Bandidos Murder Trial _ News Headlines

Once again I have to send out a big "Thank You" to JANE SIMS of the LONDON FREE PRESS for reporting to us these stories.....

In Memory Of "The Shedden Eight".....
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Bandidos Murder Trial _ News Headlines

Bandidos trial begin
Tue, March 31, 2009
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

Picking Bandido jury 'enormous' task.
Jury process gets underway in Bandido trial.
Jury selection begins in bikers' murder trial.

With a clear, loud voice, and standing ramrod straight, Wayne Kellestine proclaimed he wasn't guilty of first-degree murder.

"Not guilty, Your Honor," he said forcefully from his booth in the long prisoner's box.

Kellestine and the other men on trial for eight counts of first-degree murder stood for 10 minutes while the court registrar read off the charges before the court.

Each one said not guilty. One of them, Marcelo Aravena, wiped away tears.

And with last chrge read in the record, the six men and six women on the jury are in charge of hearing what is beleived to be the biggest murder trial in London in modern history.

The final juror was picked at 10:30 a.m., more than a month after the first set of potential jurors were summoned to the courtroom.

Two thousand juror notices were sent out to fill the twelve seat
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Biker slaying trial begins for 3 Winnipeg men

By Jane Sims, SUN MEDIA

Last Updated: 31st March 2009, 7:12pm


LONDON, Ont. — Their photos were mounted on a poster board in the courtroom near the jury that would hear how they died.

All of them had Bandido biker connections. All of them had nicknames: Chopper, Boxer, Crash, Pony, Big Paulie, Bam Bam, Little Mikey and Goldberg.

Each died from gunshots and their bodies left in vehicles along a quiet Elgin County Road. All of them were part of the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos motorcycle gang, also known as the No Surrender Crew.

They were ensnared in a longtime biker feud inside their organization that pitted brother against brother, to the death.

“Eight men were shot dead one by one,” said Elgin County Crown Attorney Kevin Gowdey during the opening statement of the long-anticipated trial of six men charged with eight counts of first-degree murder.

“Good or bad, nice guys or not, they didn’t deserve that,” Gowdey said.

Yesterday, the first public glimpse at what happened April 8, 2006 was told in the hushed court in Gowdey’s two-hour statement of what the Crown hopes to prove before the six-man, six-woman jury.

The Crown contends the men died because of a clash between Toronto bikers in conflict with their organization’s international headquarters and Winnipeg bikers who wanted their own chapter.

Along with details of the feud, the jury learned it will hear from a police informant, known as M.H., who will testify to being at Wayne Kellestine’s Dutton-Dunwich farm, southwest of London, when the eight men were shot to death, and about the problems inside the Canadian Bandido fraternity.

Earlier yesterday, shortly after the 12th juror was chosen after a weeks-long selection process, the six accused — Kellestine, 59, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 32, and Dwight Mushey, 41, all of Winnipeg — stood and pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder.

It took 10 minutes to read all the charges and hear the pleas.

Gowdey outlined a case that sounded like a pulp fiction novel, starting with the grisly discovery of the bodies along the rural road.

Mary and Russell Steele, who live on the Stafford Line not far from Shedden, were alerted by a friend that quiet Saturday morning that there were vehicles on their property that didn’t belong there.

The Steeles went to look, Gowdey said, and saw a car on the road and a tow truck with a silver car attached to it.

A fourth vehicle was in a nearby field.

The Steeles didn’t look inside the vehicles and called police.

An Elgin County OPP officer look in the car in the field and saw a large man with blood on his face. He wasn’t breathing.

The officer opened the hatch. A man was lying on his right side. bleeding from the head — dead.

A third dead man was in the back seat. All of them had their heads covered.

Five more men would be found in the vehicles. Two were in the silver car, another in its trunk wrapped in a carpet.

Another man was dead in the tow truck.

The eighth man was in the back seat of the second car.

“Murder was obvious from the beginning,” Gowdey said.

The OPP began to descend on Shedden, but “it didn’t take long to find out that (the case) wasn’t about Shedden at all,” Gowdey said.

A bonfire had been spotted at Kellestine’s farm, 14 kilometres away, and police started to make a connection.

Police would find out later that Mather, Gardiner and Kellestine were at the farm.

As the bodies were discovered, a red SUV was driving down the Highway 401 on its way back to Winnipeg, carrying Sandham, Mushey, Aravena and M.H.

At the heart of the case, Gowdey said, was a feud between the Toronto Bandidos, and the group’s international headquarters in Texas.

Winnipeg had a fledgling chapter that wanted to become a full chapter. It was under the control of Toronto, and there were conflicts between them because Toronto claimed Winnipeg was not paying its dues and Toronto didn’t support full chapter status.

All of the dead men and Kellestine belonged to the Toronto chapter, Gowdey said, and Kellestine was the only one supporting Winnipeg.

Toronto’s feud with the international stemmed from Toronto’s lack of communication and not sending payments. By 2006, the world headquarters wanted its patches — a biker symbol of belonging and power — back.

Any problem for Toronto was a problem for Winnipeg.

“It was a time of crisis,” Gowdey said. “If Toronto was done, Winnipeg was done too.”

Sandham set up a meeting with members of the world headquarters at the Peace Arch Park in White Rock, B.C., along the Canada-U.S. border.

He and Kellestine went to the March 2006 meeting.

At the end, Kellestine was national president of the Bandidos. But he had orders to pull the patches of the Toronto chapter — something “that would not be surrendered willingly,” Gowdey said.

Some of the problems are spelled out in a series of e-mails uncovered by police and wiretaps they made of phone conversations .

In one wiretap, Gowdey said, Kellestine tells Cameron Acorn, a Bandido in jail at the time, that there were “big changes coming” and that the international group was “super, super, super f---ing choked.”

Later, at the farm, he would tell the others “if one person had to be killed, all would be killed.”

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.

Gowdey noted all of them stayed -- no one tried to leave.

The informant, M.H., Gowdey said, will testify that he saw lots of guns.

Then on April 7, 2006, the men donned gloves, changed the Manitoba licence plates on the SUV, and waited for the Toronto chapter Bandidos members to arrive.

The invitations to the Kellestine farm, Gowdey said, were picked up in wiretaps made by Durham Regional police who were investigating the death of Shawn Douse, a Keswick drug dealer who died in a 2005 beating.

The cellphone recordings have Kellestine asking the men to come to the farm. Some resisted, but were told the meeting was "really important," Gowdey said.

There also are wiretaps with Kellestine's voice in the background, he said.

The men arrived at the farm. Kellestine, Gardiner and Aravena were in the house.

Sandham, an ex-police officer and soldier, had two loaded guns and was wearing a bullet-proof vest. He was hidden in the loft of the barn overlooking an open area on the farm.

M.H. and Mushey were concealed behind the barn and unable to see what would unfold inside.

Two by two, the victims were led to the barn, Gowdey said.

Then, M.H. is expected to testify, there was a confrontation and he heard shots.

He and Mushey ran inside and heard Kellestine yell, "everyone on the floor, no one move."

Kellestine had a gun in his hand. Luis (Chopper) Raposo was lying on the floor, bleeding from the neck. A sawed-off shotgun was close to him.

The rest were on the floor.

Two others had been wounded when they'd tried to escape.

Sandham, Gowdey said, had shot Raposo, who'd shot first.

Gowdey said Raposo had been expecting violence that night and brought his own gun.

Sandham was hit in the vest.

One of the wounded men was on a couch, bleeding from his leg.

Gardiner was the only accused not there. He was in the house listening to a police scanner and acting as lookout for the police.

Each victim in the barn was patted down. Mather and Aravena searched the vehicles for personal effects. A gun was found and placed on top of a freezer in the barn.

Mushey and Mather had orders to keep an eye on John (Boxer) Muscedere, the president of the chapter.

"If Boxer moves, shoot him," Kellestine said, Gowdey told the jury.

Kellestine ordered all of the victims held at gunpoint.

In his hands, he had two guns.

Aravena was seen with a gun and a baseball bat.

Each of the victims was taken outside at gunpoint, placed in a vehicle, then shot.

The executions took hours.

"There was no gun fight. There was no flurry of bullets," Gowdey said. "One by one, the victims were led to their deaths."

Kellestine was acting erratically. He kicked one man in the face and hit another after accusing him of being a police informant.

He sang, he danced, he joined one victim in prayer.

M.H. didn't see everything because he was inside the barn guarding the men, Gowdey said.

Two of the men were ordered to roll up Raposo in a carpet and to mop up the blood on the floor.

M.H. went outside and saw Kellestine shoot one of the men, Gowdey said.

M.H. saw Mushey shoot one of the last victims, and then again to finish the job.

"It appeared all the Toronto Bandidos knew they were going to die," Gowdey said.

He told the jury not everyone shot and killed someone, but "everyone contributed."

The last man died near sunrise and "there was a pressing need to get rid of the bodies and cars," Gowdey said.

Only Kellestine stayed behind as the vehicles were driven away.

A surveillance team from Durham was watching the farm that night to keep an eye on some of the men in the Douse case.

"They had no need or right to go on the Kellestine property," Gowdey said.

The officers broke off their surveillance at midnight.

An OPP officer came upon them along the country road and stayed in the area until about 2:30 a.m. He saw no vehicles leave.

But by daybreak, a witness saw something unusual along Hwy. 401 -- a line of four vehicles, including a tow truck with a car attached, another car and a red SUV -- that turned onto Union Road, which would eventually lead to the property of Mary and Russell Steele where the bodies were found in some of the abandoned vehicles.

The Steeles, alerted by a friend on that quiet Saturday morning, didn't look inside the vehicles, but called police. An Elgin OPP officer found all the dead men, some with their heads covered.

Unexpected twist

There was an unexpected twist in the getaway plan as the sun came up. One of the vehicles was almost out of gas.

A decision was made to get off the road.

The drivers made it to Stafford Line, abandoned the vehicles and returned to Kellestine's farm with Sandham's SUV.

A set of keys to one vehicle, thrown out the window, was later found along the 401.

Kellestine had started a bonfire. A couch and any ID of the victims were burned.

Kellestine kept a Harley-Davidson baseball cap belonging to one of the victims.

He had large jugs of acid to clean the barn floor. The guns were wiped down and concealed, Gowdey said.

The Winnipegers burned their clothes and left. Gardiner stayed behind.

The police had started to link the bodies back to Kellestine. At 12:40 p.m., five hours after the bodies were found, officers started watching the farm.

Eric Niessen and Kerry Morris were the only two people seen arriving in the afternoon in one car.

Police watched as buckets were carried from the house to the barn. They could see smoke coming from the property and someone searching the grass and deck.

"It looked like an effort to clean up," Gowdey said.

Meanwhile, family members and friends of the victims and A channel news reporter Sarah McGrath called the residence.

Kellestine claimed he'd been partying all weekend.

When asked when he last saw the victims, he changed the subject, Gowdey said.

Search warrants were obtained on April 9, 2006, and police moved in. Slowly, all the people came out -- Kellestine, Gardiner, Mather, Niessen and Morris.

In a police interview, Kellestine repeated he was home all weekend.

He said he had retired from the club, even though he wore a biker belt buckle during the interview.

Red-stained floor

All five people were charged with eight counts of first- degree murder. Three of those are among the six now on trial.

In the barn, police found patio chairs in an area with a wet, red-stained floor. A fire smoldered in the fire pit.

A forensic archeologist is expected to testify what was found in the ashes -- house keys, zippers, coins, parts of cellphones, parts of a couch, glasses, boot steel toes and .22-calibre gun shell casings.

The police would be at the property for two months.

"The place was a mess," Gowdey said.

One gun was found in the ductwork of the basement, the rest not until a secret compartment in Kellestine's kitchen was found.

The Winnipeg men arrived home and continued to meet.

M.H. made a connection with the OPP. He'd wear a wire and pick up conversations of his companions.

Sandham took his SUV to a car detailing shop, had the inside shampooed and bought new tires. He threw the old ones into a ravine.

Police recovered them. Sandham also took a trip to the U.S., telling border guards he was going to South Dakota, but he really went to Texas to the Bandidos headquarters.

Aravena and Mushey, who lived together, were watched by police. They got new biker vests and showed them off.

On June 15 and 16, 2006, the three were arrested and brought to Ontario to face murder charges with the others.

Gowdey gave the jury a roadmap of the evidence that will take months to go through. M.H. is expected to be the star prosecution witness.
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First Bandidos witness details grisly discovery of slain bikers
Wed, April 1, 2009

Relatives of eight Bandidos bikers sobbed and gasped as an OPP officer testified and showed pictures of what he found inside four vehicles on a rural road southwest of London three years ago.

Const. Ross Stuart found eight men, most with “obvious gunshot wounds,” stuffed into four vehicles when he responded to Stafford Line on April 8, 2006.

Stuart, an OPP forensic-identification officer, is the first witness to testify in the first-degree murder trial of six men charged in the slayings of the eight Bandidos from the Toronto area.

Stuart told jurors what vehicles the men were found in and what personal belongings police used to identify them.


Among the more than 40 photographs, the jury saw close-ups of the victims' faces, all with obvious trauma from gunshot wounds.

Jamie Flanz was found in the back seat of a rented 2006 Pontiac Grand Prix.

George Jessome’s body was found in the back seat of the Silverado tow truck owned by Superior Towing and Storage, from the Toronto area.
Bandidos trial live updates .

* Witness dismissed. That's it for the first day of testimony in Bandidos trial. Back again tomorrow at 10 a.m. Dubinski over and out #bdos about 5 hours ago
* Debuck says she saw three cars at 6:50 a.m.: one backed up in ditch, another a tow truck with third vehicle attached. #bdos about 5 hours ago
* Witness dismissed. Next witness Allison Debuck. She was on Stafford Line on April 8, 06 taking daughter to a basketball tournament. #bdos about 5 hours ago
* Witness says she saw what looked like a silver pickup truck down the road from the a property where she delivered the paper. #bdos about 5 hours ago
* Shelley is newspaper delivery person for the St. Thomas Times Journal. Delivered paper to Stafford Line on morning of April 8, 2006. #bdos about 5 hours ago
* Witness dismissed. Next witness: Janet Shelley asked to take the stand. #bdos about 5 hours ago
* Witness says she drives along Stafford Line to work around 5:45 a.m. She says she saw no cars on Stafford Line on April 8, 2006. #bdos about 5 hours ago
* Next witness takes the stand: Mary Aartsen. Works at Flying M truck stop. #bdos about 6 hours ago

Attached to the tow truck was a 2001 Volkswagen Golf registered to Luis Raposo, who was found wrapped in a rug in the hatch. John Muscedere was found in the passenger seat of the Golf and George Kriarakis was in the driver's seat.

The fourth vehicle, an Infiniti FX35 SUV, leased to Flanz, contained the bodies of Michael Trotta and Frank Salerno. Paul Sinopoli was stuffed into the rear cargo hatch of the SUV.

The jury also saw pictures of identification found in the vehicles, including driver's licenses, a college badge and an envelope from a Toronto-area Catholic school board addressed to Trotta and his spouse.

Jessome’s Toronto tow-truck licence was found in the sun visor of the truck, and Raposo’s car ownership was in the Volkswagen.

The jury also looked at a Bandidos motorcycle club leather vest, displaying the distinctive red-and-yellow patches and the club insignia of a man in a sombrero holding a handgun and a sword, known as “The Fat Mexican.”

The tow truck, with the VW Golf attached, was parked along the soft, muddy shoulder of the rural Elgin County road. The two other vehicles were haphazardly left in nearby woods and a farmer's field.

Most of the bodies had their heads covered with clothing or a blanket.

Stuart also described a list found in Raposo’s car with 27 names or nicknames. All of the dead men could be traced to the list.

Jurors also saw a large diamond-shaped silver ring with “1%” inscribed on top.

In Flanz’s car was identification from Onico Solutions – his business card – and a Devry College of Technology nametag.

Cross examination by the defence continues this afternoon.

The six accused are Wayne Kellestine, 59, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 32, and Dwight Mushey, 41, all of Winnipeg. Each pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder.

The shooting victims are 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. All were connected to the Bandidos biker club.
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A graphic start to the evidence
Thu, April 2, 2009
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

Ordinary people doing ordinary things saw something wrong on rural Stafford Line, southwest of London, the morning eight men linked to the Bandidos biker club were found shot to death in 2006.
Yesterday, in a London court, graphic police photographs of what was wrong -- the dead men, found stuffed into vehicles that didn't belong where they were found -- were shown to a jury, drawing gasps and sobs from some of the men's family members.
Two people who happened to be in the area that day, April 8, 2006, described what they saw as the first full day of testimony in the Bandidos murder trial began.
Janet Shelley saw a pickup truck a long distance down the road as she turned around in the driveway of Mary and Russell Steele's place, where she'd just delivered the newspaper.
Alison Debuck was driving her daughter to a basketball tournament when she saw a car beyond the ditch in an opening between the woods and a fence. A tow truck and a light-coloured car were at the side of road.Both women said they didn't stop to check why the vehicles were there.If they had, they'd have been shocked and horrified.
Jurors saw the photographs taken of the eight men shortly after they were found in three vehicles on the quiet Elgin County road, south of Hwy. 401 near Shedden, and an SUV parked farther off the road.As the crime scene photos appeared on a screen in court, including facial closeups of the men, the reactions flowed.

OPP Const. Ross Stuart, the lead identification officer, took the jury through the photos, first describing a 2006 Grand Prix found in an open area by the trees. It was an Avis car rented to the common-law spouse of one dead man, Michael "Little Mikey" Trotta.
In the back seat was the body of Jamie "Goldberg" Flanz, 37, of Keswick, Ont. His shaved head was covered and he was packed in with a large variety of kids' toys, games, a car seat and two backpacks.
There were two visible gun shot wounds -- one under his left eye in his cheek, the other on his forehead.
A Superior Towing and Storage Tow truck, found deep in a muddy ditch, contained the body of George "Pony" Jessome, 52. His tow operator's licence was found on the sun visor.
Jessome's head was covered with a red and blue blanket. Blood could be seen on his forehead, cheek, nose and mouth.
A 2002 VW Golf was hooked onto the back of the truck. George "Crash" Kriarakis, 28, was dead in the front seat, the top of his body covered by a green fleece shirt.
He was slumped on his side and blood was caked on his face and coming out his nose. A gunshot wound could be seen below his left ear.
John "Boxer" Muscedere, 48, the Bandidos national president, was slumped beside him in the passenger seat. There was no visible gunshot wound but blood was coming from his eyes and nose. In the hatch was the body of Luis "Chopper" Raposo, 41, the car's registered owner. He was wrapped in a multi-coloured rug and there was blood staining to his neck, shoulders and upper chest.
A fourth vehicle, an Infiniti FX35 SUV, leased to Flanz, was found in a field near the tree line.
Paul "Big Paulie" Sinopoli, 30, a large man, was stuffed in the rear compartment, lying in the fetal position, a gunshot wound to his left temple.
Two more victims were inside the vehicle. Trotta, 31, was shot in the right temple behind the eyes. Francesco "Bam-Bam" Salerno, 43, was beside him. There was blood, especially near his right ear. Stuart explained how police determined the men's identities with documents and other items found in the vehicles.
One significant piece was a black leather Bandidos Canada motorcycle club vest found in the Volkswagen, with its distinguishable red and yellow club patches.
The centrepiece on the back of the garment was a rotund man in a sombrero holding a sword and a gun. The jury was told he's known as "the Fat Mexican."
"Our colors don't run," was one of the patches.There was a ring as well -- shaped with the insignia "1%."
Police also found lists and phone numbers with many nicknames.
Raposo, the national secretary, had phone numbers in his pocket and a list with 27 names, including the nicknames of the victims.
"Weiner" was attributed to accused Wayne Kellestine, whose Aberdeen Line farm -- about 14 kilometres from where the vehicle were found -- is where the Crown contends the killings took place.
"Taz" is Michael Sandham, another accused, and he authored e-mails found printed in the car. There were nicknames on one list that Stuart said could be those of some of the other accused.
Raposo also had 16 other documents, including a ledger page with items such as a pool table and square patches.
Flanz's business cards from Orico Solutions and a badge from a business college were found in his car.

The trial continues today.
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Rural couple describe grisly discovery — read Twitter updates here
Thu, April 2, 2009

In April 2006 eight bodies are discovered in vehicles abandoned along a rural road near Shedden, Ontario. Six men are currently in court for what has become known as "The Bandidos Murder Trial

A graphic start to the evidence Many called, few were chosen First Bandidos witness details grisly discovery of slain bikers — read Twitter updates here 'Shot one by one' 'Not guilty' pleas set stage

A rural couple’s quiet Saturday morning was shattered three years ago when they discovered unfamiliar vehicles parked on their property that contained the bodies of eight dead Bandidos.

Mary Steele, a retired dairy farmer, testified this morning at the trial of six men charged with eight counts of first-degree murder in the slayings of the Toronto-area bikers.

Steele and her husband Russell were the first people to approach the vehicles that had been abandoned on their property along Stafford Line in Elgin County’s Southwold Township on April 8, 2006.

It had been a a typical Saturday morning for the couple. Steele testified that she and her husband were having breakfast at about 7:15 a.m. in their home when they saw a familiar vehicle travelling up their road.

Steele said it was Forbes Oldham, known as Forbsy, a man who usually drove past their house at the same time every day, often to take a newspaper to another neighbour.

Fifteen minutes later, Steele answered the phone. It was Oldham.

“The fellow told us there are a lot of cars on the road and in the bush,” she said.

“'You got lots of cars, you should see what’s going on',” the caller said.

The couple was curious. Steele told assistant Crown attorney Joseph Perfetto that she and her husband hopped in their SUV to check what was happening.

The first vehicle they saw was a Pontiac Grand Prix. It was backed in to an opening with the keys still in the ignition.

"We tried to peer through the window," Mary Steele said.

"At the time, my husband and I, we watch CSI, and I decided not to touch anything."

Steele looked in the front window but couldn't see anything in the front seat, but did see something covered up with a blanket in the back seat.

Next, the couple went to a tow truck up the road, also abandoned. They noted the Superior Towing and

Storage name and Toronto-area phone number on the side of the truck. They went back to their house to call 911.

"But then curiosity got the best of us, so we went back," Steele said.

Peering through the bush, the couple saw an SUV in a field farther down road and adjacent to their property line.

The two thought the cars were either stolen or someone had been drinking alcohol and parked the cars close to their land, Steele said.

The couple called the police again, saying there were four vehicles on or near their property.

They were waiting for the police along the road when Oldham and neighbour Charlie McMullen drove up. So did OPP Const. Karl Johnston.

“My husband was trying to tell the officer how to do his job,” Steele said, drawing laughter from the rest of the courtroom.

The jury also heard from Johnston and another officer on the scene and who described finding the three bodies in the SUV.

An Elgin paramedic who arrived on the scene testified he was able to check seven of the eight bodies.

The body in the SUV hatch and the body in the Volkswagen trunk were cold to the touch.

The other five were also cold, the paramedic said, and had no vital signs.

The six accused are Wayne Kellestine, 59, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 32, and Dwight Mushey, 41, all of Winnipeg. Each pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder.

The shooting victims are 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. All were connected to the Bandidos biker club.
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Wound tally opens biker slaying trial
3rd April 2009,

LONDON, Ont. -- Her sobs broke the silence as the occupants of the courtroom concentrated on photographs of eight dead men.

They started softly when the autopsy photos of George Kriarakis, 28, one of eight men connected to the Bandidos motorcycle club, flashed on the video screens throughout Courtroom No. 21 in the London courthouse during the trial of six men -- three of whom are from Winnipeg -- who have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder.

A man and a woman were trying to console the crying woman, while OPP Const. Ross Stuart took the jury through the photographic summary of injuries.

Tattoos

He began to describe some of Kriarakis's tattoos -- the word "Crash," his nickname, in red and yellow surrounded by flames on his chest; a tattoo on his back with the diamond-shaped "1%er," surrounded by the letters "BFFB," and two images of men wearing a sombrero on either side; the words "No Surrender" down his right arm and shoulder.

The sobs became louder.

Stuart began to discuss the four gunshot wounds to the left side of Kriarakis's head, near his ear.

The sob turned into a wail.

"God, God," she cried loudly.

Elgin County Crown Attorney Kevin Gowdey called for a brief recess and the jury left the room.

It was a glimpse into the grief left behind after the eight men were found dead near Shedden on April 8, 2006.

The jury returned to see and hear the grisly overview Gowdey said will be expanded on when pathologists who performed autopsies testify.

Stuart showed photos of the men's injuries and described what the doctors found. Several men who had tattoos similar to what the jury has been told earlier is "The Fat Mexican" -- a symbol of the Bandidos motorcycle club.

Jamie Flanz, 37, had two gunshot wounds to his head -- one to his upper forehead and another to his left cheek.

Stuart also showed the jury a photograph of a tattoo on Flanz's back near his left shoulder of a skull with skeletal hands, wearing a sombrero and holding a revolver.

Gunshot wounds

George Jessome, 52, had two gunshot wounds to the left side of his head and one in the left chest. He had an abrasion to his right wrist, hand and middle finger.

Kriarakis, 28, along with the four shots to the head, had a gunshot wound to his right shoulder, lower abdomen and left chest.

John Muscedere, 48, who has been described as the national president of Bandidos Canada, had been shot on the right side of his head near his ear, another under his right eye and his right torso.

Luis Raposo, described to the jury earlier as the national secretary, died of gunshot wounds to his neck and chest.

Michael Trotta, 31, had a gunshot to the top of his head that had an exit wound out his left cheek. There was another gunshot wound to his right temple.

Francesco Salerno, 43, had six gunshot wounds.

