-edged image for a forty-one-year-old who still lived at home with his parents, in the upper floor of their brick home in Toronto’s Kensington Market area. With its big-screen television, glass chandelier, full bathroom and kitchen, Chopper’s place seemed like a tony urban loft, and it didn’t hurt things that his parents paid for his motorcycle insurance as well. Chopper was a good-looking man, and there had been a number of women in his life, but none rivalled his mother for strength or love, although no one would dare call Chopper Raposo a momma’s boy.

Raposo held the rank of el secretario, or secretary-treasurer, of the club’s Toronto chapter, the only full chapter of the Bandidos in Canada. Despite his druggy demeanour, there was no doubt that he took Bandido club business extremely seriously and personally. That night, his briefcase contained club paperwork, including a membership list with the nicknames of all of the No Surrender Crew, as well as “Taz” and “D,” referring to Michael Sandham and Dwight Mushey of Winnipeg. There was also a chart showing who owed what in terms of club dues, and a printout of an insulting email he had recently received from Taz Sandham, president of the probationary Winnipeg Bandidos chapter. Also in Chopper’s briefcase was a loaded sawed-off shotgun, which looked like a pirate’s oversized pistol. Club rules forbade such weapons at “church” meetings, but some instinct told Chopper he was justified in carrying hidden and deadly firepower this night.

Boxer Muscedere had agreed for the meeting to be held at Kellestine’s barn, even though it was an inconvenient drive for the Torontonians. The No Surrender Crew didn’t have a clubhouse to call their own, and Kellestine had pushed hard for the meeting to be held in his barn. Boxer and Kellestine had been friends for decades, and Boxer was loyal to a fault where his friends were concerned. In Boxer’s world view, Kellestine was his brother, warts and all, and nothing trumped brotherhood. Boxer could sense Kellestine was tense about something, but didn’t seem too concerned. Kellestine was often tense about something. Unlike Chopper Raposo, Boxer went unarmed to the farm that night.
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Extended Chronology

1936—Outlaws Motorcycle Club forms in Chicago area as a racing, touring and partying fraternity.

1947—After a biker riot claims headlines, the president of the American Motorcycle Association tells the press that 99 percent of motorcyclists are law abiding. The Pissed Off Bastards of Bloomington, a California motorcycle club, love the quote and immediately sew badges on their leather jackets which read “1 %er.” Other particularly rebellious biker clubs join in, also adopting the patches. A year later, the Pissed Off Bastards change their names to Hells Angels, adopting the moniker of American World War II bomber crews.

Summer 1965—Former U.S. Marine Donald Eugene Chambers and fellow dockworkers in the small Texas fishing village of San Leon form a motorcycle club. The next summer, they began calling themselves the Bandidos. Chambers is originally an admirer of the Hells Angels, who have no chapters in the Texas Gulf area.

Friday, July 1, 1977—The U.S.–based Outlaws Motorcycle Club become the first international biker gang to move into Canada, patching over four chapters of the Satan’s Choice club in Ontario and Quebec.

Monday, December 5, 1977—The Hells Angels move into Canada when the Montreal-based gang the Popeyes patch over—or switch allegiances—to their club. Hells Angels and Outlaws have a sometimes bloody rivalry.

Sunday, September 2, 1984 (Father’s Day in Australia)—Three members of the Australian Comancheros motorcycle club, three Bandidos, and a fourteen-year-old girl are killed in brawl involving guns and machetes at at the Viking Tavern in the Sydney suburb of Milperra. The violence flowed from the decision of some Comancheros to leave their club and form the first international chapter of the Bandidos.

Sunday, March 24, 1985—Guy-Louis Adam, Guy Geoffrion, Laurent Viau, Jean-Pierre Mathieu and Michel Mayrand, formerly of the Montreal North chapter of the Hells Angels, are invited to a “church” or club meeting at the Angels’ Lennoxville compound in Sherbrooke, Quebec, only to be slaughtered and dumped in the St. Lawrence River, wrapped in sleeping bags. Their crimes were excessive drug use, violence and stealing money from the club. After the killers go to prison, the compound is renovated and improved. Because of the high level of violence in the province, Quebec becomes known in the Canadian biker world as a “red zone.”

June 1997—The Rock Machine Motorcycle Club is locked in a bloody war with the Hells Angels over drug-trafficking turf, and is badly outnumbered. Rock Machine founders Johnny Plescio, Fred Faucher and Robert (Tout Tout) Léger fly to Sweden to meet with Scandinavian members of the Bandidos, hoping to gain support from the international club. They’re immediately ejected from the country by police.

July 1997—Hells Angels open new chapters in Alberta, based in Calgary and Edmonton, giving them a coast-to-coast presence in Canada.

Thursday, September 25, 1997—A truce is announced in the three-year-old Scandinavian war between the Bandidos and Hells Angels, after eleven people were killed and ninety-six were injured. Canadian Rock Machine members are impressed that the Bandidos stood up to the Hells Angels and survived.

Monday, September 7, 1998—Hells Angels open a Saskatchewan chapter, based in Saskatoon.

April 1999—The Rock Machine bolsters its strength, as the club is given hangaround status with the Bandidos Motorcycle Club. It is sponsored by European Bandidos, who are sometimes at odds with the club’s Texas mother chapter. It is a complicated relationship, as the Canadians are still considered under the wing of Texas, even though their sponsors are from Scandinavia.

June 1999—The tiny Annihilators Motorcycle Club of southwestern Ontario folds into the much larger Loners club of Richmond Hill, north of Toronto. The Annihilators were led by Wayne (Weiner) Kellestine of Iona Station, and members included Kellestine’s longtime friend, Giovanni (John, Boxer) Muscedere of Chatham.

April 2000—Notes from Dany Kane, a Quebec member of a Hells Angels support club and police agent, record that David (Wolf) Carroll of the elite Hells Angels Nomads wants him to kill members of the Loners Motorcycle Club in the Greater Toronto Area, and has given him photographs of Loners to identify his targets. Shortly afterwards, Kane says that Carroll has aborted the plan, saying too many people know about it.

Friday, December 1, 2000—Ontario Rock Machine chapters become a probationary Bandidos chapter during a ceremony at a banquet hall on Jane Street in Vaughan, north of Toronto. The Loners provide security as forty-five probationary Bandidos patches are handed out. Shortly afterwards, Canadian Bandidos president Alain Brunette extends an olive branch to the rival Hells Angels, saying he and his Bandidos “want the situation to stay quiet for a long time.”

Friday, December 22, 2000—The Hells Angels open a Manitoba chapter, patching over an existing club, the Los Bravos. This anchors their status as the dominant club on the Prairies.

Friday, December 29, 2000—Some 168 members of Ontario motorcycle clubs—including the Satan’s Choice, Para-Dice Riders, Lobos, Loners and Last Chance—arrive at the Hells Angels’ bunker-like clubhouse in Laval, outside Montreal, to be granted membership in the Hells Angels. The Greater Toronto Area suddenly vaults from having no Hells Angels clubhouses to having the largest concentration of chapters in the world, with a half-dozen within a fifty-mile radius. Canada now has the second-highest number of Hells Angels in the world, behind only the U.S. Not all of the Toronto Loners or Para-Dice Riders are included in the “patchover.”

Tuesday, May 22, 2001—In what is considered a hostile move against the Hells Angels, twelve members of the Loners chapters in Richmond Hill and Woodbridge, Ontario, become probationary Bandidos.

Saturday, December 1, 2001—Probationary Loners and Rock Machine members become full-patch members of the Bandidos, including Giovanni (John, Boxer) Muscedere, Luis Manny (Chopper, Porkchop) Raposo, George (Crash) Kriarakis, Frankie (Bam Bam, Bammer) Salerno and Wayne (Weiner) Kellestine.

Sunday, March 10, 2002—Police pull over a car on Highway 401 near Kingston, Ontario. One of the passengers, career criminal Daniel Lamer, opens fire and is killed. With him is Marc Bouffard, of the Hells Angels support club the Rockers, who is unharmed. In their car, police find four handguns, a bulletproof vest, silencer, balaclava and pictures of Bandidos Canada president Alain Brunette and his vehicle. They also find photos of several members of the Bandidos from southwestern Ontario, suggesting they were targeted for murder as well.

Spring 2002—Muscedere is promoted to vice-presidente of the Ontario Bandidos.

June 2002—Severely depleted by police raids, the Bandidos promote Muscedere to Canadian presidente. He has only been an outlaw biker for five years.

July 2004—Muscedere tours western Canada, hoping to pave the way for expansion.

August 2004—Kellestine is freed from prison after serving time for gun and drug charges, and is given the title of Bandidos Canada national sergeant-at-arms, or sargento de armas. He’s uncomfortable that he now holds less power in the club than his former sidekick Muscedere.

September 2004-Michael (Taz, Tazman, Little Beaker) Sandham, living in Winnipeg, Manitoba is looking to recruit members for a new Bandidos Chapter.

October 28, 2004-Michael Sandham and 2 of the 3 recruits head to Toronto to get acceptance and the go ahead to start a new Chapter in Winnipeg. They are brought into the fold on October 29th after a Church Meeting but are under Toronto's control due to lack of members.

Thursday, June 9, 2005—As part of a massive sweep, George (Bandido George) Wegers, El Presidente of the Bandidos Nation, is arrested in Washington State and charged with a long list of crimes, including kidnapping, drug trafficking, extortion and witness tampering.

Saturday, June 25, 2005—Michael (Taz, Tazman, Little Beaker) Sandham, president of the Winnipeg probationary chapter of the Bandidos, attends a party at Kellestine’s farm near London, Ontario. Sandham, an ex-cop, goes home frustrated, after failing to elevate his chapter above probationary status.

Thursday, December 8, 2005—The badly burned body of drug dealer Shawn Douse is found northwest of Toronto. Shortly afterwards, police begin surveillance of Bandidos and associates in Keswick, north of Toronto.

Friday, February 3, 2006—Réjean Lessard is given temporary leave from minimum-security facility in Laval, Quebec. Lessard, who had been known as “Zig-Zag” during his Hells Angels days, was serving five first-degree murder sentences for ordering the 1985 Lennoxville Massacre, in which five former members of the Laval chapter were murdered and dumped in the St. Lawrence River in sleeping bags. Lessard says he is now a vegetarian and a devout Buddhist, telling the National Parole Board, “You can’t be a Buddhist and be in that milieu.”

Saturday, April 8, 2006—Bodies of eight bikers connected to the No Surrender Crew of the Toronto area are found in vehicles abandoned off a farm laneway, near the hamlet of Shedden in southwestern Ontario. They had all been shot in the head, execution-style.

Thursday, September 28, 2006—Remond (Ray) Akleh, of the Hells Angels’ elite Ottawa-based Nomads chapter, and Mark Cephes Stephenson, president of the Oshawa chapter, are charged with conspiring to murder Frank (Cisco) Lenti, who had been trying to restart the Bandidos Motorcycle Club in Canada after the Shedden Massacre. Police allege that the would-be hitman is Steven Gault, a Hells Angel who secretly received more than a million dollars as an undercover agent for police.

Friday October 6, 2006—Bandidos presidente George Wegers pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering and is sentenced to twenty months in custody. With credit for the time he has already spent behind bars, he is released in less than a month.

Saturday, December 2, 2006—Fearful that he’s targeted for murder, Lenti opens fire on four bikers connected to the Hells Angels at Club Pro Adult Entertainment in Vaughan, where he provides security. He kills David (Dred) Buchanan and critically wounds Carlo Verrelli.

April 14, 2008—Lenti pleads guilty to manslaughter for killing Buchanan and to two counts of aggravated assault, for which he receives a six-year prison sentence.

Sunday, January 18, 2009—Akleh and Stephenson are each acquitted by a jury of all charges of plotting Lenti’s murder.

Monday, February 23, 2009—Jury selection begins for the trial of six Bandidos and associates charged in the April 2006 massacre. There is a pool of two thousand prospective jurors, the largest jury pool in memory in Canada.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009—The trial of six men for the Bandido massacre begins, with Elgin County Crown Attorney Kevin Gowdey telling a jury: “There was no gunfight. There was no flurry of bullets… One by one, the Bandidos were led to their deaths.”

Friday, October 29, 2009 – Each of the six men charged in the Bandido massacre is sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years after being found guilty of first-degree murder.
-----------------------------------

Cast of Characters

The Victims (“No Surrender Crew”)

Jamie (Goldberg) Flanz
Seemed to be only playing outlaw biker. Murdered last so that he would suffer most because he was Jewish.

George (Pony) Jessome
Wanted to be surrounded by friends as he died of cancer. Dry sense of humour. Few, if any, enemies.

George (Crash) Kriarakis
Nice Greek boy and former rugby player from a good family who thought he could clean up the club from the inside. Briefly the Canadian president.

John (Boxer, Prize) Muscedere
Loved to say “top left”, meaning “from the heart.” Became Canadian president of the Bandidos only five years after he became a biker. Even his killers acknowledged he died like a man.

Luis Manny (Chopper) Raposo
Worried that club standards were slipping dangerously. The bullet that killed him tore off his right middle finger, the one he used to diss the world.

Frank (Bam Bam, Bammer) Salerno
Said he’d quit the club as soon as he became a father, but stayed on and was murdered. Toronto president of the No Surrender Crew.

Paul (Big Paulie) Sinopoli
Unable to talk his way out of attending fatal meeting.

Michael (Little Mikey) Trotta
Barely got into the club before he was killed for being a member.

Killers and Guards

Marcelo (Fat Ass) Aravena
Mixed martial artist and pro boxer, with a habit of taking nasty beatings.

Brett (Bull, Beau) Gardiner
Youngest of the Winnipeg squad. Tried to use a stupidity defense and failed. Didn’t shoot anyone the night of the massacre.

Maurice Hudson (M.H)
Sold out his clubmates for his freedom. Living now under a new name.

Wayne (Weiner, W) Kellestine
Hillbilly biker who loves Nazism and himself (not in that order). Signed his name with lightning bolts, to announce he was a killer.

Frank Mather
Loyal to a fault. Was at Kellestine’s farm at the time of the murders because he needed a place to stay. Habitual criminal but not a gunman.

Dwight (D, Big Dee) Mushey
Didn’t realize his leader Michael (Taz) Sandham was a liar until it was too late. A polite but frightening man.

Michael (Taz, Tazman, Little Beaker) Sandham
Ex theology student, soldier, cop, outlaw biker, pretend martial artist, habitual liar, killer and inmate.

Assorted Other Bandidos

Jason Addison
Longtime President of the Bandidos in Australia.

Glenn (Wrongway) Atkinson
Former national secretary-treasurer of the Canadian Bandidos. Maintained good relations with Americans in Bandido “Mother Chapter” in Texas until leaving.

Carleton (Pervert) Bare
National secretary of the Bandidos in Texas, who shuddered at in-fighting of Canadian Bandidos.

Frank (Cisco) Lenti
Former member of No Surrender Crew who wasn’t a member at the time of the slaughter.

Jeffery Pike
Texas-based El Presidente of the Bandidos.

Bill (Bandido Bill) Sartelle
El Secretario of the Bandidos worldwide.

George Wegers
Washington State former Bandido Presidente.

Lawyers, Judges and Police

Detective Inspector P.A. (Paul) Beesley
Senior Ontario Provincial Police homicide investigator, given the job of investigating the Shedden Massacre.

Detective Sergeant Mick Bickerton
Ace interviewer for the Ontario Provincial Police.

Tony Bryant
High-profile Toronto criminal lawyer whose former clients included schoolgirl sex killer Paul Bernardo.

Don Crawford
Longtime southwestern Ontario lawyer who represented Michael (Taz) Sandham.

Heather Carpenter, Gordon Cudmore
Other members of the defense team for Michael Sandham, the George Costanza of the outlaw biker world.

Louie Genova
Lawyer for Toronto-area biker Frank (Cisco) Lenti.

Kevin Gowdey
Unflappable head of the prosecution team in the Bandido mass-murder trial.

Mr. Justice Thomas Heeney
Superior Court judge who oversaw the trial of eight Bandidos in London, Ontario, in 2009, a task much harder than herding cats uphill.

Fraser Kelly
Crown in the Bandido mass-murder trial. Encyclopedic and quick mind.

Detective Sergeant Mark Loader and Detective Constable Jeff Gateman
Members of the Ontario Provincial Police Biker Enforcement Unit, who spent much time with police agent M.H.

Detective Inspector Ian Maule
In charge of massive forensic file for mass murder mega-trial.

Clay Powell
Lawyer for accused killer Wayne (Weiner) Kellestine, and former top prosecutor who put hockey mogul Harold Ballard of the Toronto Maple Leafs behind bars for fraud. As a defence lawyer, he kept Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones out of prison after the guitarist’s heroin bust.

Peter Westgate
Senior Crown attorney in Newmarket, Ontario, who prosecuted Frank (Cisco) Lenti for second-degree murder in the shooting of Hells Angel David (Dred) Buchanan of the West Toronto chapter.

--------------------------
Videos

The Party

Visitors From The West

Aerial Surveillance of Arrests

Boozy Alibi

Canadian Bandidos Shooting: What Happened?.....

2009-10-03T04:30:00.006-04:00

February 17, 2005
Biker gang moves into 'Peg' October 30, 2004
Winnipeg may not have an NHL team, but we're now home to two major-league outlaw motorcycle gangs. The Bandidos, arch-rivals to the Hells Angels, have set up a probationary chapter in the city, police said yesterday.
Cops confirmed the Bandidos' recent arrival in Winnipeg after arresting two members in connection with a violent abduction Feb. 8 in the West End.
Winnipeg police seized one of the Bandidos member's vests and showcased it to the media yesterday during a press conference.
"We've had intelligence for some time that there may possibly be Bandidos here in Manitoba, but this is the first confirmed evidence that we have that there is a charter here," said Sgt. Cam Baldwin, head of the Winnipeg police organized crime unit.
Police say there is a "worldwide truce" between the Hells Angels and the Bandidos, and so far there has been no reported violence between the competing gangs.
'UP TO ANGELS'
"I guess that will be up to the Hells Angels chapter here in Manitoba to dictate whether they're going to welcome the Bandidos or whether they're going to try to eliminate them from cutting in on their economics here in the province," Baldwin said.
Shortly after 3 a.m. on Feb. 8, a 20-year-old man was driving near Sargent Avenue and Toronto Street, when he was run off the road and forced into a snowbank, said Winnipeg police spokeswoman Const. Shelly Glover.
"The victim was then dragged from his vehicle by several males known to him and taken to an address in the city where he was held for several hours and tortured," Glover said.
The victim was treated in hospital for extensive injuries but has since been released.
Ron Charles Burling, 34, was arrested last Thursday, while Jason Llewellyn Michel, 25, was arrested Tuesday night in Calgary.
Both men, who are believed to be probationary members of the Winnipeg-based chapter of the Bandidos, are charged with aggravated assault and abduction.
Burling, whose leather Bandidos vest was seized by cops, returned a call from The Sun yesterday, saying he was doing it purely out of courtesy and that he had no comment.
Before hanging up, he asked that the media refrain from contacting Bandidos members.
"We don't talk to the media," Burling said yesterday afternoon via telephone from the Winnipeg Remand Centre. "I have nothing to say to you. Have a good day."
Burling made headlines last July when he accidentally shot off part of the big toe on his right foot following a violent home invasion on Agnes Street in the West End.
Police said at the time Burling had no gang connections.
Initial rumblings that the Bandidos were looking to expand into Manitoba were first reported in The Sun in December 2001.
Baldwin said the Bandidos chapter in Toronto is sponsoring Manitoba's six probationary members, who "are all people that are familiar to us in the province."
----------------------------------------
To give credit when and where it's due, we give a nod to the CBC's coverage of the Winnipeg connection to the murder in Ontario of eight bikers, members or associates of the Bandidos motorcycle club.

Tuesday, they had a clip from the owner of the Holland House restaurant in Iona, Ontario, who described how Wayne Kellestine, the prime suspect in the murders brought five men from Winnipeg to eat. There had been rumors all day that the murders were somehow connected to a run the Bandidos were supposed to make to Winnipeg, but which the murdered men allegedly didn't want to make.

Then Wednesday, reporter Marisa Dragani quoted Ron Burling, a member of the probationary Manitoba chapter of the Bandidos currently in jail, about the murders. What's significant is that this is the first and so far only comment by any member of the Bandidos on the record in Canada.

Not some "source", or former Bandido, or "biker expert" who's written a book but a real, live colors-wearing member of the gang who insisted the club is far from finished. Good work, CBC.