Paul Sinopoli, 30, had gunshot wounds to his left eyebrow and left temple and a graze wound on his thigh.

The trial continues today.
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Frank (Bam Bam) Salerno, was shot at no fewer than nine times.
Six gang members or associates are now on trial in Ontario Superior Court here in connection with the deaths of eight fellow Bandidos in April three years ago. All of the accused men face eight counts each of first-degree murder and all are pleading not guilty.Since the discovery of the bodies, stuffed into four vehicles abandoned on a country road southwest of London, the deaths have been widely described as execution-style killings, a term which evokes a picture of crisp if not merciful efficiency.Earlier this week, for instance,

Elgin County Crown attorney Kevin Gowdey told the jurors in his opening statement that most of the men died of gunshot wounds to the head, most delivered at close range. And a day later, jurors saw for the first time close-up photographs of the men's bloody and fatal head wounds. But what they learned yesterday was that one of the victims, Luis (Chopper) Raposo also had his right middle finger amputated and that another, John (Boxer) Muscedere, the supposed Canadian president of the Bandidos, was not only shot three times, but also suffered multiple fractured teeth and severe abrasions to both knees, the reasonable inference that he had been forced to kneel at some point.As well, another victim, 28-year-old George (Crash) Kriarkis was shot no fewer than seven times - four times in the face or head and once each in the shoulder, chest and abdomen.

Mr. Kriarkis's mother was in court yesterday when Ontario Provincial Police Constable Ross Stuart, the main forensic identification officer on the case, was describing the men's injuries as the jurors watched a slide show of pictures documenting them. She fell weeping into the arms of friends and once cried aloud, "Why?"Another victim, Frank (Bam Bam) Salerno, was shot at no fewer than nine times.Five of the shots connected - one to the bridge of his nose, another to his right cheek, another to his right ear, one to his right hand and one to the right thigh. Three more grazed his lower right leg, another grazed the top of his right hand.In total, not counting any that may have missed the mark, 33 shots were fired at the eight victims.In addition to gunshot wounds, Constable Stuart said, many of the men suffered other lacerations or abrasions, several to their wrists or hands, sometimes interpreted as wounds incurred when people try to defend themselves. Other injuries, such as the laceration to the top of Jamie (Goldberg) Flanz's head, may have been inflicted by the alleged ringleader of the plot, Wayne (Wiener) Kellestine, whom Mr. Gowdey described as having kicked one victim in the face and hit another, all the while dancing and singing bizarrely.According to the prosecutor, all the victims were members or associates of the tiny Toronto Bandidos branch called the No Surrender Crew.
With the Toronto branch on the outs with the group's head office in Texas, and also embroiled in an internal battle for control with a probationary Bandidos group in Winnipeg, the decision was made to "pull the patches" of the Toronto crew, leaving Winnipeg as the only Canadian chapter.Mr. Kellestine, who reportedly had aligned himself with the Winnipeg group, is alleged to have lured his Toronto colleagues to his farm, located just 14 kilometres from the site where the vehicles crammed with bodies were later found.
He and his five co-accused - Michael (Taz) Sandham, Dwight (Dee) Mushey and Marcello Aravena, all from Winnipeg, and Frank Mather from Toronto - allegedly donned gloves and armed themselves in preparation for the patch-pulling, with Mr. Sandham, a former police officer and soldier, allegedly hiding in the loft of the barn where the meeting was held.After a brief exchange of gunfire between Mr. Raposo and Mr. Sandham - it left the former bleeding from the neck and chest and the latter complaining his bulletproof vest had been hit - Mr. Gowdey said the rest of the Toronto Bandidos were searched and held at gunpoint."In the hours that followed," Mr. Gowdey told the jurors, the remaining men "were taken outside, unarmed, and shot one by one in their vehicles ... Not everyone [who is accused] actually shot and killed, but everyone participated and contributed ... People who deliberately help or encourage killing may be equally guilty as those who pulled the trigger."The revelations of the apparent cruelty of the men's deaths came late yesterday, and could not have contrasted more with the testimony of the morning.These early witnesses - several OPP officers who were first on the scene, a paramedic who had the unenviable task of checking the bodies for signs of life and who found instead in some the onset of rigor mortis
========================

Bandidos trial jury sees photos of victims' homes

By Michael Oliveira, THE CANADIAN PRESS

Last Updated: 3rd April 2009, 2:45pm

LONDON, Ont. — A search of victims’ homes after Ontario’s largest mass killing took police to a trailer, a rundown apartment building and a posh suburban home, resulting in the seizure of thousands of exhibits of evidence including a gun, a receipt for marijuana grow-op equipment and a plethora of Bandidos biker paraphernalia, court heard Friday.

The jury at the first-degree murder trial is hearing evidence about the slayings of eight men with ties to the outlaw motorcycle club who were found dead in four abandoned vehicles in rural southwestern Ontario in April 2006.

After two days of graphic testimony cataloguing the men’s autopsy photos and scores of bullet wounds and injuries, the jury was given a glimpse inside the lives of five victims and where they lived.

The men had wardrobes full of Bandidos gear, including their trademark leather vests emblazoned with the so-called “Fat Mexican” cartoon logo: a large-bellied man wearing a sombrero and clutching a gun and machete in either hand.

Each victim appeared to have collected numerous Bandidos T-shirts of various colours and designs and bearing the names of different chapters across the United States and the world.

Police also found Bandidos jackets and clothing from the Losers and Annihilators motorcycle clubs.

A number of custom Bandidos rings, in both silver and gold, were seized, along with brooches, belt buckles and other collectibles.

Provincial police Const. Ross Stuart told court about 6,000 photos were taken of the items seized from the homes.

In the first home shown to court, a modest Toronto house where 41-year-old Luis Raposo lived, police found a receipt for a US$77 eBay purchase of grow-op equipment. The receipt listed chopper(at)rogers.com as the buyer; court has heard Raposo’s nickname was Chopper. He's been identified as the club's national secretary.

Also seized in the house — along with a haul of Bandidos garb — was a computer, a list of names and phone numbers previously introduced in court, a motorcycle decorated with Bandidos stickers, and photos of Raposo and others wearing the motorcycle club’s colours.

In the Toronto home of 28-year-old George Kriarakis in Toronto, police found some women’s Bandidos clothes including women's thong underwear with the words “Support the Fat Mexican,” and a pink tank top reading “I Support My Local Bandidos.” along with personal photos with a woman and his motorcycle. There were also photos of Superior Towing trucks and Jessome

Court was also shown photos of Kriarakis posing with a puppy and professional shots taken with a blond woman as he posed in a Bandidos vest.

In the apartment of 48-year-old John Muscedere, police found more clothing and photos along with Bandidos Christmas cards. Police also seized a three-page email that the Crown said details Bandidos business. There were also photographs found with men in Bandido clothing smiling and giving the finger to the camera.

Police also collected evidence at the suburban Milton, Ont., home of 31-year-old Michael Trotta but made the most notable discovery at the home of 43-year-old Frank Salerno. Salerno's large, modern home was searched as well as his BMW, where officers found a box for a digital camera, court heard. Inside was a .32-calibre Mauser 1914 pistol and an ammunition magazine with three round of 32 cal bullets in it.

Police said they also searched the trailer of Jamie Flanz, 37, but found no Bandidos-related items.

The homes of the other two victims — Paul Sinopoli, 30, and George Jessome, 52 — had been searched in relation to another homicide investigation and court was not given details of that probe.

Charged with first-degree murder in the deaths are Wayne Kellestine, 59, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich, Ont.; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 32, and Dwight Mushey, 41, all of Winnipeg.
============================

Jury hears wiretap conversations of bikers
Sat, April 4, 2009
The bikers tell each other many times 'Love ya, bro'

By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

In the days leading up to the shooting deaths of eight men, Wayne Kellestine promised "things are gonna get a lot better."

"It's not my doing. I don't want no part of this," he told one of his young Bandido "brothers" over the telephone on April 6, 2006.

"But I'm gonna try to salvage as many guys as I can."

Two days later, eight men with connections to the biker gang were found shot to death along a rural Elgin County road.

The 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 connected to the Bandidos biker club.


The Crown has pointed to a biker feud within the Canadian Bandidos as the heart of its case against six men, including Kellestine of Dutton-Dunwich, charged with eight counts of first-degree murder.

The Crown has told the jury Kellestine was put in charge of pulling the patches -- the biker symbol of solidarity and power -- from the Toronto members for the international Bandidos in Texas.

Yesterday, the prosecution turned to wiretap evidence, and specifically to telephone conversations between Kellestine and Cameron Acorn.

Seen in photos wearing Bandido colours with both Kellestine and the men who were later killed, Acorn was in a provincial jail in Penetanguishine when he talked with Kellestine.

The jury in the Superior Court trial heard snippets of conversations between some of the Toronto Bandidos and others to establish the identity of their voices. Some of the recordings were made within hours of the shootings.

More of those conversations are expected to be played in court when the jury returns April 14.

There was also evidence -- much of it Bandido paraphernalia -- shown of what the police found in some of the Toronto-area homes belonging to the victims.

The Kellestine/Acorn conversation gives a hint of the rift within the organization.

Kellestine contacted Acorn's mother to find out where her son was. "It's kind of important I talk to him . . . Fill him in on what's going on," he said.

He told her other Bandido members in Toronto hadn't been in contact with him and hadn't invited him to parties.

Acorn called Kellestine's house later. Kellestine calls him " a good truthful man" and a "good soldier."

"The people in the States are super, super, super f---ing choked," he said.

He told Acorn he had been to Vancouver and White Rock, B.C., at their request.

"People have been lying to us about everything being all right," Kellestine said. "Everything ain't right."

"I'm gonna need you, you know, in the future," he tells Acorn.

Kellestine asked Acorn how "Paulie" was doing. The jury has been told victim Paul Sinopoli went by the nickname Big Paulie.

Acorn said he was angry with Paul because he owed people money.

Kellestine told Acorn he didn't hear from people in Toronto, but they were "doing a lot of you know what. . . That's gotta stop."

"Someone in Toronto has stabbed Boxer (victim John Muscedere) and Bam Bam (victim Francesco Salerno) and Chopper (victim Luis Raposo) and all them guys in the back mentioning a bunch of f---ing s---."

Kellestine said he didn't want "no part of this." He and Acorn are careful not to identify what "this" is.

"I've got to try and fix this," Kellestine said.

The jury heard bits of conversations between some of the victims from April 7, 2006, just hours before the shootings. The audio was made by the OPP during Project Douse, the Durham police investigation into the slaying of Shawn Douse, a Keswick drug dealer who died in a 2005 beating.

OPP Det. Sgt. Jennifer Lockhart said Sinopoli and Jamie Flanz were two of 14 "primary targets" in the investigation.

The jury heard Sinopoli call Muscedere, Bandidos national president, to tell him "I'm not making it tonight," he said, because of ulcer problems.

Salerno later called Sinopoli and ordered him to go to "church" that night without making any excuses.

"Boxer's freaking out," he said. "You're on your last legs."

Sinopoli was heard calling Flanz for a ride.

Acorn called Raposo, the national secretary, and Muscedere while they were on their way to the meeting. The jury has heard the men gathered at Kellestine's farm.

They tell each other many times "Love ya, bro."

Acorn asked Raposo to send him a copy of a photo showing Acorn "cruising on a bike."

"I've heard some distressing news, but I love ya," Muscedere told Acorn.

"I'll call you guys next weekend," Acorn promised. "Make sure Chopper doesn't forget about that picture."

"I'm gonna f---ing tape it to his forehead," Muscedere laughed.
=========================

Betrayal among the beloved bros
Rosie DiManno
Apr 04, 2009 04:30 AM

LONDON, Ont.

"I love you, bro."

Oh, the Judas kiss.

Such expressions of brotherly love, allies forever, the biker bonds of blood.

But all the time, there was mayhem and murder afoot, betrayals unto death. And so much for fidelity or honour or the code of the road – all those mythical attributes that patched-up and tattooed-down bikers claim.

They were rats, one double-cross removed from that most ignoble of creatures: the police informant.

The treachery within the Bandidos was exposed in court yesterday when wiretapped phone conversations were played for the jury, while six first-degree murder defendants passively listened in.

Cameron Acorn is not among the accused. He was doing time in Penetanguishene, back in 2006, when obliquely informed that his "brothers," his bestest friends, were about to get whacked.

Even from inside stir, Acorn could have called and warned his buddies, could have probably saved their lives.

In fact, he did phone, just as eight members of the Toronto Bandidos chapter were setting off for their date with alleged slaughter, piling into their cars as summoned to attend "church" that night – a biker meeting at the London-area farm of Wayne "Weiner'' Kellestine, purported ambush mastermind.

Inside one of the vehicles, Luis Manny Raposo and John Muscedere – only hours removed from fatal bullets – sound delighted to hear from Acorn, exchanging "Love you, bro" greetings as the cellphone is passed back and forth.

Muscedere, however, provides a hint of suspicion. "I've been hearing some disturbing news," the alleged president of the Canadian Bandidos Nation tells Acorn. "But I love you."

They wear their fraternal love on their cut-off sleeves, these Bandidos, but some of them, at least, are traitors.

Muscedere tells Acorn to use his time behind bars usefully, "don't become like those deadbeats in there" and Acorn says sure, he's cool, except there's one thing he'd like Muscedere to bring him – that picture off the computer, "of me cruising, giving the finger."

Acorn asks them to write him letters, then signs off: "I'll call you guys next weekend."

Such a good boy, this Acorn, as his mama tells Kellestine on another intercepted phone call.

Yet Acorn – who's been told enough to twig – says nothing to his Bandido bros, let's them tootle down the highway to their death.

That was April 7, 2006. In the early-morning hours of April 8, Muscedere and Raposo – and George Jessome, George Kriarakis, Frank Salerno, Paul Sinopoli, Jamie Flanz, Michael Trotta – would be marched to their cars, one-by-one, according to the prosecution, and executed, allegedly by the men on trial, Kellestine and five others connected to the Bandidos, the grotesque climax of what has been portrayed in court as an internal feud between the club's Toronto and Winnipeg chapters.

On the previous day, Acorn had phoned Kellestine, as bidden, his mom the intermediary. Kellestine, sweet-talking Sharon Acorn in that ingratiating way of his, had said of her son: "You mention to Cameron that we love him. ... Far as I'm concerned, Cameron's one of us. ... I've known him since he was a kid and he's your boy, so I love him."

With Cameron Acorn, Kellestine at first lauds himself for looking out after all the brothers in jail, sending cards and pictures, whereas other Bandidos just forget their obligations.

Thing is, though, some of those Toronto Bandidos aren't talking to Kellestine of late; they never call, they don't invite him to parties. And the Bandido bosses, down at Texas headquarters, are displeased with Toronto, too. "The people in the States are super, super, super f---ing choked."

Cryptically, Kellestine mentions a meeting with the Americans in B.C. "Okay, now there's gonna be some major changes."

He suggests that, contrary to earlier assurances, things aren't okay. "People have been lying to us ... about everything being all right."

Not gonna say another word, Kellestine declares. But, clearly, he can't help himself. Wonders if another Bandido, "Paulie" – who apparently owes money to many people – can be reclaimed, in some way. "Is there any chance of salvaging him?"

Here, Kellestine palpably puts himself forward as the guy who can intervene, influence, because stuff is about to happen. "And it's not my doing. I don't want no part of this but I'm gonna try to salvage as many guys as possible."

Acorn gets it but is stunned.

"Oh f---. It's not what I think it is?

"Are you f---ing serious?

"That's f---ing bulls---, man."

At that point, Kellestine becomes aware that there's someone else on the line – a three-way hookup. It is Acorn's brother-in-law.

"Did you just hear what I just said?" Kellestine demands of the in-law.

The stammering third-guy-on-a-wire: "No, no, no, no, no. I'm positive, 100 per cent, I just picked the phone up (because) I heard Cameron calling me."

Kellestine carries on a bit more, about how he doesn't need all this aggravation with the Americans but he's trying to "fix" it. He's the man. The conversation ends in signature biker mush.

Kellestine: "Love you buddy."

Acorn: "'Kay. Love you too."
-----------------------------------------------------

Slain biker tried to avoid meeting, murder trial told
Taped phone calls reveal ailing Bandido, 30, pressured into accepting invitation from accused
Apr 15, 2009 04:30 AM

LONDON, Ont. – Accused killer Wayne Kellestine sang a few lines from the 1960s hit song "It's Now or Never" to one of the victims in the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, hours before the biggest mass murder in Ontario history, a courtroom heard.

"There's an old Roy Orbison song 'It's Now or Never,' " the 59-year-old said on the phone to fellow Toronto Bandido member Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Sutton on April 7, 2006.

The next morning, the bullet-riddled bodies of Sinopoli and seven others connected to the Greater Toronto Bandidos were found in abandoned vehicles in the hamlet of Shedden, 14 kilometres from Kellestine's farm in southwestern Ontario.

Kellestine and five others each face eight first-degree murder charges for the slayings.

Sinopoli didn't laugh when Kellestine improvised a couple of lines to the song over the phone.

"Hold me close, kiss me, you homely little bastard," Kellestine sang. "Be mine tonight."

Kellestine sounded both jovial and hostile as he reminded Sinopoli to attend the meeting at his farm later that evening.

"Howdy doody, whadiya doin' Big Paulie," he asked of Sinopoli, who replied that he "could be better."

"You've been sick," Kellestine replied. "You're a sick man. Never mind you're sick. But I still love ya."

"I know, I know," Sinopoli said.

Kellestine complained he hadn't been called recently by Sinopoli.

"What's up, buds," he asked. "You don't love me no more?"

"I just been sick, bro," Sinopoli replied in a weary voice.

Kellestine said he had some visitors at his farm but suggested they would soon be leaving. "There's some people passing through town right now," he said. "They're not gonna be around for much longer."

Also charged are five Winnipeggers: Michael Sandham, 39, Marcello Aravena, 33, Brett Gardiner, 24, and Dwight Mushey, 41, and Frank Mather, 35.

Sinopoli was found in a sport utility vehicle by a field.

Also found were the bodies of Jamie Flanz, 37, of Keswick; John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham; George Jessome, 52, Luis Manny Raposo, 41, and George Kriarakis, 28, all of Toronto; Frank Salerno, 43, of Oakville; and Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga.

The intercepted conversations heard in court suggested Sinopoli almost escaped the bloodbath.

"I won't be making it tonight," Sinopoli told Muscedere at 3:33 p.m. on April 7.

But court heard that Sinopoli was repeatedly pressured by others to go that evening to Kellestine's farm.

Sinopoli had been saying for days he was too sick to attend, telling Flanz that he was feeling stressed and tired and was suffering from a bleeding ulcer.
------------------------------------------------

Threats, ominous hints, and serenade form wiretap evidence at Bandidos trial

By: Michael Oliveira, THE CANADIAN PRESS

LONDON, Ont. - Threats over outstanding debts, ominous hints about a "very important" meeting, and a serenaded warning about the time being "now or never" were intercepted by police in the days and hours before eight bodies were found in rural southwestern Ontario, court heard Tuesday.

The jury at the trial of six men charged in Ontario's largest ever mass slaying - the alleged first-degree murders of eight people connected to the Bandidos outlaw motorcycle club - heard a sequence of 28 phone calls that were gleaned from more than 60,000 that police eavesdropped on in the weeks leading up to the bloodbath.

The intercepts, dubbed "the victims' trip to the farm for a meeting" by the Crown, document increasingly insistent demands that several men attend a club meeting on April 7, 2006.

Early the next day, police found the victims'bodies stuffed in four vehicles in a farmer's field near Shedden, Ont.

Caught numerous times on tape was victim Paul Sinopoli, who complained in several calls of stomach pain and tried to talk his way out of going to "church," the meeting at Wayne Kellestine's farm.

"We just call it that because we meet once a week," he said of the group's meetings in one of the intercepted calls.

When Sinopoli told fellow victim Jamie Flanz that he planned to stay home on April 7, 2006, the response was a long silence.

Flanz finally let out a troubled, "oooh," and suggested that maybe Sinopoli should go out and also see a Tragically Hip cover band that was playing that night.

But Sinopoli insisted he couldn't go.

"I can't move, bro," he said.

Sinopoli also asked Flanz to gauge the anger of another victim, John (Boxer) Muscedere, who was apparently tiring of his complaints.

Flanz tried to put his friend's mind at ease and said, "They're always sayin' the same thing all the time, nothing ever happens."

In less than two hours, Sinopoli would receive a call telling him that Muscedere was "freaking out" and that his attendance at the farm was mandatory.

"Bro, uh, Boxer's freaking out, bro. You're on your last legs, you're almost out the door. So if I was you I'd get yourself to ... church tonight," said another victim, Frank (Bam Bam) Salerno, who also warned Sinopoli to bring money he owed to the meeting.

"You better bring it. Don't come there empty-handed, brother, and don't bother phonin'him and telling him you're sick.

"I'm telling you what to do. If you don't want to listen to me, that's your problem. Don't come crying to me after."

In another call with an unidentified man, Sinopoli is told: "It's very important everyone's there, so ... call everybody, tell 'em it's very important."

Sinopoli confirmed with Kellestine that he would attend but said he might be late for the 7 p.m. meeting.

Kellestine pressured him to hurry up, saying there were people awaiting his arrival, and confused the younger Sinopoli by breaking out into song.

"There's just some people passing through town right now. They're not going to be around for much longer. ... They're kind of (in a) hurry to get going. So we have two options. There's an old Roy Orbison song, 'It's Now or Never,"' Kellestine says, before starting to sing.

"'Hold me close, kiss me, you homely little bastard, be mine tonight."'

Resigned to having no choice but to attend, Sinopoli called a woman identified only as Stephanie, who court heard was involved with his drug dealings.

He spoke of his need to go the farm and a meeting she would soon have.

"These people aren't going to beat me up, are they?" she said with a nervous laugh.

He assured her that wouldn't happen.

The wiretaps end with a call around 10:18 p.m. as Flanz arrived at his destination and the meeting was presumably about to begin.

Flanz asked Muscedere to stay on the line before he entered the meeting, but the wiretaps don't capture what happened next.

The explosive evidence came as a result of another investigation into the December 2005 death of drug dealer Shawn Douse, which resulted in penitentiary terms for four men connected to the Bandidos.

Police sought taps on the phones of 14 primary and 15 secondary targets for that investigation, but ended up catching clues about the eight murders, which the Crown has characterized as an internal cleansing of the Bandidos.

None of the six accused had their lines tapped, but two of the victims did, as did others associated with the Bandidos.

Kellestine and his associates all knew not to talk too freely on the phone and spoke frequently in code, referring to others as "the old man," "other friend," and other pseudonyms.

As he signed off in a call with Sinopoli, Kellestine asked him to "keep the phone calls down to a minimum, please and thank you."

The jury was back in court Tuesday after a week off, and Justice Thomas Heeney gave jurors further instructions based on the Crown's opening statement.

Heeney reminded the jury that the opening was not evidence and only a set of allegations.

He also said the jury should come to its decision without prejudice or sympathy for any of the accused.
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More testimony in Bandidos trial
Tue, April 14, 2009

By LONDON FREE PRESS

Wayne Kellestine used an old Roy Orbison tune to make sure a meeting was about to happen.

"It's now or never," he sang to Paul Sinopoli on the cellphone just hours before eight Bandidos were shot to death.

The jury at the Bandido trial heard more wiretaps today from chats on the phone on April 7, 2006 in Toronto about the meeting at Kellestine’s farm, up to 10 p.m. when victims Jamie Flanz and John Muscedere spoke to each other while Flanz stood outside Kellestine’s farmhouse.

Kellestine’s voice and a barking dog could be heard in the background.

The eight men were found dead the next morning in vehicles along Elgin County’s Stafford Line.


Flanz and Sinopoli, were a targets in another police investigation called Project Douse, which allowed the police to tap into his and other victims' conversation.

The jury heard this morning Simopoli was suffering form a bleeding ulcer and told several of the victims he didn't intend to go to "church" that night.

He later explained to a woman that “church” was a club meeting.

He almost convinced the others he didn’t have to go. It was a call from victim Francesco Salerno that changed his mind.

He later was told by one of the men he was on "his last legs" and needed to attend the meeting. And he needed to bring money for dues.

“Don’t bother telling (Muscedere) you’re sick, just get yourself to church,” Salerno said.

Then Sinopoli spoke to Kellestine, who reminded him to be at the meeting at his Dutton-Dunwich farm.

The last conversation before the morning recess was between victim Frank Salerno and Pierre Aragon with Salerno ordering Argon to find "Taz", a nickname that the jury has been told belonged to Sandham.

The conversations between Flanz and Muscedere focused on getting to Kellestine’s farm together.

Before they arrived they planned to meet at a Tim Hortons along Highway 401 just west of Woodstock at the service centre.

Muscedere is heard becoming frustrated with Flanz’s inability to find the well-known roadside meeting place.

Cross-examination continues this afternoon.
---------------------------------------

Bandidos' murder victim warned of 'bad reception'
BY: Peter Edwards
Source: thestar.com
April 14 2009

Canada - LONDON, ONT. – Murder victim Jamie Flanz was warned he was about to face a "bad reception" on the night of the biggest mass murder in Ontario history, a courtroom heard today.

"You're going to have some kind of a bad reception over there, so you might have to stay outside," Flanz, 37, of Keswick was cautioned by John Muscedere, the Bandidos Canadian president, at 10.10 p.m. on Fri., April 7, 2006.

Muscedere told Flanz to be careful as Flanz walked up the driveway of the farm of Wayne Kellestine, 59, of Iona Station, west of London..

The bullet-riddled bodies of Flanz, Muscedere and six others connected to the Greater Toronto Area Bandidos motorcycle club were found early in the morning of April 8, 2006, in the hamlet of Shedden, 14 kilometers from Kellestine's farm.

Kellestine, 59, and five others each face eight first degree murder charges for the slaying.

Also charged with eight counts of first degree murder are Winnipeggers Michael Sandham, 39; Marcello Aravena, 33, Brett Gardiner, 24, and Dwight Mushey, 41 and Frank Mather, 35, of no fixed address.

Also found in abandoned vehicles were the bodies of Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Sutton; George Jessome, 52, Luis Manny Raposo, 41, and George Kriarakis, 28, all of Toronto; Frank Salerno, 43, of Oakville and Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga.

Court heard a series of intercepted conversation, which suggested Sinopoli almost escaped the murders because he felt too sick to attend the meeting, called a "church" gathering by the outlaw bikers.

"I won't be making it tonight," Sinopoli told Muscedere, the Bandidos Canadian president, at 3.33 p.m. on April 7, 2006.

Court heard that Sinopoli was repeatedly pressured by others in the club to attend a meeting that evening at the Kellestine farm.

Sinopoli had been saying for days before the meeting that he was medically unfit to attend the meeting at Kellestine's farm, alternately called "church" and a "barbeque" in conversations that were intercepted by police.

On April 6, 2006, Sinopoli complained to Flanz that he was feeling stressed and tired and suffering from a bleeding ulcer.

Asked to describe how he felt, Sinopoli said he was "stressed beyond belief" and seeking medical help.

Also that day, Sinopoli told Jessome that he wouldn't likely attend the Friday night meeting.

"Brother, I've (expletive) been sick for the last couple of days," Sinopoli told Jessome.

In another intercepted conversation, from 2.33 pm on April 7, 2006, Sinopoli told Muscedere that he wouldn't be able to make the drive to Kellestine's farm for a club meeting that night.

"My ulcer's bleeding a lot," Sinopoli said. "The lining in my stomach's thinning out."

Muscedere sounded sympathetic, but said there were problems the club had to solve.

"We've got to sort some of this (expletive) out," Muscedere said.

Salerno pressured Sinopoli to get to the meeting, or run the risk of being kicked out of the club, court heard

"People are livid - freaking," Salerno told Sinopoli at 7.51 p.m. on April 7.

At 8.39 p.m., Sinopoli had clearly relented, and called to say he would be attending the meeting.

"I've got church tonight," Sinopoli said.

The trial continues.

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London Free Press: Special Reports: Bandidos Trial
MURDER TRIAL
Jury hears police wiretaps of Bandidos
Jane Sims
London Free Press
April 15, 2009

To stress how important it was for members of the Toronto Bandidos to come to a meeting near London, Wayne Kellestine broke into song.

"There are some people passing through town right now, they're not going to be around much longer," Kellestine told Paul Sinopoli in a cell phone conversation hours before Sinopoli and seven other Bandidos members were found shot to death along a rural road in Elgin County on April 8, 2006.

"They're . . . in a hurry to get going so we have two options," he said before breaking into what he said was "an old Roy Orbison song."

"It's now or never, Hold me close, " Kellestine sang. "Kiss me you homely little bastard. Be mine tonight."

Yesterday, after a week's hiatus, the jury at the Bandido trial heard the voices of several of the Toronto-area Bandidos as they made their way to Kellestine's farm on that day for a meeting.

The conversations, obtained by a police wire tap, covered the preliminary planning stages of the meeting right up to the front steps of Kellestine's Dutton-Dunwich home.

Kellestine, 59; and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 32, and Dwight Mushey, 41, all of Winnipeg have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder in the case the Crown has said is about lost loyalties and rival groups within the Bandidos in Canada.

The shooting victims were 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.

The phone conversations were part of an OPP wire tap for the Durham Regional Police investigating the murder of Keswick drug dealer Shawn Douse, who was found dead in December 2005.

OPP Det. Sgt. Jennifer Lockhart, who ran the wire room for the investigation, said Sinopoli and Jamie Flanz were some of their targets.

Through them police also were able to hear the voices of other Bandidos members who would die that night.

The conversation between Kellestine and Sinopoli pointed to a growing rift in the Canadian Bandidos chapter. Kellestine complained no one spoke to him anymore.

"What's up buds?" he asked. "Don't you love me no more?"

The conversations of April 6 and 7, 2006, first centred on a "barbecue" scheduled in downtown Toronto.

It soon became clear the group would be attending a "church" -- a name frequently used by biker gangs for their meetings -- that was planned at Kellestine's farm.

Sinopoli tried not to go. He told Flanz and Muscedere he had a bleeding ulcer and was under doctor's medication.

He also spoke to George Kriarakis, who told Sinopoli, "I don't think it's going to be too important."

But Francesco Salerno told Sinopoli the matters were urgent and he had to attend.

"You're on your last legs," he warned Sinopoli and ordered him to bring "dues" money.

During cross-examination of Lockhart, the jury also heard a wiretap conversation between Sinopoli and Alan Brake, a member of the Hells Angels, a rival gang of the Bandidos.

Sinopoli is heard calling Brake "brother" while they set up a meeting on March 31, 2006.

Gardiner's lawyer Christopher Hicks asked Lockhart if Douse's death "caused trouble between the Hells Angels and the Bandidos?"

The officer said she did not know.

The trial continues today.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Bikers under police surveillance
Thu, April 16, 2009
Durham Regional Police were investigating a 2005 murder of a drug dealer

OPP Const. Perry Graham, on patrol in Elgin County the night of April 7, 2006, found it parked along the darkened rural road. He ran the licence plate and saw it was leased from the Toronto area. Then he walked up to the van's passenger window.

The window began to open as he approached. Graham identified himself as a police officer.

The man inside said he was a police officer, too.

Graham, who testified yesterday at the Bandido murder trial, had discovered part of a five-vehicle Durham Regional Police surveillance team that had been following two of the eight Toronto-area Bandidos who were found shot to death the following morning.

They were parked not far from the Dutton-Dunwich farm of Wayne Kellestine, 59, one of the six men who have pleaded not guilty to six counts of first-degree murder.

Along with Kellestine, Frank Mather, 35, also of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, all of Winnipeg are on trial in London.

The shooting victims were all believed to be connected with the Bandidos motorcycle club: 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.

They were found on April 8, 2006, in four vehicles along Stafford Line in Elgin County.

The head of the Durham surveillance team, Sgt. Gordon McDowell, testified the officers were covertly following a car from the Toronto area carrying Flanz and Sinopoli to Kellestine's farm along with a Volkswagen Golf.

The surveillance was part of an investigation into the December 2005 murder of Keswick drug dealer Shawn Douse. McDowell said there had been about 100 different surveillance shifts of numerous people.

On April 7, 2006, McDowell and his surveillance team began watching Flanz starting at 12:45 p.m. at his Keswick home.

Shortly before 6 p.m., Flanz drove to an address in Jackson's Point, where another police unit was watching Sinopoli.

The team of five followed the Infiniti down Hwy. 401 to Woodstock. When the SUV made a U-turn after turning off Sweaburg Road and back onto the 401 at about 9 p.m., McDowell said, the team "misplaced" the car.

About 30 minutes later, when McDowell was gassing up his car at the Esso service centre west of Woodstock, he saw both men sitting at the window of a restaurant with two other men.

Flanz and Sinopoli returned to the Infiniti, while the two other men got into a Volkswagen Golf.

They followed the Infiniti to Kellestine's farm on Aberdeen Line in Elgin County. The Golf and two more vehicles, including a tow truck, were seen going up the lane.

They boxed off potential exits on Aberdeen Line and stayed far back. They found out from the OPP wire room that was tracking cellphone calls that there were dogs on the property.

That's when Graham came across the mini-van that was part of the watch.

Graham, who knew of the Kellestine farm, came upon one of the five officers on the Durham team at about 11:30 p.m. He asked the officer to call him when the watch was ending so he could check on the area later.

About an hour later, the surveillance team ended their watch after McDowell said he determined there was nothing else for them to see that night.

The trial continues today.
---------------------------------

Ominous signs at Kellestine farm, jurors hear — read Bandidos Twitter updates here
Thu, April 16, 2009
By JANE SIMS AND KATE DUBINSKI, LONDON FREE PRESS

There were sinister signs of what happened in Wayne Kellestine’s ramshackle, junk-filled barn on Aberdeen line when OPP TRU team officers went in on Sunday, April 9, 2006.

On the dirty, dusty cement floor lay lawn mowers, pipes and buckets.

There were also reddish-brown stains smeared on the floor and small pools of liquid in the pits that dotted the old cement floor.

There was also what OPP Const. David Jones said “appeared to be a piece of flesh” about two centimeters long and bright blood spatter in an old wooden trough near a ladder that led to a loft.

Jones was the first police officer inside the barn after five people were taken into custody a day after eight men were found shot and stuffed into cars in rural Elgin County on Stafford Line.


He and seven other officers were assigned to clear the outbuildings on Kellestine’s property before investigators moved in.

Jones gave a detailed description of what he saw inside the “old and derelict” barn. Old fridges, freezers, coolers, couches, pipes, and generally what he described as “junk” was everywhere, making it difficult for officers to do a standard search.

“Everything looked old, dirty and dusty, Jones said.

But Jones also saw a bucket with a jug of bleach inside it. These two items, he said, were not dusty and old.

There were also two Confederate flags on the wall of the barn.

A radio scanner was found on top of a freezer and a piece of a walkie-talkie with the words “Fritz Sch” taped to the side of it was found outside at the back of the barn.

Jones and Const. Dean Croker also testified to seeing three people – two men, one woman – with buckets walking back and forth between the house and the barn in the hours before the arrests.
-------------------------------------

Kellestine farm described for jurors
Fri, April 17, 2009

By KATE DUBINSKI AND JANE SIMS,LONDON FREE PRESS

The jury in the Bandidos trial got a closer look at Wayne Kellestine’s farm compound during testimony from two OPP officers who were part of the detail at the property following the discovery of eight dead men.

Two Tactics and Rescue Unit (TRU) officers described what they could see from their vantage points near Kellestine’s Dutton-Dunwich farm in the hours after the police had linked the shooting deaths to the property on April 8 and 9, 2006.

The jury was shown several photographs showing the white farmhouse, the fences and particularly the barn where the Crown has indicated where the fatal night began.

Const. Clare Shantz described watching the farm from his position with binoculars on Cowal Road on April 8, 2006.

He testified he saw two men walk out of the east door of the house and walk to a garage then return to the house. One was carrying a white bag and the other a tray.


They came out again and one man was seen searching along a fence line and “appeared to be looking for something,” Shantz said.

A photograph showed the fence line. In the foreground was a child’s swing set.

Both men were seen looking in the two cars parked near the house and headed to the barn.

They went inside, came out and headed to the west end of the building where Shantz said there was a cement water well.

One of the men — who had long, grey hair — went back to a beige car and was on his knees looking inside it.

There was also a search under the front porch. Later, he was seen walking down the laneway to lock a gate.

The next morning, Shantz said he saw three men carrying heavy plastic pails from the barn to the house.

Later on April 9, 2006, Shantz was at the farm shortly after five people in the house came out and were arrested. He said he searched and tie-wrapped Frank Mather.

He assisted in checking the outbuildings with other members of the TRU team.

He helped with barn and described seeing a browny-yellow floor that looked like it had been recently cleaned.

At one point, Shantz said he saw “what appeared to be brain matter” – that was about five centimetres long and on the floor.

Photos of the barn’s dilapidated exterior was shown to the jury. Shantz pointed out where he saw a walkie-talkie on the ground at the back of the building.

The jury also heard form Jon Goobie, another TRU officer, who watched the farm from a position northeast of the house on April 9, 2006. With his laser range finder, he measured he was 479 metres from the house.

He also saw three men go to the barn and two carried pails.

Goobie also saw dark smoke coming from the chimney for 19 minutes.
---------------------------------------

Bandidos jury hears from wife of slain man
Tue, April 21, 2009

By JANE SIMS, AND JOHN MINER,LONDON FREE PRESS

Frank Salerno’s wife knew her husband had been a member of the Bandidos motorcycle club but she thought it was “like a member of a sewing club.”

“I didn’t know what it meant,” Stephanie Salerno testified yesterday.

Her husband, known as Bam Bam or Bammer, was one of eight men found shot to death on April 8, 2006 on a rural road in Elgin County.

All of them were associated with the Bandidos.

The woman was a Crown witness at the trial of six men who have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder — slayings, the Crown says that evolved from a deep rift within the motorcycle club and orders that patches had to be pulled from rogue members.


But Stephanie Salerno said she believed her husband wasn’t very involved, if at all, with the organization.

She knew he was involved with the Bandidos when they married on Oct. 12, 2002. “Part of the reason he loved me was he saw a better life,” she said.

The couple had an upscale home in Oakville, a dog and an eight-week old baby at the time of his death.

“He was very liked by all the neighbours and a terrific father for the time he had,” she said.

“He was a wonderful man.”

She denied knowing about the handgun found in his older model BMW that was found abandoned in a convenience store parking lot not far from their home.

And her explanation for their opulent dwelling was that her husband worked 50 to 60 hours a week washing trucks.

She told defence lawyer Christopher Hicks she was not present for conversations her husband had with victim Paul Sinopoli hours before their deaths or with Pierre Aragon, also known as Carlito, another Bandido member.

Stephanie Salerno described her final hours with her husband and her panic when he did not come home.

She last saw her husband on April 7, 2006. Her husband declared “I want to take my family out to dinner,”

They were on their way when his cellphone rang. Her husband’s cellphone had rung just after the couple made plans to go out.

Frank Salerno told his wife the call was from was his boss, Gabe, who asked him to come into work — a new job he had just started.

Stephanie Salerno said it wasn’t unusual for him to be called in on short notice. She encouraged him to go to work.

They ate at a Burger King restaurant and Stephanie Salerno said she felt sick.

The couple went home and Frank Salerno dropped her and their son off.

“Take care of your mommy,” he told his baby.

His wife realized he hadn’t taken his overalls. He left in their older model BMW that often broke down.

Stephanie Salerno said she woke up twice in the night to feed her son, and her husband wasn’t home.

On her way to work she saw his car parked just 10 minutes away, but couldn’t find her husband.

After she finished work, he still wasn’t home.

She filed a missing-persons report with Halton Regional Police.

The next day, she returned to the house from her parents’ home to retrieve clothing for her baby. She found a note on her door from “Carlos” or “Carlito.”

“If there’s anything I can do, give me a call,” it said.

Stephanie Salerno runs a hair salon and was just finishing a short maternity leave.

She testified she knew of Bandidos "T-shirts and stuff" found around the house, but the Bandidos people "were not part of their life."

Defence lawyer Christopher Hicks, who represents accused Brett Gardiner, suggested she was "wilfully blind" and their upscale lifestyle had been paid for from illegal funds generated from his biker activities.

"Not a penny," Stephanie Salerno said, noting all the credit cards were in her name.

The day before Frank Salerno was shot to death, she said she left her husband home with the baby while she ran errands.

When she finished, the couple was heading to dinner when Frank Salerno's cellphone rang. Salerno told his wife it was his boss, Gabe, calling him into work.

Frank Salerno dropped his wife and their son off at home before leaving. Stephanie Salerno testified she woke up twice in the night to feed her son and her husband wasn't home. She called his cellphone several times and there was no answer.

She filed a missing person's report late April 8, 2006.

Her testimony continues.
--------------------------------------------------

BIKER DEATHS TRIAL
TheStar.com Ontario Bandidos defiant after ouster, trial hears
Bandidos defiant after ouster, trial hears


LONDON, Ont. — Three months before his murder, a Bandidos biker said life wouldn't be worth living, if Americans followed through with their threat to kick all Canadian members out of the outlaw motorcycle club, a mass murder trial heard.

"Our club is our life and there is nothing worth living for without it," John Muscedere, 48, of the Greater Toronto Area Bandidos said in an email to Bill Sartelle of the Bandidos Houston "Mother Chapter" or headquarters in January 2006.

He sent his email a week after he was told by email that he and the rest of the Canadian Bandidos were expelled from the international club.

Muscedere's email was introduced as evidence today in the trial of six men charged in the largest mass murder in modern Ontario history.

"I feel like a knife has been driven through my heart," Muscedere protested. "... There is no reason to take something the Canadian brothers value more than there (sic) life."

The bullet-riddled, beaten body of Muscedere, was found in an abandoned vehicle early on the morning of April 8, 2006, near a farmer's field near the hamlet of Shedden, about a half hour's drive west of London.

Also found shot to death and dumped in abandoned vehicles that morning were seven other men connected to the Greater Toronto Area Bandidos: Frank Salerno, 43, of Oakville; Jamie Flanz, 37, of Keswick: Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Jackson's Point; John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham; George Jessome, 52, Luis Manny Raposo, 41, and George Kriarakis, 28, all of Toronto and Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga.

Their Greater Toronto Area chapter of the Bandidos was nicknamed "The No Surrender Crew," and Muscedere vowed in the final months of his life that they would be true to their name and not quietly leave the club.

"Cut one we all bleed," Muscedere wrote in a Bandidos international message board. "I have been slashed. The No Surrender Crew will never surrender."

Court heard that Salerno described himself in an email to other Bandidos as "confused, dejected, emotionaly drained" when he got the news in an email from Sartelle on December 28, 2005, that the Canadians were no longer welcome in the international club.

Sartelle sent the Canadian bikers a terse email, telling them that the Americans were tired of trying to make contact with their Canadian "brothers."

The GTA bikers were ordered to return all club paraphernalia, including their club crests called the "Fat Mexican," a cartoon character of a Hispanic man brandishing a pistol and a machete.

"Canada charter is being pulled," Sartelle wrote the Canadian bikers. "Return all Bandido patches and property..."

Rather than quietly leave the club, the Toronto bikers instead tried to rally Bandidos from around the world to have an equal say on their fate.

"We would like a worldwide vote from all our brothers from around the world before we return our Bandido property," the Torontonians wrote in an email to bikers in Europe and Australia.

A January 16, 2006 email from Kriarakis noted that "Ontario is standing tall," indicating they were refusing to leave the club or return their paraphernalia, including club vests.

Kriarakis noted in an email to fellow club members in Texas that it was extremely difficult for them to go to the United States for club meetings.

"Give us a fair and reasonable chance," Kriarakis urged in an email.

Muscedere was more confrontational with the Americans.

"You are a peace (sic) of work," he told Sartelle by email.

Sartelle replied, ".. yes, I am a piece of work. And proud of who I am."

Another email, sent by Salerno on February 25, 2006, showed that the Toronto Bandidos were still refusing to quit the club, almost two months after they were ordered to leave.

Instead, they called for a "mandatory party" of Canadian Bandidos on March 18, 2006.

"We are Bandidos Canada," Salerno wrote. "Not Toronto or Winnipeg or Vancouver."

Bodies of the murdered bikers were found 14 kilometres from the farm of accused killer Wayne Kellestine, also a member of the GTA Bandidos.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bandidos jury to hear technical evidence today
Wed, April 22, 2009

By JOHN MINER, LONDON FREE PRESS

'Like . . . a sewing club'

After hearing that one of the slain bikers was a loving father and wonderful husband yesterday, the jury in the Bandidos murder trial today is expected to hear technical evidence today.

Yesterday the wife of shooting victim Frank Salerno testified she thought the Bandidos was much like a “sewing club.”

Stephanie Salerno denied that their upscale Oakville home was paid for by the proceeds from illicit activity.

This morning the jury is scheduled to hear testimony from OPP Det. Sgt. Bernard Miedema, who has been qualified as an expert witness.

Miedema’s specialty is in retrieving data hidden in computer files.

Salerno testified yesterday that her husband was always busy on his computer.

The words in capital letters spoke volumes about John (Boxer) Muscedere's state of mind.

"OUR CLUB IS OUR LIFE. THERE IS NOTHING WORTH LIVING WITHOUT IT," the Bandidos member wrote in an e-mail in early 2006.

Muscedere's words from the message flashed across the video screens in a London courtroom yesterday as part of an e-mail presentation for the jury at the Bandidos trial.

The basis of the Crown's case is that the men were shot after orders were given to pull their patches, the symbols of biker club membership, because of internal strife among Canadian Bandidos and conflict with their American counterparts.

The e-mail primer yesterday gave the jury a glimpse of what's expected today: a more detailed review of the computer correspondence between several Bandidos, pulled together by OPP Det. Sgt. Bernard Miedema, an expert in computer forensics.

There were terse e-mails from high-ranking American Bandidos angry at the lack of communication with their Canadian counterparts.

One e-mail from Dec. 28, 2005, from Bandido Bill -- identified by Miedema as Bill Sartelle, from Texas -- described how Bandidos USA had tried to communicate with their Canadian counterparts for a year and advised the Canadian Bandidos chapter "is being pulled."

Muscedere's responses were equally angry, calling Sartelle a "piece of work."

"There is no reason too (sic) take something the Canadian brothers value more than our lives," he wrote to Bandido Hawaiian Ken.

"I feel like a knife has been driven into my heart."

The trial continues today.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Biker tensions took year to reach boil, emails reveal

Apr 23, 2009 06:55 PM
Peter Edwards
Staff Reporter

LONDON, Ont. – In the months before their murders, Toronto Bandidos bikers feared their clubmates more than traditional enemies like the Hells Angels, a mass murder trial heard today.

"Are we a dictatorship or a brotherhood?," John Muscedere, 48, asked in an email he sent to fellow bikers three months before his murder. "What have we become...?"

In another email sent in early 2006, Muscedere wrote to an American biker identified only as "Hawaiian Ken" that he felt betrayed by the club's Texas-based headquarters, or Mother Chapter.

In typically poor grammar, Muscedere wrote "Hawaiian Ken" that "my own brother have done what my enemies could never do without my death."

Muscedere was one of eight GTA bikers whose bullet-riddled bodies were found near the hamlet of Shedden early in the morning of April 8, 2006.

Another of the murdered Bandidos, Frank Salerno, 43, of Oakville wrote in an open email to Bandidos around the world that he felt betrayed to hear the Toronto Bandidos - known as the "No Surrender Crew" - were being kicked out of the international club because they lost contact with the club's Texas headquarters.

Salerno addressed his email to Bill Sartelle of the Bandidos in Texas, who had informed the Toronto bikers on Dec. 28, 2005 they were being expelled from the club.

"Bill, I don't know how we arrived at this point...," Salerno wrote. "What our adversaries have been trying to do for five years has been handed to them on a silver platter."

Also found in abandoned cars near Shedden were Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Jackson's Point, Jamie Flanz, 30,of Keswick, Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga and Torontonians George Jessome, 52, Luis Manny Raposo, 41, and George Kriarakis, 28.

Court heard that Manitoba members of a probationary Bandidos chapter quickly distanced themselves from the Torontonians when American Bandidos became angry.

"I am just hearing about a problem with Toronto," Michael Sandham of the Winnipeg Bandidos wrote to senior American Bandido Carlton Bare on January 4, 2006. "The day that I became part of this family was a great honour to me and my crew. I hope that this will not reflect on us. We have worked very hard out here for about a year and a half."

Sandham is one of six men charged with eight counts of first degree murder for the slayings.

He urged Bare to contact himself or another biker named "Wayne" if there were any troubles.

The bodies of the eight murdered bikers were found 14 kilometres from the farm of Bandidos member Wayne Kellestine, 59, of Iona Station, west of London. Kellestine is also charged with the murders, along with Winnipeggers Marcello Aravena, 33, Brett Gardiner, 24, and Dwight Mushey, 41 and Frank Mather, 35, of no fixed address.

Emails presented in court indicated that tensions simmered for more than a year between Canadian and American Bandidos before the murders.

At first, Raposo tried to reassure American bikers at the Bandidos "Mother Chapter" or headquarters in Houston that a lack of communication between the Canadians and Americans could easily be resolved.

Raposo emailed he Americans in November 2004 that "all is good but of course we have the odd problem (that could be) easily resolved."

Clearly, tensions between the Toronto bikers and the Texans had worsened by October 2, 2005, when Bill Sartelle of the Texas Bandidos emailed Raposo that the Americans were still frustrated by what they considered a lack of contact with the Canadians.

"There is no easy way to put this but, I have been instructed to contact someone in Canada and find out why we have been getting no contact," Sartelle emailed Raposo.

Sartelle makes it clear that the Americans are impatient with their Canadian biker "brothers."

"I want a hierarchy of who is still a Member in Canada and who questions should be directed to," Sartelle continues. "There is no time for non compliance (sic) with this e-mail... This must be remedied immediately."

The trial continues.-
--------------------------------------------------

Jury sees e-mails showing rift in ranks of Bandidos
Thu, April 23, 2009

By JANE SIMS AND JOHN MINER,LONDON FREE PRESS

The jury at the Bandido trial is seeing e-mail correspondence indicating the growing divide between the top level American hedquarters and the Canadian chapter.

The first signs of problems begin in November, 2004, when the Americans were demanding answers from the Canadian counterparts about lack of contact.

A year later, the decision from the United States appeared clear in an e-mail sent out after months of frustration:

"To Whom It May Concern: For the past year or more, we BMC USA have attempted to make communications with Canada. We have directed face to face visits from whoever is in charge up there. Up till now there has been no visit from the proper person.

"It has been decided that due to a lack of communication Canada's charter is being pulled."


Bandido patches and property were ordered returned to Bandido Bill Sartelle in Texas.

"In approximately 30 days we will make notification to all that we no longer have a Chapter in Canada and that any person wearing our Patch in Canada is not sanctioned

The notice was dated Dec. 28, 2005.The jury saw reply e-mails from victim John “Boxer” Muscedere.

“Your a peac of work,” he wrote.