The rumors and speculation of what sparked the killings have gotten farcical.

The latest theory is that drugs drove the men insane and into a killing spree. (We're not making this up.)

No doubt this is fueled by the information that three of the Bandidos who wound up dead were trailed to Kellestine's farmhouse by Durham drug police who suspected a major drug deal was in the works.

When it looked like the men were just settling in for a party, the police left.

After the murders, police (apparently) found that the men had brought 200 kilograms of cocaine with them.

The story in the Toronto Star put the value of the cocaine at $400,000, but if its broken down into ounces, the value becomes $5 million.

The street value, if sold in grams, is closer to $12 million.

That's enough to commit murder for.

And we aren't even touching on the 4 man hit squad that was coming in from Chicago theory. Maybe later.

The dead in the Friday Massacre are

John 'Boxer' Muscedere, 48,
Frank 'Bam Bam' Salerno, 43,
Luis Manny 'Porkchop' Raposo, 41,
George (Gus) 'Crash' Kriarakis, 28,
Paul Sinopoli, 30,
George 'Pony' Jesso, 52,
Jamie Flanz, 37, and
Michael Trotta, 31.

The Black Rod has found web posts by some of the men to the Bandidos Canada and Bandidos International sites. They show the joy the men felt in the camaraderie of the club in happier days. It's something that's missing from the many stories about the crime itself.

These posts bring a little humanity to the horror.

Wishing you all a fat RED & GOLD Christmas and a great New Year
from Bandidos Canada " NO SURRENDER CREW ".
LOVE, LOYALTY & RESPECT
Bandido Concrete Dave 1%er
Vancouver Canada Saturday, 24. December 2005 02:31

Name: Grmg Hafiz
City: Twin Tower, Kuala Lumpur
Sent: 29/12 2005 04:11 AM Fatz
Congratulation to Bandidos MC Canada "No Surrender Crew" on your 5th Years Anniversary. We wish all the brothers & families A Merry X-Mas & A Glorious & Joyful Year 2006. Have a Safe & Happy Holiday Season. With much LOVE, LOYALTY & RESPECT Grmg Hafiz Hang Around Chapter of Bandidos MC Malaysia

Name: BANDIDO BOXER NO SURRENDER CREW
City: TORONTO WORLD
Sent: 25/12 2005 10:50 AM

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEWYEAR TOO THE BANDIDO NATION AND TOO THE NO SURRENDER CREW WHO LOVES YA BABY FROM BOXER PBOL NINA AND ANGELINA LOVE LOYALTY RESPECT IT JUST DOESNT GET ANY BETTER.

Name: BANDIDO BOXER1%ER
City: TORONTO ONT
Sent: 27/07 2004 10:03 AM

LOVE LOYALTY RESPECT MY HEART AND PRAYERS GO OUT TOO A YOUNG MAN THAT WAS KILLED A FEW DAYS AGO HIS DAD IS MY BROTHER MY BRO I FEEL YOUR PAIN AND SORROW LOVE LOYALTY RESPECT BANDIDOBOXER 1%ER FOREVER.

Name: BANDIDOBOXER1%ER
City: CHATHAM ONTARIO
Sent: 27/07 2004 09:55 AM

WE WERE IN WINNIPEG WE RODE THREW SPENT THE NIGHT THE SUPPORT COMES FROM PEOPLE YOU KNOW AND TRUST SOMTIMES THIER FEW AND FAR BETWEEN BUT GOING THREW THE RIGHT MOTIONS GETTING TOO THE RIGHT PEOPLE IF YOU HAVE A HEARTBEAT AND BELEAVE IN BROTHERHOOD THERE ARE PEOPLE JUST DOWN THE RODE THAT CAN HELP YOU OUT ALL I CAN SAY THE COPS OUT THIER ARE FUCKED SOME HAVE A REAL PROBLEM THATS NOT UNUSAUAL LIKE GUN POWERED DOGS JUST MY OPPION THEY MIGHT CHANGE OVERNIGHT AND DO THERE JOBS AND KEEP HONEST

Name: bad compagny frenchy
City: the no surrender crew
Sent: 27/07 2004 05:43 AM I MISS YOU ALL MY BROTHERS,
I M GETHING BETTER FROM MY CAR ACCIDENT AND SHOULD BE BACK SOON.
IT S GOOD TO EAR THAT THE CANADIAN NO SURRENDER CREW
WASSABEE CHIEEEEEEEEEEEEEFFFFFFFF IS RIDING DOWN
THE STATE
LOVE LOYALTY AND RESPECT
BAD COMPAGNY FRENCHY
NO SURRENDER CREW

Name: BANDIDOBOXER1%ER
City: TORONTO ONTARIO
Sent: 27/07 2004 05:26 AM

GOOD DAY TOO THE GREAT BANDIDOS WORLDWIDE EVERYDAY IS A GREAT DAY GONNA START MY BIKE AND RIDE WITH MY PBOL WHAT A DAY JUST GOT BACK FROM CROSS CANADA RIDE IT WAS BREATH TAKING LOVE LOYALTY RESPECT TOO THOSE THAT COUNT

Name: BANDIDOBOXER
City: TORONTO
Sent: 26/07 2004 05:00 PM

CHIEF MY BROTHER WHAT DID I TELL YOU YEARS AGO ONE DAY WHAT LOVE LOYALTY RESPECT FOREVER MY BROTHER SPYKE RICK WHO LOVES YA YOU CAME THREW LIKE ALL BANDIDOS WILL IN A PINCH MUCH LOVE RESPECT BANDIDOBOXER NO SURRENDER CREW ALL OF CANADA AND WORLDWIDE ONLY THE BEGINNING WHAT A RIDE RED AND GOLD EVERTWHERE.

Name: BANDIDO CHIEF1%ER
City: CANADASent: 26/07 2004 09:41 AM

HELLO TO MY BROTHERS IN CANADA EVERYTHING IS GOOD IM IN WASHINGTON KNOW HAVEING A GREAT TIME RIDEING WITH MY BROTHERS IN THE STATES TOOK SOME GOOD PICS.BOXER JERRY OLD MAN MISS YOU TO ALL MY BROTHERS IN T.O LOVE YOU.TAKE CARE CHOW FOR KNOW WAZUPPIE HEHEHEHEHE.MEETING LOTS OF WOMAN HERE TAKEING THEM FOR RIDES WISH YOU ALL CAN COME BUT I WILL HAVE FUN FOR YOU HEHEHEHE.
LOVE LOYALTY&RESPECT
BANDIDO CHIEF
NO SURRENDER CREW
CANADA.......

Name: BANDIDOBOXER1%er
City: TORONTO ONTARIO
Sent: 25/07 2004 06:24 PM

YA GOOD OLD TIME RIDING IN THE WIND FROM TOWN TO TOWN SLEEPING ON THE GROUND BEING REAL WITH OUR ONLY CONCERN IS OUR BROTHERS WELL BEING HAVING FUN PARTYING TURNING IT UP A NOTCH FLYING THE GREATEST COLOURS IN THE WORLD ROOSTER CHOPPER CHIEFERONE JOHNNY BIG PAULIE GRUMPY JAY WHAT A RODE TRIP LOVED EVERY SECOUND OF IT TO OUR BROTHERS IN EDMONTON AND CALGARY LOVE LOYALTY RESPECT BANDIDOBOXER

Name: Bandido Chief 1%ER
Sent: 21/12 2003 06:23 AM

Just writing to say hello to all my brothers Boxer is still recovering from friday night old man cant keep up with the chiefarone got tired of stareing at the whisky bottle so had to have a drink boxer say i dont know how you do it i say watch i will show you well chow for now

Name: Bandido Chief 1%ER
City: TorontoCANADA
Sent: 20/12 2003 01:46 PM

Just wanted to say i had a great time last night.good to see most of my brothers Crash Beaver Boxer Chopper frenchie circlehead and the one with the red and smelled like diesel fuel you know who you are . Bam Bam i know you were working to bad i know we would have cracked jokes all night L.L.R Cisco fucking site looking great ... i love it.Good to see our friends and hangarounds Had a great time Love.Loyalty and Respect B.F.F.B
----------------------------------------
Theory slayings were planned has no life, biker expert says
THE BANDIDOS MASSACRE: Unravelling the motive -- 'Someone snapped'
Randy Richmond
The London Free Press
April 12, 2006
Take all the theories about gangland hits ordered by higher-ups and bury them, deep, like you would a body, says a biker analyst and crime writer.SETTLING IN: Police have set up a command post, complete with portable toilet, on the road in front of Wayne Kellestine's property. (DEREK RUTTAN The London Free Press)Because, Yves Lavigne said yesterday (April 11), the idea that eight Bandidos members died on the weekend because of a planned slaying has no life.You want proof? Look at how the bodies of the dead weren't buried, he said."There was no attempt to hide the bodies. There was no attempt to run away," he said. "This was not a purge. This was an act of insanity. Someone snapped."
The massacre -- the worst in Ontario history -- and first-degree murder charges against five area residents have reporters, police sources, biker analysts and others going through theories faster than bikers go through beer.
The latest? The Bandidos ordered eight of their own killed because they refused to follow orders.Or the Bandidos ordered the eight members to kill colleague Wayne Kellestine of Iona Station because he was messing up.A corollary theory: Kellestine was tipped off.Those theories have as much validity as early media reports the killings were the result of a biker war between the Bandidos and the Hells Angels, Lavigne said yesterday."There have been two murders in Ontario this weekend," he said. "There was the shooting of eight Bandidos and there was the media shooting itself in the foot."Lavigne, who has written three books on bikers, refused to comment about the deaths until he heard from police that bikers were involved.Lavigne won't call himself a biker expert and he doesn't think others should, either.But he said he knows enough about the outlaw motorcycle world to know there was no hit ordered on the eight Bandidos or on Kellestine."This was a family tragedy. Biker gangs are like families. The reason eight people could be killed is because they all trusted each other."Whatever the reason the bikers got together, it wasn't for a planned hit, he said."Something went terribly wrong."Given the paranoia of outlaw bikers and the likelihood that any gathering would have been drug-fuelled, it shouldn't come as a surprise that someone would start shooting, Lavigne said.
The U.S. Bandidos would not order a hit against Canadians because they simply don't care enough about the much-weaker clubs to the north, he added."The American Bandidos wrote them off a decade ago. The guys in Ontario are bottom feeders."The Bandidos moved too quickly and patched over too many low-level bikers in Canada to get a foothold, he suggested."It's the equivalent of the Toronto Maple Leafs going to a street corner in London, giving some sweaters and saying, 'You're in the NHL.' "Lavigne's take on the killing is similar to another author, James Dubro, who said this week he doubted anyone planned the killing of anyone else."I don't think it was a professional hit," Dubro said.Speculation that the deaths create a vacuum for Hells Angels to fill is also invalid, Lavigne said."There is no vacuum" because the Hells Angels had no competition in the first place, he said."This doesn't affect them in terms of business."But, Lavigne added, "the unprofessional approach of the Toronto media gives the Hells Angels a public relations coup."
Talk of a Bandidos-Hells Angels war was false and now the Hells Angels can use it to prove to everyone how the world misjudges them, Lavigne said."They will milk this."Sure enough, yesterday, the Toronto Hells Angels website did take advantage of earlier reports about a possible war.Over photographs of newspaper headlines calling the massacre part of a biker war, the Hells Angels wrote their own headline: "Hell of a smear."
------------------------------------------
Trio arrested for slaughter
Sat, June 17, 2006
'Toba bikers connected to killings: cops
Three Winnipeg Bandidos have been charged with murdering eight fellow bikers near London, Ont., confirming a link between Ontario's worst massacre and Manitoba.
After two months of speculation about a possible Manitoba link to the slaughter near Shedden, Ont., police announced yesterday they've charged three men with eight counts each of first-degree murder in connection with the mass killing.
Police said the three men -- one the president of the Bandidos Manitoba chapter, one a full-patch member and the other a prospective member -- are all presumed to have been in Ontario at the time of the killings.
Ex-cop charged
"We have reasonable grounds to believe they're involved. We followed the evidence trail and it led us to Winnipeg," said Det. Insp. Paul Beesley, who is in charge of the OPP's investigation into the case. "You don't actually have to be a shooter -- they may or may not have been shooters -- but the law allows people who are parties to the offence to be charged with the offense."
Charged are Michael Sandham, 36, a former East St. Paul police officer who led the local Bandidos chapter; Dwight Mushey, 36, a full-patch member of the local club; and 30-year-old Marcelo Aravena, a prospective member.
Police seized four leather Bandidos vests in the raids, two of which bore "Canada" bottom "rockers" and one that had a bottom rocker reading "probationary."
Aravena and Mushey were both arrested late Thursday night -- Aravena at his home and Mushey in what police would only describe as a "public place."
Sandham was arrested yesterday morning at his Greene Avenue home in East Kildonan, where Sandham lived with his partner Kathleen Harder and two children.
Police also arrested an unidentified woman, who has not been charged.
One neighbor said a man was led out of the Greene Avenue house at gunpoint, with a red light shining on his chest.
"We heard them scream 'Mike, get out of the house'," he said.
Clutching a doll, a little girl along with a young boy and a woman also came out of the home, said another neighbor.
"It was so sad," the neighbor said.
The couple hadn't been living in the brand-new home very long and weren't seen much around the neighbourhood, area residents said.
Sandham's red GMC Jimmy was seized from a garage at the back of the Greene Avenue home. As it was removed from the small garage -- which also housed a Harley Davidson -- small amounts of body damage were visible, including to the driver side mirror, which was held on with duct tape.
Though it matched the description of a similar vehicle spotted in Ontario around the time of the murder, police couldn't definitively say it's the same one, noting forensics will have to confirm that suspicion.
Cops also spent much of yesterday morning executing search warrants at homes on Lindsay Street in River Heights and Rogan Drive in St. James.
The people charged yesterday join five Ontarians already arrested in connection with what the OPP is terming an "internal cleansing" of the gang.
Police said more arrests may be coming.
"We have a large number of investigators that are working on this full-time and we'll let the evidence take us where it takes us, so if that leads to more arrests, it leads to more arrests," said Beesley.
-----------------
Events that led to yesterday's arrests:
- April 8:
The bodies of eight men -- all members, prospects or associates of the Bandidos outlaw motorcycle gang -- were found stuffed in several vehicles on Stafford Line near Shedden, Ont.
- April 10:
A prominent member of the Bandidos biker gang was one of five people charged with first-degree murder after eight of its members were killed in what police call a violent "internal cleansing" of the notorious motorcycle club's ranks.
- April 14:
Sun media uncovers Winnipeg connections to the Ontario murders. Sun newspapers reported Winnipeg bikers had been visiting Wayne Kellestine, one of the accused, as recently as a week before the slayings.
- June 5:
A suspicious red SUV, possibly with Manitoba license plates, becomes a key clue in the investigation of eight dead bikers. OPP announces it is trying to find out more about the vehicle, seen in the area during the two weeks before the massacre.
- June 7:
Ontario Provincial Police investigators come to Winnipeg, looking into a possible link between Manitoba Bandidos and the slayings. Winnipeg police help the OPP with interviews.
- June 15:
Marcelo Aravena, 30, is arrested at his River Heights home while Winnipegger Dwight Mushey, 36, is arrested in "a public place" shortly before midnight.
- Yesterday:
4 a.m. -- Officers start descending on 249 Greene Ave. to arrest Michael Sandham at home.
6 a.m. -- London-area cops assist Winnipeg officers guarding 938 Lindsay St., believed to be the home of Marcelo Aravena, who was arrested late Thursday.
9 a.m. -- Red GMC Jimmy belonging to Michael Sandham is seized by OPP from a Greene Avenue garage. Earlier reports suggested a similar SUV had been in the area around the time of the multiple murders.
11 a.m. -- Joint news conference with Winnipeg police, Ontario Provincial Police about the arrests of three Winnipeg men in connection with the slayings of eight Bandidos members or associates in Elgin County, Ont.
8 p.m. -- Accused make a court appearance after being flown from Winnipeg to St. Thomas, Ont. by the OPP.
------------------------------------------
ST. THOMAS, Ont. -- Just hours after they were rounded up on murder charges in Winnipeg, three men tied to the Bandidos motorcycle gang appeared in court last night.
Security was tight and a large group of reporters were in the court as the trio -- arrested in early-morning police raids in Winnipeg yesterday -- made their first appearance on the charges in the worst slaying in Ontario's history.
Shuffling into the prisoner's box together, the three -- in blue prison garb, their hands and legs shackled -- showed little expression as they politely answered questions.
"I'm trying to arrange for counsel through Winnipeg, your honour," 36-year-old Dwight Mushey told Justice of the Peace Stewart Taylor.
Having been whisked into London on a flight from Winnipeg under police guard early yesterday evening, none of the suspects had a defence lawyer.
Michael Sandham, 36, a former constable with East St. Paul police, stood between the other accused as the court clerk read out the eight first-degree murder charges.
The charges stem from the grisly discovery April 8 of eight men found stuffed into five vehicles in the rural Shedden area, near London, Ont. All were members or associates of the Bandidos motorcycle gang.
The balding and clean-shaven Sandham, said to be the head of the Bandidos in Manitoba, became the trio's unofficial spokesman when Taylor asked how much time they need to find lawyers and return to court by video.
"I think Wednesday should be sufficient, your honour," Sandham said. The other two agreed.
The three men, jointly charged, are being held in custody in London. Mushey has an olive complexion, large piercing eyes and a beard. The third defendant, Marcelo Aravena, 30, is more portly, with shorter hair and some facial hair.
All three gave their names and birth dates, with Aravena helping the justice of the peace to pronounce his last name.
----------------------------------
News that a former East St. Paul cop had been charged in the murder of eight Bandidos members shocked the man's most recent employer.
Michael Sandham worked from 2000 to 2002 as a cop with the East St. Paul police department and more recently was employed as a bylaw officer with Prairie Bylaw Enforcement, a private company hired by rural municipalities to enforce local laws.
Police arrested Sandham, reputed to be the head of the Manitoba Bandidos, and charged him and two others with eight counts of first-degree murder in connection with the killing of eight Ontario Bandidos members in April.
"It's a shocker. It sets you back," said Dave Prud'homme, of Prairie Bylaw Enforcement, where Sandham worked for two years, ending in 2004.
Background checks
Sandham was a certified instructor in the use of Taser guns and use of force and officer safety, said Prud'homme. All the necessary background checks were made before Sandham was hired in 2002, he said.
East St. Paul Reeve Phil Rebeck was surprised to learn of Sandham's alleged involvement in the Bandidos killings, despite his municipality's previous concerns that led to the officer's resignation from the 10-member force four years ago.
"When we hired him, we thought he would be a good policeman with us," Rebeck told the Sun. "On that basis, we hired him. I'm sorry to hear he has maybe gone the other way. It hasn't all been proven yet, but the charge is serious enough."
Sandham was suspended from the East St. Paul police department in October 2002 after he was spotted by Winnipeg cops doing security at a Bandidos rally. Winnipeg cops notified East St. Paul that Sandham -- who had asked for time off from the force for an unspecified reason -- was seen at the event.
"We felt that if he were involved in any of those gangs, we weren't interested in keeping him on," the reeve recalled.
"We gave him a choice to resign, and he did that."
Biker sources claim Sandham was associated with the Outlaws motorcycle gang when he lived in southern Ontario in the 1990s.
Some of Sandham's former neighbors at the Pine Ridge Village mobile home park just north of Winnipeg, where he and girlfriend Kathleen Harder lived until last fall, said they always suspected something was fishy about the man. They never thought he was the head of a motorcycle gang, though.
"He drove a car marked Peace Officer, and I actually assumed he was sort of going undercover to infiltrate a gang. I never expected him to be the gang," said one resident of the park, who declined to give her name.
Another neighbor said he also thought Sandham was an undercover biker cop, and said he always thought the man looked like "a wannabe" when riding his motorcycle.
One neighbor said Sandham and Harder lived with two children, a girl of about five and a boy a few years older.
She said they never associated much with other neighbors and lived quietly, except for one night when several police cars arrived at their trailer for unknown reasons.
The neighbor said Ontario Provincial Police officers were in the park on Wednesday asking questions about Sandham
------------------------------
LONDON -- Three new arrests, but still no answers.
Despite the latest development in the mysterious Bandidos massacre, those affected by it -- witnesses, friends and family, former bikers -- say they still can't figure out what happened the night eight men were killed.
"I'd still like to know what the hell went down," said one Toronto tow-truck driver who worked with several of the men killed in the Apr. 8 slayings near Shedden.
Three Winnipeg men are now charged with eight counts of first-degree murder, police said yesterday, bringing to eight the number of people charged in the deaths.
But even to one former high-ranking Bandido who set up the gang's Canadian chapter, the massacre is only getting more confusing.
"I'm as perplexed as everyone else is," said Ed Winterhalder, author of Out In Bad Standing, a book about his life in the Bandidos.
"I have no idea what the connection is" between Winnipeg and Shedden, he said.
Neighbours of Wayne Kellestine -- police spent the past two months probing his Iona Station, Ont., home -- also can't figure out how eight people could have been killed on a farm without making a sound.
"We didn't hear a thing," said one neighbor who lives close to the Kellestine farm. "No shots were fired.
"Our dog didn't bark. Wayne's dogs didn't bark."
Peace and quiet has returned to the rural communities where the bodies were found.
"Everything has kind of calmed down now," said Carl Jensen, who lives near where the eight bodies were found.
Relatives of George Jesso, a Toronto tow-truck driver who was among the dead, only heard about the arrests through press reports yesterday.
"Never heard a thing," said cousin David Jesso from his Prince Edward Island home. "I really don't think about it, don't want to think about it."
-------------------------
LONDON -- The first inkling that the slayings of eight Ontario Bandidos had a connection to Winnipeg came in an unlikely place -- a small restaurant and gift store crammed with souvenirs in Iona Station, Ont.
There, Holland House Restaurant and Tavern owner Marty Angenent told Sun Media only the day after the bodies were found that five burly men from Winnipeg had a meal with Wayne Kellestine a week or so earlier. That same day, Kellestine and four others were arrested at his farmhouse and charged.
Yesterday, three Bandidos from Winnipeg were charged.
Since the April killings, Sun Media uncovered several possible links to Winnipeg:
- About three months before the killings, Kellestine's right-hand man, fellow biker and white supremacist David Weiche left London to find work in the cement business in Winnipeg.
- The week before the killings, what appeared to be bikers -- five burly men from Winnipeg -- appeared in the Iona Station restaurant with Kellestine.
- Two weeks after the killings, two of the five people accused in the killings told a Sun Media source other bikers with Winnipeg connections were involved.
- OPP revealed June 5 they were looking for a red SUV seen in the area during the two weeks before the massacre. Residents of the municipality of Dutton-Dunwich told Sun Media the SUV had Manitoba plates.
Sources told the Sun the victims were set to burn their Bandidos colours and join the Hells because they were tired of being hassled by the Texas-based leadership of the world's second-largest outlaw motorcycle gang.
It's believed the eight victims were killed when they went to seize the colours and motorcycle of Kellestine, who was allegedly in the process of re-activating the Loners outlaw motorcycle gang.
Kellestine, a career biker, was rejected in 2000 by the Hells when the gang staged an instant "patch-over" of 130 members of Ontario rival gangs. The move was an attempt to counter the expansion of the Hells arch-enemy -- the Quebec-based Rock Machine -- who patched over to the Bandidos.
A patch-over is how one gang absorbs another on a patch-for-patch basis.
-------------------------
OPP credit Shedden-area residents for noting, reporting clues that lead to three more arrests in murder case.
BANDIDOS ARRESTS: Ex-cop a killer?
Three Winnipeg Bandidos have been charged with murdering eight fellow bikers near London, confirming a link first reported in The Free Press between Ontario's worst massacre and Manitoba.
The three men -- a former police officer, a boxer and a black-belt martial artist -- were flown to London last night under tight police security and whisked into a St. Thomas court to face first-degree murder charges.

The trio politely answered a few questions in court, with one even helping a justice of the peace to pronounce his name, before they were led away -- in blue prison garb and shackles -- to the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre.

Scooped up in early-morning raids in Winnipeg, they were behind bars by nightfall thousands of kilometres away.

"We followed the evidence trail and it led us to Winnipeg, Manitoba," OPP Det. Insp. Paul Beesley said hours earlier at a news conference in Winnipeg.

The three men appear to be some of those seen with fellow accused, local biker Wayne Kellestine, in an Iona restaurant before the slayings in April, when the bodies of eight men were found stuffed into five vehicles in a rural area southwest of London.

"They (the three) certainly matched the descriptions . . . of the people given," Beesley said.

In early morning raids yesterday, Winnipeg police and the OPP also seized a red SUV that matches the description of one seen in Dutton-Dunwich in the weeks before the killings.

The SUV is being sent back to Ontario for forensic testing.

OPP in Ontario credited Dutton-Dunwich residents for assisting the police investigation, including spotting an SUV that seemed out of place.

"It was good, old-fashioned police work and citizens being observant about what was going on," said Elgin County OPP Const. Michelle Scott.

Three Winnipeg men -- Dwight Mushey, 36, Marcello Aravena, 30, and Michael Sandham, 36, a former police officer -- each face eight first-degree murder charges in the killing of the eight men whose bodies were found April 8.

Police described Mushey and Sandham as full-patch members of the Texas-based Bandidos gang and Aravena as a "prospect," meaning he's not yet a full-fledged member.

Only a day after eight bodies were found on Stafford Line near Shedden, a local resident told The Free Press he saw Kellestine meet five burly men from Winnipeg.

Sources later said Kellestine's right-hand man from London had moved to Winnipeg months ago.

Another source revealed two of the first five people accused in the killings had reported the involvement of Winnipeg bikers in the slayings.

Besides Kellestine, two other Ontarians were charged in April with first-degree murder and two residents with being an accessory to murder after the fact.

The three Winnipeg accused are well-known.

Police expressed concern that Sandham is a former constable with Manitoba's East St. Paul police service, near Winnipeg.

"As a police officer, naturally, he would have been exposed to training materials relative to motorcycle gangs and organized crime," Winnipeg deputy Chief Menno Zacharias said June 16. "And as a working officer, he would have access to a variety of related information."

Aravena was described as a nice guy and "journeyman boxer" with a losing record.

"He was just fighting for a paycheque," said Duke Roufus, a manager with Gladiators Fighting Series out of Milwaukee.

Aravena fought as a kickboxer for Gladiators until 2002 and more recently was a boxer, with a record of seven wins, including four knockouts, 32 losses and one draw.

Mushey got his black belt in 1994 from Kang's Tae kwon do Academy in Winnipeg. He told club officials he was a real estate investor.

"He was a very loving family man. He dresses well and is soft-spoken," said Lois Yeung, of Kang's Taekwondo Academy.

His resume said he took courses at military academies in the U.S., she said.

Mushey drifted away from the club and in 2004 was charged with conspiracy to produce the drug methamphetamine, commonly known by the street name speed.

Police said all three accused are longtime Winnipeggers. Yeung said Mushey had lived for a time in the 1990s in southern Ontario.

Police released no details about the role played by the three Winnipeg men, except to allege they were present at the killings.

"They are charged with first-degree murder, eight counts," Beesley said. "To be charged with the first-degree murder, the law speaks for itself. You don't actually have to be a shooter. They may or may not have been the shooters."

Police said their investigation in Winnipeg isn't over.

But they noted their arrests already have affected the Bandidos, touted as the world's second-biggest biker gang.

"Their presence in Manitoba and Ontario . . . this has dealt them a severe blow," said OPP Supt. Ross Bingley.

Police caught a break early in the investigation in April when a man walking by Winnipeg's main police station noticed documents blowing along the street.

He gathered up the papers, which contained details of the investigation, and took them to the CBC.

Zacharias thanked the CBC for not broadcasting details of the reports and said steps are being taken to ensure sensitive information will never again be blowing in the wind.

Police at yesterday's news conference repeated their belief the killing of the eight men was an "internal cleansing" within the Bandidos.

But a former leader of the U.S. Bandidos, who helped to establish the gang in Canada, still isn't buying that theory.

If anything, said Ed Winterhalder, the growing mystery only strengthens his theory that illegal drugs fuelled the slayings.

"Somewhere, somehow, woven into the threads of this deal is going to be methamphetamine. That's just a wild guess," said Winterhalder, who wrote a book about his biker life, Out in Bad Standing.

Two of the accused -- Eric Niessen and Dwight Mushey -- have previously been swept up in separate meth busts.

"(The massacre) makes no sense to anyone," Winterhalder said, "and when that happens, whether it's the biker world or not . . . 99 per cent of the time, methamphetamine is the explanation."

Winterhalder brushed off theories the killings resulted from a dispute between Ontario and Manitoba Bandidos over participation in a national rally in Winnipeg.

Other theories suggest some of the Bandidos were demanding the others quit the gang.

-- -- --

WHO'S CHARGED

Marcello Aravena

A boxer, 30, the tough-talking, six-foot-two Winnipegger once blamed a bitter loss on a judge, saying he'd "kicked the living crap out of him -- badly."

Was not yet a full-fledged Bandidos motorcycle gang member, police said.

Had worked as a nightclub security guard.

Michael Sandham

Another Winnipeger, 36, he'd worked for two years until 2002 as a police officer with East St. Paul police service, near Winnipeg.

Reputedly a full-patch member of the Bandidos and head of the gang's Manitoba wing.

Was a certified instructor in the use of taser stun guns.

Completed his officer training at the Winnipeg Police Academy.

Had been associated with the Outlaws biker gang, biker sources claim.

Dwight Mushey

Age 36, also from Winnipeg, was charged in a 2004 bust with conspiracy to produce methamphetamine, the illegal drug known on the street as speed.

Holds a black belt in tae kwon do.

Is a full-fledged member of the Bandidos gang, police said
-----------------------
Winnipeg arrests linked to Bandidos massacre
Police executed search and arrest warrants across Winnipeg early Friday morning in connection with the killings of eight motorcycle-gang members in southwestern Ontario this spring.

Police cordoned off this Winnipeg house after an early morning raid. (CBC) The bodies of eight men, all with links to the Bandidos biker gang, were found April 8 in a farmer's field near Shedden, Ont.

Five people have been charged with first-degree murder in the case, which Ontario police described as an "internal cleansing" of the biker gang.

A number of Winnipeg residents were already in custody by early Friday morning, following a sweep that police dubbed "Operation Octagon."

Those suspects are expected to be charged with murder, and more arrests are anticipated, police said.

Suspect a former police officer

CBC has learned one of the suspects arrested Friday morning, Michael James Sandham, is a former police officer who held positions of authority in several Manitoba communities.

Court documents allege that Sandham, 36, is the leader of the Bandidos in Winnipeg.

Sandham was a police officer in the Rural Municipality of East St. Paul from 2001 to 2002, court records show. He trained for that job at the Winnipeg Police Training Academy.

He resigned from the East. St. Paul force after Winnipeg police provided his employer with pictures of him attending a Bandidos function when he was on leave from work, sources told CBC News.

Sandham went on to work as an officer for Prairie Bylaw Enforcement Services, court records show. That company enforced municipal bylaws and provincial statues in several municipalities.

Council meeting minutes from a number of communities show Sandham was patrolling and enforcing local bylaws. In some towns, he was assigned a badge number. Sources told CBC that Sandham was also in charge of training all Prairie Bylaw Enforcement staff in the use of Tasers, which the company used from 2002 to 2004.

Sandham has no previous criminal record.

Details on the other suspects arrested Friday in Winnipeg are expected to be released by police later in the day.

Operation nearly compromised

Operation Octagon could have ended almost before it started if papers found outside a Winnipeg police station earlier this year had fallen into the wrong hands.

In April, confidential police documents were found in the mud outside Winnipeg's main police station. A passerby picked up a few pages and turned them over to CBC.

The documents included information about people police had under surveillance, including names and addresses.

"It's disturbing. Any sensitive police information could cause us problems if it got into the wrong hands," said Sgt. Kelly Dennison in April. "It would be detrimental to a police investigation to have this kind of information out in the public at this time."

CBC reported on the found documents, but did not reveal details about their contents.

Until Friday morning, police didn't know if that security breach might have compromised the investigation.

Bandidos in city since 2005

Police believe several people in Winnipeg are associated with the Bandidos, a Texas-based biker gang that claims to have 600 members in North America, Europe and Australia.

Police believe a "probationary" chapter of the club started in Winnipeg in late 2004.

Their suspicions seemed to be confirmed in February 2005, when investigators found a jacket bearing a Bandidos logo while making arrests related to the alleged kidnapping of a 20-year-old man.

In that case, police say a motorist was run off the road in central Winnipeg, abducted and tortured. He was later freed and treated in hospital. Seven suspects were arrested in the case and face several criminal charges. They will go to trial later this year.

Other chapters of the club are said to operate in Ontario and Quebec, although police have said the slayings near London virtually wiped out the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos.
---------------------
Sun, June 18, 2006
Bandidos take hit
But gang will fill vacancies
The arrest of three leading Bandidos will slow down -- but not cripple -- business for the local chapter of the outlaw motorcycle gang, a trio of men familiar with the Winnipeg biker scene told the Sun.
"We'd be foolish to think they'll roll up their blankets and disappear," said a person familiar with the Winnipeg gang scene.
Local Bandidos president Michael Sandham, 36, member Dwight Mushey, 36, and "striker" Marcelo Aravena were arrested Thursday evening and Friday morning by a joint Winnipeg-Ontario Provincial Police operation.
First-degree murder
The three men are charged with eight counts of first-degree murder in connection with the massacre of eight Ontario Bandidos last April.
The Texas-based gang hit a snag in February 2005 when seven hopefuls -- Ron Burling, 36, John Adam Curwin, 23, Daniel Pereira, 23, Jason Michel, 24, Billy Joe Ducharme, 23, David Rink and Daniel Blair -- were each charged with two counts of kidnapping, extortion and aggravated assault.
Burling is in Edmonton serving an eight-year sentence(mid-2005-2013) on unrelated charges, while Curwin, Ducharme, Pereira and Michel are in custody in Winnipeg awaiting trial. Blair and Rink are free on bail.
"Those guys being eliminated from the street during the formation time didn't stop the Bandidos from attracting more people," said a source who wished to remain anonymous.
"Someone will always step forward to fill the void. No matter who has to be replaced, somebody will always step forward."
The arrests of three prominent Hells Angels -- president Ernie Dew, plus members Ian Grant and Jeff Peck -- has not put the local chapter of the world's largest outlaw motorcycle gang out of business.
"Gangs are like an octopus," said a person close to the biker scene. "You cut off a tentacle and another one grows. The Winnipeg Bandido chapter is a tentacle. The head is in Corpus Christi, Texas."
The trio of Sun sources agreed Sandham and Dew could continue running their respective gangs from behind bars or have a trusted comrade run things.
If convicted, Sandham is looking at a minimum of 25 years while Dew is awaiting trial on three charges of trafficking cocaine.
The Hells still have 11 members on the street. It's unknown how many Bandidos affiliates are not in jail.
"There will be a head check on who can be brought on," said a Sun source. "You can be sure they'll hear something from Corpus Christi."
========================
Biker trial behaviour ranges from bad to bawling
National Post

Kelly Patrick, CanWest News Service; National Post
Published: Wednesday, January 10, 2007

LONDON, Ont - One defendant cried and covered his ears. Another wiggled his tongue at a female reporter.

Those were the extremes of behaviour from the prisoner's box Tuesday as the Crown began to lay out its case against eight people charged in Ontario's largest mass murder.

Eight members or associates of the Bandidos outlaw motorcycle gang were found shot to death and stuffed in four cars abandoned in a field in Shedden, Ont., southwest of London, last April. Six men face eight counts each of first-degree murder; another man and a woman are charged with acting as accessories after the fact to the killings.

A publication ban prohibits the printing of evidence presented on the first day of the preliminary inquiry, which is expected to last at least three months

Tuesday's hearing was held under tight security in a high-tech courtroom constructed in 2003 to accommodate complex trials with multiple-accused.

Everyone, including lawyers and Ontario court Justice Ross Webster, had their bag searched and was forced to pass through two heavily policed checkpoints.

The first accused to enter the courtroom was Michael Sandham, 37, a short, balding former Manitoba police officer, wearing a long-sleeved black shirt. Sitting alone in the box closest to the judge, Sandham squeezed his eyes shut and placed his hands over his ears as some of the evidence was presented. A court worker handed him a wad of tissue at the first break in the hearing.

''You can see for yourself (how emotional Sandham is),'' Donald Crawford, his lawyer, told reporters. ''Eventually as this thing plays out, you'll probably understand why. This case is far from over.''

Most of the defendants sported dress shirts, suit jackets or both. The exception was Wayne Kellestine, 57, a notorious local biker whose rural property is alleged to be the site of the execution-style slaying.

Kellestine wore a green sweatsuit and made obscene gestures at the media.

''He's got a lot of pressure on him,'' Clay Powell, Kellestine's lawyer, explained outside court.

Kellestine was arrested two days after the grisly discovery of the bodies April 8. Also arrested were Frank Mather, 33, Brett Gardiner, 22, Eric Niessen, 45, and his common-law wife Kerry Morris, 47. The latter are charged with being accessories.

Sandham, a former Winnipeg-area police officer who became a full-patch member of the Bandidos, Dwight Mushey, 39, and Marcelo Aravena, 37, were arrested June 15 and 16.

The eight men killed were: George Jesso, 52; Frank Salerno, 43, George Kriarakis, 28, Luis Manny Raposo, 41; Paul Sinopoli, 30; and John Muscedere, 48. The other victims were associate member Michael Trotta, 31 and Jamie Flanz, 37, a prospect for membership in the gang.
---------------------------------------------------------
January 10, 2007
Biker trial behaviour ranges from bad to bawling
The seven men are charged in connection with the brutal killings of eight men, whose bodies were found last spring in vehicles abandoned along a county road near Shedden, not far from London.

It's Tuesday morning (Jan. 9), the first day of what promises to be a long and tedious legal process. There will, no doubt, be mounds of evidence. There will, no doubt, be piles of paper, a deluge of diagrams and days and weeks -- and maybe months -- of testimony.

But for now, I can only watch.

I can't tell you about the proceedings from yesterday's preliminary hearing. Not yet, at least. A publication ban has been imposed on the proceedings and nothing related to any evidence can be described until the trial ends.

I can tell you, however, that there are about a dozen reporters, about two dozen lawyers and about 20 other spectators sitting here in Courtroom 21 at the London courthouse.

I can tell you this high-tech courtroom on the 14th floor is fitted with about two dozen computer screens. There are screens for the prisoners, too, although (somewhat conveniently, I find myself thinking) the big screen at the front of the room is not working on this day.

I can tell you that the judge, the Hon. Mr. Justice A. R. Webster, arrives late and apologizes for his lateness.

I can tell you that each of the accused sits on a bench behind a transparent divider. In many ways, their surroundings resemble a hockey bench. Except, of course, there's a pole running beneath each bench and their leg shackles are snapped around this horizontal pole.

I can tell you that the man in the box closest to the judge is Michael Sandham. He is an unremarkable- looking man, balding, in a casual black shirt. If he passed me in the street, I would likely not remember him.

On this day, however, I will remember him because he leans forward and holds his head in his hands, his hands covering his ears as the hearing unfolds.

Next to him is 30-year-old Marcelo Aravena. I would notice him wherever I saw him. He is a huge, powerful-looking man with short-cropped hair and the shadow of a neat goatee. He seems relaxed and focused.

In the next box sits Eric Niessen. He reminds me, perhaps unfairly, of the old Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comic books that emerged in the late 1960s. With his thick bush of black hair and prominent nose, Niessen resembles Phineas. During the proceedings, Niessen evinces a slight sense of contempt for all he sees.

Next to him sits Dwight Mushey. He is tall and athletic-looking. Think of L.A. Law actor Jimmy Smits, with long, sleek dark hair pulled into a pony tail. Mushey looks calm and capable.

In the next box are three men. On one end sits Frank Mather, a slim 33-year-old man whose chopped red hair seems to bear vestiges of a Mohawk cut. One side of Mather's mouth seems perpetually turned up in a half-hearted smirk.

On the other end of this box sits Brett Gardiner. If I was playing the old "what-thing-here-doesn't-seem-like- the-others" game, I'd pick Gardiner. With his splayed-open collar and pudgy face, Gardiner resembles an unctuous game-show host from the 1970s. There's nothing even remotely menacing in his demeanour.

And sitting between Gardiner and Mather is the star of this show, Wayne Kellestine. When he enters the courtroom, he seems to be huffing and puffing. He wears a green sweatshirt and green sweat pants. Continually peering over the top of his eyeglasses, the grey-haired Kellestine reminds me of Geppetto, the old man who carved Pinocchio out of wood.