Sartelle wrote to Muscedere that “it is not my decision alone,” and demanded a personal meeting.

Muscedere e-mailed Bandido ‘Hawaiian Ken’ upset at the American decision.

“There is no reason too take something the Canadian brothers value more than there own lives,” he wrote.

“When a brother is down you reach out your hand too help him up not kick him.”

Muscedere said “I feel like a knife has been driven in my heart .

“Would you beleave it, my own brothers has done what my enemys could never do without my death.”

Another e-mail form victim Frank Salerno to Sartelle described how the tightening up of security at the U.S.-Canadian border had made it imposible for Muscedere — identified as the Canadian chapter president — to visit the Amercian chapter.

Salerno said Muscedere tried five times to get into the United States.

“Are we a dictatorship or a brotherhood?” he wrote.

Salerno wanted a worldwide vote taken before the Canadian Bandidos gave back any biker property.

Before the decree was made to pull the Canadian chapter, there was evidence that the Americans were trying to get information without much success.

There were demands for a membership list, dues and a request as to what happened to 60-plus patches sent to the Canadian group.

The e-mails over the year became more terse.

But there was one from Michael Sandham, one of the accused from Winnipeg, who said he didn’t know about the problems with the Toronto-based chapter.

“I hope that this not reflect on us, we have worked very hard out here for almost a year and a half. We are in the middle of the othersides exclusive area and have had to earn our status here in Manitoba.

“The day I became part of this family was a grat honor for me and my crew. I hope that we can work together to remedy this situation.”

The trial continues this afternoon.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Emails show tensions between U.S. and GTA biker chapters
Apr 24, 2009 05:44 PM
Peter Edwards
Staff Reporter

LONDON, Ont.–Tightened American border security after the 9/11 terrorist attacks made it tough for Canadian and American members of the Bandidos outlaw biker club to meet face to face, a mass murder trial heard.

"What are we to do (sic)," Toronto Bandido Frank Salerno, 43, emailed a Texas Bandido identified only as "Pervert" on Jan. 16, 2006. "Since the 9/11 tradgedy (sic) our borders have tightened and anyone with a criminal record is undesirable."

Salerno is one of the eight members of the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos whose bullet-riddled bodies were found near the hamlet of Shedden early in the morning of April 8, 2006.

Emails released in court provide an inside look at the secretive, often angry inner politics of the world's second biggest outlaw motorcycle club. The Hells Angels club is the largest.

Court has heard that bikers in the Bandidos' Texas headquarters – or "Mother Chapter" – were increasingly incensed with the Greater Toronto Area Bandidos for not visiting them regularly, while the Canadians protested they were continually turned back at the border.

In late December 2005, the GTA Bandidos were told they were being kicked out of the international motorcycle club because they hadn't maintained contact with their biker "brothers" in Texas.

In his Jan. 16, 2006 email, Salerno protested to Pervert that the Canadians didn't deliberately snub the Americans, and noted that Canadian Bandidos president John (Boxer) Muscedere had tried five times to enter the U.S. to visit his clubmates.

"There must be another place in this world to meet," Salerno wrote Pervert.

"We have no problem getting into Mexico, Europe...You know getting to the U.S. is virtually impossible."

Muscedere's lifeless body was also found April 8, 2006, along with the bodies of Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Jackson's Point, Jamie Flanz, 30,of Keswick, Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga and Torontonians George Jessome, 52, Luis Manny Raposo, 41, and George Kriarakis, 28.

Three months before his murder, on January 6, 2005, Muscedere emailed the Texas Bandidos that the lack of communication wasn't one-sided, and that the American Bandidos didn't bother to come north to Canada for club functions, including funerals of murdered members.

"We are a Small yet fierce brotherhood. Of Twenty members we have managed to not only visit our American brothers while they are five hundred strong in the USA and have not managed to visit us once," Muscedere wrote.

Muscedere continued that he was unable to cross the border because of his criminal record, and the Americans wouldn't accept a delegate in his place.

Texas Bandido Bill Sartelle wrote Salerno on Jan. 6, 2006 to say that he did visit Canada to help set up the club, and was arrested by police.

"I was there when it started and spent several hours in the back of the police truck in the snow, remember?" Sartelle wrote.

He told Salerno that emails weren't enough for proper communication between the Canadian and American bikers.

"There are many conversations that need to take place... in person," Sartelle wrote.

Vehicles holding the eight murdered bikers were found 14 kilometres from the farm of Bandidos member Wayne Kellestine, 59, of Iona Station, west of London. Kellestine is also charged with the murders, along with Winnipeggers Marcello Aravena, 33, Brett Gardiner, 24, and Dwight Mushey, 41, and Frank Mather, 35, of no fixed address.

On May 6, 2006, Pervert emailed Sandham and another Canadian biker identified as "Carlito," and referred to Kriarakis by his nickname of "Crash" and Sinopoli as "Big Paulie".

"I wanted to let you know some Canadian police were down here in Texas for a few days gathering any info on our Canadian chapter," Pervert wrote. "As yall (sic) know we know nothing about Canada, and hopefully that will change. They are working on the murder cases. To be expected in a case that large with that much media. We told them everything we knew which is nothing other than we don't have a clue what goes on in Canada and we had only met like one that was still in the club "Crash" and no (sic) he is dead. Wanted to know if we knew big paulie and we didn't and unfortunately never will."

Sandham emailed Pervert on May 15, 2006, bubbling with enthusiasm.

"From now on Canada will be run the TRUE BANDIDO WAY!!," he wrote.

The same day, Pervert instructed him that the Bandidos are bikers, not criminals.

"Who we are not is CRIMINALS," Pervert wrote. "There may be a few scattered here and there like every org. but we are a motorcycle club with riding principals first. Being a criminal street gang and thug will only end with troubles."
-----------------------------------------

BANDIDOS TRIAL: It was four months before eight of them were shot to death
Angry e-mail exchanges preceded biker slayings
Jane Sims
London Free Press
April 24, 2009

The last straw for the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos seemed to break four months before eight of them were shot to death.

"It has been decided that due to a lack of participation, Canada's Charter is being pulled. Effective immediately," was the message from the Bandidos' American headquarters in Texas.

"In approximately 30 days we will make notification to all that we no longer have a Chapter in Canada and that any person wearing our Patch in Canada is not sanctioned."

An array of e-mails, beginning in November 2004, was shown to the jury yesterday at the trial of six men who have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder.

The eight victims were associated with the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos motorcycle club.

Their bullet-riddled bodies were found on April 8, 2006, on a rural Elgin County road.

The correspondence shown yesterday shed some light on the failing loyalties and conflicts between the Toronto chapter and Bandido headquarters and the troubles between Toronto and the fledgling Winnipeg chapter.

The Texas e-mails expressed frustration with Toronto's minimal contact with the Americans. They wanted to know what had happened to the 60-plus patches sent to them and where the money was for dues. They demanded regular communication and a face-to-face meeting.

But members of the Toronto chapter insisted they had tried to fulfil their obligations and they found it difficult to enter the United States because of strict border regulations after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Muscedere, the chapter president, had tried to cross the border five times.

"He was turned down every time and the last time detained until he was deemed an undesirable and escorted back to Canadian soil," Salerno wrote to Bandido Bill Sartelle in Texas in January, 2006.

In an e-mail from the No Surrender Crew -- the name given to the Toronto chapter -- there was a call for a worldwide vote before returning any Bandidos property.

"As a whole we still whole heartedly believe as the No Surrender Crew that it is better to die on out feet then (sic) live on our knees," it said.

Muscedere e-mailed Bandido Hawaiian Ken, upset at the American decision.

"Would you beleave (sic) it, my own brothers has(sic) done what my enemys (sic) could never do without my death."

Before the decree was made to pull the Canadian chapter, there was evidence the Americans were trying to get information about what was happening north of the border, but without much success.

Michael Sandham, one of the accused from Winnipeg, told Texas in an e-mail he didn't know about the problems with the Toronto-based chapter. "I hope that this not reflect on us, we have worked very hard out here for almost a year and a half. We are in the middle of the othersides (sic) exclusive area and have had to earn our status here in Manitoba. The day I became part of this family was a great honor for me and my crew. I hope that we can work together to remedy this situation."

One unusual romantic e-mail was found in a computer at Wayne Kellestine's home dated April 5, 2006, just days before the killings.

The Crown alleges Brett Gardiner wrote a love poem to a person called Jessica. "We kissed and held each other very near; The beatings of our hearts was all we could hear; Then we walked away, hand-in-hand; We had just entered dreamland," part of it read.

With Sandham and Gardiner, the accused are Kellestine, 59, and Frank Mather, 35, Dutton-Dunwich; and Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg.
-------------------------------------------------

Sandham sold self as saviour of chapter
Sat, April 25, 2009

By Jane Sims

Michael Sandham portrayed himself as the guy in charge and the Bandido biker with the plan to save the organization in Canada.

A month after eight men connected to the Toronto chapter of the gang were found shot to death in Elgin County on April 8, 2006, Sandham was busy dissing a remaining Toronto Bandido, recruiting more members for the Winnipeg chapter and schmoozing with the American superiors to boost his status within the organization.

He used e-mail addresses with aliases, switching back and forth in a trail shown to the jury yesterday at the first-degree murder trial of six men, including Sandham.

Everything began to crumble in early June 2006 after Sandham went to Texas to visit Bandido leaders. They discovered Sandham, known as Bandido Taz, was an ex-police officer.

"Taz was here in Houston last week. Within 10 hours of meeting him, the OPP and Biker Enforcement Unit from Canada was at my door," wrote "Bandido Jeff" in a stern

e-mail ordering the suspension of all Bandido membership in Canada.

"As it turns out, Taz is or was a police officer in Winnipeg. When asked about it, he said 'Everybody in Toronto knew about it and didn't have a problem with it.' WE DO NOT HAVE OR NEVER WILL HAVE COPS OR EX-COPS IN OUR CLUB!!!"

Through the testimony of OPP Det. Sgt. Bernard Miedema, a computer forensics expert, the jury was shown the correspondence that hinted at the ultimate downfall of the Canadian biker gang.

The e-mails show Sandham was recruiting to the Winnipeg chapter, collecting money and charting a new Bandido club course in May 2006.

Meanwhile in Toronto, a Bandido known as Carlito, identified to the jury as Pierre Aragon, was trying to salvage what was left of the No Surrender Crew -- the name given to the Toronto chapter -- and find more members.

And both Sandham and Aragon were trying to denigrate the other in the eyes of their American superiors.

All appeared to be bewildering to the Americans, who seemed at a loss as to why two members of their brotherhood were at each other's throats.

Carlton Bare, known as Bandido Pervert in Texas, was told Aragon and others who had been in the Toronto chapter never owned motorcycles and did not ride, a direct violation of the group's bylaws.

The trial continues Tuesday.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twelve computers seized from Kellestine farm, jury told
Tue, April 28, 2009

By JANE SIMS
LONDON FREE PRESS

Twelve computers were seized from Wayne Kellestine's farm house in the days following the shooting deaths of eight men, a jury was told Tuesday.

That was one of the revelations during a cross-examination of an expert witness who sourced the voluminous e-mails presented at the Bandidos trial of six men who have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder.

OPP Det. Sgt. Bernard Miedema, who returned to the witness box after two days of testimony last week, said he could attest to the accuracy of the printed material he was given to assess, but he couldn't vouch whether the messages were true, accurate or complete. The volume of e-mails hints at the growing rifts within the Bandidos motorcycle club in the months before the eight members of the Toronto chapter, known as the No Surrender Crew, were found shot to death on a quiet Elgin County Road.

Kellestine, 59, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder. The shooting victims were George Jessome, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, John Muscedere, 48, Luis Raposo, 41, Frank Salerno, 43, Paul Sinopoli, 30, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31.

The Crown alleges the men were shot at Kellestine's farm and driven to Stafford Line where they were found on April 8, 2006.

Gardiner's defence lawyer Christopher Hicks focused in on a love poem found on one of the computers taken from Kellestine's house. The Crown contends the poem was written by Gardiner.

Hicks suggested the computer was seized from Kellestine's young daughter's room.

Miedema said he could not confirm where in the house the computer was, and was only called upon to analyse the data. A photograph of the room showed an upstairs bedroom with some stuffed dolls.

The e-mail address was evolution_bull@hotmail.com, an address the Crown says was Gardiner's. Miedema told Hicks he could not come to a conclusion about the e-mail. Hicks also suggested to Miedema that there is a Shane Gardiner involved in the case. The jury also got a look at a short video from the London Airport from late March 2006, just days before the deaths, showing the arrival of Aravena on a Westjet flight. Other accused could be seen picking him up. The trial continues today.
----------------------------------------------------

Victim asked to be buried in Bandidos club vest
Thu, April 30, 2009
Jury views several exhibits

By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

The knock on the door from the police was to tell Paul Sinopoli's parents in Jacksons Point, north of Toronto, of their son's violent death.
His parents already had surmised the tragic truth -- his mother had recognized her large son in news reports as one of eight men found dead the day before, along Elgin County's Stafford Line on April 8, 2006.The couple took Durham Regional police Det. Tom Dingwall, a homicide detective who testified yesterday in London at the first-degree murder trial of six men, to their son's bedroom.His parents had gathered up a bin full of items they believed the police would want to see.

The Superior Court jury saw some evidence yesterday, much related to the Bandidos motorcycle club Dingwall said Sinopoli and Flanz were already under police investigation for the murder of Keswick man Shawn Douse. Sinopoli's mother handed over the items willingly.
"She wanted to know the truth about what happened to Paul and if he was involved in the murder of Shawn Douse," Dingwall said.
He testified he didn't know how much evidence he had until he looked through the bin.Sinopoli's birth certificate and phone bills were shown to the jury, along with Bandido patches, jewelry and business cards. Photographs of Sinopoli's "very large" Bandidos vest were put up on the video screen. Dingwall said the police gave the vest back to the family after police processed it, so his final wishes could be met."Paul Sinopoli wished to be buried in his vest," he said.

Dingwall presented a large group of documents, some typed and some handwritten. There were Bandidos personal information forms for himself, Cameron Acorn, Wayne Kellestine, and victim John Muscedere.Also found was a handwritten piece of paper with information about Eric Niessen, describing him as a "hangaround", starting Sept. 29, 2004. There were three pages of Bandidos bylaws, an instruction sheet for patch placement on a vest and a price list for patches.Sinopoli had an expired permit to carry a restricted weapon that ran out in 1997. It was part of his requirement for a former job as a security guard.

Dingwall showed a six-page list of Bandido "El Secretarios" in a USA Secretary List. He described a large number of notes, mostly handwritten, that appeared to be minutes of meetings held by the Bandidos chapter in Toronto. The lists included names of victims and a couple of the accused.
"Boxer brought up Bob and Paul as Canada and brought up Winnipeg," read a March 3, 2003 entry. "Irish has a list of prospect duties," read one from Feb. 4, 2005."Wayne talked about london (sic) and issues in london (sic)," said a note from the April 10, 2005 minutes.
There were notes about men getting patches, moving up to probationary status and paying dues.
"Everyone needs a bike or out of the club," read a notation attributed to "Boxer," Muscedere's nickname.
"Chopper spoke about incident in london (sic), read part of the minutes from Aug. 21, 2005.

Sinopoli also had a collection of Bandidos motorcycle club Christmas cards from around the world. Dingwall also showed some Bandidos-related items found at Flanz's Keswick townhouse during searches Feb. 3, 2006 -- two months before the deaths-- then on April 12 and April 26, 2006. One item was a business card for Triple K Securities. "Ask for Wayne," it said. On the back was written WayneK SS 1%er.
The jury also heard a collect phone call made by Gardiner after his arrest, calling Amy Gardiner and asking her to search the Internet for various Bandidos websites and information. "I'm starting to get annoyed," Gardiner said. "People are telling me (expletive). I can't believe no one now, you know."
The trial continues today.
---------------------------------------------------

Bandido suspected of being police officer, trial hears

Crime Stoppers
Apr 28, 2009 08:51 PM
Peter Edwards
Staff Reporter

LONDON, Ont.–LONDON, Ont.-Accused mass murder Michael (Taz) Sandham impersonated another outlaw biker on the Internet to send out glowing underworld references for himself, court heard today.

Court heard that Sandham, 37, used an email address almost identical to that of fellow Winnipeg Bandido Dwight (D) Mushey, 41, so that he could impersonate Mushey in online conversations with other outlaw bikers. They are among six people charged in the April 8 slaughter of eight men connected to the Bandidos.Biker emails introduced as evidence provide an inside look into the secretive, often-turbulent inner world of the gang in the months before and after the bullet-riddled bodies were found in abandoned vehicles on April 8, 2006 near a cornfield outside the hamlet of Shedden, west of London.Mushey, a massive, pony-tailed man in a well-tailored sports jacket, glowered as the emails were introduced as evidence during the testimony of Det.-Sgt. Bernard Miedema, an Ontario Provincial Police computer expert.Sandham, a smallish, balding former Winnipeg-area police officer, sat out of Mushey's line of sight, at the far end of the prisoners' box.

In one email introduced in court, Sandham pretends to be Mushey when he emails Bandido Pierre (Carlitto) Aragon of Oakville.
"Hey Carlitto," Sandham emails Aragon on June 7, 2006. "it's (sic) D here. Things are really (expletive) up. For one thing, Taz is not a cop nor has he ever been one."Police officers and former police officers are barred from membership in the biker club.In the email, in which Sandham pretends to be Mushey, Sandham gave a glowing reference for himself."Two of us have known him since he was in the Army a total of 16 years," Sandham emails Aragon. "... We back him 100% and have good reasons too. He doesn't keep anything from us."

In another email, Sandham poses as Mushey - or "Bandido D" - to a senior American Bandido known as "Bandido Pervert," based in Texas.
That email was sent the same day the Texans in the Bandidos told the Canadians that they had been kicked out of the outlaw biker club.
"Hello Bandido Pervert," Sandham writes, posing as Mushey. "what just happened? Taz is not a cop nor was he ever a real one, VERY FAR from it. Two of use have known him since he was in the Army, he is not a cop!" Sandham and Mushey each face eight first-degree murder charges, along with fellow Winnipeggers Marcello Aravena, 33, and Brett Gardiner, 24, and Wayne Kellestine, 59, of Iona Station and Frank Mather, 35, of no fixed address.

Found shot to death were John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham; Frank Salerno, 43, of Oakville; Jamie Flanz, 37, of Keswick: Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Jackson's Point; George Jessome, 52, Luis Manny Raposo, 41, and George Kriarakis, 28, all of Toronto and Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga. The bodies were found 14 kilometers from Kellestine's farm.
---------------------------------------------------------
Slain Bandido lived modestly, court hears

Apr 30, 2009 12:54 PM
Peter Edwards
Staff Reporter

LONDON, ONT. – Murdered Bandidos biker Paul Sinopoli lived modestly in a basement apartment in his parents' home in Jackson's Point, a mass murder trial heard. "He certainly didn't appear to be living a lavish lifestyle," Det. Tom Dingwall of Durham Regional Police testified today.
"It was a very plain room for the most part," Dingwall said in the trial of six men accused of murdering Sinopoli, 30, and seven other men connected to the Greater Toronto Area chapter of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, nicknamed "The No Surrender Crew."
Sinopoli's bullet-riddled body was found in an abandoned sport utility vehicle on the morning of April 8, 2006, left near the hamlet of Shedden.
No guns, drug paraphernalia or items of much value were found in Sinopoli's room, court heard.

There were scattered papers related to his position as secretary-treasurer of the Toronto chapter of the club, with brief notations by the names of members. By the names of members who were promoted within the club was the notation, "owes a case of beer."
Sinopoli appeared to have three cellphone accounts, and there were also two black leather vests with the "Fat Mexican" crest of the Bandidos club. One of the club vests was massive, belonging to Sinopoli, whose was estimated to have weighed around 400 pounds.
The ownership of the other vest was unknown, Dingwall said. The massive vest was returned to Sinopoli's family, so that he could be buried in it, Dingwall said. "It was Paul's wish to be buried in the vest," Dingwall testified.

Found near Sinopoli's body in other abandoned vehicles were the bodies of Jamie Flanz, 37, of Keswick: John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham; George Jessome, 52, Luis Manny Raposo, 41, and George Kriarakis, 28, all of Toronto; Frank Salerno, 43, of Oakville; and Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga.Court heard that Durham Regional Police had been investigating Sinopoli for playing a role in the December 2005 murder of Shawn Douse of Keswick.Assistant Crown Attorney Fraser Kelly asked Dingwall if Douse has been an associate or member of the Hells Angels, the world's largest outlaw motorcycle club."Absolutely not," Dingwall replied.Court has heard that Sinopoli had a friendly relationship with some York Region Hells Angels.

The police investigator said that the Douse murder was rooted in personal tensions between Cameron Acorn of the No Surrender Crew and Douse."The dispute involved Shawn Douse providing drugs to Cameron Acorn's girlfriend's sister," Dingwall replied.

Facing eight first degree murder charges each are GTA Bandido Wayne Kellestine, 59, of Iona Station, west of London; Winnipeggers Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, Brett Gardiner, 24, and Dwight Mushey, 41; and Frank Mather, 35, of no fixed address.
The trial continues.
------------------------------------------------

Bandidos gang had all kinds of rules, jury hears
Tue, May 5, 2009

By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

For a group of men who don't want to live by the rules of society, the Bandidos have a lot of rules.

Lists of bylaws and a Bandidos creed were introduced to the jury at the Bandido trial today that outlined what it meant to be a member of the motorcycle club.

OPP Det. Const. Craig Pulfrey from the provincial biker enforcement unit is testifying at the trial of six men who have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the deaths of eight Bandido bikers found shot to death along an Elgin County Road on April 8, 2006.

Pulfrey is offering his expert opinion — his specialty is the Bandidos — and guiding the jury through a crash course on the rules and regulations of the club.

Pulfrey was not part of the investigation before the court. He was kept an arm's-length away so he could assess the information gathered at trial.


Pulfrey, who has been with the unit since 1998, described attending several "runs" — where bikers ride together in a show of strength — funerals and other parties.

He has checked attendees at parties as they arrive, handled police agents providing information, had covert meetings with confidential sources, done surveillance and undercover work and given instruction to other police officers.

He told the jury through questions from assistant Crown attorney Fraser Kelly, he is well-versed in the Bandidos culture.

Some of the terms Pulfrey reviewed were:

— the "patch," the name given to a fully patched vest of a full member that is considered "the most important item in the world." The patch is not availabel to the public and can only be purchased through national headquarters in Texas. There are strict guidelines as to how the patches were to be placed on a leather vest.

— a 1%er, a moniker adopted by members of motorcycle clubs to signify they are the one-percent of the population that lives outside the law. A 1%er patch is placed over the heart of a full member's vest.

— Probationary and prospect members, who are not full-patch members trying to attain their full membership. Prospect members are at the entry level and are at "the beck and call" of full-patch members. "The expectation is that he is to complete any task given to him," said Pulfrey.

— "No colours in a cage," meaning a Bandido can't wear their full patch inside a closed vehicle.

— BFFB which means Bandidos Forever Forever Bandidos

Pulfrey said he saw some of the victims in the case at some of the events he attended as part of his investigative work.

He began attending Bandido international runs in Red River, New Mexico in 2000 and listed other runs in Colorado, Arizona and South Dakota.

He was there when the Canadian Bandidos were given their Probationary Bandido status.

In 2001, in Kingston, when the Canada chapter was given full-chapter status, Pulfrey was part of a police detail that led to the arrest of some Americans, including a Bandido named Edward Winterhaller, also known Connecticut Ed.

Pulfrey was in Quebec for the funerals of Robert Leger, known as Bandido Tout Tout and Sylvain "Bandido Sly" Gregoire.

Pulfrey also described seeing victims Kriarakis, Muscedere and Sinopoli at the funeral of Joey Campbell, known as Bandido Crazy Horse, in Edmonton.

Pulfrey described a long conversation with U.S. national president Jeff Pike at one of the American runs.

Pulfrey also told the jury he was in Edmonton when another group, the Death's Hand, became a probationary chapter of the Bandidos. Pulfrey noted it appeared the Bandidos did not have enough membership patches because they were given only Bandido T-shirts.

Pulfrey also noted a document taken from Mushey's home showing the dimensions of patches that indicated to Pulfrey that they were "patches to be made."

Six men have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder — Wayne Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg.

The shooting victims were George Jessome, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, John Muscedere, 48, Luis Raposo, 41, Frank Salerno, 43, Paul Sinopoli, 30, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31.
---------------------------------------------

Biker expert testifies at Bandidos trial

May 05, 2009 01:22 PM
Peter Edwards
Staff Reporter

LONDON, Ont. — Accused mass murderer Wayne Kellestine said old ladies and children have nothing to fear from outlaw bikers like himself, a murder trial heard.

"It's a code of honour of the society that we live in that old ladies and children aren't to be .. molested," Kellestine said in a conversation with a police officer, after he was arrested and charged with eight counts of first degree murder.

The words of Kellestine, 60, were revealed to the jury today during the testimony of Ontario Provincial Police biker expert Det. Const. Craig Pulfrey, who has monitored the Bandidos Motorcycle Club for a decade.

Pulfrey told court that Kellestine's "society" was that of outlaw motorcycle clubs, who call themselves "one per centers" because they consider themselves to be the one per cent of motorcycle riders who chose to live outside of the law.

"It's like a religion," Pulfrey said. "A total way of life. It's not just what you decide to do. It's who you are."

Court heard that murder victim John Muscedere, 48, of the Greater Toronto Area Bandidos had "1 %" tattooed over his heart.