At one point, Kellestine glares at the courtroom sketch-artist sitting beside me and pointedly pushes his eyeglasses up the bridge of his nose with an upturned middle finger.

And I can tell you that before a midday break, most of the reporters wait and watch until Kellestine shuffles out.

We watch, it seems to me, in fascination.

I can tell you that. But I can't begin to explain why.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The biker lived on the property until charged with eight counts of first-degree murder.
Kellestine farm to be auctioned
Randy Richmond
Sun Media
June 27, 2007

The farmhouse at the centre of the intense police investigation into the Bandidos biker massacre is up for sale, its notorious occupant in jail and unable to pay taxes.

"We don't advertise that property as the one people may have seen in the news." -- Ken Loveland, administrator for the Municipality of Dutton-Dunwich.

The taxes on the property long inhabited by biker leader Wayne Kellestine have not been paid for four years, said Ken Loveland, administrator for the Municipality of Dutton-Dunwich.

The municipality will auction off the two parcels that make up the Kellestine property June 28.

In all his years of auctioning, he's never sold off a property with so much notoriety attached, Loveland said June 26.

"I can't say as I have," Loveland said.

"We did have some discussion with the police to make sure they were done with the property."

The auction has garnered an average amount of interest.

The value of the farmland, not the history of the house, has potential buyers calling, Loveland said.

"We don't advertise that property as the one people may have seen in the news."

The ramshackle house, sheds and barn on Aberdeen Line have been the scene of biker activity for decades, as Kellestine moved through the Annihilators, Loners, and, most recently, the Bandidos biker gangs.

Police surrounded the farmhouse in April 2006 hours after the bodies of eight dead Bandidos were discovered stuffed in vehicles on a rural road about 20 kilometres away.

Three people in the house at the time -- including Kellestine -- were charged with eight counts of first-degree murder and two were charged with accessory after the fact. Another three people in Winnipeg were later charged with first-degree murder.

Police spent 64 days combing the property looking for clues.

At the time of the killings, Kellestine's wife and young daughter lived with him in the farmhouse.

The new owner can make arrangements with any occupants still at the house, Loveland said.

"That is their (the owner's) responsibility."

Two parcels of land are for sale -- a one-hectare (2.75-acre) piece that includes the house and barn and is owned by Kellestine's former wife Linda, and a 21-hectare (52.2-acre) piece of farmland owned by Kellestine himself.

According to Dutton- Dunwich records, the couple bought the smaller parcel for $50,000 in 1982.

Five years later, Kellestine bought the adjoining larger parcel for $52,500.

In 1992, Kellestine deeded the original, smaller lot and house to his wife for $1 and "natural love and affection."

They later split up and Kellestine took up with Tina Fitzgerald.

As of last year, Linda and Wayne Kellestine each owed about $10,000 on their pieces of property.

The back taxes now total about $15,000 each, Loveland said.

The minimum bid accepted on the farmhouse and land is $16,203.56 and on the farmland, $16,028.24, he said.

The extra money pays for the township's expenses.

With farmland going for $2,000 to $4,000 an acre, Loveland expects the township to recover its money and the property to sell quickly.
------------------------------------------
Taxes paid on farm linked to Bandido killings
Randy Richmond
Sun Media
June 28, 2007

The house at the centre of Ontario's biggest massacre will stay in the hands of a biker accused in the killings.

Only a day before the house where Wayne Kellestine lived was to be auctioned off, a lawyer representing the biker leader paid off the back taxes on the property, municipal officials said June 27.

"We're not going to have an auction," said Ken Loveland, administrator of the municipality of Dutton-Dunwich. "I think he (Kellestine) sold the 52-acre parcel to pay off the smaller parcel."

The property is made up of a one-hectare (2.75 acre) piece owned by estranged wife Linda Kellestine and a 21-hectare (52.2-acre) piece of farmland owned by Kellestine himself.

Four years of property taxes, about $15,000, was owed on each property.

The smaller parcel includes the farmhouse, barn and outbuildings that were the scene of biker gatherings for 20 years.

The property gained even greater notoriety in April 2006 when police surrounded it, then arrested Kellestine and four visitors in the killings of eight Bandidos bikers. Police then spent 64 days combing the property for evidence.

Three more people were arrested in Winnipeg.

The preliminary hearing into the killings finished last week.

Dutton lawyer Martin Joldersma acted on behalf of Kellestine, Loveland said. Joldersma could not be reached for comment June 27.

According to Dutton-Dunwich records, Wayne and Linda Kellestine bought the smaller parcel for $50,000 in 1982. Five years later, Kellestine bought the adjoining larger parcel for $52,500.

In 1992, Kellestine deeded the original, smaller lot and house to his wife for $1 and "natural love and affection."
==========================
Thu, July 12, 2007
Accused killers want trial moved
Three Winnipeggers on trial in Bandido slayings
LONDON, Ont. -- One of the biggest criminal trials ever expected in London, Ont., may be heard elsewhere.

Lawyers for eight defendants charged in the shooting deaths of eight Bandido bikers plan to ask that the case be moved out of the area.

Four defendants also want to quash an Ontario court decision made at a preliminary hearing last month to have each of them tried on eight counts of first-degree murder in the 2006 slayings.

A hearing on those applications won't be held until the fall, and either side could appeal to Ontario's highest court.

LONG WAY OFF

It all means setting a trial date is a long way off for those charged in the deaths of the biker gang members and associates.

The bodies of the victims were found 15 months ago stuffed into vehicles in southwestern Ontario's Elgin County.

"I sense that to have a trial on before the fall of 2008, I would be really surprised," said defence lawyer Tony Bryant, representing Marcelo Aravena, 31, of Winnipeg.

In court yesterday, lawyers set a date for a judicial pre-trial with a Superior Court justice to discuss trial-fairness issues.

One issue to be addressed early is "changing the proceedings to another jurisdiction," Bryant said in court.

An application for a venue change can be made if it's believed an accused can't get a fair trial -- for example, because of pre-trial publicity that might affect a jury pool -- where the charge was laid.

If successful, the case would move to another community.

The case was officially moved yesterday from St. Thomas, Ont., to London, where the three-month preliminary hearing was held in a high-tech, high-security courtroom.

Justice Lynne Leitch said Justice Dougald McDermid will conduct the pre-trial Aug. 28 and 29.

The next court date for the defendants is Oct. 10.

FIRST-DEGREE MURDER

By then, the applications should be filed to appeal the preliminary hearing decision.

Leitch said she wouldn't schedule a date for the appeal until everything is filed.

Bryant has already filed for Aravena, who faces eight counts of first-degree murder.

Also charged with eight counts of first-degree murder are five others: Dwight Mushey, 39, and Michael Sandham, 37, both of Winnipeg; Brett Gardiner, 23, of no fixed address; and Wayne Kellestine, 58, and Frank Mather, 33, both of Dutton-Dunwich, Ont.

Eric Niessen, 46, and Kerry Morris, 47, of Perth County, face charges of accessory after the fact to first-degree murder and obstruction of justice.
--------------------------------------------------
Sat, July 14, 2007
Ad trumpets Hells Angels foes staking city turf

The motorcycle gang that took on the Hells Angels in Canada's bloodiest-ever biker war may be establishing itself in Winnipeg.

An "announcement" in the classified section of a Winnipeg newspaper yesterday says a "Rock Machine Club House" is opening in Winnipeg on Sept. 15, indicating the club may be looking to set up shop in Manitoba. It's unclear who submitted the classified ad.

"Our officers do not have confirmation that that is fact, that they're coming here," said Const. Jacquie Chaput, a spokeswoman for Winnipeg police.

The Rock Machine went head-to-head with the Hells Angels during Quebec's deadly biker wars in the late '90s that claimed an estimated 170 lives. In 2000 most of the club's members "patched over" to the Texas-based Bandidos, the Angels' largest rivals worldwide.

ROCK MACHINE

A source told Sun Media yesterday that if the Rock Machine is in fact coming to Winnipeg, it would likely be in the capacity of a puppet club to help get the Bandidos back on their feet in Manitoba.

Three Winnipeg Bandidos affiliates are in jail after being charged in the massacre of eight men affiliated with the Bandidos in Shedden, Ont., in April 2006. Others are locked up in Stony Mountain Institution for various offences.

That leaves too few, if any, Bandidos on the streets of Winnipeg to have a full chapter here, said the source.

Winnipeg police had previously identified a group called Los Montoneros as the Bandidos' puppet club here, but the source said prospects in that group must go through a five-year probationary period before becoming full-patch Bandidos. It's possible the Rock Machine is being brought in, if they are in fact coming here, to speed up the rebuilding process, said the source.

That scenario would seem to support postings on the Bandidos' official Canadian website. Its guestbook has seen several recent comments related to Winnipeg.

A June 25 comment posted by a user who identifies himself as the secretary-treasurer of "Bandidos Mid West" reads: "Congratulations to the new Prospects in Winnipeg chapter Frank, Norm & Derrick on there (sic) new Status in the Bandido Nation ... Great job boys."

Winnipeg police declined to comment on the possibility of a local Bandidos resurgence when contacted by Sun Media last month.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Sun, July 15, 2007
Notice baffles bikers
Rock Machine no more?

By PAUL TURENNE, SUN MEDIA

If the Rock Machine is coming to Winnipeg, it's news to the Bandidos.

A Bandidos source told Sun Media yesterday the motorcycle club has no idea who is responsible for placing a classified ad in a Winnipeg newspaper on Friday announcing that a clubhouse for the Rock Machine will open in Winnipeg in September.

The Rock Machine waged Canada's bloodiest-ever biker war against the Hells Angels in Quebec during the 1990s but most of its remaining members became Bandidos in 2000.

A source had suggested to Sun Media that if the Rock Machine were indeed coming to Winnipeg, it might be to help speed up the process of building the Bandidos' ranks here. However, the Bandidos source said yesterday that the club is already well-established.

"We have 15 members on the streets in Winnipeg," he said.

The Bandidos source also noted the Rock Machine no longer exists, and if someone plans on re-establishing a chapter they're doing so without the Bandidos' knowledge or consent.

The source said Winnipeggers don't have to fear any kind of turf war with the Hells Angels.

"We don't party with them on a regular basis but we're not at war with them either," he said.

The Bandidos have two support clubs in Manitoba, Los Montoneros and another group, Red Power, which operates in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, said the source.

MURDERS IN SHEDDEN

The Bandidos have also established the Mid-West chapter with members scattered between Saskatoon and Calgary, as well as four chapters in Ontario, said the source.

"We're larger now than we were before the murders that happened in Shedden," he said.

Eight men with ties to the Bandidos were killed in April 2006 near Shedden, Ont. Eight people have been charged in connection with the slayings, including three from Winnipeg.

The Bandidos source said the Canadian members are trying to shed their outlaw image.

"I know you've heard it before, but we're not a criminal organization. We're just trying to be a motorcycle club," he said. "The lion's share of the guys are businesspeople. We have pilots, we have retired people -- these are guys who have been legitimate businessmen all their lives."
----------------------------------------------------------------

Trial set in biker killings
Winnipeg Sun
LONDON, Ont. -- A trial is to start in 11 months for eight people accused in the biggest mass slaying in modern Ontario history.
Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney set Sept. 8, 2008, to begin the trial of eight people charged in connection with the deaths of eight Bandido motorcycle club members in Elgin County on April 8, 2006. The trial is expected to last three to six months.
Wayne Kellestine, 58, Frank Mather, 33, both of Dutton-Dunwich, Ont.; Brett Gardiner, 23, of no fixed address; Michael Sandham, 37, Marcelo Aravena, 31, and Dwight Mushey, 39, of Winnipeg, are each charged with eight counts of first-degree murder. Eric Niessen, 46, and Kerry Morris, 47, of Monkton in Perth County, Ont., are charged with accessory after the fact and obstruction of justice.
----------------------------------------------------------
Fri, October 19, 2007
Bandidos no more?
Outlaw gang toast after Shedden massacre: Website

By CHRIS KITCHING, SUN MEDIA

Michael Sandham is one of eight charged with murders. (Ken Wightman, Sun Media File)

Eighteen months after Bandidos affiliates were murdered or charged in a mass slaying, a website suggests the motorcycle club no longer exists in Canada.

Since the Shedden, Ont., massacre in April 2006, there have been mixed signals about the outlaw biker gang's status in Canada.

Persistent speculation the club, headquartered in Texas, had collapsed north of the border was met recently with hints it welcomed new prospects in Manitoba and opened a midwest chapter with members in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

But a recent post on the Bandidos Motorcycle Club Canada website states: "As of October 2, 2007, the Bandidos MC 1% Canada is officially shut down. There isn't no more Bandidos MC membership in Canada."

The person who updates the website did not respond to an e-mail before press time last night.

A Winnipeg police spokeswoman had this response about the website's claim: "The Bandidos website is not clear to us. Therefore, we are not able to confirm the existence of a chapter in Canada."

The Shedden murders happened at a time when the gang's national membership was dwindling, observers believe, and many members were behind bars.

MYSTERY

Eight Bandidos were slain. Of the eight charged, three were part of the gang's Winnipeg chapter -- president Michael Sandham, 37, Marcelo Aravena, 31, and Dwight Mushey, 39.

The trio is charged with eight counts of first-degree murder. A trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 8, 2008.

In recent months, comments within a guestbook on the Bandidos Canada website suggested the club was gaining momentum in Western Canada.

There were congratulatory messages for supposed new affiliates in Winnipeg and rural Manitoba, while another announced the launch of a probationary chapter in Calgary, something police in that city did not confirm or deny at the time.

Adding to the mystery was a newspaper ad in July that announced a "Rock Machine Club House" would open Sept. 15 in Winnipeg.

Yesterday, Winnipeg police were unable to comment on whether a clubhouse opened.

In 2000, most remaining Rock Machine members patched over to the Bandidos following the Rock Machine's deadly biker war with the Hells Angels in Quebec.

There was a suggestion the Rock Machine, if it came to Winnipeg, would prop up the Bandidos. A Bandidos source, however, previously told Sun Media the club did not need the help.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Sat, October 20, 2007
'Going to be a war'
U.S. gang eager to scoop up Hells-haters: Source

By ROB NAY AND PAUL TURENNE, SUN MEDIA

A U.S. biker gang seeking to gain ground in Canada has set its sights on recruiting Bandidos members across the country, a source told Sun Media.

The California-based Mongols Motorcycle Club has been trying to recruit Bandidos members in Canada over the past three months, said the source, a former Bandidos member.

As reported yesterday, the Bandidos organization, a Texas-based biker gang with worldwide membership, claims on its official Canadian website that it no longer has any members in Canada.

Meanwhile, a Canadian flag is now featured on the Mongols' website along with messages on its guestbook from people claiming to be members of Red Power, one of the Bandidos support clubs in Manitoba.

In one of the messages posted on the guestbook, a user calling himself the Red Power president in "Peg city" welcomed the Mongols.

"Greetings from canada ... hope to see your club riding through out our regions ..."

Winnipeg police spokesman Sgt. Kelly Dennison said he's not aware of recruiting by the Mongols in Canada.

If the Mongols do intend to establish themselves in Canada, violence could break out with the rival Hells Angels motorcycle club, said the former Bandidos member.

"There's going to be a war for sure," he said.

Edward Winterhalder, a leading authority on biker clubs, said the Hells and Mongols generally don't get along.

"They don't associate," said Winterhalder. "And when they meet there's usually a fight, at least a fistfight."

Winterhalder, a former high-ranking member of the Bandidos and author of a number of books on bikers, said the Mongols are among the top three or four biker groups in the U.S.

TENSE RELATIONSHIP

In 2002, a clash inside a busy casino in Laughlin, Nev., between the Mongols and Hells Angels left three gang members dead.

It wouldn't be surprising, said Winterhalder, if Bandidos members turned to the Mongols because the Canadian Bandidos chapter has had a tense relationship with its U.S. counterpart.

"The U.S. Bandidos leadership has failed to acknowledge that the Bandidos even exist in Canada," said Winterhalder.

Despite website claims the Bandidos in Canada were "shut down," sources told Sun Media last summer the club is in fact growing in Western Canada.

Ontario Provincial Police Det. Insp. Dan Redmond, who runs Ontario's provincial joint forces biker enforcement unit, would neither confirm nor deny the Bandidos still operate in Canada but said police aren't about to take the website's claim as gospel.

"We will remain vigilant in our mission, which is outlaw motorcycle gangs," said Redmond. "We are aware of the Bandidos website, the accuracy of which should be taken with a grain of salt."

Redmond said it would be "naive" of police not to recognize that Canada represents a potentially lucrative market for outlaw motorcycle gangs.
======================================
Man pleads guilty to obstruction of justice in Bandidos massacre
Last Updated: Friday, December 7, 2007

A known associate of the Bandidos biker gang has pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in Ontario's worst mass slaying.

The new detail in the case comes after CBC News won a court challenge Friday to disclose key facts involving the discovery of the bodies of eight men linked to the motorcycle gang on April 8, 2006. They were found in abandoned vehicles in a rural area outside Shedden, which is near London.

Eric Niessen, who was visiting the residence of one of the men charged in the deaths, has been sentenced to two years in prison as a result of his guilty plea.

He had initially been charged with first-degree murder. That charge was dropped but he was facing a charge of being an accessory after the fact.

According to an agreed upon statement of fact, Niessen did not witness the deaths and does not know who killed the men.

Court documents say that Niessen and his common-law wife Kerry Morris went to visit Wayne Kellestine, one of the men accused of first-degree murder, on April 8 in Dutton-Dunwich Township.

The documents say that when they arrived, there were only three people there: Kellestine, and Frank Mather of Dutton-Dunwich Township and Brett Gardiner of no fixed address, who are also charged with first-degree murder in the case.

Saw police vehicles

Niessen also noticed a number of marked and unmarked police vehicles surrounding the property, according to the documents. Some time after his arrival, he realized police were there in connection with the discovery of the eight bodies in nearby Southwold Township.

On April 9, Niessen was seen carrying buckets of water from the house to the barn.

"Forensic evidence collected and analyzed from the floor of the barn provides evidence to establish" one or more of the men had been shot there, the court documents state.

Niessen saw Gardiner filling up a pail of water, saw Mather with a pail by the doorway to the barn and saw him take another pail into the barn. But Niessen does not know if anyone washed the surface of the barn floor to destroy evidence, the documents say.

On April 9, Niessen searched the ground of the Kellestine property, looking through the grass, and under the porch of the home, the documents say. These were areas where the men were shot and where shell casings could have been left, according to the documents.

But there is no evidence that Niessen found anything significant, say the documents.

In his guilty plea, Niessen admitted he lied to police and "participated in an alibi" for Kellestine he knew to be false.

Niessen, a Monkton, Ont., native, also admitted that while he was searching in the grass and helping to get water to the barn, he was aware that people at the house were destroying physical evidence and that some of it may have been related to the homicides.

An accessory after the fact charge against Morris has been dismissed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BANDIDOS MASSACRE
Gag order lifted
Jane Sims and Randy Richmond
Sun Media
December 8, 2007
The Supreme Court lifts a ban on reporting that a Bandidos supporter pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in the biker slaying case.
A Bandidos supporter pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and all charges against his common-law partner were withdrawn in connection with the largest mass slaying in modern Ontario history.
The dramatic development in the Bandidos massacre case happened two months ago, Oct. 15, in a London court.
But only now can the details be reported, after the Supreme Court of Canada Dec. 7 lifted a temporary publication ban slapped on the guilty plea.
Sun Media and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. had fought the order that banned reporting the resolution of Eric Niessen's and Kerry Morris's criminal charges.
Niessen, 46, of Monkton, in Perth County, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and was sentenced to two years in prison for his part in the slaying in Elgin County of eight Bandidos bikers April 8, 2006.
George Jessome, 52, of Toronto; George Kriarakis, 28, of Toronto; John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham; Luis Manny Raposo, 41; Frank Salerno, 43, of Etobicoke; Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Sutton; Jamie Flanz, 37, of Keswick; and Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga, were found dead.
The Crown withdrew two charges -- obstruction of justice and accessory after the fact -- against 48-year-old Morris, Neissen's common-law partner.
An accessory charge against Niessen also was dropped.
Niessen's sentence was on top of time served in custody since his arrest after the bodies were found shot and stuffed in vehicles on a quiet rural road near Shedden, southwest of London.
With credit for his pre-plea time in custody, the sentence is equivalent to five years.
At the guilty plea hearing, Niessen's lawyer, Jonathan Bliss, said his client has a background in insurance and auto body repair.
He said Niessen's time in custody was "an illuminating experience."
The couple's cases are the first to be resolved in the complex prosecution of the case.
Six men are all charged with eight counts of first-degree murder in the mass killings.
They are Wayne Kellestine, 58, Frank Mather, 34, of Dutton-Dunwich, Brett Gardiner, 23, of no fixed address, Michael Sandham, 38, Marcelo Aravena, 31, and Dwight Mushey, 40 of Winnipeg.
Their trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 8 in London and expected to last six months.
Superior Court Justice Dougald McDermid presided over Niessen and Morris's hearing and heard a nine-page statement of facts read by assistant Crown attorney David D'Iorio.
Niessen had known Kellestine since 2004 and visited his home a number of times. He'd attended Bandidos biker functions with Kellestine and other Bandidos members before.
He knew Kellestine was a high ranking member of the Bandidos. He'd only known Mather a few months, but knew he was a supporter of the motorcycle club.
Niessen described himself as an official Bandidos supporter and had to pay $25 a month. He only paid once.
Before that, Niessen had been a supporter of the Outlaws motorcycle club.
Niessen knew Kellestine was trying to develop and lead a new Bandidos chapter.
Before April 7, 2006, five men from Winnipeg -- Sandham, Mushey, Aravena, Gardiner and Maurice Hudson -- travelled to Kellestine's farm near Dutton.
The victims were all part of the Bandidos' Toronto chapter and came to Kellestine's home on April 7, 2006.
Sometime later, into the early hours of April 8, 2006, the eight Toronto men were shot and killed.
Niessen was not there.
He and Kerry Morris left their Monkton home and arrived at Kellestine's house about 3 p.m. on April 8.
He was introduced to Brett Gardiner when he and Morris arrived.
When they got there, Niessen saw marked and unmarked police vehicles surrounding the property.
There were three men at the Kellestine house -- Kellestine, Frank Mather and Brett Gardiner.
The woman and child who live there were not there.
Niessen and Morris did not bring any firearms, ammunition, weapons, acid, documentation relating to the Bandidos or anything else -- just beer.
Nieseen observed no one left the home until police arrived to search it the next day.
After Niessen arrived at Kellestine's home, police continued to surround the property. It was clear to Niessen the police were there because of the discovery of the eight bodies.
Then there were phone calls made to Kellestine's home about the deaths.
That evening, Niessen saw TV news reports and recognized Raposo's VW and a Superior Tow truck driven by Jessome.
Niessen talked on the phone to Muscedere's brother, Joseph, just before midnight on April 8. He told him he thought two of the bodies were that of Raposo and Muscedere.
Niessen also knew some of the people at the residence were destroying evidence, some of which may have been related to the slayings.
Niessen was also seen carrying buckets from the house to the barn and filling them with water from an old freezer that collected rain water.
But D'Iorio said Niessen did not have actual knowledge anyone washed the barn floor to destroy evidence.
Forensic evidence collected from the barn floor suggests one or more of the victims were shot in the barn.
Niessen was also seen searching the grounds of the property, specifically in areas believed to be where the victims were shot and where shell casings and other forensic evidence could have been, D'Iorio said.
There is no evidence Niessen found anything.
The Crown said Niessen did tell the police three lies.
He said he and Morris had arrived at Kellestine's at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 7, 2006.
They had a drinking party with Kellestine, Mather, Gardiner, Kellestine's common-law spouse and possibly Kellestine's daughter.
And he said the reason police saw his vehicle arriving at the farm Saturday was because he was returning from a beer run.
D'Iorio said Niessen didn't know or take part in burning any fires in an outdoor fire pit over his time spent there.
Niessen does not concede to knowing Kellestine, Mather and Gardiner were responsible for the deaths or anyone else.
The Crown applied to ban the entire hearing from publication, fearing a fair trial wouldn't be possible for the rest and an impartial jury wouldn't be found.
Elgin Crown Attorney Kevin Gowdey argued the information could force moving the trial.
McDermid disagreed.
"The mere fact that he pleaded guilty does not in any way implicate any other person in the homicides that occurred," he said in a written decision.
"it is important for the public to know what is happening in the courts as events unfold there," he added.
McDermid did place a ban on some of the agreed statement of facts "in order to prevent a real and substantial risk to the fairness of the trial."
The Crown appealed the ruling leading to Dec. 7's Supreme Court decision.
Niessen and Morris were among the five initial arrests -- along with Kellestine, Mather and Gardiner -- and charged with eight counts of first-degree murder.
Sandham, Mushey and Aravena were arrested in June 2006 and also charged with eight counts of first-degree murder.
Murder charges were dropped against the couple and replaced with charges of accessory after the fact.
Morris was released on bail in May 2006. Niessen was denied bail following a hearing in July 2006.
Earlier this year, after a lengthy preliminary hearing for all the accused, Ontario Court Justice Ross Webster ordered Morris and Niessen also be charged with obstruction of justice.
The lifting of the publication ban relieved Morris's friends and acquaintances, who defended her after the murder charges were laid.
"That's good to hear. She was always the peaceful type," a dispatcher at Star Taxi, her former employer, said last night.
"She never appeared to be anyone who would harm somebody."
Niessen, however, "seemed like a bit of a roughneck," the dispatcher said.
The two appeared as a couple in Monkton only a few years ago.
Niessen had lived there earlier with another woman, and two sons.
He worked at an auto body shop. To neighbours, they seemed like an average family.
But about 10 years ago, the family moved out.
Niessen returned with a new woman, Morris, and they ended up in a farmhouse just outside town.
The couple always seemed to struggle for money, said Lori Cooper, who employed Kerry Morris as a taxi driver for almost two years in Mitchell.
Morris was a kind woman who took in stray cats and helped out stranded passengers along her taxi routes, Cooper told reporters when the charges were laid.
Morris left her taxi job about 18 months before the killings to spend more time with her family, taking a part-time Tim Hortons job in Mitchell, Cooper said
She then got a job at Alpine Plant Food in New Hamburg, where she was working at the time of the arrest.
At his bail hearing in July 2006, Niessen said he had a degenerative back condition and had only spent one night in jail before his arrest in the Bandido case.
He said he didn't own firearms -- "never have, never will" -- and his only other criminal conviction was for impaired driving.
Of Morris, he said: "I would die for her."
-----------------------------------------------------------
February 16, 2008
Bandidos gang back in Canada
Bandidos website: 'Stay tuned'
By CHRIS DOUCETTE AND ROB LAMBERTI, SUN MEDIA
The Toronto Sun
The Bandidos biker gang is back in Canada.

The group, which at one time stated on its Canadian website that it was no more, now has a new site saying, "Big changes coming soon ... Stay tuned."
The message is signed off by the letters NSCC, an acronym for the No Surrender Crew Canada, a nickname used by the Canadian wing of the Texas-based one-percent motorcycle club.
The former Toronto leader of the club, Francesco "Cisco" Lenti announced on the site last October "There isn't no more Bandidos MC membership in Canada."
The statement followed Lenti's arrest for second-degree murder. He's awaiting trial in the December 2006 shooting murder of Toronto West Hells Angels sergeant-at-arms David (White Dread) Buchanan and the wounding of two other Hells members.
Buchanan was reputedly a supplier of firearms to street gangs in Rexdale.
The Bandidos was also left shattered when eight of its Toronto area members, including its Canadian leadership, were found dead, their bodies stuffed into vehicles, in Shedden, near London, in April 2006. Trial is expected to start next fall for eight people charged with first-degree murder in the deaths.
"They want the word to get out about their re-opening," said an associate who spoke on condition of anonymity. "They don't want any misconceptions because of what was listed on the site ...
"They did close down for a short period of time," he said.
"It's been (nearly two) years since ... Shedden. What they've gone through, and the odds that they were up against, basically shook the club apart," the associate said.
"A lot of the strongest members of the No Surrender Crew have come back together. They are just not willing to give it up and they've re-opened the Bandidos back up in Canada again," he said.
A police source who is familiar with the Bandidos said "the guys in Winnipeg have been down to try and get things re-established" in Ontario.
"The Winnipeg guys have ties to the States," he said, indicating the move may have the approval of the Bandidos' hierarchy in Texas.
The source said what may be behind the move back into the province is the weakened state of the Hells Angels, who were given blows by police in two undercover projects where the Biker Enforcement Unit convinced two Angels to turn on the gang.
"You got Ontario chapters of the HA weakened ... you got this other trial going on where you have a bunch of people charged with killing (the Shedden victims)," the officer said.
"So you have that bad publicity coming out of that, that they don't exist anymore, so they want to prove to people that they do. But you know what? I think their success rate will be a zero."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wayne Kellestine's home is 'totalled,' but officials say it's too early to say if it's accidental or suspicious.
Bandidos site burns
Patrick Maloney
Sun Media
March 28, 2008

Almost exactly two years after police probing the biggest mass killing in Ontario history swooped down on the home of Wayne Kellestine, they returned yesterday (Mar. 27).

This time they were with firefighters battling a blaze that tore through the Aberdeen Line farmhouse where Kellestine -- one of six people facing first-degree murder charges in the Bandidos deaths -- lived before his arrest.

"It's totalled," Dan Lundy, the Dutton-Dunwich fire chief, said last night. "It's totally destroyed."

One woman living in the home, whom a friend at the scene identified as Kellestine's girlfriend, Tina, was taken to hospital for smoke-related injuries. Their daughter was not home when the fire started, at about 3:30 p.m.

Lundy said it was too early to tell whether it was accidental or suspicious. Firefighters weren't able to enter the charred home.

It's expected Ontario's fire marshal will be at the home this morning to investigate.

The friend at the scene, who wouldn't give her name, last night said the timing of the fire makes the loss all the more painful.

"This isn't good, considering it's two weeks to the anniversary to the (killing)" of eight Bandidos bikers, whose bodies were found a few kilometres away on the morning of April 8, 2006.

Police descended on the home at 32196 Aberdeen Line one day later. Investigators spent the next two months combing the property for clues.

Killed were: George Jesso, 52, of Toronto; George Kriarakis, 28, of Toronto; John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham; Luis Manny Raposo, 41; Frank Salerno, 43, of Etobicoke; Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Sutton; Jamie Flanz, 37, of Keswick; and Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga.

Six men are each charged with eight counts of first-degree murder in the killings.

They are Kellestine, 58, Frank Mather, 34, of Dutton-Dunwich, Brett Gardiner, 23, of no fixed address, Michael Sandham, 38, Marcelo Aravena, 31, and Dwight Mushey, 40 of Winnipeg.

Their trial is to begin Sept. 8 in London and is expected to last six months.

In October, a Bandidos supporter pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and all charges against his common-law partner were withdrawn in connection with the deaths.

Eric Niessen, 46, of Monkton, in Perth County, was sentenced to two years in prison.

The Crown withdrew two charges -- obstruction of justice and accessory after the fact -- against 48-year-old Kerry Morris, Niessen's common-law partner.

An accessory charge against Niessen also was dropped.

The now-destroyed home was to be auctioned off last June over unpaid taxes, but a lawyer for Kellestine paid off the taxes, allowing Kellestine to hang onto the property.

The one-hectare (2.75-acre) property includes the farmhouse, barn and outbuildings that were the scene of biker gatherings for 20 years.

According to Dutton-Dunwich records, Wayne and his now-estranged wife, Linda Kellestine, bought the smaller parcel for $50,000 in 1982. Five years later, Kellestine bought the adjoining larger parcel for $52,500.
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Cause of a fire at the home of biker Wayne Kellestine is focus of a fire marshal's inquiry.
Bandido's house fire probed
Joe Belanger
Sun Media
March 29, 2008

Investigators are still probing a fire that destroyed the home owned by Wayne Kellestine, who faces first-degree murder charges in the Bandidos killings.

The once white, two-storey frame home on Aberdeen Line northwest of Iona Station and Highway 401 was gutted by fire Thursday afternoon (Mar. 27).

The roof collapsed and fire burned holes throughout the walls, the siding blackened or burned away.

"I'm just glad it's gone and maybe it'll bring quiet back to the area," said an area resident, who, like others, didn't want his name used.

The fire started after 3 p.m.

Police searched the Kellestine property in April 2006 after the bodies of eight members and associates of the Bandidos bike gang were found stuffed in vehicles parked beside a woodlot several kilometres from the Kellestine farm, notorious in the area for years as the scene of biker parties.

A man who was working in a nearby field when the fire broke out said the flames rose three metres above the house.

"I saw smoke coming from the house and, at first, I thought they'd fired up the wood stove," said the man.

"Then I saw the smoke coming from the front of the house and I knew it wasn't good."

Kellestine's girlfriend, Tina, lived in the house with her daughter, and suffered smoke inhalation.

An investigator from the Ontario Fire Marshal's office and OPP officers were at the scene yesterday but declined comment.

One neighbour said he had no opinion about what could be the end of an era with bike gangs roaming the area.

"I never had a problem with them, so I don't really have much to say," said the man. "(Kellestine) was a good neighbour."

Those killed April 7, 2006, were: George Jesso, 52, of Toronto; George Kriarakis, 28, of Toronto; John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham; Luis Manny Raposo, 41; Frank Salerno, 43, of Etobicoke; Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Sutton; Jamie Flanz, 37, of Keswick; and Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga.

Six men are each charged with eight counts of first-degree murder in the killings.

They are Kellestine, 58; Frank Mather, 34, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 23, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 38, Marcelo Aravena, 31, and Dwight Mushey, 40, all of Winnipeg.

Their trial is to begin Sept. 8 in London and is expected to last six months.

The now-destroyed home was to be auctioned off last June over unpaid taxes, but a lawyer for Kellestine paid off the taxes, allowing Kellestine to hang onto the property.

The one-hectare property includes the farmhouse, barn and outbuildings that were the scene of biker gatherings for 20 years.
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BANDIDOS: Grisly details of the slaying of eight men released by court
Scenes from a massacre
May 29, 2008
All were shot in the head. One was rolled up in a carpet.
The grisly details of what police discovered along a quiet Elgin County road near Shedden two years ago when they found eight slain men associated with the Bandido motorcycle club were released by the court yesterday.
Seven edited pages of the released materials describe the investigation beginning shortly before 9 a.m. on April 8, 2006, before the warrants were issued.

They describe the scene on Stafford Line.

An OPP officer first went to a grey 2003 Infiniti FX3 with tinted windows, registered to victim Jamie Flanz, parked with the driver's window down. The officer saw a man seated in the right rear passenger seat with blood on his face. He was not breathing.

The officer then went to the open hatch at the back of the car and saw a second man lying on his side. He was not moving.

The officer called for back-up and an ambulance.

Another officer arrived and saw two more men sitting in the rear seat of the Infiniti. They were both bleeding from wounds on their heads.

One man was slumped to his left and had blood coming from his nose and wasn't breathing. The other man was slumped forward and had a wound to his right temple.

The officer checked the body in the hatch and saw there was a wound to one of his eyes and there was a pool of blood underneath him.

None of the men had vital signs.

Two more officers checked the tow truck and the silver 2001 Volkswagen Golf hooked to it. The truck belonged to Superior Towing and Storage in Etobicoke.

There were three men in the Volkswagen. A man was in the driver's seat with his head covered. Another man was in the front seat with his head covered with a leather jacket.

A third man was in the back of the car wrapped in a piece of carpet.

The officers checked a 2006 Pontiac Grand Prix parked between the bush lot and an area of pine trees east of the other vehicles. It appeared to be backed in.

In the rear seat was a man with his head covered.

A paramedic found a man in the rear seat of the tow truck, slumped over to the truck's right side. There was a large blood pool in the truck's doorsill and blood on the back seat.

The vehicles were moved to London for examination.

In a briefing later that morning, an OPP identification officer reported:

All eight men appeared to have been killed by gunshot wounds to the head.

The victim in the tow truck was believed to be George Jessome, who had been shot in the left side of the head, causing the blood stains on the truck. A shell casing was found in the truck.

There were no projected blood stains in the Grand Prix or the Volkswagen, although there was evidence of bleeding.

The man rolled up in the carpet was believed to be Luis Raposo. He had been shot twice in the neck but there was little blood. The blood on the inside and outside of the hatch door handle suggested Raposo had been shot somewhere else.

There was a lot of dirt on the Volkswagen's tires, suggesting it was stuck before it was put on the tow truck. A sample of soil was taken for comparison purposes.

The large man in the Infiniti hatch appeared to have been shot in the car and the other two men found in the car were shot elsewhere.

Police searched the area with metal detectors but located no evidence. Three tire impressions were found on Stafford Line.

The next morning, the officer in charge of the crime scene updated the investigation after the bodies were removed from the vehicles.

He reported the body in the Infiniti hatch was removed first and had a gunshot wound to the forehead above the left eye. A shell casing -- a .38 calibre -- was found in the blood under the head. There was no identification.

The second body in the car's rear passenger seat had Michael Trotta's identification. There were wounds to the top of the head and right temple.

The third body in the car had injuries to the right cheek, above the left eye and right ear. There were two more wounds in the thigh. A silver shell casing from a .22 calibre gun -- was found under the body. There was no identification.

The body in the tow truck -- an older man with a white goatee -- had an injury on the left chin below the earlobe.

The body in the Grand Prix's rear seat had gloves on. There were injuries to the left cheek and forehead. Police also found a brass shell casing in the latch area of the seat.

The body in the Volkswagen driver's seat had two gunshots in the area of the left ear.

The front passenger in the Volkswagen was a man in his 50s. He had one injury to his face below his left eye.

The Volkswagen passenger in the back seat wrapped in the carpet had his right middle finger "cut off at the knuckle." He had gunshot wounds to his neck.

It appeared he was carried to the car in the carpet.

--- --- ---

WHAT HAPPENED

Contents of search warrants relating to the investigation into the Bandidos slayings two years ago in Elgin County were released yesterday for the first time after being sealed in the early days of the investigation.

Sun Media, the parent company of The London Free Press, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., fought to have the search warrant materials released to the public. The Ontario Court of Appeal decided last week that edited copies of the warrants, could be released.

The warrants to search the Dutton-Dunwich farm -- Wayne Kellestine's house, garage, barn and property -- were released yesterday. The warrants issued for three addresses and a red Jimmy in Winnipeg, Man., are still under review.

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More Bandidos slaying details
The second warrant to be made public focuses on searches in Winnipeg
The London Free Press

Two months after eight Bandido bikers were found slain in Elgin County, police searched three homes and an SUV in Winnipeg for evidence that might link three men to the slayings.

Blood, DNA, clothing, receipts from a Barrie Wal-Mart, and computer communications equipment and software were among the many items listed in newly released court documents issued for the four Winnipeg locations.

The warrants allowed police on the properties from June 11 to June 19, 2006, two months after the eight bikers were found shot to death along the Stafford Line near Shedden.

Yesterday, the warrants were made available to comply with an Ontario Court of Appeal ruling in May that edited copies could be released to the media.

Sun Media, the parent company of The London Free Press, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. went to court to have the materials released to the public.

The documents needed to search the Dutton-Dunwich farm of Wayne Kellestine, 59, were released a week after the decision and detailed a search for blood, firearms and DNA.

But it took until yesterday before the edited Winnipeg search warrants were released.

Kellestine is one of six men facing eight counts of first-degree murder in the case.

Michael Sandham, 38, Dwight Mushey, 40, and Marcelo Aravena, 32, were arrested in Winnipeg and brought to Ontario two months after the bodies were discovered.

Kellestine, Frank Mather, 34, of Dutton-Dunwich and Brett Gardiner, of no fixed address, were charged just days into the investigation.

The Winnipeg searches focused on four locations:

- A house and garage at 938 Lindsay St., the home of Mushey and Aravena.

- A house at 129 Rogan Dr., the home of Mushey and Kimberly Douglas.

- Michael Sandham's home at 249 Greene Ave. The house was surrounded by mud because of the ongoing construction.

- The red GMC Jimmy registered to Kathleen Harder and located at Sandham's home.

At all four places, police were looking for:

- footwear and clothing that could have trace evidence of blood, hair, fibre and DNA from the victims.

- a black short-sleeve jersey with green sleeves and a grey stripe across the top of the chest and back with the number 23 on both the front and back.

- white coveralls.

- a black ball cap with a white oval logo on the front.

- Receipts for purchases made at Wal-Mart at 35 Maple View Drive W., in Barrie on April 8, 2006.

- Sandals, footwear and boots that could have trace evidence from the victims.