To wear a "1 %" patch or tattoo, or to sign "1 %" after your name, you have to be a proven full member of an outlaw motorcycle club, Pulfrey told court.

"It's very serious in this subculture," Pulfrey told the court.

Muscedere's bullet-riddled body was found in an abandoned vehicle early in the morning of April 8, 2006, near the tiny hamlet of Shedden, west of London.

Also found in vehicles left by a farmer's field were the murdered bodies of Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Jackson's Point; Jamie Flanz, 37, of Keswick: John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham; George Jessome, 52, Luis Manny Raposo, 41, and George Kriarakis, 28, all of Toronto; Frank Salerno, 43, of Oakville and Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga.

Court heard that full club members are considered to have their "patch," meaning they've earned the right to wear the club's logo on their backs and to sign "1 %" after their names.

Court heard from an email written by Kellestine in which he explained that members were demoted in outlaw motorcycle clubs from full "patch" status for good reasons.

"I'd like to mention something here about .. old school and what I believe An MC (motorcycle club) is ... : HEART AND LOYALTY. Have it or (expletive) off. Need I say more. Brother if someone should lose their patch and be demoted to Prospect, there is a reason for that. You (expletive) up."

Facing eight first degree murder charges each are Bandidos Wayne Kellestine, 60, of Iona Station, west of London; Winnipeggers Michael Sandham, 39; Marcelo Aravena, 33, Brett Gardiner, 24, and Dwight Mushey, 41 and Frank Mather, 35, of no fixed address.
--------------------------------------------

Bandidos gang had all kinds of rules, jury hears
Tue, May 5, 2009

By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

For a group of men who don't want to live by the rules of society, the Bandidos have a lot of rules.

Lists of bylaws and a Bandidos creed were introduced to the jury at the Bandido trial today that outlined what it meant to be a member of the motorcycle club.

OPP Det. Const. Craig Pulfrey from the provincial biker enforcement unit is testifying at the trial of six men who have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the deaths of eight Bandido bikers found shot to death along an Elgin County Road on April 8, 2006.

Pulfrey is offering his expert opinion — his specialty is the Bandidos — and guiding the jury through a crash course on the rules and regulations of the club.

Pulfrey was not part of the investigation before the court. He was kept an arm's-length away so he could assess the information gathered at trial.


Pulfrey, who has been with the unit since 1998, described attending several "runs" — where bikers ride together in a show of strength — funerals and other parties.

He has checked attendees at parties as they arrive, handled police agents providing information, had covert meetings with confidential sources, done surveillance and undercover work and given instruction to other police officers.

He told the jury through questions from assistant Crown attorney Fraser Kelly, he is well-versed in the Bandidos culture.

Pulfrey said he saw some of the victims in the case at some of the events he attended as part of his investigative work.

He began attending Bandido international runs in Red River, New Mexico in 2000 and listed other runs in Colorado, Arizona and South Dakota.

He was there when the Canadian Bandidos were given their Probationary Bandido status.

In 2001, in Kingston, when the Canada chapter was given full-chapter status, Pulfrey was part of a police detail that led to the arrest of some Americans, including a Bandido named Edward Winterhaller, also known Connecticut Ed.

Pulfrey was in Quebec for the funerals of Robert Leger, known as Bandido Tout Tout and Sylvain "Bandido Sly" Gregoire.

Pulfrey also described seeing victims Kriarakis, Muscedere and Sinopoli at the funeral of Joey Campbell, known as Bandido Crazy Horse, in Edmonton.

Pulfrey described a long conversation with U.S. national president Jeff Pike at one of the American runs.

Pulfrey also told the jury he was in Edmonton when another group, the Death's Hand, became a probationary chapter of the Bandidos. Pulfrey noted it appeared the Bandidos did not have enough membership patches because they were given only Bandido T-shirts.

Pulfrey also noted a document taken from Mushey's home showing the dimensions of patches that indicated to Pulfrey that they were "patches to be made."

The trial continues this afternoon
-----------------------------------------------

Bandidos creed big on club rules
Wed, May 6, 2009

By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

For a bunch of guys who don't want to live by the rules of society, the Bandidos have a lot of rules.

It's not just a motorcycle club for enthusiasts, but a way of life and a religion of sorts that requires strict adherence and reverence.

The tenets of that organized faith were reviewed yesterday by a police officer with expertise in motorcycle clubs and a special interest in the Bandidos.

Lists of bylaws and a Bandidos creed that identifies a Bandido as someone "who has given up on society and politicians' one-way laws" were introduced to the jury at the Bandidos trial by OPP Det. Const. Craig Pulfrey from the provincial biker enforcement unit.

"All members are your brothers and your family," one line of the creed reads.

Pulfrey was testifying at the trial of six men -- Wayne Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg -- who have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the deaths of eight Bandido bikers found shot to death along an Elgin County Road April 8, 2006.

The shooting victims were George Jessome, also known as Jesso, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, John Muscedere, 48, Luis Raposo, 41, Frank Salerno, 43, Paul Sinopoli, 30, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31.

Pulfrey, a member of the biker enforcement unit since 1998, guided the jury through a course on the rules of the club -- expertise he collected after immersing himself in biker culture and watching their activities.

He has been to more than 30 "1%er" or outlaw motorcycle club functions.

He described attending several "runs" -- where bikers ride together in a show of strength -- funerals and other parties in Canada and the United States. He has checked attendees at parties as they arrive, handled police agents providing information, had covert meetings with confidential sources, done surveillance and undercover work and given instruction to other police officers.

And he identified some of the victims he had watched or spoken to.

"It's like a religion," he told the jury.

Some of the terms Pulfrey reviewed were:

-- The "patch," or "colours," the name given to a fully patched vest of a full member that is considered "the most important item in the world." The patch is not available to the public and can only be purchased through national headquarters in Texas. There are strict guidelines on placing a patch on a leather vest.

-- A 1%er, a moniker adopted by members of motorcycle clubs to signify they are the 1% of the population that lives outside the law, a term coined after the Second World War at a American Motorcycle Association rally.

BANDIDO RULES

- Prospect members are not full-patch members but are trying to attain full membership. They are at the entry level for one year and are at "the beck and call" of full-patch members. "The expectation is that he is to complete any task given to him," said OPP Det. Const. Craig Pulfrey.

- Probationary members are not full members who are either brought up from prospect or have been busted down from full patch and must earn their way back.

- Hangarounds and associates are men trusted by members and allowed to hang around the clubhouse. "Not just anyone is allowed in the Bandido circle," Pulfrey said.

- Support or puppet clubs are overseen by the chapter and are "completely subservient to the Bandidos," Pulfrey said. They do business for the club and are used to draw future members.

- "No colours in a cage" means a Bandido can't wear the full patch inside a closed vehicle.

- BFFB means Bandidos Forever Forever Bandidos.

- "Red and Gold," the Bandido colours.

- Chapters have their own president, vice-president, secretary-treasurer, sergeant-at-arms and road captain. Toronto had a chapter that was under Canadian national chapter. Canada reported to the United States in Texas.

- Church is a weekly meeting to discuss club business. A Bandido faces fines for missing them.
------------------------------------------------

Evidence points to 'mutiny' within ranks of Bandidos, jury hears
Wed, May 6, 2009

By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

Bandidos creed big on club rules

When times were good, the Bandidos were a brotherhood.

But when the order was made to pull the plug on the club's Canadian chapter, there were indications of "a mutiny," an OPP biker expert testified today at the Bandidos trial.

Det. Const. Craig Pulfrey continued his expert testimony this morning and assessed correspondence and evidence connected to both the victims and the accused.

Six men have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder — Wayne Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg.

The shooting victims were George Jessome, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, John Muscedere, 48, Luis Raposo, 41, Frank Salerno, 43, Paul Sinopoli, 30, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31.


Pulfrey was commenting on a string of e-mails the jury was given earlier at the trial.

In them, there is an order from Texas, the world headquarters of the Bandidos, that a decision had been made to end the Canadian chapter.

Pulfrey explained an "El Presidente" oversees Bandidos operations in the United States, Europe and Australia.

El Presidente also leads the U.S. Bandidos and they oversaw the Canadian club.

Canada oversaw Toronto and the club's probationary chapter in Winnipeg. Many of the Toronto members were on the executive of the Canadian chapter.

The Bandidos, with approximately 2,000 members worldwide, were only a democracy to a point, Pulfrey said.

El Presidente has veto power over any decision. And in an e-mail, El Secretario of the world, Bill Sartelle, had orders that the Canadian chapter was finished.

That prompted an e-mail from Toronto president Frank Salerno to call for a worldwide vote before Toronto gave back Bandido property.

"I would call this a mutiny," Pulfrey said.

The jury saw photos, e-mails and portions of a videotape taken at Kellestine's Elgin County farm at a Bandidos party in happier times.

In it, there are images of some of the dead and accused all in club colours greeting each other warmly and hugging after a caravan of six motorcycles roared up the Kellestine laneway.

Muscedere, Kriarakis and Sandham are among the group on motorcycles.

Mather is seen sitting at the bar area where a flag with a swastika is pinned on the wall. He wore a Bandidos support shirt.

The trial continues this afternoon.
---------------------------------------------

Brothers in good times
Thu, May 7, 2009
BANDIDOS TRIAL: Indications of a 'mutiny' came later, an expert testifies

By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

The video was like a home movie of a renegade family reunion.

The camera was poised to look down the long laneway from Wayne Kellestine's Elgin County farmhouse as six Bandido motorcycle club members happily rumbled in for a party on June 25, 2005, then greeted each other warmly as "Brother."

Some were the men who were found dead on a nearby Elgin County road on April 8, 2006. And others in the video are some of the men charged in their deaths.

What the jury learned at the Bandido trial yesterday was that when times were good, the Bandidos were a brotherhood.

But when the order came from headquarters to pull the Canadian chapter's status, there were indications of "a mutiny," an expert testified.


Det. Const. Craig Pulfrey of the OPP Biker Enforcement Unit continued his testimony at the trial of six men who have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder .

Pulfrey has testified he believed the dead men were full-patch members of the Bandidos except Flanz, who was a prospect. Yesterday, Pulfrey said Sandham, Kellestine and Mushey were full-patch members, based on Bandidos property seized, including "1%er" items that only full-patch members can have.

Mather was a probationary Bandido, he said, based on the empty vest and Probationary "rocker" and Bandido hat found in a bag containing receipts with his name.

Aravena was a prospect sponsored by "D" or Mushey, Pulfrey said, pointing out intercepted conversations in which Aravena asked permission to contact someone.

Gardiner was a prospect member, he said, based on the signature of an e-mail from his account that was signed "Prospect Bandido Bull."

"In this world, you don't sign like this unless you have that status."

The Bandidos world has a strict hierarchy, he said, and had about 2,000 members. There is an "El Presidente" of the Bandido world overseeing the U.S., Europe and Australia. El Presidente also leads the U.S. Bandidos and they oversaw the Canadian national chapter.

Canada oversaw Toronto and the probationary chapter in Winnipeg. Many of the Toronto members were on the executive in Canada.

The Bandidos are allowed one vote each, but they are only a democracy to a point, Pulfrey said.

"Bandidos don't vote, they do what the (expletive) they're told," was the terse e-mail in June 2007, from El Presidente Jeff Pike about the problems in Canada.

El Presidente has veto power over any decision and orders from a superior had to be followed. In an e-mail shown to the jury earlier El Secretario of the world, Bill Sartelle, had orders the Canadian chapter was finished in the months before the deaths. "It is not my decision alone," Sartelle wrote.

That prompted an e-mail from Muscedere, president of the Canadian national chapter, calling for a worldwide vote before Toronto gave back Bandidos property.

"I would call this a mutiny," Pulfrey said.

Meanwhile, the e-mails indicate Sandham was bypassing his Toronto superiors and contacting Texas directly.

The videotape of the Kellestine party showed the No Surrender Crew in happier times. Muscedere, Sandham, Kriarakis and Raposo are easily identifiable.

"Chopper," Kellestine said as he threw his arms around Raposo, one of the later victims.

Mather is seen sitting at the outdoor bar area where a flag with a swastika is pinned on the wall. He wore a Bandido support shirt.

The jury also saw up close a Confederate flag with an eagle on it signed by many of the Bandidos, including those found dead.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bandido talked of 'major changes' before slayings, trial hears
May 12, 2009 07:32 PM
Peter Edwards

LONDON, Ont. – Bandidos biker Wayne Kellestine's voice crackled with excitement as he spoke of "some major changes," two days before the largest mass murder in modern Ontario history.

In the conversation, which was intercepted by police, Kellestine said he was being pressured by others to do something drastic.

"It's not my doing," Kellestine, 60, tells club member Cameron Acorn in a conversation intercepted by police shortly after noon on April 6, 2006 - two days before the bullet-riddled bodies of eight Greater Toronto Area Bandidos were found in vehicles abandoned on a rural roadway near Kellestine's farm in Iona Station, west of London.

Kellestine is one of six men facing eight first-degree murder charges each.

"I don't want no part of this, but I'm gonna try to salvage as many guys as possible," Kellestine continues.

At the time of the call, Acorn was in custody in Penetanguishene, north of Toronto, at the Central North Correctional Centre.

Kellestine warns Acorn that the the club is due for major changes because of pressures from the United States, where the headquarters - or "Mother Chapter" - of the Bandidos is located.

"I need ya," Kellestine tells Acorn. "...There's going to be some major changes... You're a good soldier."

He goes on to tell Acorn that he cannot control the Americans, who are pressuring him for dramatic change, saying, "People in the States are super, super super (expletive) choked."

"I'm taking care of it myself, personally," Kellestine continues. "I'm kinda choked."

He also alludes to a recent, important meeting in Vancouver, but assures Acorn that he is not in danger.

"You're still okay, eh," Kellestine says. "I made sure."

Acorn sounds upset and swears, while Kellestine attempts to distance himself from the decision, which is never fully explained.

In another intercepted conversation with Acorn's mother Sharon, Kellestine sounds upset with Luis Manny (Chopper, Porkchop) Raposo, 41, of Toronto

Raposo was one of the eight men whose bodies were found near Kellestine's farm.

"I've tried to call Chopper and he hasn't been returning my phone calls," Kellestine complains. "... "I don't get invited to many things in Toronto any more. I don't know if you noticed or not."

Another tape captures Kellestine's voice on April 8, 2006, hours after the bodies of the eight murdered bikers were found.

In the tape, he talks of the "red and white," biker slang for the Hells Angels motorcycle club.

He also talks of police around his farm, 14 kilometers from where the bodies of the slain fellow members of the Toronto Bandidos were found.

"I'm surrounded by cops," Kellestine tells a friend. "I don't know what the (expletive) they're doing."

Found in vehicles abandoned near Kellestine's farm were the bullet-riddled bodies of Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Jackson's Point; John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham; George Jessome, 52; George Kriarakis, 28, all of Toronto; Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga and Jamie Flanz, 37, of Keswick.

In his telephone conversation with Acorn, Kellestine suggests that someone else is stirring up tensions between the Toronto Bandidos and their American counterparts.

"Someone is in constant communication with the States and telling them all the (expletive)," Kellestine says. ".. I don't email. I don't do the Internet. I don't do (expletive) computer (expletive)."

Also facing eight first-degree murder charges each are Frank Mather, 35, of no fixed address; Winnipeggers Michael Sandham, 39; Marcello Aravena, 32, Brett Gardiner, 24, and Dwight Mushey, 41.

The trial continues.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Evidence suggests major breach of biker-club rules, Bandidos jury hears
Tue, May 12, 2009
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS


The focus of the Bandido trial shifted to Winnipeg this morning with suggestions that there was a major breach of the biker club's strict rules.

Six men have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first degree murder.

The bodies of eight men were found shot to death and left in vehicles along an Elgin County road on April 8, 2006.

OPP Cnst. Ross Stuart, an identification officer, returned the the witness box to describe what police found during house searches on June 16, 2006.

One home was at 129 Rogan Dr., Winnipeg where accused Dwight Mushey often stayed with his sister, Kimberley Douglas. Found in a crawlspace over a basement stairwell in a courier package were Bandido stickers and what appeared to be homemade patches.


The jury has already heard that the Texas international headquarters dictated that all Bandido gear had to be ordered through them.

Stuart showed various patches - including large Fat Mexican and No Surrender Crew patches - and uncut pieces of yellow fabric with designs half stitched.

He also produced documents found in a black pouch that appeared to be detailed stencils and measurements of Bandido patches.

There was also a computer disk set up for an embroidery machine.
The jury also heard from a Winnipeg police officer who questioned Mushey, accused Brett Gardiner and another man identified as M. H. on the parkade of Polo Park Mall in Winnipeg on Feb. 11, 2006..
Mushey and M. H. were wearing full biker colours. Gardiner was in a plain black jacket. M. H. Is expected to testify later in the trial.
The trial continues this afternoon.
-----------------------------------------------

Media provided crime exhibits
Wed, May 13, 2009
There are photos of drinking buddies and some from the grisly crime scene
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

Playful barroom photos from when they were friends.

Photos of the grisly crime scene.

A glimpse inside the victims' homes.

Those are some of the exhibits from the Bandidos trial released to the media yesterday.

They were found shot to death in vehicles abandoned along Elgin County's Stafford Line on April 8, 2006.

The Crown has told the jury there was a brewing struggle between the Canadian chapter and the American headquarters in Texas that was fed up with its Canadian brothers.

The U.S. headquarters had ordered the patches pulled.

There was a growing internal conflict between the Toronto chapter and its probationary chapter in Manitoba.

Items seized during the investigation included photographs from Mushy's Toronto apartment -- photos of him with other bikers, including some of the dead, as well as Kellestine and Sandham.

In one photo, a smiling Kellestine and Mushy flank a man identified as David "Concrete Dave" Weiche, with their arms around each other.

There are photos of some of the Bandidos gear seized from the homes, including jewelry, T-shirts, hats and post cards.

There are also photos of some of the victims' homes in the Toronto area.

Yesterday, the trial's focus shifted to Winnipeg, with suggestions there was a major breaking of the biker club's strict rules by the fledgling probationary chapter.

OPP Const. Ross Stuart, an identification officer, described what police found during house searches on June 16, 2006.

One home was at 129 Rogan Dr., Winnipeg, where Mushy often stayed with his sister, Kimberley Douglas. Found in a crawl space over a basement stairwell in a courier package were Bandidos stickers and what appeared to be homemade patches.

The jury has heard that the Texas international headquarters dictated all Bandidos gear had to be ordered through them.

Stuart showed various patches -- including the club's Fat Mexican, "1%" and No Surrender Crew patches -- and uncut pieces of yellow fabric with designs half stitched with red.

Some of the colours didn't match other patches.

Stuart also produced documents found in a black pouch that appeared to be detailed stencils and measurements of Bandidos patches.

There was also a computer disk set up for an embroidery machine. The jury also saw vests -- two with full patches, two without -- taken from a closet at 938 Lindsay St., Winnipeg.

Several items of clothing were seized from the residence as well as Aravena's birth certificate, documents belonging to Mushey and a letter addressed to Gardiner.

The trial continues today.
==================================

Murder suspect padded resume, Bandidos jury hears
Wed, May 13, 2009
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

Biker and ex-police officer Michael Sandham certainly knew how to pad a resume.

"He is a VIP Protection Specialist and has protected such persons as former Chief of Staff general DeChastelane, former Prime Minister Brian Molruney (sic), Princess Patricia and various other higher military staff," he wrote in a brochure promoting his police-training company called ACRT Tactical Systems, shown to the jury at the Bandido trial this morning.
He wrote he was "a 27 year veteran and Grand Master in Martial Arts", the personal information in the brochure said, earning "a 6th Dan Black Belt in HwaRang Kempo and a 4th in Dan Taekwon Do" plus other black belts in Jujitsu and a red sash in Wing Chun Kung Fu.
Attending "many self-defence seminars throughout the world hosted by such famous people as Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal, Bill "Superfoot" Wallace and Dan Inosanto (The only person certified by Bruce Lee)."
Sandham wrote he competed in "full contact fights" in Canada, the U.S. and Korea with a record of 12 wins, no losses, 11 by knock-out.

It's no wonder Davud Prud'Homme, who owns Prairie Bylaw Enforcement Services — a company that provides by-law services to Manitoba municipalities — hired Sandham to train his officers.
A look inside Sandham's life dominated the testimony this morning at the trial where six men, including Sandham, have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder.
It's certain Sandham, who went by the biker nickname Taz in his Bandido life, was an ex-police officer and former member of the Canadian Armed Forces.

The Crown showed the jury documents that listed Sandham as an auxilliary police officer for the Ste. Anne police force, east of Winnipeg in 1999 to 200, then a police constable for the Rural Municipality of St. Paul, north of Winnipeg from June 2000 to October, 2002.
Sandham also operated two companies that provided police training — ACRT (Applied Control Response Tactics) and Sabre Inc.
He also claimed to be a paratrooper and a commando.
"My classses are always dynamic and interesting," he wrote in his brochure.
Prud'Homme was impressed with his credentials and used him to train his eight employees.
Prud'Homme participated in some of the training. One of the courses, CAR Police Tactical Shotgun, taught the participants safe handling of the firearm.
He also taught the bylaw officers dealing with pesky black bears in rural Manitoba how to reload a shotgun with one hand, if wounded.
"It was beyond what we required," Prud'Homme said.

Prud'Homme took Sandham on as a full-time trainer for four months two years after Sandham left policing.
Sandham told Prud'Homme in an e-mail the job was "too stressful and he was having marital problems."
Prud'Homme said Sandham set his own hours, was paid well, and had his own work area.
"I couldn't see where the stressful part came in," he said.
Sandham left some of his belongings behind at the office. Six months later he instructed Prud'Homme to return them or pay $4,000.
He told his former boss to take his belongings to his home and throw them over the fence and his wife would retrieve them.
"That's what I did," he said.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Accused killer biker says he guarded princess
By JANE SIMS, SUN MEDIA

LONDON, Ont. -- Biker and ex-police officer Michael Sandham knew how to pad a resume.

"He is a VIP Protection Specialist and has protected such persons as former Chief of Staff General DeChastelane (sic), former Prime Minister Brian Molruney (sic), Princess Patricia and various other higher military staff," he wrote in a brochure promoting his credentials as an instructor for his police training company, shown to the jury yesterday at the Bandidos trial.
"Mr. Sandham was also involved in crowd security during Princess Diana and Prince Charles visit to Canada," the brochure says.

Contradictions

Sandham, 39, of Winnipeg and five other men are on trial for eight counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of eight Toronto-area men on April 8, 2006, whose bodies were found along a rural road outside Shedden.
A look inside Sandham's life -- and its glaring contradictions -- dominated testimony yesterday. It's certain Sandham, who went by the biker nickname Taz in his Bandidos life, was an ex-police officer and former member of the Canadian Armed Forces.
He attended basic training in Wainright, Alta., before he was assigned to Winnipeg and the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.
He then went to the Ste. Anne police force east of Winnipeg where he was an auxiliary police officer from 1999 to 2000. His recruit training was completed with the Winnipeg police academy where he scored the top marks in his class in the firearms section. He moved on to be a constable in East St. Paul and left on Oct. 15, 2002.
Assistant Crown attorney Fraser Kelly showed the jury a large number of documents concerning Sandham's training and employment.

'Black Belt'

Among the documents was a resume on which Sandham said he was "a 6th-degree Black Belt." Sandham also had a paralegal membership card and promoted himself as a police trainer.
David Prud'Homme, who owns Prairie Bylaw Enforcement Services -- a company that provides bylaw officers to Manitoba municipalities -- hired Sandham as a trainer. Prud'Homme testified he was impressed with Sandham's credentials and used him to train his eight employees in "the use of force."
In 2004, Prud'Homme gave Sandham a full-time job as trainer. Sandham gave courses, wrote manuals and filled in on the odd shift. But within months, Sandham told Prud'Homme in an e-mail the job was "too stressful and he was having marital problems."
Prud'Homme was asked if he ever knew of Sandham's ties to the Bandidos. "No," he said.

The trial continues today.
-----------------------------------------

Flurry of travel in days before Bandidos slayings, jury told
Thu, May 14, 2009
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

There were many trips on Michael Sandham's dime in the months leading up to the shooting of eight Bandido bikers.
The jury at the Bandido trial examined flight records from WestJet that documented the air travel of several men involved in the case.

Todd MacKay, the airline's official who testified this morning, took the jury through reservation documents showing that Michael Sandham's credit card was racking up flight charges — more than $4,500.
Sandham paid for a number of flights, not only for himself, but three other people involved in the case.
Often the trips were booked just days in advance.

The flights that were documented were:

# Two return tickets from Toronto to Winnipeg for Feb. 4 to 7 2005 for victim Paul Sinopoli and Kellestine. The tickets were paid by Stacia Acorn.
# Two return tickets from Winnipeg to Toronto for Sandham and a man known as M.H., who is expected to testify at the trial, for Sept. 9 to 11, 2005, paid for by Sandham.
# Another two return tickets for Sandham and M.H. for Oct. 22 to 26, 2005, paid by Sandham.
# Sandham and Mushey flew return to Toronto from Winnipeg in November, 2005. M.H. cancelled at the last minute. Mushey changed seats and there was an indication on the reservation that someone had suffered an Achilles' tendon injury. Sandham paid for the tickets.
# Mushey flew to Vancouver from Winnipeg for three days in January. Sandham paid for the ticket.
# On March 7, 2006, Kellestine flew from Toronto to Vancouver. Sandham flew out form Winnipeg on March 2, 2006. They both left on March 12, 2006. Sandham paid for the tickets.
# M.H. and Mushey flew to Vancouver from Winnipeg March 20 to 22, 2006. Again Sandham paid.
# Aravena flew from Winnipeg to London on March 28, 2006. The ticket was paid by a woman.
MacKay will be in cross-examination this afternoon.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bandidos accused gave himself up to OPP, court hea

BY: Peter Edwards
Source: thestar.com

Canada - ~Bandidos accused gave himself up to OPP, court hears~

LONDON, Ont. - An accused murderer gave himself up without a fight and cautioned police not to kick down his door or shoot him when called by the Ontario Provincial Police after the largest mass murder in modern Ontario history.
"I've been waiting for you to call," Kellestine told an OPP negotiator shortly after 7 pm on April 9, 2009, a day after eight bullet-riddled bodies were found 14 kilometres from his farm in Iona Station, west of London.
The recording was played in court today in the first degree murder trial for Kellestine and five other men who the Crown says are connected to the Bandidos Motorcycle Club.
Also facing eight first degree murder charges each are Winnipeggers Dwight Mushey, 41, Brett Gardiner, 24, and Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Michael Sandham, all of Winnipeg, and Frank Mather, 35, of no fixed address.
Kellestine briefly questioned the police negotiator about what type of warrant the police had.