- Blood, hair, fibre and DNA.

- A computer system, related devices, media and documents containing passwords, manuals and printers.

- Cellphones, pagers, BlackBerry devices and other mobile communication devices.

- Correspondence, notes, calendar, date books, business cards, address books, hard copies of e-mail, telephone records, bank cheques, money orders and any other similar documents that could show a relationship to the slain men and other accused.

- Bank statements; credit card statements; debt lists; ledgers; journals; accounting documents; cancelled, deposited, cashed or paid cheques; bank passbooks; electronic fund transfer confirmations; and any other documents "that show a possible motive" for the slayings.

In addition, at Sandham's residence, police were looking for:

- credit card slips, debit slips, and cash sales receipts confirming the purchase of replacement tires at Wal-Mart.

- Warranty or guarantee documents for the tires.

- Keys, vehicle permit and ownership transfer documents for the GMC Jimmy.

Important details not made public include the reasons why police focused on the Winnipeg men. The first 21 paragraphs in the section explaining why the police wanted the warrants were not released to the media.

There were other areas blacked out in the text.

The warrants did include a similar description to that which appeared in the Kellestine warrants of the scene found along Stafford Line on April 8, 2006.

The men, all from the Toronto area with ties to the Bandidos motorcycle club, were found shot to death in parked vehicles.

There is some extra information in the Winnipeg warrants specifying the identity of each dead man.

Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Sutton was the large male found in the rear of the 2003 Infiniti registered to Jamie Flanz, 37, of Keswick. Sinopoli had been shot in the forehead above his left eye.

Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga was found in the rear passenger seat on the driver's side with injuries to the top of the head and right temple.

Frank Salerno, 43, of Etobicoke was found in the rear seat on the passenger's side with injuries to his right cheek, above the left eye and possibly in the right ear. Two gunshot wounds were found in his thigh.

George Jessome, 52, of Toronto was found in the extended cab of the Superior Towing tow truck, a 2001 green Chevrolet Silverado. His injury was to the left chin directly below the ear lobe.

Flanz was found in the rear seat of the 2006 Pontiac Grand hands. His injuries were to the left cheek and forehead.

George Kriarakis, 28, of Mississauga was in the driver's seat of the 2001 Volkswagen Golf with two gunshot wounds near his left ear.

John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham was in the front passenger seat of the Golf. The only visible injury was to his face below his right eye.

Luis (Manny) Raposo, 41, of Toronto was found wrapped in carpet. His middle finger was cut off at the middle knuckle and he had gunshot wounds to his neck.

"It appears that the carpet was used to carry this person to the automobile," the warrant said.
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Decade in jail for biker killing
By BRIAN GRAY, SUN MEDIA
The Toronto Sun

NEWMARKET -- A Bandido member was sentenced to 10 years in prison yesterday for shooting a rival biker gang member to death at point blank range and wounding two others.

However, Superior Court Justice Michael Brown gave Francesco "Cisco" Lenti 48-months credit for 19 months of custody he has already served in segregation.

Lenti, who pleaded guilty in April, nodded his head as he was sentenced for manslaughter in the death of Hells Angels sergeant-at-arms David (White Dread) Buchanan in the lobby of Club Pro in Vaughan in the early morning of Dec. 2, 2006.

MORE SENTENCES

He was also sentenced to concurrent four-year terms for aggravated assaults on then-Hells Angels prospect Carlos Verrelli and full-patch member Dana Carnegie.

"In my view, the manslaughter in this case more resembles murder," Brown said, as a reason for sentencing at the high-end of the range available. "This is as close to murder as we could get without the necessary intentions."

FELT THREATENED

When confronted by Hells Angels members shortly after midnight, Lenti felt threatened, believing he saw the butt of a gun inside Verrelli's jacket.

He moved from a dark, secluded part of the bar to the brightly lit lobby where security cameras captured what was happening.

The argument escalated and Buchanan punched Lenti in the jaw and gave him a black eye and that's when Lenti pulled a 9-mm Luger handgun from his waistband and fired. Buchanan and Verrelli fell to the floor and Carnegie ran away.

Lenti then shot Buchanan once more through the cheek as he tried to push himself up off the floor
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COURTS: Motions begin
Bandidos trial highly anticipated
Jane Sims
Sun Media
November 18, 2008

Pre-trial motions began yesterday in London in a highly anticipated murder trial in connection to the slaying of eight Bandido bikers.

Wayne Kellestine

A publication ban is in effect for the nine weeks of motions to be heard in the Superior Court of Justice before jury selection begins Feb. 23.

The trial is due to last several months.

Six men -- Wayne Kellestine and Frank Mather of Dutton-Dunwich, Brett Gardiner of no fixed address, Michael Sandham, Dwight Mushey and Marcelo Aravena -- are jointly charged with eight counts of first-degree murder.

The bodies of eight men were found shot to death on Stafford Line in Elgin County, southwest of London, in April 2006.
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BANDIDOS
Jury selection begins in bikers' murder trial
Jane Sims
Sun Media
February 23, 2009

Jury selection begins today in London for the highly anticipated trial into the shooting deaths of eight Bandido bikers.

The selection process is expected to take several weeks as the Crown and defence lawyers choose jurors to hear the trial, expected to last several months.

Wayne Kellestine, 59, and Frank Mather, 35, both of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 32, and Dwight Mushey, 41, all of Winnipeg, each face eight counts of first- degree murder in the deaths of eight men believed to be part of the Bandidos motorcycle club.

The men's bodies were found in vehicles parked haphazardly on a rural Elgin County road, southwest of London, on April 8, 2006.

The case has crept through the criminal justice system.

Pre-trial motions began in November to lead up to the February trial date.

It's expected a large pool of potential jurors will be summoned to the courthouse this week to begin the process of selecting 12 to try the case.

The shooting victims -- George Jessome, 52, of Toronto; George Kriarakis, 28, of Toronto; John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham; Luis Manny Raposo, 41, of Toronto; Frank Salerno, 43, of Etobicoke; Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Sutton; Jamie Flanz, 37, of Keswick; and Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga -- were all connected to the Bandidos motorcycle club.
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Bandidos trial finally starts

8 bikers were murdered in April 2006

By JANE SIMS, SUN MEDIA

Last Updated: 23rd February 2009, 5:16am

LONDON, Ont. -- Jury selection begins today in London for the highly anticipated trial into the shooting deaths of eight Bandido bikers.

The selection process is expected to take several weeks as the Crown and defence lawyers choose jurors to hear the trial, expected to last several months.

Wayne Kellestine, 59, and Frank Mather, 35, both of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 32, and Dwight Mushey, 41, all of Winnipeg, each face eight counts of first- degree murder in the deaths of eight men believed to be part of the Bandidos motorcycle club.

The men's bodies were found in vehicles parked haphazardly on a rural Elgin County road, southwest of London, on April 8, 2006.

The case has crept through the criminal justice system.

Pre-trial motions began in November to lead up to the February trial date.

It's expected a large pool of potential jurors will be summoned to the courthouse this week to begin the process of selecting 12 to try the case.

The shooting victims -- George Jessome, 52, of Toronto; George Kriarakis, 28, of Toronto; John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham; Luis Manny Raposo, 41, of Toronto; Frank Salerno, 43, of Etobicoke; Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Sutton; Jamie Flanz, 37, of Keswick; and Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga -- were all connected to the Bandidos motorcycle club.
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MURDER TRIAL
Picking Bandido jury 'enormous' task
Jane Sims
Sun Media February 24, 2009

Jury selection began yesterday for the highly anticipated Bandido murder trial, but the initial stages were more about organizing potential jurors than choosing them.

"I ask you to be patient." -- Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney.

The first of 2,000 possible jurors -- the largest jury pool summoned in recent London history -- was at the Middlesex courthouse, to be divided into smaller lots and ordered to return next week.

Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney called the process "a very enormous undertaking."

The trial is expected to last four to six months.

A group of about 200 potential jurors was summoned yesterday morning.

Another 200 were called for the afternoon.

Each group is divided into lots of 10. Most of the morning group, once divided into sub-groups of 10, was told to return March 3, when 125 potential jurors will be screened.

The rest were told to return March 4. The same process will continue until Friday.

Six men are charged with eight counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of eight men with ties to the Bandido motorcycle club in April 2006.

The men's bodies were found in vehicles parked haphazardly on a rural Elgin County road, southwest of London, on April 8, 2006.

Wayne Kellestine, 59, and Frank Mather, 35, both of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 32, and Dwight Mushey, 41, all of Winnipeg, each face eight counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of the eight men believed to be part of the Bandidos.

All six accused appeared in another courtroom yesterday, away from the jury panel. An audio-video link was in place so the panel could see the accused in the prisoners' box and the accused could see them from their courtroom.

Mather was there only briefly. His lawyer, Robert Lockhart, told Heeney that Mather -- who appeared pale -- was feeling unwell and asked he be excused for the day.

None of the potential jurors' names was read in court, only their juror numbers and occupations.

Heeney noted all the panel members had received questionnaires to be returned.

He said he wouldn't deal with any reasons to be excused from the process -- such as financial hardship -- until next week.

"I ask you to be patient," he said.

One defence lawyer, Donald Crawford of London, representing Sandham, was pleased at how smoothly the morning session went.

"My client is nervous, as I am," he said. "Things are finally starting. The court staff has done a good job at organizing the panels."
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Toronto bikers snubbed by Winnipeg chapter

LONDON, Ont.–Tensions were clearly escalating within the Bandidos Motorcycle Club in the weeks before the largest mass murder in modern Ontario history, a court was told yesterday.

The club's national secretary-treasurer, Luis Manny Raposo, 41, was upset with the Manitoba probationary chapter of the Bandidos, according to an email introduced into evidence.

"I need contact with everyone there at least once a week," Raposo wrote Michael Sandham, 39, president of the Winnipeg probationary chapter, on March 6, 2006.

"I'm not available," Sandham tersely replied. "Stop calling the brothers' homes and families."

Raposo is one of the six GTA men whose bullet-riddled bodies were found on April 8, 2006, in abandoned vehicles near the hamlet of Shedden, west of London.

Sandham faces eight first-degree murder charges, including one for killing Raposo.

Also facing eight first-degree murder charges are fellow Winnipeggers Marcello Aravena, 32, Brett Gardiner, 24, and Dwight Mushey, 41; Wayne Kellestine, 59, of Iona Station, Ont.; and Frank Mather, 35, of no fixed address.

A copy of the tense email between Raposo and Sandham was found when police searched Raposo's Volkswagen Golf. The car also held Raposo's body, wrapped in carpet.

The jury was earlier told by Crown Attorney Kevin Gowdey there were tensions among the Bandidos over club dues, which members of the Toronto chapter felt were owed to them by the Winnipeggers.

Earlier yesterday, family members of the eight slain Bandidos bikers sobbed and gasped in court as dozens of close-up crime scene photographs of their loved ones were shown on monitors. The gruesome photos of the men's bloodied faces were shown during the testimony of OPP Const. Ross Stuart, an OPP identification expert.

Court heard that six of the eight murder victims had their faces covered when they were found in the abandoned vehicles. One of the bodies was found slumped by a child's car seat in the back of a car.

Under the seat of another car was a black vest bearing the crest of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club and a patch with the words, "Our colours don't run," Stuart said.
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Downsizing hits Bandidos Nation
Apr 01, 2009 04:30 AM
Rosie DiManno

LONDON, ONT. — It is just as suspected. For all their bad-to-the-bone desperado-ness, biker gangs are just as corporately anal as any other transglobal conglomerate.

They send scolding productivity emails from the head office.

They issue snippy corrective commands to recalcitrant branch chapters.

They have administrative headaches.

They headhunt.

And, when rescinding privileges of irksome members, they demand the return of gang patches, much in the same way as taking back keys to the executive washroom.

They are business suits in bandanas and chaps and one-percenter belt buckles.

The internal culture of biker gangs is at the crux of a murder-times-eight trial that finally opened here yesterday – jury selection took more than a month – with six members of the now gutted Bandidos fraternity in the box.

Actually, they are each in their own glass cubicle, arrayed like window display exotica, or D-List celebrities on Hollywood Squares.

Slain in a massacre on April 8, 2006 were: Boxer, Chopper, Bam Bam, Pony, Crash, Big Paul, Little Mikey and Goldberg; a.k.a. John Muscedere (purportedly president of the Canadian Bandidos affiliate), Luis Manny Raposo, Frank Salerno, George Jessome, George Kriarakis, Paul Sinopoli, Michael Trotta and Jamie Flanz.

Six were full-patch Bandidos and two were probationary members.

Their photos are mounted on a large board next to the jury box and they look scary.

Charged with first-degree murder of the eight "brothers'' are: Wayne Kellestine, Brett Gardiner, Michael Sandham, Marcello Aravena, Dwight Mushey and Frank Mather.

The alleged executions, as Crown attorney Kevin Gowdey told the jury in his opening address, occurred on Kellestine's farm, about a half-hour drive from this London courtroom, in the bucolic environs of a town called Shedden.

"This is a big trial," Gowdey stressed, of a proceeding expected to take four to six months, with a slew of witnesses, dozens of retrieved emails and many wiretapped phone call audiotapes.

"Eight men were shot dead, one by one. Good or bad, nice guys or not, they never deserved that.''

In a preview of what's to come – "a real story of conflict" – Gowdey quoted from an email exchange between the Bandidos head office in Texas and the Toronto chapter to which all the victims belonged.

It starts, in typical corporate-memo language, "To whom it may concern ..." and expresses disapproval over insufficient contact with a Canadian chapter that had apparently not been meeting requirements of club membership.

"It has been decided that, due to lack of communication, the Canadian charter is being revoked. Return all patches."

Toronto's response was miffed. "We've always conducted ourselves as gentlemen and righteous brothers."

The Toronto branch called upon chapters from across the globe to show support for and solidarity with their big-footed chapter.

"Are we a dictatorship or a brotherhood?" their all-email demands to know. "What have we become?

"We would like a worldwide vote from all our brothers ... before we return our Bandido properties."

There appeared to be resentment on both ends and rebellion festering. But while the Toronto chapter was in bottom-up conflict with Texas, it was also in top-down collision with an aspiring Winnipeg branch that had not yet received full-fledged chapter status, as Gowdey told the jury.

The murdered Bandidos – found by police on that bright April morning, stuffed into four abandoned vehicles – were allegedly summoned to Kellestine's farm and ambushed by the 'Peg crew. Kellestine, a notorious local character better known as "Weiner," was purportedly their Bandidos ally. He would later tell police, said Gowdey, that he was a "retired" Bandidos (though he still wore a one-percenter belt) "with nothing but love for his dead brothers."

Yet it was Kellestine, the Crown claims it will show, who set up the ambush plan to wipe out his own chapter of Bandidos.

Kellestine, with his long grey ponytail, scribbled notes furiously throughout the opening address.

Gowdey continued: "In the Bandidos world, the Bandidos Nation, there was a political structure, jargon, paraphernalia, a culture.

"What does it mean to possess Bandidos stuff? What does it mean to be a one-percenter?''

These issues will be explored at trial, the Crown promised.

But from what was revealed yesterday – and the defence lawyers, 13 of them in all, haven't had a crack at any of this previewed material yet – it certainly seems like bikers, who present themselves as overtly anti-establishment, have a plethora of internecine rules and administrative guidelines to which they are held accountable by up-the-chain gang masters.

Except, in Bandidos Nation at least, boardroom struggles can apparently result in massacre and massive bloodletting.

While the Bandidos were never much of a factor on the Canadian biker landscape, they are believed to be second in numbers globally only to the Hells Angels.

And the Angels were quick to disassociate themselves from the bloodbath in Shedden.

They made that announcement on their website, natch.
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Accused prayed, sang during slaughter, trial told
Apr 01, 2009 04:30 AM
Peter Edwards
STAFF REPORTER

LONDON, Ont. – Wayne Kellestine sang, danced and prayed the night he helped slaughter his eight Bandido biker clubmates one by one, a jury was told yesterday.

"There was no gunfight," Elgin County Crown Attorney Kevin Gowdey said on the opening day of the largest mass murder trial in modern Ontario history.

"There was no flurry of bullets. ... One by one, the Bandidos were led to their deaths."

One was killed in an ambush and the rest were systematically slaughtered, Gowdey said.

Kellestine, 59, faces eight charges of first-degree murder, along with Winnipeggers Marcello Aravena, 32, Brett Gardiner, 24, Michael Sandham, 39, and Dwight Mushey, 41; and Frank Mather, 35, of no fixed address.

Gowdey told the jury that not all of the accused fired guns on the night in April 2006, when eight men were shot to death on Kellestine's farm west of London.

Found dead in vehicles abandoned near the farm were: George Jessome, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, Luis Manny Raposo, 41, Frank Salerno, 43, all of Toronto; John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham, Ont.; Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Sutton; Jamie Flanz, 37, of Keswick; and Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga.

They were all members or associates of the Toronto chapter called "The No Surrender Crew."

Gowdey said biker politics was at the root of the slaughter. The Toronto chapter of the Bandidos opposed granting full club status to the Winnipeg probationary chapter of the club.

Kellestine sided with the Winnipeg chapter and lured his fellow members of The No Surrender Crew to his barn for a meeting.

"Only one of The No Surrender Crew is with us now – Wayne Kellestine," Gowdey told the jury. "He set up the plan to ambush the Toronto Bandidos, his own chapter."

Kellestine briefly became president of the Canadian Bandidos after betraying his Toronto clubmates, court heard.

Gowdey said the jury can expect to hear of bizarre mood swings from Kellestine on that night. This included singing, dancing and praying in his barn with some of the victims, between executions.

Gowdey said the original plan was to kick the bikers out of the Bandidos by taking away their club crests and paraphernalia. This order was given to Kellestine by officers at the Bandidos headquarters in Texas.

Kellestine armed members of the Winnipeg probationary chapter with guns when they arrived at his farm in late March, Gowdey said.

Raposo was the first man killed that night, in an exchange of gunfire with Sandham, hidden in the rafters of the barn, Gowdey said.

That set into motion a deadly plan drawn up by Kellestine before the murders, Gowdey said. "Kellestine said, 'If one person had to be killed, they all had to be killed.' "
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Amid the death, trappings of daily life
Apr 02, 2009 04:30 AM

LONDON, Ont.—The discordant note is not only in the blood, a vivid and viscous red.

Or the singed bullet holes to forehead and cheek.

What jars further – not belonging, not expected in the photo – is the evidence of children and family rides: a kid's car seat, brightly coloured backpacks, story books, toys.

This automobile, a grey Pontiac Grand Prix leased to the common-law wife of a murdered Bandidos biker, was among four abandoned vehicles discovered alongside a rural road not far from town.

Nestled among the trappings of childhood is the body of Jamie Flanz, 37, slumped over in the back seat. He is believed to be the last man shot, the final victim marched from barn to car and executed in the early-morning hours of April 8, 2006.

When the grotesque image appeared on the monitor yesterday, a wrenching sob erupted from the small group of family members huddled in the third row of the courtroom. The dead were all associated with the Bandidos' Toronto chapter, allegedly massacred by the six men on trial here for first-degree murder.

In life, they may not have been particularly good human beings. Yet they all had siblings and parents and lovers; some had children.

"A bunch of bad guys, huh,'' hissed one of the grieving women, clearly dismayed by how the victims have been portrayed as less worthy mortals because of their biker status.

Another relative bolted from the room when her loved one, in hideous post-mortem contortion – wrapped in an area rug, eyes partly open – was flashed on the screen.

Justice Thomas Heeney had warned the jurors that the photographs they were about to see – snapped by crime scene investigators – would be upsetting. "Some are of a gruesome nature. Simply steel yourselves.''

But that was asking too much of the family members, their weeping almost turned into keening.

The Grand Prix was left not 10 metres off the roadway, backed into a grassy area surrounded by trees and shrubbery, yet clearly visible. Close by was a green Chevrolet Silverado tow truck, keys still in the ignition. In its rear bench seat, police discovered a body in black jacket, blue jeans and cowboy boots. A facial profile shows the victim with blood on his forehead, cheeks, dripping from nose and mouth. That was George Jessome, 52.

Hooked to the truck and slightly elevated was a grey Volkswagen Golf, keys left on the hood. In the driver's seat, wearing jeans and running shoes, a gunshot wound below the left ear, was George Kriarakis, 28. In the passenger seat, upper body covered in a black leather jacket, was John Muscedere, 48. And tucked into the hatch, wrapped in the carpet, with a bullet hole in his neck, was Luis Manny Raposo, 41.