He was told that they wanted to search his farm, grounds and barn for what the negotiator described as "items related to the other day?"
Kellestine, a member of the Greater Toronto Area Bandidos, said he would be fully cooperative and cautioned police that they didn't have to kick down his front door, as police had in the past.
"I'm going out," said Kellestine, sounding only mildly agitated. "There's no problem."
He told police they had nothing to fear from him, when he walked down the gravel laneway of his farm property.
"I will cooperate fully," he said. "You don't have to shoot me on the way out."
The police negotiator told Kellestine that he was experienced enough to know that wasn't going to happen.
Then he told the police officer that he had placed his German shepherd dog in a pen, and that he didn't have to burst into his home to search it.
"I'm leaving the door unlocked," Kellestine said. "Don't smash it (expletive) again."
Police later took Kellestine into custody for questioning.

Court also heard yesterday that another of the accused mass murderers, former Manitoba police officer Michael Sandham, 39, spent almost $5,000 on flights connected to the Bandidos Motorcycle Club in the year before the largest mass murder in modern Ontario history.
The flights were for himself, fellow accused Dwight Mushey of the Bandidos in Winnipeg and another man who can only be identified as "M.H."
Several of the flights were from Winnipeg to Toronto and back, as well as from Winnipeg to Vancouver and back.
The trial has heard that M.H. is expected to be a Crown witness later in the trial.
Sandham, 39, a former Manitoba police officer, faces eight charges of first degree murder after the bullet-riddled bodies of eight men connected to the Greater Toronto Area Bandidos were found on April 8, 2006, in vehicles abandoned near Shedden, west of London.

Court heard he flew from his home in Winnipeg to Toronto three times in the fall of 2005, and was accompanied on November 26, 2005 by Dwight, Mushey, 41, of the Winnipeg Bandidos.
Mushey is also charged with eight counts of first degree murder.
Court heard that Sandham also paid for Mushey to fly from Winnipeg to Vancouver on January 14, 2006, returning three days later.
Sandham's Visa card also covered a March 7, 2006 flight for Wayne Kellestine to fly from Toronto to Vancouver on March 7, 2006, returning to Toronto five days later.
Sandham also paid for himself to fly from Winnipeg to Vancouver on March 2, 2006, returning on March 12, 2006.
He also paid for "M.H." and Mushey to fly from Winnipeg to Vancouver on March 20, 2005, returning to Winnipeg two days later.

They are charged with the murders of eight men connected to the Greater Toronto Area Bandidos Motorcycle Club: Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Jackson's Point, Jamie Flanz, 37, of Keswick: John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham; George Jessome, 52, Luis Manny Raposo, 41, and George Kriarakis, 28, all of Toronto; Frank Salerno, 43, of Oakville and Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga.

The trial continues.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'I know nothing': Kellestine
Fri, May 15, 2009
BANDIDOS TRIAL: Police negotiated with accused Wayne Kellestine by phone before he agreed to leave his farm the day after the bodies were discovered

By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

Wayne Kellestine told the OPP negotiator he'd co-operate with whatever police wanted.
But before he and the rest of the people in his Aberdeen Line farmhouse were going to come out on April 9, 2006, he wanted some guarantees.
"Now let's you and I get one thing straight right (expletive) now," he told OPP Det. Const. Dave Dowell over the phone.
"I will leave the door unlocked, you pieces of (expletive) don't have to kick my (expletive) doors in like you did the last (expletive) time."
"You have my word," Dowell promised, before being cut off by Kellestine's rapid-fire voice.
"Yeah, your word. You're a cop. I don't trust you. You're likely gonna shoot me mother (expletive)."
Yesterday, the jury at the Bandido murder trial heard the phone calls between an OPP negotiator and Kellestine the day after the bodies of eight men with ties to the Bandido motorcycle club were found shot dead on a rural road not far from Shedden.

OPP Const. Jodi Kays, who was part of the crisis negotiation team, testified they first called the Kellestine farm from a command post at Transportation Ministry buildings on April 9.

Kellestine was consulting his lawyer on another phone when Dowell called.
"I've been outside waving the phone saying, 'call me now.' This is the first time you've called me in two days," Kellestine said.
Then he turned back to his call with his lawyer. "They're all over the place but they're not . . . on my property as of yet.
Dowell told Kellestine police had a search warrant and wanted everyone in the house to walk down the lane "and you can view the warrant."
Kellestine wanted to know what the warrant was for. Dowell explained it related to "those bodies."
"Yeah, I know what you're talking about. I was watching about the news . . . I got 15 (expletive) phone calls."

Kellestine resumed talking with his lawyer. "I know nothing about nothing anyway," he said, and promised he'd co-operate. "Thank you, Ken. I will be in touch sir, Ciao."
Then he wanted assurances from Dowell his German shepherd wouldn't be shot or that his doors would be smashed.
He told Dowell he wanted 15 minutes. He had to get dressed, chain up his dog, and unlock the gate. "Now, is anybody going to shoot us when we come out?" he asked.
"You've been around. You know darn well we're not going to shoot you," Dowell said.
--------------------------------------------

Arrests captured on aerial video
Sat, May 16, 2009
BANDIDOS TRIAL

By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

From the air through the lens of a thermal camera, Wayne Kellestine's farm was dull light on a grey landscape.
As the plane flew over, a tiny brighter light appeared along the driveway and moved slowly down the long laneway.
That was the first glimpse the jury got yesterday of five people who walked out of Kellestine's house on April 9, 2006, a day after the bodies of eight men were found shot to death along a rural road near Shedden. The remarkable 30-minute police video showed Kellestine, Brett Gardiner, Frank Mather and two other people leaving the house and walking down the gravel lane toward several police officers, some of whom had guns trained on them.


The jury has heard during the Crown's opening statement that it intends to prove the men were killed at the farm and were victims of an internal squabble within the club. A group of men from Winnipeg had left for the drive back to Manitoba shortly before the bodies were discovered. The group left the farmhouse after Kellestine spoke to an OPP negotiator.

OPP Const. Jonathan Smyth of the Tactics and Rescue Unit (TRU) was one of six officers at the end of the laneway and described for the jury what was shown on the video screen. The thermal images were shot starting at 7:30 p.m. The images switched over to regular video about 10 minutes later as the plane circled closer. Police had been watching the property for two days.
Smyth testified that he and another officer were given the task of securing each person coming out of the house.
The five people leaving the house were told to stop 20 metres from the end of the lane. They had their hands on their heads and each one was instructed to approach one at a time. Smyth said Kellestine was the only person to talk.

" 'Don't point your (expletive) guns at me. My hands are up,' " Smyth testified Kellestine said.
Kellestine was the first person to go to the officers. He was told to lift his shirt up at the back to show he was not armed.
Kellestine was searched thoroughly, including his hair, pockets, shoes and socks.
Once he was searched, Kellestine went with two investigators and was driven away.
The second person who came out took off his shirt to show he was not armed. He was ordered to his knees with his hands on his head and secured. Three others followed and more officers arrived to help. All the people from the house were placed in disposable plastic flex-cuffs.
The camera did several pans of the property. Seven cars were parked around the house and shed.
The trial continues Tuesday.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bandidos jury sent home for the day as legal arguments take over
Tue, May 19, 2009
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

Testimony at the Bandido trial stopped abruptly and the jury was sent home this morning for "a legal issue too complicated" to continue today.

Legal arguments are expected to occupy the afternoon.

"It really is the nature of the beast," Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney told the jury before the trial adjourned for lunch.

Six men have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder — Wayne Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg.

The shooting victims were George Jessome, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, John Muscedere, 48, Luis Raposo, 41, Frank Salerno, 43, Paul Sinopoli, 30, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31.


Before the adjournment, the jury heard more testimony from Det. Const. Craig Pulfrey, a member of the OPP biker-enforcement unit with expertise in the Bandido motorcycle club.

Pulfrey testified earlier this month and his cross-examination was deferred until this week.

Defence lawyer Gord Cudmore, who represents Sandham, reviewed the hierarchy of the club and asked about the pecking order from El Presidente on down.

Pulfrey agreed that "it's expected an order be followed," he said.
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'El Presidente' ousted bikers
Slain Toronto Bandidos were ejected from the club via email three months earlier, murder trial told
Tue, May 19, 2009
Source: thestar.com

Canada - LONDON, Ont. – A Texas biker known as "El Presidente" kicked all Toronto members of the Bandidos out of the motorcycle club with an email message, three months before their bullet-riddled bodies were found by a farmer's field, a mass murder trial heard today.
The Toronto Bandidos received an email message on Dec. 28, 2005, that notified them they were no longer in the club - "effective immediately."
"That decision was made by El Presidente?," defence lawyer Gord Cudmore asked OPP biker expert Craig Pulfrey.
"He has the final say," Pulfrey replied.
Cudmore represents one of the six accused mass murderers, Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg.
At the time they were kicked out of the Bandidos, the club's international "El Presidente" was Jeff Pike of Texas, Pulfrey said.
Court earlier heard that the Bandidos were founded in the mid-1960s by former military men, who believed in a strict military chain of command.
"It's expected that the order be followed?" Cudmore continued.
"Yes," Pulfrey replied.

Court had heard that the Toronto Bandidos - known as the "No Surrender Crew" - balked at the order to get out of the club and instead called for club members from around the world to take a vote.
The bullet-riddled bodies of eight GTA bikers from the Toronto Bandidos were found near the hamlet of Shedden early in the morning of April 8, 2006.

The trial continues.
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Expert: Two accused bikers didn't own bikes
Thu, May 21, 2009

.Two of the accused in the killing of Bandidos motorcycle club members never met one of the basic requirements for being a member of the organization, court heard today. Police biker expert OPP Det. Const. Craig Pulfrey testified that the Bandidos bylaws required its members around the world to own a bike. Frank Mather and Marcello Aravena did not own bikes to his knowledge, Pulfrey said. “You are definitely supposed to have a motorcycle,” he said.

Mather and Aravena, along with Wayne Kellestine, Dwight Mushey, Michael Sandham and Brett Gardiner are charged with eight counts of first-degree murder in the 2006 killing of eight men connected with the Bandidos Motorcycle Club. Under cross-examination today, Pulfrey said he did know of exceptions to the rules and that Bandidos in Canada did not follow all of the bylaws. Although he had access to intercepted calls and reports on biker activity, Pulfrey said he’d never heard of Mather until he was charged.
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Thu, May 21, 2009
Police not aware of 'biker' charged in mass-murder case~

LONDON, Ont. – A police biker expert says he had never heard of accused killer Frank Mather until Mather was charged with members of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club for allegedly playing a role in the largest mass murder in modern Ontario history.

"I've never heard of him," OPP Det. Const. Craig Pulfrey told court today. "I was never aware of him before this event." Mather is charged with five other men with eight counts of first-degree murder each, after the bullet-riddled bodies of eight men connected to the Greater Toronto Area chapter of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club were found in vehicles abandoned beside a farmer's field near the hamlet of Shedden, west of London, on the morning of April 8, 2006.

Court heard that Pulfrey has access to a comprehensive police databank on outlaw bikers. Pulfrey agreed with his lawyer, Greg Leslie, that if Mather was a member of the club in Canada, he likely would have known about it. "More than likely I would know (of him)," Pulfrey said. "I do not know this man."

Mather's lawyer, Greg Leslie, noted that a bylaw for the Bandidos club requires all members to have a motorcycle.
He then noted that Mather has neither a motorcycle nor a license to operate one. "In a motorcycle club, a person should have a motorcycle?," Leslie asked. "I would agree with that," Pulfrey replied.

Leslie noted that police seized a membership list for the Toronto Bandidos in the Jackson's Point home of Paul Sinopoli, 30, one of the murder victims and the secretary of the Toronto Bandidos. He asked Pulfrey if he had seen Mather's name on a list of full club members, or more junior affiliated bikers, with probationary, prospect or hangaround status.
"I don't know the date of that list," Pulfrey said. "Again, I have not seen his name." Pulfrey also agreed that he hadn't seen any mention of Mather on any other list of Bandidos. Pulfrey told court that police monitor biker funerals and mandatory runs, when all members must attend.
Leslie asked if he had ever seen or heard of Mather at any of those events. "I've never seen Frank Mather before," Pulfrey replied.

Court has seen a video of a party at Kellestine's farm, in which Mather was wearing a T-shirt with the slogan, "Support The Fat Mexican," the nickname for the Bandidos club. Pulfrey agreed with Leslie's suggestion that such T-shirts could be easily purchased by anybody. "Anybody - the public, non-members - can wear that," Pulfrey replied.

Court had heard that the Toronto Bandidos - known as the "No Surrender Crew" - balked at an order by the club's headquarters in Texas to get out of the club, and instead called for club members from around the world to take a vote.

The trial continues.
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Canadian Bandidos broke organization's rules, jury hears
Fri, May 22, 2009
By KELLY PEDRO, LONDON FREE PRESS

Whether Bandido prospect members had the right to attend club meetings in Canada was the focus of cross-examination today at the trial of six men accused of killing eight others.

Police biker expert Craig Pulfrey testified under cross-examination that, in theory, prospects were not allowed to attend "church" or get a vote but in Canada that rule was broken. Pulfrey said from seeing minutes from church — the term used for Bandido club meetings — he saw that prospects had attended those meetings but did not vote.

A prospect is someone who hung around the Bandidos and may have had the attributes to become a full-patch member. Prospects have to be sponsored by an older member of a chapter. They are then on call 24 hours a day to their sponsor or any full-patch member, performing menial tasks such as yardwork, washing motorcycles or getting drinks for members for one year. The Bandidos are also unique, Pulfrey testified, because they have one boss for the whole world. Though there are bosses in Europe, Australia and Canada, "El Presidente has power over them all," Pulfrey testified.

The trial continues today.
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Trial evidence released
Tue, May 26, 2009
COURT: Public offering includes home movies of a Bandidos party and history of the motorcycle club

By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

See Wayne Kellestine's home movies of a Bandido motorcycle club party. Take a crash course on the history of the Bandidos both in Canada and internationally.See more of the evidence police seized during the investigation of the eight shooting deaths three years ago. Evidence already viewed by the jury at the Bandido trial was made available for public viewing yesterday. The evidence is part of the explosive trial that began March 31.
.
The Crown's theory is that the men who were all part of the Toronto Bandido chapter were killed because of an internal conflict within the organization -- both with the international headquarters based in Texas and with a probationary chapter in Winnipeg. The Toronto bikers were seen by their brothers as not abiding by the biker club's strict code and rules. There had been an order made that their patches be pulled.

Over the last two months, the jury of six men and six women have seen a mountain of evidence and photographs as part of the Crown's case.
The most recent release of evidence includes material that was reviewed by OPP Det. Const. Craig Pulfrey, a member of the Biker Enforcement Unit and an expert in the Bandido motorcycle club.

Also made available was a large number of documents from Sandham's past. He had been a police officer in a community just outside of Winnipeg. Still to come, as described in the Crown's opening statement, is a police informant who was at the Kellestine farm at the time of the shootings.
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Lawyer at Bandidos murder trial excuses self from case due to wife's illness
By Michael Oliveira – 1 hour ago

LONDON, Ont. — Long-awaited testimony from a former biker turned police informant was put on hold Tuesday when a defence lawyer in the case of Ontario's largest mass slaying stepped down because of personal reasons.

The murder trial involving the April 2006 killings of eight men associated with the Bandidos biker gang was expected to hear evidence from the Crown's star witness, who can only be identified as M.H. But court proceedings were halted when Ted Royle, senior counsel for one of the six accused, Dwight Mushey, asked for permission to withdraw from the case. Royle, a father of a young daughter, told court his wife had fallen gravely ill and he could no longer commit himself to the case.

Mushey requested that he be given time to find another lawyer, which Justice Thomas Heeney agreed to given the "tragic turn of events. "It would have been inhumane of me to do otherwise," Heeney said in granting an adjournment while Mushey seeks new representation.
The jury is expected to return to court next Tuesday, when the trial will resume if a new lawyer has been found and properly briefed.

The delay comes at a pivotal point in the trial, as court was set to hear from M.H., a former Bandido who became a police informant in the days after the mass killing and agreed to wear a wire to collect evidence. M.H. was first introduced during the Crown's opening statement March 31. The Crown alleges the victims were lured to the farm of Wayne Kellestine - another of the six accused - where they were shot to death as part of an internal cleansing of the biker club. Court has heard wiretap evidence suggesting some of the victims were extremely reluctant to attend and were seemingly aware that trouble was coming. M.H. will likely take the stand for several days as the Crown introduces its key evidence and defence lawyers challenge his credibility.

Charged in the deaths are Kellestine, 59, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich, Ont.; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 32, and Mushey, 41, all of Winnipeg.
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Bandidos trial sees another delay
Jane Sims
London Free Press
May 27, 2009

In what the judge called "a tragic turn of events," the jury at the Bandidos trial faces another delay. Edward Royle, the defence lawyer for accused Dwight Mushey of Winnipeg, asked for and was granted a request to be removed from the case because his wife is gravely ill.

Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney told the jury Royle's wife recently had taken "a serious turn for the worse." He also has a young child, Heeney said, "and the demands are such he had to withdraw from the case as lead counsel for Mr. (Dwight) Mushey."
It was a stunning turn of events eight weeks into the evidence at the trial of six men facing eight counts of first-degree murder. Mushey, 41, Wayne Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Gardiner, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, of Winnipeg, have all pleaded not guilty.

On April 8, 2006, the bodies of eight men with ties to the Bandidos motorcycle club were found shot to death along a rural Elgin County road near Shedden. George Jessome, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, John Muscedere, 48, Luis Raposo, 41, Frank Salerno, 43, Paul Sinopoli, 30, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31, were all associated with the club's Toronto chapter.

The jury was out of the courtroom most of the morning yesterday. Shortly before the lunch hour, they took their seats and were told of the abrupt halt in the evidence. The trial will not continue this week so "issues in terms of representation" can be sorted out, Heeney said. "It's regrettable," Heeney said, but in a lengthy trial there is always a chance there will be "personal issues that need to be dealt with."
"We'll find a way through this," he said.The jury was told to return next Tuesday.The trial began March 31 after weeks of jury selection.Royle is an experienced and respected Toronto lawyer and was a formidable force in the Bandidos courtroom

His departure came before the jury has heard from the Crown's star witness -- a police informant known as M. H., who was at Kellestine's Aberdeen Line farm in Dutton-Dunwich, where he says the men were shot to death.
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Bandidos mass murder trial to resume Monday
Lead lawyer for accused mass murderer Dwight Mushey quits case because of family illness
Jun 02, 2009 11:42 AM
Peter Edwards
Staff reporter

LONDON, ONT.–The Bandidos mass murder trial will resume hearing evidence next Monday after a family illness forced the lead lawyer for accused killer Dwight Mushey to suddenly resign. "We will have some evidence for you (then)," Mr. Justice Thomas Heeney told the jury this morning. "We continue to grapple with these issues," Heeney said. "Unfortunately, we remain in a state of flux."

Mushey, of Winnipeg, is one of six men who each face eight counts of first-degree murder after the bullet-riddled bodies of eight bikers connected to the Greater Toronto Area chapter of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club were found in vehicles abandoned on the outskirts of the hamlet of Shedden, west of London, on April 8, 2006.

The trial abruptly adjourned last week as efforts began to find a senior lawyer to replace Edward Royle, who has been assisted in the case by lawyer Christian Angelini.

Court heard then Royle's wife is seriously ill, and that he has a young daughter to care for. "We're doing our best to deal with it as quickly as possible," Heeney told the jury today. "Unfortunately, something like this takes some time."
The trial is entering its third month of evidence.

Also facing eight first-degree charges are Wayne Kellestine, 60, of Iona Station, west of London; Winnipeggers Marcello Aravena, 33, Michael Sandham, 39, and Brett Gardiner, 24, and Frank Mather, 35, of no fixed address.

Found dead in abandoned vehicles were John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham; Frank Salerno, 43, of Oakville; Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Jackson's Point, Jamie Flanz, 30,of Keswick, Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga and Torontonians George Jessome, 52, Luis Manny Raposo, 41, and George Kriarakis, 28.
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Slain biker vowed he was coming home
Tue, June 9, 2009
He was at Wayne Kellestine's farm the night before his body was found abandoned in a vehicle along a rural Elgin County road
By JANE SIMS

The last words Norine Lee heard from the man she loved was a promise he was coming home.

"I'll see you in a couple hours. I love ya," John 'Boxer' Muscedere said by phone when she called just before midnight April 7, 2006, when he was at Wayne Kellestine's farm.

Her next calls to his cellphone weren't answered: All she heard was a message the phone was turned off.

Hours later, she'd discover the truth -- Muscedere, 48, and seven other men she knew as friends were shot to death and left abandoned in vehicles along a rural Elgin County road.

Lee fought back tears often during her testimony yesterday at the Bandido trial in London, where some men she knew as friends are accused of killing her partner.

Testifying yesterday, Lee often shook the long loose curls from her face and dabbed her eyes with a tissue. She'd cross her arms over her chest, steeling herself for each question about her relationship with the president of the Canadian chapter of the Bandidos and about the night he died.

"I loved him very much," she said.

What came through was unflagging devotion to Muscedere. When one lawyer suggested Muscedere sold drugs, Lee was defiant.

"Are you kidding me?" she said, under cross-examination, to defence lawyer Christopher Hicks.

"He worked. He had money of his own. None came from drug money, buddy."

Most of her friends call her Nina, she said. She's going to school and is the mother of Muscedere's daughter, age four.

Lee and Muscedere lived in a 12th-floor apartment in Toronto's Parkdale. She said everyone called him Boxer, because he boxed and taught young people the sport.

Lee said Muscedere didn't tell her he was involved in a bike club until months after they were together. She knew the other Bandidos who'd die that night by their nicknames.

"That's Chopper," she said, of a photo of Luis Raposo, 41.

'Crash' was George Kriarakis, 28; 'Pony,' George Jessome, 52; Frank Salerno, 43, 'BamBam'; 'Paulie' was Paul Sinopoli, 30; and 'Mikey' was Michael Trotta, 31.

Lee said she didn't know Boxer's club role and "didn't care." She recalled meeting 'Taz' -- Sandham -- once at their apartment. And she knew Kellestine, a friend of Muscedere, whom, she confirmed, paid off a debt for Kellestine's house.

The day before Muscedere died, Lee said the couple had dinner, then "Chopper, Crash and Pony showed up." They had some "regular bro" talk, while Lee fed them.

"I knew they were going to London," she said, because Kellestine had called them twice.

Lee said she and Muscedere planned to go to Chatham the next day and Muscedere planned to return to a Tilbury factory job.

After he was gone, Lee said she called him twice.

At about 10:30 p.m., she called him and "I asked him if he was OK. He said he was fine."

The second call was about midnight. She told him she'd made a photo collage. He asked about the baby. He said he loved her.

After that, she said Muscedere's phone was off, as was Chopper's and BamBam's. She spent a sleepless night waiting for him.

The next morning, Chopper's girlfriend called and told her to watch the news. Lee said she recognized Chopper's car, the tow truck and Flanz's SUV.

Lee said she "freaked. I went into shock."

She called Kellestine. "I asked him where Boxer was. He said he didn't know where he was." "I asked him why he was the only one alive," she said. Lee said he didn't answer. "He said he had to go," she said.
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Bandidos jurors hear testimony from slain biker's girlfriend
Tue, June 9, 2009


By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

Carrie Caldwell looked at the photograph of her boyfriend and smiled warmly.

There was Luis "Manny" Raposo is a confident, defiant stance giving two middle-finger salutes.

"Yeah, that's Chopper," she said quietly.

"I loved him. He loved me."

Caldwell, a nurse and single mother, was testifying this morning at the Bandido trial and recalling her relationship with one of eight men found shot to death on Stafford Line on April 8, 2006.


Caldwell met Raposo in Port Dover on May 13, 2005, at a Friday the 13th motorcycle gathering in the Lake Erie village.

Raposo was wearing his Bandido colours — his vest with the "fat Mexican" emblem.

It was a long-disatance relationship — Caldwell in London and Raposo in Toronto. They talked on the phone every night.

Caldwell said the couple would talk about the Bandidos. Raposo, she said, was the national secretary of the Canadian chapter — made up of Toronto chapter members.

One of his jobs was to collect dues. She said victim Paul Sinopoli also collected dues "but sometimes he got demoted."

Her testimony was interupted by legal arguments without the jury present. The trial resumes after lunch.

Earlier this morning, another member of a special OPP unit described his role in the hours following the discovery of eight dead men.

Cnst. Mark Beauchesne of the Tactics and Rescue Unit (TRU) helped search a bushlot on Stafford Line in Elgin County near where the bodies were discovered on April 8, 2006.

He also watched Wayne Kellestine's farm on Aberdeen line and, with binoculars, was able to make out a license plate on a blue car that arrived there after police began the surveillance.
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Biker feared for his life, girlfriend tells trial
Jun 09, 2009 04:49 PM
Peter Edwards Staff Reporter

LONDON, Ont. – Murdered Bandidos motorcycle club member Luis Raposo told his girlfriend that he could be killed because he shared confidential club secrets with her, a mass murder trial heard today. "He told me that things that he told me could get him killed," Carrie Caldwell, a London nurse, told the Bandidos mass murder trial. Caldwell said that Raposo, 41, of Toronto, was the secretary of the Bandidos national chapter and told her that the Winnipeg arm of the club hadn't been paying their dues, as required by club bylaws.

"I don't think they paid at all," Caldwell told the jury in the largest mass murder in modern Ontario history. It was Raposo's duty to collect dues and the Winnipeggers frustrated him by not paying, she said. "He said they weren't getting paid," Caldwell told court. She said the conversation took place in early 2006.

Raposo's bullet-riddled body was found early in the morning of Sat., April 8, 2006 on the outskirts of Shedden, 14 kilometers from the farm of fellow club member Wayne Kellestine, 60, in Iona Station, west of London. Also found by a farmer's field in abandoned vehicles were the bodies of seven bikers connected to Kellestine and Raposo: Kellestine and five other men face eight first-degree murder charges, including one for the murder of Muscedere.

Caldwell recalled a tense conversation between Kellestine and Raposo in early 2006, when the bikers discussed how the American headquarters of the club wanted to expel them. She recalled Raposo saying that it was tough for him to communicate with the Americans, since the Canadian bikers were in breach of several club rules. Court has heard that the American bikers were frustrated that the Canadians hadn't been communicating with them, as required by the club's constitution. She recalled that Raposo asked Kellestine, "What am I supposed to do? We're breaking the rules."

The trial continues.
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Girlfriend overheard patches dispute
Wed, June 10, 2009
Carrie Caldwell testified her boyfriend, shooting victim Luis Manny Raposo, told her things he said could get him killed
By JANE SIMS

First she saw his photograph, then his Bandido vest. Each time, Carrie Caldwell gave a warm, but sad, smile of recognition. "I loved him. He loved me," she said. She pointed with a gloved hand to the rip on the right shoulder of the vest, something her boyfriend Luis Manny Raposo tried to stitch together at a couple of parties, but ended up tacking together with safety pins. "Yes. That's Chopper's," she said in the witness box at the Bandido trial yesterday, referring to her biker boyfriend's nickname.


Caldwell was Raposo's confidante and had a rare look inside the conflict that gripped the Bandidos before the shooting death of eight Toronto-area men whose bodies were found on Stafford Line in Elgin County on April 8, 2006. "He told me things he told me could get him killed," she said in her quiet voice.

Raposo, 41, the former national secretary of the club, was one of the men found dead that morning. Caldwell knew the other seven: John "Boxer" Muscedere, 48, George "Pony" Jessome, 52, George "Crash" Kriarakis, 28, Frank Salerno, 43, Paul "Paulie" Sinopoli, 30, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael "Mikey" Trotta, 31. She was testifying at the trial of six men charged with eight counts of first-degree murder, some of whom she met before Raposo was killed: Wayne Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg.

Caldwell, a nurse and single mother, had been with Raposo since they met in Port Dover on May 13, 2005, at a Friday the 13th motorcycle gathering in the Lake Erie village. Raposo was wearing his Bandido colours -- his vest with the "Fat Mexican" emblem. It was a long-distance relationship -- Caldwell in London and Raposo in Toronto. They talked on the phone every night. Caldwell became Raposo's sounding board and she began to understand the internal troubles that plagued the group. She said it was "not normal" for him to tell her club business. Raposo told her he wasn't supposed to talk about it with anyone but "bros." She knew Kellestine and another Bandido, David "Concrete Dave" Weiche, before she met Raposo. She met Mather through them and knew him as "Red."

Caldwell had been to Kellestine's farm many times. She recalled a party there in June 2005 and said she and Raposo would go there if he came to visit her in London. She was shown parts of a video from a party at Kellestine's and identified Kellestine's singing voice. "Dave and him often broke into song," she said. She also described other gatherings, including a motorcycle run north of Toronto and "last run" of the year in Peterborough. Sandham came to the Peterborough run, but not the Christmas party.

One of Raposo's jobs was to collect dues. She said victim Paul Sinopoli also collected dues "but sometimes he got demoted." Winnipeg, a probationary chapter, wasn't paying its dues to Toronto. "I don't think they paid at all," she said. Caldwell said she also met Sandham, known as Taz, several times, and Mushey. She recalled meeting them with Raposo and Kellestine in a Toronto airport hotel where the Winnipeg bikers, wanted their expenses to be paid by the Toronto Bandidos. "No, they weren't paid," she said.

Sandham and Raposo had a heated discussion on her phone, she said about a party. "He was giving Chopper a hard time," she said.
She was not aware of the group's troubles until December, 2005. At Kellestine's farm, she said Raposo and Kellestine got in a heated argument where "voices were raised." "They were talking about the States pulling their patches," Caldwell said. "Wayne didn't want to give up his patch and what were they going to do about it." Raposo told her he didn't know what to do. The dues weren't paid, and he couldn't send an e-mail or any information because "we're not following the rules." Caldwell said Raposo didn't like using e-mail "because it was one of the ways the cops could monitor."

She is expected to return to the witness box today.
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Slain biker brought gun to a party, trial hears
Jun 10, 2009 11:14 AM

LONDON, ONT. – Bandidos biker Luis Raposo brought a handgun to a club party in south Riverdale less than a month before his murder because he expected trouble might break out, his former girlfriend told a mass murder trial today.

Carrie Caldwell, a London nurse, told the Bandidos trial that she later asked Raposo: "What's up with that?" "There might be some problems," she recalled Raposo as replying. Raposo brought the gun to a club party at a hall on Broadview Ave. near Queen St. E. on March 18, 2006, three weeks before he and seven others connected to the Greater Toronto Area chapter of the Bandidos were shot to death.

There weren't any fireworks at the party, which was snubbed by members from the Winnipeg probationary chapter of the Bandidos and Wayne Kellestine, 60, a member from Iona Station, west of London. Raposo's bullet-riddled body was found in an abandoned vehicle 14 kilometres from Kellestine's farm early in the morning of April 8, 2006.

The party fizzled and broke up by 11 p.m., when some of the bikers went to Muscedere's apartment in Parkdale. In the foyer of the Parkdale highrise, Raposo passed the silver handgun to Flanz, who slipped it to a junior prospect club member known as "Stone," Caldwell said. At the meeting, the Winnipeggers had been expected to pay up back dues to Raposo, who had served as the Bandidos' national secretary.
Raposo hadn't been impressed by Winnipeggers, including their president, Michael Sandham, a former police officer, who inflated his status in the club, Caldwell said. "They weren't paying (dues)," Caldwell said. "They weren't following protocol. They were doing what they wanted."

The trial continues.
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Kellestine cried on the phone, girlfriend of slain biker testifies
Wed, June 10, 2009
Second day of testimony for Carrie Caldwell at Bandidos trial

Carrie Caldwell knew her boyfriend and his friends were dead. And she knew Wayne Kellestine would know why. The day after eight men, including her boyfriend Luis Manny "Chopper" Raposo, 41 and seven other men connected to the Bandido motorcycle club were found shot to death, she called Kellestine's cellphone. "Wayne was pretty quiet," she said during her testimony this morning at the Bandido trial. "I don't think he could get a word in edgewise."
But near the end of the conversation, "I'm pretty sure he was crying." "He said 'I got (expletive) up and I (expletive) up." Caldwell said she was shocked: "I didn't know what that meant." Then, she said, Kellestine hung up.

The jury has heard evidence the Bandidos were entrenched in an internal conflict that led to the shootings. The men had been at Kellestine's farm for a meeting hours before they were found dead. Caldwell, who started her testimony yesterday, knew Kellestine before she met Raposo. When she had been alerted to the shootings, she saw on a television report that one of the cars belonged to her boyfriend. She called Kellestine's farm twice on April 8, 2006. The first time she asked "where Chopper was and if they were the ones who were found."

"He didn't answer me straight out," she said. Caldwell said Kellestine was "offhand, blase" about it. She called again later, only to have Kerry Morris, a friend of Kellestine's, hang up on her. Caldwell didn't call again until the next morning, when she had the brief, emotional conversation with Kellestine. In cross-examination, Caldwell said Raposo, the former national secretary of the Bandidos, was planning to retire from the club in June, 2006.
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Kellestine thought to be crying: witness
Thu, June 11, 2009
BANDIDOS TRIAL: Jury told of phone calls to farm
By JANE SIMS

Wayne Kellestine's voice was cracking with emotion over the phone line. I got (expletive) up and I (expletive) up," he told Carrie Caldwell, the girlfriend of one of the eight men found shot dead the day before near Shedden. I'm pretty sure he was crying," Caldwell told the jury at the Bandidos trial yesterday during her testimony about her relationship with the former national secretary Luis Manny (Chopper) Raposo and the rest of the Canadian Bandidos Toronto-based motorcycle club.
"I was shocked. I didn't know what that meant," she said. Kellestine, 60, a Bandidos biker and one of the six men who have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder, had been quietly listening to a "hysterical" Caldwell who was demanding to know what happened to Raposo, 41, and his friends.

A day earlier, Caldwell had seen Raposo's Volkswagen Golf and victim Jamie Flanz's Infiniti SUV on TV news reports of the grisly discovery on Stafford Line.She tried to call Raposo, 41, her boyfriend of a year, but his phone was turned off. So were the phones of national president John (Boxer) Muscedere, 48, George (Crash) Kriarakis, 28, and Paul (Paulie) Sinopoli, 30.She later found out George Jessome, 52, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31, were dead, too.

She called Muscedere's girlfriend, Nina Lee, looking for Chopper. Lee was looking for Boxer. Then, Caldwell said, she made her first call of two calls on April 8, 2006, to Kellestine's farm on Aberdeen Line in Dutton- Dunwich. She asked "where Chopper was and if they were the ones who were found.""He didn't answer me straight out," she said.Caldwell said Kellestine was "offhand, blase" about it. She called again later that day, only to have Kerry Morris, a friend of Kellestine's, hang up on her. Ca\dwell didn't call again until the next morning, when she had the brief, emotional conversation with Kellestine.

Kellestine is on trial, along with Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg.

The jury heard about another Kellestine phone conversation from Muscedere's younger brother.Joe Muscedere testified he called the Kellestine farm the evening the bodies were found, but was told Kellestine was unavailable.He called the next day after he and his father went to the crime scene, then identified Boxer from a photograph.Muscedere's brother said a woman answered the phone and told Kellestine who it was. He heard Kellestine say "oh s . . ."Once on the line, Kellestine was "surprised, evasive and a little nervous."After he was told Muscedere was dead, Kellestine asked if the father and son had been to the police. "My condolences," he said. "You know what your brother meant to me."
Boxer and Kellestine had been close friends, but "they weren't as close" at the time of the deaths, Joe Muscedere testified.Kellestine told him a reporter had called him and asked if he was dead. Joe Muscedere heard laughter in the background.

Caldwell, a nurse and single mother, was in the witness box most of the day after starting her testimony Tuesday. She continued to describe how she became Raposo's girlfriend and confidante.She told the jury he often told her Bandidos club secrets and was aware of the internal struggles between the national chapter and the fledgling Winnipeg chapter they were supporting.She knew Winnipeg had not been paying their dues. She also knew the international Bandidos had ordered that the Canadian patches be pulled.Caldwell had helped Raposo draft e-mails to Sandham insisting the Winnipeg Bandidos maintain communication and attend a mandatory national party in Toronto on March 18, 2006, where the dues problem would have been discussed.She said she "never got warm fuzzies" when she met Sandham, later found out to be an ex-cop, and told Raposo she thought he acted like a police officer."Chopper said he was sly and he had a military background and that's why (I) feel uncomfortable," she said.The Winnipeg chapter, Kellestine, Mather, and friends Kerry Morris and Eric Niessen did not attend the party.

After the party ended, Caldwell said she and Raposo went back to Muscedere's apartment. While they were waiting in the lobby, she saw Raposo pass a silver handgun to Flanz, who passed it to another Bandido named Shane Gardiner, also known as Stone.Raposo told her later the gun was there because "there might have been some problems."Caldwell said she was with Raposo months earlier when he bought a long gun from a reserve near London for $40. He wrapped it in her coat and put it on the front of his motorcycle, then drove it to Kellestine's, where he dropped it off.She said Raposo was planning to retire from the Bandidos in June 2006 and come to London to live with her.Caldwell also said Raposo had been a "heavy user" of cocaine, but was quitting because she did not approve of drugs.
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Bandidos jurors get a glimpse inside Wayne Kellestine's barn
Thu, June 11, 2009
Site is where slain bikers allegedly spent their final moments

Jurors were taken on a pictorial tour of Wayne Kellestine's barn this morning, where it's alleged eight Bandidos spent their final moments.
The Bandido trial focused on Kellestine's Aberdeen Line farm in Dutton-Dunwich and the searches conducted there by police for six weeks after the men were found shot to death 14 kilometres away, near Shedden on April 8, 2006. OPP Det. Const. Ross Stuart returned to the witness box to act as tour guide for the six men and six women who have been hearing the three-month-long trial.

The jury saw photographs of the farm and inside the barn. What was clear is that Kellestine was no housekeeper. Stacks and stacks of items were found in and around the shed and barn. Among the items were construction materials, old fridges, freezers, motorcycle parts, hardwood flooring, lawn mowers of various sizes, tools, ladders, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, old windows, furniture, beer signs, a Nazi flag, a POW-MIA flag, girlie pictures and a yellow cap with the initials KKK on it.

Inside the barn there was a sign that said Provincial Offences Court. There was also a lot of rust-coloured staining on the floor, some of it still wet. Stuart showed a video of the area and pointed out a firepit that police covered with a tent for investigation purposes. It's expected the jury will see inside Kellestine's house this afternoon. Six men have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder. The Crown's case is focusing on internal conflicts inside the Canadian chapter motorcycle club, both with the international headquarters and with the fledgling Winnipeg chapter that was under their control.
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Jury witnesses massive clutter
Fri, June 12, 2009
BANDIDOS TRIAL: Kellestine's farm seen in photos, video

To say Wayne Kellestine's farm was cluttered is a bit of an understatement.

The jury at the Bandidos trial took a look at the farm through photos and a video yesterday. They got sense of the mammoth job that faced police durng the six weeks they searched the 50-acre property at 32196 Aberdeen Line in Dutton-Dunwich in Elgin County three years ago.

OPP Det. Const. Ross Stuart returned to the witness box to act as tour guide for the six men and six women who have been hearing the three-month-long trial in which six men, including Kellestine, have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder. Parts of the barn where the Crown says eight Bandido bikers spent their final moments April 8, 2006, were jammed with junk -- old fridges and freezers, lawn tractors and parts, motorcycle parts, tires, building material, hardwood flooring and a yellow ball cap with the letters "KKK."

And in the barn's main room -- containing a Confederate flag, various pieces of living room and patio furniture and other more eclectic collections -- the cement floor was wet and stained. There was a ladder leading to a loft full of items that overlooked the main room. On the wall was a sign: "Provincial Offences Court." The shed was also packed. Tools and wrenches were neatly hung on the wall, but the benches were covered with power tools and junk. A Harley-Davidson motorcycle was covered with a tarp.

A Nazi flag hung on the wall.

Every room of the rambling four-bedroom house was full of clutter. The rear living room had a stone fireplace, family pictures on the wall and a large stereo. The room was crammed with collectibles. A couple of hand grenades were on one shelf and an old artillery shell leaned up against the wall with some walking canes. A large pickle jar had the words "Potty Mouth Jar" and was sitting on a shelf. A police scanner sat on a stereo speaker. The kitchen counter was cluttered and the dish rack full of dishes. Stuart pointed to an area of cupboard under the microwave that he said became an area of interest in the case. The toilet wasn't working in the main floor bathroom and there was a note on the wall warning people not to flush.

Stuart also showed photos from the fire pit near the barn where an archeological team from the University of Western Ontario sifted through the ashes. Remnants of eyeglasses, burnt money, belt buckles, zipper pulls, a Harley-Davidson lighter, cellphones and steel boot shanks were found. There were also burnt keys that were duplicated by the OPP special entry team in Orillia. The duplicates opened residences of victims Raposo, Muscedere, Trotta and Sinopoli. One key opened victim Salerno's car. The jury is expected to hear more about the archeological search next week.

The trial continues Monday.
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Bandidos jurors hear testimony about water sources

Canada - ~Bandidos jurors hear testimony about water sources on Kellestine farm~

Testimony continued today at the Bandido trial with cross-examination of the lead identification officer. Det. Const. Ross Stuart returned to the witness box this morning and identified where the OPP found police scanners and walkie-talkies at Wayne Kellestine's farm. He also identified photographs showing a bathroom with a toilet that had to be primed with water to work. Kellestine's lawyer, Clay Powell, asked Stuart if he had noticed that the copper piping that led to the bathroom had burst from freezing over the winter. Stuart said water sources for the bathroom could have come from a well beside the barn, empty freezers near the well that had filled with rainwater, or from the basement where the water was working.

The trial is in its third month.

Six men - Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg - have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder. Eight men, all with ties to the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos motorcycle club, were found shot to death on April 8, 2006 along a rural Elgin County road near Shedden. The shooting victims were George Jessome, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, John Muscedere, 48, Luis Raposo, 41, Frank Salerno, 43, Paul Sinopoli, 30, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31. The jury has heard evidence of an internal struggle between the Toronto Bandidos chapter, a fledgling Winnipeg chapter and the international headquarters in Texas.

The trial continues this morning.
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Cop watched accused in Bandidos trial get suspect vehicle cleaned, jury hears
Mon, June 15, 2009

The Chamois Car Wash in Winnipeg promised its customers they would "Look Good in a Clean Car."

Ex-police officer and fledgling Bandido biker Michael Sandham rolled the red GMC Jimmy into the car wash on Reenders Drive just two days after eight men had been found shot to death along a rural road in Elgin County near Shedden. The jury at the Bandidos trial — where six men, including Sandham, have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder — have heard that the Jimmy had been at Wayne Kellestine's farm, then began its journey back to Winnipeg the morning the bodies were discovered.

On the morning of April 10, 2006, Sandham took the SUV in for a carpet and seat shampoo, signed in the with name "Shane Stevenson" and waited for the cleaning. What he didn't know was that the other customer in the waiting area who was having a breakfast burrito with his son was a Winnipeg police officer and a member of the organized-crime unit. "I sit down in the lobby and I see Michael Sandham," said Const. Grant Goulet during his testimony this morning. Goulet was on his day off and had just returned from a long family road trip. He recognized Sandham from previous investigations. Sandham didn't recognize Goulet.

Shortly before 11 a.m., Goulet watched the Chamois staff bring out the Jimmy. He noticed that the driver's side rear bumper had been scraped. He saw there was plastic wrap over the seats, indicating they had been freshly cleaned. He watched Sandham get in the vehicle, took note of the license plate and watched Sandham do "counter surveillance" — bypassing obvious exits, sitting for a few minutes in one spot, then following the same routine again.

On April 15, 2006, Goulet was watching Sandham again — this time while on duty. Goulet was part of a surveillance team that followed Sandham to Selkirk, Man., just outside of Winnipeg, where he went to the local Walmart, dropped off his wife and child, then took the Jimmy to the service bay to have the tires replaced. The jury watched Goulet's surveillance video and saw the old tires be bagged up by Walmart service technicians and put into the back of the Jimmy. Later, Winnipeg police saw Sandham get rid of the tires "out in the middle of nowhere" near the intersection of Hillside and Heatherdale roads not far from Birdshill Park, 10 to 12 kilometres outside Winnipeg. The jury saw more videotape of the tire-disposal area and where the four B. F. Goodrich Radial Long tires came to rest after they were rolled down a steep hill into a ravine. Goulet noted that there was no other garbage or tires in the area.

Six men — Wayne Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg — have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder.
Eight men, all with ties to the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos motorcycle club, were found shot to death on April 8, 2006 along a rural Elgin County road near Shedden. The shooting victims were George Jessome, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, John Muscedere, 48, Luis Raposo, 41, Frank Salerno, 43, Paul Sinopoli, 30, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31. The jury has heard evidence of an internal struggle between the Toronto Bandidos chapter, a fledgling Winnipeg chapter and the international headquarters in Texas.

The trial, in its third month, continues this afternoon.
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At Bandidos trial, cop maps out route taken by accused
Tue, June 16, 2009

Evidence continued this morning at the Bandido trial, with a description of an out-of-the way route one of the accused took during a tire-purchase drive from his Winnipeg home to a Selkirk, Man., Walmart. Winnipeg police Det. Sgt. Roger Penner mapped out the route for the jury hearing the testimony in the case of six men who have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder — Wayne Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg. The shooting victims — George Jessome, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, John Muscedere, 48, Luis Raposo, 41, Frank Salerno, 43, Paul Sinopoli, 30, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31 — were all members of the Toronto chapter of the Bandido motorcycle club.

Testimony this week has focused on Sandham's movements the days following the discovery of the bodies on a quiet rural road in Elgin County on April 8, 2006. Penner said his unit in the organized-crime division was watching Sandham at the request of the Ontario Provincial Police. Sandham appeared to take measures to evade surveillance during his trip to Selkirk on April 15, 2006.

He took short side streets, doubled back and drove around city blocks. His round trip to Selkirk was almost twice as long as the direct route from his home. He ended up dumping his old tires in a remote ravine outside the city. Police retrieved the tires, then replaced them with “dummy tires” — thinking Sandham would return. And he did on April 17, 2006. Police followed Sanham to the area. The dummy tires were still there after Sandham left. Kellestine's defence lawyer, Clay Powell, asked Penner, in his role with the organized-crime unit, if he had any dealings with a man who is yet to testify and was with at the Kellestine farm during the shootings.
Penner said he knew the informant "to be in the drug game" and "hanging around with those types of people."

The trial continues this afternoon.
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Accused calm at border, trial told
Wed, June 17, 2009
By JANE SIMS

The alert went out to all U.S. border crossings to be on the lookout for Michael Sandham, "president of the Bandidos motorcycle gang in Winnipeg." At the remote border crossing at Neche, S.D., Tim Vetter, a U.S. border guard, found out there was "a possible situation" when he punched Sandham's name into his computer on May 30, 2006. Sandham, one of six men who have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder, had rolled up to the crossing an hour and a half from Winnipeg on his black Harley-Davidson motorcycle. He said he was going to Sturgis, S.D. Yesterday, at the Bandido trial in London, Vetter described his hour with Sandham waiting for clearance to allow him into the U.S.

Sandham, 39, is on trial with Wayne Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg. The shooting victims -- George Jessome, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, John Muscedere, 48, Luis Raposo, 41, Frank Salerno, 43, Paul Sinopoli, 30, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31 -- were all members of the Toronto chapter of the Bandido motorcycle club. They were found shot to death along a rural road in Elgin County on April 8, 2006.

The jury has heard of the tensions between the Toronto-based bikers and their fledgling Winnipeg chapter. There was also friction between the Toronto members and the international headquarters in Texas, where there had been orders that the men give up their biker patches.

Sandham had chosen a quiet entry into the U.S.: Neche is on a a two-way highway where vehicles are processed one at a time. He filled out paperwork with his particulars and indicated he was on his way to Sturgis to check out the town before its large August motorcycle rally. The jury has heard Sandham didn't go to Sturgis, but headed to Houston to meet with the international executive of the Bandido motorcycle club. Vetter said he inspected Sandham's saddle bags and backpack. He found no cellphone or Bandidos-related items or maps that indicated he was going to Texas. Vetter said he and Sandham made small talk during the wait. Most people, he said, get upset when they have to wait a long time. "He was not agitated whatsoever," Vetter said.

Earlier, the evidence focused on a description of a long, out-of-the-way route Sandham took during a tire-buying trip from his Winnipeg residence to a Walmart in Selkirk, Man. Winnipeg Det. Sgt. Roger Penner mapped the route for the jury, looking at Sandham's movements the days after the bodies were found, at the OPP's request. Sandham dumped his old tires in a ravine outside the city. Police retrieved the tires and replaced them with "dummy tires," thinking Sandham would return. He did, on April 17, 2006.

Kellestine's lawyer, Clay Powell, asked Penner, in his role with the organized crime unit, if he had any dealings with a man who is yet to testify and was at the Kellestine farm during the shootings. Penner said he knew the informant "to be in the drug game" and "hanging around with those types of people." The jury also heard from an OPP locksmith who tested duplicates of keys found in a fire pit on Kellestine's farm. Many could be matched at the homes of the dead men.

The trial continues.
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Bandidos jurors hear about contents of Kellestine's fire pit
Thu, June 18, 2009
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

At first glance, the fire pit at Wayne Kellestine's farm appeared to be nothing more than a heap of white ashes. But a closer look and the work of a University of Western Ontario archeology team unearthed clues about what happened there. There were three sets of eyeglasses, several sets of keys, charred cellphones parts, a burned sofa, various paper notebooks and a cigarette lighter with a Harley-Davidson emblem. Money clips — one with several burned $20 bills — zipper tabs, rivets, buttons, snaps, a belt buckle, steel toes from boots, film canisters, a broken headlight, metal strips, a wallet chain and coins were sifted out of the debris. And there were casings from shotgun shells.