A bit separate from this ghastly cortege, in a farmer's field, police found an unlocked Infiniti FX35 with its rear hatch open. In that cargo area, curled into a fetal position, bleeding from the eye and left temple, wearing what look like pyjama bottoms, was the hulking frame of Paul Sinopoli, 30.

In the driver's side rear seat, clad in a blue hoodie – a bullet exit wound to the top of the head, entry wound in the right temple – was Michael Trotta, 31. Next to him, in black and white track suit, blood splatter all around his mouth, was Frank Salerno, 43.

This carnage, Crown Attorney Kevin Gowdey has told the jury, was the one-night handiwork of the half-dozen defendants. Though all may not have actually pulled the trigger, said Gowdey, all participated in the event. Each has been charged with eight counts of murder in the first degree.

In his opening statement Tuesday, Gowdey alleged that the victims were lured to a farm and ambushed by members of a Winnipeg-based Bandidos chapter – these would be their brothers-in-patches – along with a London-area Bandido, Wayne (Weiner) Kellestine, purported mastermind of the plan. It was on Kellestine's farm, 14 kilometres from where the vehicles were discovered, that the murders occurred, one by one, the prosecution has asserted.

That property was actually under surveillance by Durham police who had been investigating another, unrelated murder, tailing some of the Toronto Bandidos. These officers, and another local cop, observed smoke from a bonfire overnight but, lacking a search warrant – that would be obtained the following day – they could not go onto the premises.

The prosecution alleges that the victims were forced into their vehicles, shot, then transported to the Stafford Line spot. At least one motorist, as the Crown maintains, saw the convoy turning off the highway onto Stafford.

While dozens of items – keys, bullet casings, coins, zippers, belt buckles, cellphones, spectacles – were found in the ashes of the bonfire, other personal identifying bits were retrieved from the vehicles. These include a letter to "Mr. & Mrs. Michael Trotta'' from the Halton Catholic District School Board, a DeVry College badge, notice of a reinstated driver's licence from the Ministry of Transportation, a black leather vest with multiple patches.

And, tucked into the pocket of the Golf's driver door, a heavy silver ring with a diamond-shaped bracket on which was mounted the iconic biker ideogram that can only be earned: 1 per cent.
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Manitoba Bandidos Torture Trial.....

2009-10-03T04:27:00.001-04:00

Manitoba Bandidos Torture Trial.....

February 17, 2005
Biker gang moves into 'Peg
Winnipeg may not have an NHL team, but we're now home to two major-league outlaw motorcycle gangs. The Bandidos, arch-rivals to the Hells Angels, have set up a probationary chapter in the city, police said yesterday.
Cops confirmed the Bandidos' recent arrival in Winnipeg after arresting two members in connection with a violent abduction Feb. 8 in the West End.
Winnipeg police seized one of the Bandidos member's vests and showcased it to the media yesterday during a press conference.
"We've had intelligence for some time that there may possibly be Bandidos here in Manitoba, but this is the first confirmed evidence that we have that there is a charter here," said Sgt. Cam Baldwin, head of the Winnipeg police organized crime unit.
Police say there is a "worldwide truce" between the Hells Angels and the Bandidos, and so far there has been no reported violence between the competing gangs.
'UP TO ANGELS'
"I guess that will be up to the Hells Angels chapter here in Manitoba to dictate whether they're going to welcome the Bandidos or whether they're going to try to eliminate them from cutting in on their economics here in the province," Baldwin said.
Shortly after 3 a.m. on Feb. 8, a 20-year-old man was driving near Sargent Avenue and Toronto Street, when he was run off the road and forced into a snowbank, said Winnipeg police spokeswoman Const. Shelly Glover.
"The victim was then dragged from his vehicle by several males known to him and taken to an address in the city where he was held for several hours and tortured," Glover said.
The victim was treated in hospital for extensive injuries but has since been released.
Ron Charles Burling, 34, was arrested last Thursday, while Jason Llewellyn Michel, 25, was arrested Tuesday night in Calgary.
Both men, who are believed to be probationary members of the Winnipeg-based chapter of the Bandidos, are charged with aggravated assault and abduction.
Burling, whose leather Bandidos vest was seized by cops, returned a call from The Sun yesterday, saying he was doing it purely out of courtesy and that he had no comment.
Before hanging up, he asked that the media refrain from contacting Bandidos members.
"We don't talk to the media," Burling said yesterday afternoon via telephone from the Winnipeg Remand Centre. "I have nothing to say to you. Have a good day."
Burling made headlines last July when he accidentally shot off part of the big toe on his right foot following a violent home invasion on Agnes Street in the West End.
Police said at the time Burling had no gang connections.
Initial rumblings that the Bandidos were looking to expand into Manitoba were first reported in The Sun in December 2001. Baldwin said the Bandidos chapter in Toronto is sponsoring Manitoba's six probationary members, who "are all people that are familiar to us in the province."
-----------------------------
Tue, January 16, 2007

Kidnap, assault detailed
Crack-trade brutality
Jurors in the trial of five men accused of kidnapping a Winnipeg drug dealer were given a first-hand account yesterday of just how ruthless the city's crack trade can be.
Ron Burling, John Adam Curwin, Daniel Pereira, Billy Joe Ducharme and Daniel Blair were all charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault and extortion after a 20-year-old man was forced out of his car and beaten in a Toronto Street crack house.
"He was scared. He kept asking why this was happening to him," said Jason Michel, one of two witnesses arrested for kidnapping. Jurors heard Michel pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping and, in exchange for his testimony, saw additional charges of kidnapping, extortion and aggravated assault stayed by the Crown.
DRUG DEBT
Michel told court the victim was kidnapped over a $6,000 drug debt he owed Burling, a member of the outlaw Bandido's biker gang. Michel, who called himself the president of the Bandido's puppet club, La Familia, said Burling called him to his Union Avenue home several hours before the abduction. He was joined a short time later by Curwin, Pereira, Ducharme and Blair.
Burling said "the victim took off with a bunch of money and that we were to snag him so we could talk about it," Michel told court. "Burling was pretty angry."
Michel, Curwin, Pereira, Ducharme and Blair drove to a Toronto Street crack house where they hatched a plan to lure the victim to the address.
The victim's car was ultimately forced into a snowbank. The victim and a female passenger were dragged to the crack house where they were placed in separate rooms.
Michel called Curwin who instructed him to head over to a St. Mary's Road address where he was expected to recover the stolen money. After being directed to a second address, Michel recovered about $1,000 in drugs and cash.
When Michel returned to the apartment several hours later, the victim had suffered a savage beating. "He looked like a beach ball, he was all puffed up," Michel said. "His finger was smashed, it was flat."
=========================
Tue, January 23, 2007
Kidnap-beating details forgotten
Adam Amundsen suffered what looked like a bad case of amnesia yesterday as he testified at the trial of five men accused of kidnapping and beating him for several hours.
Questioned about the night he was allegedly forced out of his car and savagely beaten over a drug debt, Amundsen answered "I don't know" or "I don't remember" more than three dozen times.
Ron Burling, John Adam Curwin, Daniel Pereira, Billy Joe Ducharme and Daniel Blair are all charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault and extortion in connection with the Feb. 8, 2005 incident.
WARNING GESTURE
One of the accused, Ron Burling, flashed a grin at Amundsen's mounting "I don't know" answers, prompting a warning gesture from his lawyer.
Amundsen, a 22-year-old former drug dealer with ties to the Bandidos biker gang, remembered some things about the night, but only after persistent questioning by Crown attorney Daniel Chaput.
Amundsen said a female friend asked to meet him at a West End address. When Amundsen arrived, his car was forced off the road and into a snowbank. Somebody smashed the passenger windows of his car -- who, he could not say. He said he remembers being beaten in the bedroom of an apartment but not how he got there or who administered the beating.
Amundsen said he was beaten about the head and body with fists and a baseball bat, and the index finger on his right hand was smashed with a sledge hammer. The tip of that finger was cut off, as was a tattoo from his left hand. He said he did not know why he was beaten.
Earlier in the trial, witness and co-accused Jason Michel told court Amundsen was kidnapped over a $6,000 drug debt he owed Burling.
Lawyers for the five accused will begin cross-examining Amundsen today.
-----------------------------------------
Wednesday 21 February 2007
Don't trust Crown's witnesses, jury told
Jurors in the trial of four men accused of kidnapping and beating a Winnipeg drug dealer were urged to reject the testimony of witnesses defence lawyers said had every reason to lie and no reason to be trusted.
News Canada
Ron Burling, John Adam Curwin, Daniel Pereira and Billy Joe Ducharme were charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault and extortion after a 20-year-old man was forced out of his car and beaten in a Toronto Street crack house.
The Crown's three major witnesses include two male co-accused who were offered plea deals in exchange for their testimony and a crack-addicted woman who lived in the apartment where the beating took place.
"If the Crown had a choice, they wouldn't be asking you to take (the witnesses') word for anything," said Ducharme's lawyer, Ian Garber.
The accused men are all either members or associates of the Bandidos motorcycle gang.
Witness Jason Michel, who dealt drugs for the gang, testified earlier in the trial the victim, Adam Amundsen, was kidnapped over a $6,000 drug debt he owed Burling.
LURED TO ADDRESS
Michel told jurors Amundsen was lured to the Toronto street address, where his car was forced into a snowbank. Amundsen and a female passenger were taken into the apartment and held in separate rooms. After leaving for a time to recover the missing money, Michel said he returned to find Amundsen savagely beaten.
"He looked like a beach ball, he was all puffed up," Michel said. "His finger was smashed, it was flat."
Garber said yesterday Michel's testimony could not be trusted, reminding jurors of a plea deal that saw the Crown charge Michel with one count of kidnapping in exchange for his testimony.
"On cross-examination he admitted there is no reason for you (jurors) to believe anything he told you," Garber said. "Mr. Michel would promise anyone anything he had to get out of the mess he was in."
-----------------------------------------
Mar 3, 2007
By Mike McIntyre
Winnipeg Free Press
Bandidos head launches outburst after conviction, vows biker gang is here to stay
The head of the Manitoba Bandidos launched into a profanity-laced tirade and vowed the notorious biker gang was here to stay — moments after a jury found him and three associates guilty of kidnapping and torturing a rival drug dealer.
Friday afternoon’s verdict could represent a crushing blow to the local chapter, as the men are facing lengthy prison sentences for their roles in the February 2005 attack. A fifth accused had previously pleaded guilty.
“The Bandidos aren’t (expletive) going anywhere,” gang leader Ron Burling shouted in court as he was led away in shackles by sheriff’s officers.
“God forgives. The Bandidos doesn’t.”
Burling also directed his venom towards Crown attorney Daniel Chaput with a barely audible threat that is now being investigated by justice officials. Only the words “rape” and “girlfriend” could be clearly heard from the public gallery.
The five gang members — Burling, Adam Curwin, Billy Joe Ducharme, Daniel Blair and Daniel Pereira — have all been detained in custody and a sentencing date is expected to be set next week.
Burling is currently serving a nine-year prison term for a violent home invasion in which he accidentally shot off his own toe.
Manitoba is one of only a few provinces in Canada with a full-time Bandidos presence. The gang’s status took a major hit last year when eight Bandidos were executed in Ontario in what police called an “internal cleansing.”
Five other Bandidos members and associates — including three from Manitoba — have been charged with the killings. A preliminary hearing is underway.
In Winnipeg, jurors began their deliberations on Thursday afternoon following one of the longest trials in recent memory. The case began in early January.
They found the accused guilty as charged of kidnapping, aggravated assault and extortion for their role in a disturbing attack on a 20-year-old man.
Jurors were told the victim owed Burling money as part of an outstanding drug debt. The man and his girlfriend were allegedly lured to an inner-city residence by a so-called “friend” who had been told of the pending attack by the accused.
Jason Michel, a former high-ranking biker associate who admits to participating in parts of the attack, was called as a Crown witness to detail the incident.
His evidence was considered crucial since the victim offered little during his testimony, claiming to have no memory of the incident or who was responsible. Michel told court the man and his girlfriend were run off the road and dragged from their vehicles into a nearby home by Burling’s co-accused and another Crown witness.
They were separated and held in different parts of the house for several hours, with the man being severely beaten and forced to turn over money, he said. His injuries included fingers crushed with a sledgehammer and having a tattoo forcibly removed with a knife.
“He looked like a beach ball. His head was swollen. He was beat up,” Michel testified earlier in the trial.
Michel’s credibility was a hot issue for defence lawyers, as he admitted to having an extensive record for crimes including break-and-enter, assault, uttering threats and breach of court orders.
But jurors clearly believed his testimony.
===========================
Sunday 04 March 2007
Bandidos guilty of kidnapping, assault
Jurors have convicted four men arrested in the kidnapping and savage beating of a Winnipeg drug dealer.
Ron Burling, John Adam Curwin, Daniel Pereira and Billy Joe Ducharme were charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault and extortion after a 20-year-old man was forced out of his car and beaten in a Toronto Street crack house.
FULL DAY OF DELIBERATIONS
Jurors deliberated about one full day before convicting the men on all charges.
The Crown's three major witnesses included two male co-accused who were offered plea deals in exchange for their testimony and a crack-addicted woman who lived in the Toronto Street apartment where the beating took place.
Jurors heard Burling was a member of the Bandidos motorcycle gang and the other accused were gang associates.
Witness Jason Michel, who dealt drugs for the gang, testified earlier in the trial the victim, Adam Amundsen, was kidnapped over a $6,000 drug debt he owed Burling.
Michel told jurors Amundsen was lured to the Toronto Street address, where his car was forced into a snowbank.
Amundsen and a female passenger were taken into the apartment and held in separate rooms.
After leaving for a time to recover the missing money, Michel said he returned to find Amundsen savagely beaten.
"He looked like a beach ball, he was all puffed up," Michel said. "His finger was smashed, it was flat."
Amundsen, a reluctant witness, told jurors he was abducted and beaten, but would not say by who.
LONG TRIAL
Jurors acquitted Burling and Pereira in connection with a separate incident in which the apartment tenant was confronted by two armed men who robbed her of drugs and money.
No date has been set for sentencing.
The trial, the longest in recent memory, was set for six weeks and ran eight, with no shortage of twists and turns and delays. In the middle of the trial, one accused, Daniel Blair, pleaded guilty.
===========================
Tue, March 20, 2007
LIFE SENTENCE OUTSIDE JAIL: JUDGE
A Winnipeg man who testified against four co-accused in the kidnapping and torture of a Winnipeg drug dealer was sentenced to time served yesterday and released from custody.
But Jason Michel will continue to serve a life sentence outside of jail, "always looking over his shoulder, wondering if he has been found by those seeking revenge," said Justice Holly Beard.
"That alone should be enough to deter him from pursuing a criminal lifestyle."
Michel was sentenced to four years, two months for his part in the incident but agreed to testify against his co-accused in exchange for a reduced sentence. He had been facing up to 12 years in prison.
Michel was given double credit for the 25 months he has spent in custody.
Beard warned Michel "if you ever find yourself back in jail you will be bait for anyone who is in there.
A jury earlier this month convicted Ron Burling, John Adam Curwin, Daniel Pereira and Billy Joe Ducharme of kidnapping, aggravated assault and extortion. They have not yet been sentenced.
===========================
Ex-Bandidos associate rewarded for snitching
Tue Mar 20 2007
By Mike McIntyre
A former Bandidos associate who snitched on fellow members during a recent high-profile gang trial was rewarded for his work Monday with a reduced sentence and ticket to a new life.
Jason Michel, 25, admitted to being one of several men involved in the February 2005 kidnapping and torture of a rival drug dealer.
But he agreed to provide key evidence for the Crown against his co-accused in exchange for a joint-recommendation of time served in custody of just over two years.
Five men were convicted earlier this month and the Crown is now expected to seek up to 12 years custody for their roles.
Queen's Bench Justice Holly Beard endorsed the plea bargain, which now allows Michel to be relocated under the federal witness protection program.
"The conviction of the other accused was unlikely without his co-operation," said Beard. However, the judge warned Michel's actions come with a steep price.
"This really is like a life sentence," she said. Michel will likely always be "looking over his shoulder" because of his deal and would become an instant target should he ever find himself back behind bars.
"If you are ever back in jail, you'll be like bait," said Beard.
Michel told jurors how the Bandidos committed a disturbing attack on a 20-year-old man that wasn't for the faint of heart.
The victim owed money to the gang as part of an outstanding drug debt and was lured to an inner-city residence by a so-called "friend" who had been told of the pending attack by the accused.
Michel told court the man and his girlfriend were run off the road and dragged from their vehicles into a nearby home by his co-accused.
They were separated and held in different parts of the house for several hours, with the man being severely beaten and forced to turn over money, he said. His injuries included fingers crushed with a sledgehammer and having a tattoo forcibly removed with a knife.
"The events leading to this charge were horrendous," Beard said Monday.
"We don't expect this kind of behaviour in a civilized country like Canada."
Michel told jurors he was serving as president of "La Familia" -- which he described as a "support" group for the local Bandidos chapter -- at the time of the abduction. La Familia's job basically involved selling cocaine on behalf of the Bandidos, he said.
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Sat, July 14, 2007
Ad trumpets Hells Angels foes staking city turf
The motorcycle gang that took on the Hells Angels in Canada's bloodiest-ever biker war may be establishing itself in Winnipeg.
An "announcement" in the classified section of a Winnipeg newspaper yesterday says a "Rock Machine Club House" is opening in Winnipeg on Sept. 15, indicating the club may be looking to set up shop in Manitoba. It's unclear who submitted the classified ad.
"Our officers do not have confirmation that that is fact, that they're coming here," said Const. Jacquie Chaput, a spokeswoman for Winnipeg police.
The Rock Machine went head-to-head with the Hells Angels during Quebec's deadly biker wars in the late '90s that claimed an estimated 170 lives. In 2000 most of the club's members "patched over" to the Texas-based Bandidos, the Angels' largest rivals worldwide.
ROCK MACHINE
A source told Sun Media yesterday that if the Rock Machine is in fact coming to Winnipeg, it would likely be in the capacity of a puppet club to help get the Bandidos back on their feet in Manitoba.
Three Winnipeg Bandidos affiliates are in jail after being charged in the massacre of eight men affiliated with the Bandidos in Shedden, Ont., in April 2006. Others are locked up in Stony Mountain Institution for various offences.
That leaves too few, if any, Bandidos on the streets of Winnipeg to have a full chapter here, said the source.
Winnipeg police had previously identified a group called Los Montoneros as the Bandidos' puppet club here, but the source said prospects in that group must go through a five-year probationary period before becoming full-patch Bandidos. It's possible the Rock Machine is being brought in, if they are in fact coming here, to speed up the rebuilding process, said the source.
That scenario would seem to support postings on the Bandidos' official Canadian website. Its guestbook has seen several recent comments related to Winnipeg.
A June 25 comment posted by a user who identifies himself as the secretary-treasurer of "Bandidos Mid West" reads: "Congratulations to the new Prospects in Winnipeg chapter Frank, Norm & Derrick on there (sic) new Status in the Bandido Nation ... Great job boys."
Winnipeg police declined to comment on the possibility of a local Bandidos resurgence when contacted by Sun Media last month.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Sun, July 15, 2007
Notice baffles bikers
Rock Machine no more?
By PAUL TURENNE, SUN MEDIA
If the Rock Machine is coming to Winnipeg, it's news to the Bandidos.
A Bandidos source told Sun Media yesterday the motorcycle club has no idea who is responsible for placing a classified ad in a Winnipeg newspaper on Friday announcing that a clubhouse for the Rock Machine will open in Winnipeg in September.
The Rock Machine waged Canada's bloodiest-ever biker war against the Hells Angels in Quebec during the 1990s but most of its remaining members became Bandidos in 2000.
A source had suggested to Sun Media that if the Rock Machine were indeed coming to Winnipeg, it might be to help speed up the process of building the Bandidos' ranks here. However, the Bandidos source said yesterday that the club is already well-established.
"We have 15 members on the streets in Winnipeg," he said.
The Bandidos source also noted the Rock Machine no longer exists, and if someone plans on re-establishing a chapter they're doing so without the Bandidos' knowledge or consent.
The source said Winnipeggers don't have to fear any kind of turf war with the Hells Angels.
"We don't party with them on a regular basis but we're not at war with them either," he said.
The Bandidos have two support clubs in Manitoba, Los Montoneros and another group, Red Power, which operates in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, said the source.
MURDERS IN SHEDDEN
The Bandidos have also established the Mid-West chapter with members scattered between Saskatoon and Calgary, as well as four chapters in Ontario, said the source.
"We're larger now than we were before the murders that happened in Shedden," he said.
Eight men with ties to the Bandidos were killed in April 2006 near Shedden, Ont. Eight people have been charged in connection with the slayings, including three from Winnipeg.
The Bandidos source said the Canadian members are trying to shed their outlaw image.
"I know you've heard it before, but we're not a criminal organization. We're just trying to be a motorcycle club," he said. "The lion's share of the guys are businesspeople. We have pilots, we have retired people -- these are guys who have been legitimate businessmen all their lives."
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Fri, October 19, 2007
Bandidos no more?
Outlaw gang toast after Shedden massacre: Website

By CHRIS KITCHING, SUN MEDIA

Michael Sandham is one of eight charged with murders. (Ken Wightman, Sun Media File)

Eighteen months after Bandidos affiliates were murdered or charged in a mass slaying, a website suggests the motorcycle club no longer exists in Canada.

Since the Shedden, Ont., massacre in April 2006, there have been mixed signals about the outlaw biker gang's status in Canada.

Persistent speculation the club, headquartered in Texas, had collapsed north of the border was met recently with hints it welcomed new prospects in Manitoba and opened a midwest chapter with members in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

But a recent post on the Bandidos Motorcycle Club Canada website states: "As of October 2, 2007, the Bandidos MC 1% Canada is officially shut down. There isn't no more Bandidos MC membership in Canada."

The person who updates the website did not respond to an e-mail before press time last night.

A Winnipeg police spokeswoman had this response about the website's claim: "The Bandidos website is not clear to us. Therefore, we are not able to confirm the existence of a chapter in Canada."

The Shedden murders happened at a time when the gang's national membership was dwindling, observers believe, and many members were behind bars.

MYSTERY

Eight Bandidos were slain. Of the eight charged, three were part of the gang's Winnipeg chapter -- president Michael Sandham, 37, Marcelo Aravena, 31, and Dwight Mushey, 39.

The trio is charged with eight counts of first-degree murder. A trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 8, 2008.

In recent months, comments within a guestbook on the Bandidos Canada website suggested the club was gaining momentum in Western Canada.

There were congratulatory messages for supposed new affiliates in Winnipeg and rural Manitoba, while another announced the launch of a probationary chapter in Calgary, something police in that city did not confirm or deny at the time.

Adding to the mystery was a newspaper ad in July that announced a "Rock Machine Club House" would open Sept. 15 in Winnipeg.

Yesterday, Winnipeg police were unable to comment on whether a clubhouse opened.

In 2000, most remaining Rock Machine members patched over to the Bandidos following the Rock Machine's deadly biker war with the Hells Angels in Quebec.

There was a suggestion the Rock Machine, if it came to Winnipeg, would prop up the Bandidos. A Bandidos source, however, previously told Sun Media the club did not need the help.
--------------------------------------------------
Thu, November 1, 2007
Hard time for gangsters?
Man savagely beaten over debt
By DEAN PRITCHARD, SUN MEDIA
Two men convicted in the kidnapping and torture of a Winnipeg drug dealer should be sentenced to more than 11 years in prison, a judge was told yesterday.
John Adam Curwin, Daniel Pereira, Billy Joe Ducharme, Daniel Blair and Ron Burling were charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault and extortion after a 20-year-old man was forced out of his car and beaten in a Toronto Street crack house on Feb. 8, 2005.
'MORAL CULPABILITY'
Four of the accused were convicted following a marathon jury trial last March. Blair pleaded guilty early in the trial for his part in the attack.
At a sentencing hearing yesterday, Crown attorney Geoff Bayly recommended Justice Holly Beard sentence Curwin to 12 years in prison and Pereira to 11 and a half years. Their lawyers asked that they be sentenced to time served.
Bayly said the degree of planning and the severity of the assault justified lengthy periods of incarceration.
"The moral culpability of all the offenders was very, very high," Bayly said.
Pereira pleaded for leniency and told Beard he is a different man after spending nearly three years in jail.
"I've come to realize this isn't the life I want to live," said the 25-year-old father of two. "I'd just like to ask for a second chance."
Jurors heard Burling was a member of the Bandidos motorcycle gang and the other accused were gang associates.
Witness Jason Michel, who dealt drugs for the gang, testified the victim, Adam Amundsen, was kidnapped over a $6,000 drug debt he owed Burling.
Michel told jurors Amundsen was lured to the Toronto Street address, where his car was forced into a snowbank.
Amundsen and a female passenger were taken into the apartment and held in separate rooms.
After leaving for a time to recover the missing money, Michel said he returned to find Amundsen savagely beaten.
Jurors acquitted Burling and Pereira in connection with a separate incident in which the apartment tenant was confronted by two armed men who robbed her of drugs and money.
Sentencing submissions for Burling, Ducharme and Blair will be made today and tomorrow. The Crown is expected to seek sentences between 12 and 15 years. No date has been set for sentencing.
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Fri, November 2, 2007
Gangster talks tough in court
By DEAN PRITCHARD, SUN MEDIA
A Bandidos gangster convicted of orchestrating the kidnapping and beating of another drug dealer showed little sign of repentance yesterday after a judge was urged to sentence him to 15 years in prison.
"I'm prepared to do my time," Ron Burling told Justice Holly Beard.
"We weren't playing a game of bank teller here. This guy was a known drug dealer, I was a known drug dealer. I don't know what to say. I'm not going to ask for any leniency."
The burly, heavily-tattooed biker was flanked by three Sheriff's officers as Crown attorney Geoff Bayly recounted his role in a plot to recover a $6,000 drug debt.
Burling, 37, and four Bandidos underlings were arrested in February 2005 after drug dealer Adam Amundsen was kidnapped and taken to a Toronto Street crack house where he was beaten for more than four hours. Amundsen was only released after two co-accused recovered money and drugs and returned them to Burling. Amundsen was released bloodied and bruised, suffering a smashed finger, and a broken nose and cheekbone.
Bayly said it didn't matter that Burling didn't actively participate in the kidnapping or assault.
"The offence was committed entirely for the benefit of Mr. Burling," Bayly said.
Burling's lawyer Pam Smith said he should be sentenced to just five years, arguing 15 years would be "harsh and excessive."
Such a sentence would be consecutive to a nine-year sentence Burling is already serving for home invasion.
"He would be serving, basically, a life sentence," Smith said.
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Strike three, he's out
Re: Gangster talks tough in court, Nov. 2.
Your story read: "Burling's lawyer Pam Smith said he should be sentenced to just five years, arguing 15 years would be 'harsh and excessive.'"
Such a sentence would be consecutive to a nine-year sentence Burling is already serving for home invasion.
So Ron Burling was convicted of a home invasion, admitted he's a drug dealer, kidnapped someone over a drug debt, and severely assaulted that person, and somehow his lawyer thinks 15 years in prison is "harsh and excessive" because he's already doing nine years for the home invasion?
Are you kidding me?
If this was America, he'd be going away for life, with the possibility of a death sentence. The only thing harsh and excessive about this is the fact Ron Burling continues to excessively commit harsh crimes
Lock him up and throw away the key. -
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Crown wants up to 15 years prison four five Bandidos convicted of kidnapping, torture
Nov 2, 2009
By Mike McIntyre
Winnipeg Free Press
Manitoba justice officials are trying to put the final nail in the coffin of the local Bandidos motorcycle chapter by seeking up to 15 years in prison for five members and associates.
The group was found guilty earlier this year of kidnapping and torturing a rival drug deal in February 2005.
Queen’s Bench Justice Holly Beard has reserved her decision on the men, who remain in custody without bail.
The Crown is seeking the harshest sentence for leader Ron Burling, who is already doing a nine-year sentence for a home invasion in which he accidentally shot himself in the foot.
Burling would face 15 more years consecutive to his existing penalty if the Crown’s request is granted. Burling’s lawyer said a five-year additional penalty would be sufficient.
“He is the mastermind. He put the wheels of this criminal act into motion,” said Crown attorney Geoff Bayley.
The Crown cited Burling’s conduct during the trial as a further aggravator, noting he launched a profanity-laced tirade and vowed the notorious biker gang was here to stay just moments after a jury found him guilty.
“The Bandidos aren’t (expletive) going anywhere,” Burling shouted in court as he was led away in shackles by sheriff’s officers.
“God forgives. The Bandidos doesn’t.”
Burling, along with his co-accused Adam Curwin, Billy Joe Ducharme, Daniel Blair and Daniel Pereira, took part in what the Crown says a pre-meditated revenge plot.
Jurors were told the 20-year-old victim owed Burling money as part of an outstanding drug debt. The man and his girlfriend were allegedly lured to an inner-city residence by a so-called “friend” who had been told of the pending attack by the accused.
Jason Michel, a former high-ranking biker associate who admits to participating in parts of the attack, was called as a Crown witness to detail the incident.
His evidence was considered crucial since the victim offered little during his testimony, claiming to have no memory of the incident or who was responsible. Michel told court the man and his girlfriend were run off the road and dragged from their vehicles into a nearby home by Burling’s co-accused and another Crown witness.
They were separated and held in different parts of the house for several hours, with the man being severely beaten and forced to turn over money, he said. His injuries included fingers crushed with a sledgehammer and having a tattoo forcibly removed with a knife.
Michel’s credibility was a hot issue for defence lawyers, as he admitted to having an extensive record for crimes including break-and-enter, assault, uttering threats and breach of court orders.
But jurors clearly believed his testimony in finding the accused guilty of kidnapping, aggravated assault and extortion.
Manitoba is one of only a few provinces in Canada with a full-time Bandidos presence. The gang’s status took a major hit last year when eight Bandidos were executed in Ontario in what police called an “internal cleansing.”
Five other Bandidos members and associates — including three from Manitoba — have been charged with the killings. The trial is set for next fall.
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Thu, November 22, 2007
Gang boss gripes
Gets 8 years in kidnap, beating
By DEAN PRITCHARD, SUN MEDIA
A Bandidos gangster who masterminded the kidnapping and vicious beating of a fellow drug dealer shook his head in disbelief as a judge sentenced him yesterday to eight years in prison.
The sentence will be served consecutively to a nine-year sentence Ron Burling is serving for a violent home invasion.
"Seventeen years for sitting in my house," Burling, 37, grumbled as sheriff's officers led him out of court. "It'll only be nine years and then they can throw me in for something else."
Burling, a member of the city's now-defunct Bandidos motorcycle gang chapter, recruited six underlings and Bandidos associates to kidnap the victim Feb. 8, 2005.
Daniel Pereira, Billy Joe Ducharme, and John Adam Curwin were sentenced yesterday to six years in prison while Daniel Blair received a sentence of four years.
Two co-accused, Jason Michel and David Rink, were previously sentenced to time served and house arrest respectively after pleading guilty for their roles in the incident. Michel's sentence came as the result of a plea bargain that saw him testify against his co-accused at trial.
At trial, court heard Burling, during a meeting at his Union Avenue home, orchestrated the kidnapping of Adam Amundsen to recover a $6,000 drug debt.
Michel told jurors Amundsen was lured to a Toronto Street address, where his car was forced into a snowbank.
Amundsen and a female passenger were dragged out of their car, taken to an apartment and held in separate rooms.
Amundsen was beaten with a bat and sledgehammer for more than four hours. His attackers carved a tattoo off his finger and smashed the finger with a sledgehammer.
"The amount of force and violence was significant ... and resulted in significant injuries," said Justice Holly Beard.
The female victim, while not physically harmed, "was subjected to four hours of terror and brutality only because she was at the wrong place at the wrong time," Beard said.
Amundsen was released after Michel and Rink recovered a quantity of money and drugs from another location and returned them to Burling.
Beard said it didn't matter that Burling didn't actively participate in the kidnapping and beating.
"While Burling wasn't present at the apartment, the evidence was he directed the action by way of a cellphone," she said. "While there may have been no discussion of violence at (Burling's) house, it's clear Burling was involved in the activities at the apartment."
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Trial set in biker killings
Winnipeg Sun
LONDON, Ont. -- A trial is to start in 11 months for eight people accused in the biggest mass slaying in modern Ontario history.
Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney set Sept. 8, 2008, to begin the trial of eight people charged in connection with the deaths of eight Bandido motorcycle club members in Elgin County on April 8, 2006. The trial is expected to last three to six months.
Wayne Kellestine, 58, Frank Mather, 33, both of Dutton-Dunwich, Ont.; Brett Gardiner, 23, of no fixed address; Michael Sandham, 37, Marcelo Aravena, 31, and Dwight Mushey, 39, of Winnipeg, are each charged with eight counts of first-degree murder. Eric Niessen, 46, and Kerry Morris, 47, of Monkton in Perth County, Ont., are charged with accessory after the fact and obstruction of justice.
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Four bikers plead guilty in brutal slaying
WHITBY -- Four men with ties to an outlaw biker gang have pleaded guilty to offences ranging from murder to assault in connection with the brutal slaying of a man whose burned remains were found more than two years ago in rural Pickering.
Cameron Acorn and Robert “Bobby” Quinn, both of Keswick, Randolph Brown of Jackson’s Point and Pierre Aragon of Oakville all admitted in Superior Court Monday that they took part in the slaying of 35-year-old Shawn Douse in December 2005 at a house owned by another biker in Keswick.
All have been identified by Durham police as members or prospects of the Bandidos, a gang assumed to be defunct since the widely-publicized slaughter of eight members in 2006. One of those murder victims, Paul Sinopoli of Sutton, was involved in the dispute with Mr. Douse, court heard; the murder took place in a Keswick home owned by Jamie Flanz, another Bandidos member killed near St. Thomas.
Police have said there is no connection between Mr. Douse’s killing and the St. Thomas slaughter.
Mr. Brown pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Mr. Douse, while Mr. Acorn and Mr. Quinn pleaded to manslaughter. Mr. Aragon pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.
All four men were originally charged with second-degree murder.
Justice Edwin Minden heard an agreed statement of facts in which the Crown alleged Mr. Douse, a drug user and dealer, had angered the bikers by selling cocaine and using drugs with a number of women, one of whom was in danger of breaching the terms of her bail. When they learned Mr. Douse was in possession of a significant amount of cash and three ounces of cocaine they lured him to a house on Hattie Court in Keswick early on Dec. 7, 2005, having a woman call and arrange a drug deal.
When he arrived at the house Mr. Douse was set upon and beaten savagely, Justice Minden heard; after the attack blood drenched a foyer and stairs leading to the basement, where blood was spattered on walls and the ceiling.
After the killing Mr. Douse’s body, wrapped in sheets and a sleeping bag, was driven to a field near Concession 7 and the York-Durham Line in rural Pickering where it was dumped and set ablaze.
The body was discovered Dec. 8, 2005, by a resident walking dogs.
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Bandidos sentenced for killing drug dealer
The London Free Press
WHITBY -- Four men connected to the Bandidos bikers have been sentenced to penitentiary terms after pleading guilty to the December 2005 fatal beating of Keswick drug dealer Shawn Douse.
Randy Brown, 36, of Jackson's Point, Cameron Acorn, 27, and Bobby Quinn, 28, both of Keswick, and Pierre (Carlitto) Aragon of Oakville were all connected to the now-defunct Keswick chapter of the Bandidos.
Brown, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, was sentenced to life in prison, with no opportunity to apply for parole until June 2016.
Acorn, who was called the architect of the murder plot by the Crown, was sentenced to nine ears in prison for manslaughter, while Quinn was sentenced to five years and 11 months after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
Aragon, who pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, was sentenced to three years and 11 months in prison.
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Kidnapping, extortion net years in prison for alleged gang members
Five men with connections to the Bandidos motorcycle club were sentenced to a combined 30 years in prison Wednesday for convictions related to a vicious kidnapping in Winnipeg in 2005.
Ron Burling, Adam Curwin, Billy Joe Ducharme and Daniel Pereira were convicted of numerous charges, including kidnapping, aggravated assault and extortion.
Burling was given an eight-year sentence. Curwin, Ducharme and Periera were each sentenced to six years in prison, while Blair was handed four years.
The five men ran Adam Amundsen's car off the road in central Winnipeg in February 2005, and forced him and his girlfriend into an apartment in a nearby block.
They beat Amundsen for several hours, smashing his fingers with a sledgehammer and cutting a tattoo from one of his fingers, in an attempt to convince him or others to pay drug debts, the court heard.
Amundsen testified he was beaten, but said he was not able to identify his attackers.
Queen's Bench Justice Holly Beard addressed a number of factors in determining the sentences for the five men.
Burling was acknowledged in court as the only full member of the Bandidos; the other men were said to be members of a support club called La Familia.
That the kidnapping and extortion were carried out in support of criminal organizations was a "serious aggravating circumstance," Beard said.
While the victims were not held a long time, relative to other kidnapping cases, Beard said kidnapping is "one of the most terrifying crimes ever committed" and noted that in this case, the crime required a significant amount of advance planning.
All of the men except Burling had some time reduced from their sentence based on pretrial custody. Burling was previously convicted of crimes related to a home invasion and is already serving several years
Two other men involved in the scheme pleaded guilty to kidnapping and assault charges and were sentenced earlier this year. Both appeared as witnesses for the Crown.
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Wed, May 14, 2008
Convicted gangster suffers apparent heart attack
Convicted gangster Ron Burling was taken to the hospital suffering a possible heart attack yesterday morning just minutes after appearing in the Manitoba Court of Appeal.
The high court had just rejected the former Bandido's sentence appeal and was being escorted out of court by sheriff's officers when he tried to pick up a bench and was taken to the floor by the officers. Following the scuffle, Burling lay motionless on the floor for several minutes, having suffered an apparent heart attack.
Paramedics arrived several minutes later and Burling was taken away on a gurney.
Burling, 38, was appealing an eight-year sentence he received last year in connection with the kidnapping and torture of a rival drug dealer.
DISPLEASURE
Burling's lawyer Mike Cook argued the sentence was unduly harsh, given he was already serving a nine-year sentence for a violent home invasion.
According to one witness, Burling made no attempt to hide his displeasure following the high court's ruling, telling two Crown attorney's in court: "I'll see you clowns in 10 years."
According to a recent Sun Media report, sources say Burling is now affiliated with the Rock Machine motorcycle gang and has been named to head up the gang's Western Canadian chapters upon his release from prison.
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Ex-Bandidos leader carried out of court on stretcher
The former leader of the Manitoba Bandidos motorcycle gang was taken out of court on a stretcher Tuesday, just moments after he lost his fight for a reduced prison sentence and launched into a bizarre outburst.
Ron Burling was livid after the Manitoba Court of Appeal decided to uphold his eight-year sentence for kidnapping and torturing a rival drug dealer. He claimed the penalty was overly harsh and unfair.
According to witnesses, Burling began yelling at two prosecutors and vowed to "see you when I get out in 10 years." He also called them "(expletive) clowns."
Burling continued his tirade as sheriff's officers led him out of court. He reached down in an attempt to flip over a large public bench in the hallway, but was quickly subdued and brought to the ground. Burling then began clutching his chest, yelling "my heart, my heart," witnesses said.
Paramedics rushed to the scene, and Burling was taken to hospital. Defence lawyer Mike Cook said his heavy-set client may have suffered a heart attack, although Burling never lost consciousness.
"He told me he's had a heart condition for the past few years," said Cook, who was waiting to get a medical update late Tuesday, but believed Burling was going to be fine.
"As he was being wheeled away, he asked me if I had his sunglasses. I figured that was a good sign."
Burling reacted with anger during his sentencing hearing last year, shouting something about "baby killers only getting three years" as he was led out of court by a parade of sheriff's officers
Burling also launched a profanity-laced tirade after jurors found him guilty at trial, vowing the notorious biker gang was here to stay.
"The Bandidos aren't (expletive) going anywhere. God forgives. The Bandidos doesn't," he yelled.
Burling's eight-year sentence is in addition to the nine-year penalty he is currently serving for a home invasion in which he accidentally shot himself in the foot.
Queen's Bench Justice Holly Beard ruled last year that Burling was clearly the mastermind behind the well-planned attack, in which the victim and his girlfriend were held for several hours and tortured by numerous gangsters.
Adam Curwin, Billy Joe Ducharme and Daniel Pereira were given six-year sentences, while Daniel Blair received four years. Two other accused -- Jason Michel and David Rink -- pleaded guilty after striking deals with the Crown in exchange for their testimony. Michel got four years custody, while Rink received a two-year conditional sentence.