This morning, Michael Spence, a University of Western Ontario professor emeritus and an expert in forensic archeology testified at the Bandido trial what he and his team found in the fire pit near the barn where the Crown says eight Bandido bikers spent their final moments on April 8, 2006. George Jessome, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, John Muscedere, 48, Luis Raposo, 41, Frank Salerno, 43, Paul Sinopoli, 30, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31., all of the Toronto area were found shot to death and left in vehicles along a rural Elgin County Road near Shedden, about 14 kilometres from Kellestine's farm. All the men were associated with the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos motorcycle club. Six men have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder — Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg.

The archeology team sifted through the pit over three days from April 17 to 19, 2006. The police had placed a tent over the area and a tarp over the fire pit during the investigation to protect it for Spence's work. Spence described how the pit was mapped out and how each item found was documented. All of it was carefully removed from the area and sent away for analysis. Spence and his team also examined ashes in two metal drums on the property, a pail of ashes and the indoor fireplace. One drum near the fire pit had some siding, a candle holder, a garbage bag and glass and metal bottles and cans. The second drum near a picnic table had branches, tissues, two toe nails, cigarette butts and duct tape. The fireplace appeared to have been cleaned out, but another fire had been started. Spence's team found a condom, condom wrappers, computer parts, a paper notebook and a zipper tab.

The jury is also hearing from experts from the Centre of Forensic Sciences today who are discussing various pieces of evidence. Expert chemist Charlotte Smaglinski analysed some rust-coloured fluid taken from the Kellestine barn floor. The jury has seen photographs where its appeared the floor was smeared with the liquid. Part of it was acidic, and was likely hydrochloric acid, she said. There was also calcium, iron, zinc and potasium in the analysis. In separate experiments, Smaglinski tested the fluid with iron. It didn't take long for the acid to turn to a similar rust colour. None of the material was found on items of accused's clothing she examined — Frank Mather's boots, Brett Gardiner's boots or Kellestine's shirt and belt.

The jury broke for lunch in the middle of testimony from Douglas Isherwood, also from the Centre for Forensic Sciences. His expertise is in the retrieval of data from mobile-communication devices. Isherwood examined the remains of eight cellphones found in the fire pit. The blackened and melted pieces came to him in exhibit bags. No data could be retrieved from them because they were so badly damaged. But he was able to retrieve numbers off batteries and the phones and identify that some se emed to come from Motorola models. He also examined a Motorola phone found in a gym bag inside the games room in the Kellestine home.

The jury has heard that Gardiner used the nickname Bull. The calendar on the phone marked June 19 in 2004, 2005 and 2006 with the name Bull with a number, an icon resembling a gift.
The jury has seen an e-mail signed by Bull to a woman named Jessica. On the phone was a note for July 27, 2005, that Jessica was paid $150 "for baby," with a smiley face icon. There were several phone numbers in the address book, including one for "Jessi Baby Girl", "Jon the Wop" and Amy. Isherwood examined another cell phone found in Kellestine's kitchen. The address book included numbers for names familiar to the trial: victim nicknames Chopper (Raposo) BamBam (Salerno), Boxer (Muscedere) Crash (Kriarakis), Paulie (Sinopoli) and Pony (Jessome). There were entries for Tazman (Sandham), Frank Mathers (sic), Dwight A Mushy (sic) and Wayne.

There will be no more evidence heard until July 14 to allow Mushey's new senior lawyer Michael Moon, to get up to speed. Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney told the jury he was sending them "off for summer vacation" but the case will enter "the home stretch." He told them once the trial continues "we will then plow through full speed until we finish the case." Assistant Crown attorney Fraser Kelly told the court the next witness will be M.H., a police informant who was at the Kellestine farm at the time of the shootings.

The trial continues in three weeks.
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Bandidos mystery witness to testify
Tue, July 14, 2009
BIKER TRIAL: The witness goes only by M.H.

He can only be called M.H. -- and he's the most anticipated witness in the Bandidos murder trial.

This morning, in court in London, he's expected to enter the witness box to begin what's believed to be lengthy testimony into what he saw the night eight men associated with the Toronto chapter of the motorcycle club were shot to death in Elgin County. After a three-week hiatus, the jury gets back to work at the Bandido trial with a flourish, finally hearing from the man who says he was at Wayne Kellestine's farm on April 8, 2006. M.H. has been referred to frequently during the trial that began March 31.

Elgin County Crown attorney Kevin Gowdey spoke about him in his opening statement with a promise his testimony would tell what happened in Kellestine's barn that night. The jury has heard about failing loyalties and tensions that had been building for months. Animosity grew between the Toronto chapter -- also recognized as the Canadian national chapter -- and the ambitious, fledgling Winnipeg probationary chapter that was their charge. The jury has heard the Winnipeg chapter was anxious for full status. There were also calls from Bandido international headquarters in Texas to pull the patches of the Toronto chapter because they were no longer following the rules of the club -- and the jury has seen e-mails plotting out the tension in the months before the deaths. M.H., travelled from Winnipeg with Sandham, Mushey and Gardiner to Kellestine's farm two weeks before the men died. He was there for the shootings and will describe what happened at the farm and about the internal conflict that led to the fatal day.

The jury has already reviewed a mountain of evidence -- photographs, e-mails, maps, and videos -- and heard from many witnesses, including police officers, one victim's wife, two girlfriends, civilians and an archeologist. The trial has had several stops and starts, the most lengthy delay because of a change in defence lawyer for Mushey. Brampton-based lawyer Michael Moon has taken over the senior defence role after Edward Royle left because of a serious family illness. Before the long break, Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney promised the jury the case would enter "the home stretch" once it resumed.
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Star witness testifies about career as a Bandido
Tue, July 14, 2009

By JANE SIMS, AND JOHN MINER, LONDON FREE PRESS

He is tall and broad-shouldered with neatly trimmed hair, glasses and wearing a well-pressed blue suit. He smiles slightly when he talks about his wife and kids. He is forthright when he talks about his criminal past.
He is M.H., the star witness at the Bandido trial who entered the witness box this morning for his long-awaited testimony. His identity is under a tight court order, but through questions by assistant Crown attorney Tim Zuber, he did share in some of his past and how he became involved with the Bandido motorcycle club during his early testimony this morning. He also spoke of the tensions and power struggles within the organization. He identified all six accused, who have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder. One of them, Marcelo Aravena, crossed his arms in front of him and scowled. Dwight Mushey stared at him. M.H. is 40, he never finished high school. He worked in various construction jobs and eventually found himself selling cocaine at a Winnipeg bar.

He was a member of a Hells Angels puppet club and was busted twice for selling cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. By the time he finished his house-arrest sentence, the puppet club was no more and he had been contacted by a member of the Bandidos to join. He had met Mushey, who co-owned a nightclub called Daddy's, through a job. Aravena had been a doorman at the bar. It was he and Mushey who decided to join the Bandidos in the summer of 2005. They met Michael Sandham, the president of the probationary chapter. He also knew Jamie Korne, the vice president. Sandham told he and Mushey he had been an Outlaw in Woodstock, Ont. and had been in charge of a puppet club called the Black Pistons. He had turned his patch over to join the Bandidos. Sandham seemed to have control over all aspects of the probationary club and told the new prospects they would have their full-patch status soon once Toronto, their sponsors, approved. Within a couple months, M.H. and Mushey were promoted and Sandham had taken on the secretary-treasurer job with his presidential duties. He had eliminated the vice-president job.

In a set of rules handed out to M.H. and Mushey, drafted by Sandham, there were warnings not to contact the national chapter in Toronto about "internal problems." M.H. said Sandham included this rule because Korne had been "going behind his back" and directly to Toronto. "We have a chain of command in our chapter. USE IT! NO SIDE STEPPING!" the rules said. M.H. said they were sending dues to Toronto, but there was no decision from them to grant full-chapter status. M.H. said the Manitoba chapter couldn't get their patches without Toronto's approval. "We actually made our own," he said. "Wayne (Kellestine) told us Toronto wasn't talking to the States. Wayne told us to go make our own."

M. H. said he, Mushey and Sandham made up the Winnipeg executive with Sandham calling the shots. Other Winnipeg chapter members lived in Saskatchewan and one in Calgary. Brett Gardiner became involved with club while living with a Saskatchewan Bandido nicknamed J. B. (Just Bob). Gardiner moved in with Mushey in the summer of 2005. M. H. Said Gardiner was a prospect. There was also a Bandido puppet club started in Winnipeg called Los Montoneros. M. H. said he and Mushey put the club together - including former members of other motorcycle-related clubs - and Sandham conducted the security checks. M H. described meeting Toronto chapter members in Keswick with Mushey and Sandham. He also met Kellestine, the national sergeant-at-arms, who promised to bring up the Winnipeg chapter's status at a Toronto "church" meeting. M. H. said Kellestine supported granting them full-chapter status. "He wanted growth. He wanted to go coast-to-coast," M. H. said, adding Kellestine wanted "as many as we could get."
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Biker gang tensions escalated, mass murder trial told

LONDON, Ont. – A supposed eye witness to the largest mass murder in modern Ontario history finally took the witness stand today, describing escalating tensions within the Bandidos Motorcycle Club. The witness, who's now living under a new name in a witness protection program, can only be identified as "M.H." to protect his identity.

Dressed in a neatly tailored blue business suit and tie, M.H. looked more like a banker than a biker as he described tensions within the club in the year leading up to the slaughter of eight members of the Bandidos club in April 2006 near the tiny hamlet of Shedden, west of London. Speaking in a soft, low voice, the former executive member of the Winnipeg Bandidos said that most Toronto members didn't want the Winnipeggers to become full members of the club, and prefered to freeze them indefinitely at a probationary level.

One of the Winnipeggers' few supporters was long-time outlaw biker Wayne Kellestine, 60, who was the Bandidos' national sergeant at arms, meaning he was in charge of club discipline, M.H. said. "He wanted growth," M.H. testified. "... He wanted to go (expand) coast to coast. ... He wanted chapters in every province.... As many as we could get." Kellestine, 60, had a distinctly new look for court today, after court broke for a three-week recess. His hair was neatly cropped above his shoulders and his face was shaved clean and he wore a neat charcol-coloured sports jacket. It was a far cry from his wild look in the early days of the trial, when he wore a long pony tail. Two of his fellow accused, Dwight Mushey, 41, and Marcelo Aravena, 33, shot M.H. cold looks at he assumed the witness stand and told of his time in the Bandidos with them.

M.H. said he met Mushey at a nightclub in Winnipeg, where Mushey was co-owner with Eddie Blake, a former player with the CFL Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He said he met Aravena, a mixed martial arts fighter, because Aravena was a bouncer at Mushey's club, called Fat Daddy's. M.H. said he was contacted by members of the Winnipeg Bandidos about joining, but initially declined because he was on strict house arrest terms for possession of cocaine for the purposes of trafficking. Once that two-year sentence expired, he said that he and Mushey met Michael Sandham, 39, president of the Winnipeg Bandidos. He said that Sandham quickly told them that his Bandidos weren't to be confused with the larger Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. He said that Sandham told them: "It's all about brotherhood and riding.... The HA's (Hells Angels) are about the money and the drugs. The Bandidos aren't like that." M.H. said that Sandham handed Mushey and him a list of club rules, including "don'ts" that would get members expelled from the club.

The rules included a ban on:

— coming between two brothers (members)

— needle use and smoking chemicals (if it doesn't grow don't smoke it)\

— lying to a brother (member)

Kellestine, Sandham, Aravena and Mushey each face eight counts of first degree murder after the discovery of the bullet-riddled bodies of of John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham: Frank Salerno, 43, of Oakville; Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Jackson's Point, Jamie Flanz, 30, of Keswick, Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga and Torontonians George Jessome, 52, and George Kriarakis, 28. The bodies were found in vehicles abandoned by a farmers field near Shedden, 14 kilometers from Kellestine's farm. Also facing eight first-degree charges are Winnipeggers Marcello Aravena, 33, Michael Sandham, 39, and Brett Gardiner, 24, and Frank Mather, 35, of no fixed address. Gardiner's parents were in court today, along with a half dozen family members of the victims, including Muscedere's daughter, who's in her early twenties.

The trial continues.
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Bandidos Trial: Manitoba biker cast as control freak
Tue, July 14, 2009

From the moment the star witness at the Bandido trial joined the fledgling Manitoba chapter of the motorcycle club, there was no question about who was in charge. And Michael Sandham told the new members that “any day” their probationary chapter would have its full charter, the witness — a police informant — testified today. Sandham was president, secretary treasurer, rule maker and spokesperson for the Winnipeg-based chapter — a control freak driven by bizarre ambition. But approval never came from the sponsoring Toronto chapter — the men who would later be found shot to death on April 8, 2006 on a rural Elgin County road near Shedden. Those seeds of friction inside the motorcycle club a year before the shootings were mapped out yesterday by M.H., the star witness, whose identity is protected by court order and whose testimony has been the most highly anticipated of the long trial. M.H., 40, was one of a handful of members who joined the Bandidos in Winnipeg and was at Wayne Kellestine’s Dutton-Dunwich farm the night the


In Winnipeg, he was friends with Dwight Mushey, 41, and knew Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Brett Gardiner, 25, through the Bandido connections. Those men, along with Sandham, 39, Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich, have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Bandidos Canada national president John Muscedere, 48, George Jessome, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, Luis Raposo, 41, Frank Salerno, 43, Paul Sinopoli, 30, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31, all of the Toronto area. M.H. had met all of them, he said, after he decided with Mushey to join the Manitoba Bandidos. Within months, they were officers of the group — M.H. was sergeant–at–arms, while Mushey was secretary-treasurer. Yesterday, M.H. looked more like an office executive than a motorcycle club executive.

He’s tall and broad-shouldered with neatly trimmed hair, glasses and wore a pressed blue suit. He smiled slightly when he talked about his wife and kids. He was forthright when he talked about his criminal past. Assistant Crown attorney Tim Zuber asked him to identify each man in the long prisoner’s box. As M.H. said their names, Aravena, crossed his arms and scowled. Dwight Mushey stared at him. M.H. said he never finished high school. He said he worked in various construction jobs and eventually found himself selling cocaine at a Winnipeg bar. He was a member of a Hells Angels puppet club and was busted twice for selling cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. By the time he finished a house arrest sentence on his second charge, the puppet club was no more and a Bandidos member contacted him to join their new club. He already knew Mushey, who co-owned a nightclub called Fat Daddy’s, through a job. M.H. said he was contacted by Manitoba vice-president Jamie Korne and then met Sandham at a Winnipeg hotel. Sandham told M.H. and Mushey he was the president and passed on to them several pages of guidelines that promoted “the Bandido Way.” He told them he had been an Outlaw in Woodstock, Ont. and ran the puppet club called the Black Pistons. He said he came to Winnipeg after a police crackdown on the Outlaws. He decided to drop his patch for Bandido colours.

The rules included regular “church” meetings, no needle use or smoking chemicals (“If it don’t grow, don’t smoke it) and Sandham had final say in everything. “This club’s about sacrifice, get used to it,” one rule read.
One rule forbade any member to talk to the national chapter about internal problems — “they have enough on their plate anyway.” M.H. explained Sandham made the rule because Korne was “going behind (Sandham’s back) and speaking to the sponsoring Toronto chapter. Sandham eventually eliminated the vice president job and pushed Korne out of the executive. M.H. and Mushey didn’t spend nearly the required six months as prospects before they were executive members. Other Winnipeg chapter members lived in Saskatchewan and one in Calgary. Gardiner was a prospect member who lived with a Saskatchewan Bandido nicknamed J.B. (Just Bob). He moved in with Mushey in the summer of 2005 and wanted to be “fast-tracked” into the club. By the end of 2005, Aravena, who was the doorman at Mushey’s nightclub, became a prospect. M.H. said he and Mushey helped form a Bandido puppet club called Los Montoneros from former members of other motorcycle-related clubs and Sandham ran the security checks. But even after “jumping through hoops for the Toronto chapter,” the club still didn’t a charter, even after several trips to Toronto by Sandham, Mushey and M.H. to prove themselves. One-on-one, M.H. said Toronto members liked them, but at meetings the discussion was often heated and the Toronto chapter wouldn’t approve them.

And they didn’t have patches.

“We actually made our own,” M.H. said on the advice from Kellestine who was in favour of expanding the Bandidos across the country and told Winnipeg the national chapter was not in contact with the international bosses in the United States. “To him, it made no sense being a worldwide 1% club, we should be expanding,” M.H., said. Kellestine, he said, disapproved of drug use inside the Toronto club and that some members were kicked out for no reason. The patches were made by “a guy who owned a shop” that Mushey knew. Authentic patches should have been ordered by Toronto and sent from the United States.

The trial continues today. .
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Bandidos trial: Bikers were warned be ready "for the worst"
Wed, July 15, 2009
THE LONDON FREE PRESS

Wayne Kellestine told his uninvited biker guests from Winnipeg “to be prepared for the worst.”

It’s why he kept guns under the roof shingles of his farmhouse porch.

It’s why, in the days before the shooting deaths of eight Toronto Bandidos, an elderly friend gave him rusty green shot gun shells kept in a brown hat when he asked for ammunition.

A police informant known as M.H., the star witness at the Bandido trial, testified Wednesday Kellestine told the five Winnipeg Bandidos who showed up at his house at the end of March 2006, he wanted the ammo in case there was “a church” at the farm with a group of rogue Toronto bikers.

“To be prepared for the worst,” M.H. — whose identity is protected — told the Superior Court jury.


In Day 2 testimony by the Winnipeg biker-turned-informant, he described the club’s early tense months of 2006 and the two weeks the Winnipeg bikers crashed at Kellestine’s Elgin County farm, outside London, before the shootings.

Six men, including Kellestine, 60, have pleaded not guilty to eight counts

of first-degree murder. Michael Sandham, 39, the president of the Manitoba Bandidos probationary

chapter and an ex-police officer, Dwight Mushey, the chapter’s secretary-treasurer, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Brett Gardiner, 25, identified as prospect members and Frank Mather, 35, who lived at Kellestine’s house, have also pleaded not guilty.

Bandidos Canada president John Muscedere, 48, Luis Raposo, 41, Frank Salerno, 43, Paul Sinopoli, 30, George Jessome, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31 were found shot to death and their bodies left in vehicles on a rural Elgin road near Shedden on April 8, 2006.

M.H. was the Winnipeg sergeant-at-arms.

He, Sandham, Mushey and Gardiner showed up at Kellestine’s farm unannounced March 27, 2006, under orders from some American counterparts who wanted to know “what was taking so long” to pull the memberships of the Toronto chapter.

Kellestine had been given the task of pulling the patches.

The Toronto chapter, which had ended communication with the international headquarters in the U.S., was the Winnipeg club sponsor but had refused to give it full-charter status.

The Winnipeg chapter found a friend in Kellestine, a member of the Toronto Bandidos being frozen out by the rest of his group. When news came the Toronto chapter was to be disbanded under international orders for disobeying club rules, Sandham turned to Kellestine.

“Wayne was on our side,” M.H. said.

“If Toronto lost their patches, we could lose ours too.”

Sandham, who had control of virtually all aspects of the Manitoba club, contacted the international executive in Texas and there was no contact between Winnipeg and Toronto.

“Wayne and Sandham basically said, 'screw Toronto.’ We’re talking to the States now through Concrete Dave (Weiche) and stuff,” M.H. said.

Weiche, the jury has heard, had been a Toronto Bandido but had moved to

British Columbia.

He arranged for Sandham and Kellestine to meet Bandidos in Washington state at a Canada-U.S. border park ‹ “Brian”, identified by M.H. as the international president’s right-hand man, “Hawaiian Ken” and “Mongo”, the world sergeant-at-arms.

M.H. said the international president was “George,” from the Bellingham, Wash. chapter, who was in jail at the time.

At the park, M.H. said, Kellestine was told he’d be the head of a London chapter that would be called the Ontario Bandidos and was appointed president of the Canadian national chapter. Sandham would be national secretary-treasurer and Manitoba was granted its much-desired full chapter status.

But Kellestine had to “go back and pull the patches from the Toronto members.”

There was no discussion how the memberships would be pulled.

On March 25, 2006, Sandham called Hawaiian Ken, to ask about Toronto’s status. After several calls back, Ken told Sandham to take his crew to Kellestine’s farm “to see what’s going on with pulling the patches.”

Kellestine wasn’t to be told they were coming.

Aravena, a prospect living with Mushey, couldn’t go because he had a mixed-martial-arts fight, but plans were made for them to join up the following week.

Mushey, M.H. testified, asked if they should take weapons.

“Taz (Sandham) said no. If we needed weapons, Wayne would have them.”

Sandham, Gardiner, Mushey and M.H. took two days to drive to Kellestine’s farm in Sandham’s red GMC Jimmy. On the way they found out three men had been at Sandham’s in-laws in Winnipeg looking for him. The group surmised it was two Toronto Bandidos called Stone and Carlito who were with Jamie Korne, a Winnipeg Bandido who was on his way to being kicked out of the club.

Once they arrived at Kellestine’s farm, he was “surprised” to see them.

“Taz (told Kellestine) the States told him to show up there and that they’ll elaborate more after,” M.H. said.

They found out the three men in Winnipeg were there to kill Sandham. Carlito was to be the new president of the chapter.

Mather, who moved into Kellestine’s basement with his girlfriend, was introduced to the men by Kellestine as “one of his boys from London.”

The Winnipeg Bandidos also moved in, sleeping on couches. They were there two weeks. Sometimes they went into Dutton or London. They ate at Kellestine’s or the Holland House restaurant.

The second week, the group discussed how they were going to pull the Toronto patches.

Kellestine suggested they show up at a club meeting and “tell them they’re done, they’re no longer Bandidos.”

Sandham, who spoke of his military training, suggested he could shoot Muscedere with a rifle from the street when the national president was on his apartment balcony smoking a cigar.

Kellestine took some of the men to a nearby First Nation reserve where they met a man named “Cliff” to get shingles for his porch roof where he kept some guns. They also visited the elderly man for some shotgun shells.

On Friday, April 7, Kellestine said he’d tell the Toronto Bandidos there was “a church at his place,” and that Sandham and “another guy from Winnipeg want to know what is going on.”

Sinopoli was called from a phone in Dutton. He later confirmed they’d be coming to the farm.

“Wayne started to bring out the guns and stuff,” M.H. said, from upstairs in the house. Kellestine looked for gun parts all over the house. Some guns didn’t work or were missing pieces.

Mushey cut the barrel of a shotgun off in the shed and cleaned an old handgun Kellestine kept in the shed’s sink. Gardiner and Aravena cleaned some ammunition. Sandham put guns together and loaded a clip.

M.H. was shown several weapons and he identified them as the guns at the farm.

M.H. returns to the witness box Thursday.
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Bandidos boss planned to 'screw' Toronto chapter: murder trial witness
Accused handed out weapons ahead of meeting with Toronto rivals, police informant testifies
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 15, 2009 7:47 PM ET

A key witness in the trial of six men charged with murdering members of the Bandidos biker gang in southwestern Ontario testified Wednesday that the head of the gang's Winnipeg chapter said it was time to "screw Toronto" and work with Bandidos in Washington state instead.

The witness is a former Bandido from the Winnipeg chapter turned police informant who can only be identified as M.H. because he is now in a witness protection program.

He was testifying for the second day in a London, Ont., courtroom in the trial relating to the shooting deaths of eight Bandidos members and associates from the Toronto area. The bodies of the men were found on April 8, 2006, stuffed in several cars that had been abandoned not far from the community of Shedden.

During his testimony, M.H said Bandidos in Winnipeg were upset with gang members in Toronto who were holding the Winnipeg chapter back from full gang membership.

He said one of the accused, Michael Sandham, met with gang officials from the U.S. outside of Vancouver in early 2006 and returned home with the news that the Toronto chapter would "be no more."

Later that year, M.H. said, the Winnipeg members were told to travel to southwestern Ontario with their chapter boss to meet with Bandido Wayne Kellestine, a sympathizer who opposed the Toronto chapter despite being one of its members. Kellestine is one of the six defendants accused of first-degree murder.

The witness described how Kellestine felt slighted by the Toronto chapter, saying he was often informed of club meetings with little time to travel to Toronto from his farm near Shedden.

Under the agreement with the U.S. Bandidos made at the Vancouver meeting, Kellestine would become national president, Sandham would become secretary treasurer and Kellestine would also set up a chapter in London, M.H. testified.

It was to be Kellestine's responsibility to strip the Toronto members of their club patches, he said.

"The States wanted to know what was taking so long," M.H. said.
'Be prepared for the worst'

M.H. told the court that upon arriving at Kellestine's farm without advance notice, Kellestine told the Winnipegers that two Toronto Bandidos had just been sent to Winnipeg to kill the chapter's boss, not knowing that he and other members of the Winnipeg chapter were travelling east just as they were heading west.

The two groups had just missed each other, M.H. said.

On April 6 and 7, the men at Kellestine's house discussed what to do about the Toronto chapter, and it was decided that Kellestine would tell his fellow Toronto members he was holding a "church" — what they called club meetings — at his place, M.H. said.

Kellestine had mentioned he had a cache of weapons hidden under the shingles of his porch roof, and when he spoke of the need to replace the shingles after they were ripped up to get at the weapons, M.H. said, Kellestine was asked why.

"He said, 'Just in case. Be prepared for the worst'," M.H. testified.

Hours before the men were to arrive for the meeting, Kellestine began rounding up weapons — such as shotguns and rifles — that he had stored all over his house, M.H. said, and then the men went about putting them together, cleaning them and loading them.

The Crown alleges the eight men, who had all been shot in the head execution-style, were killed as part of an internal cleansing of the club.

M.H. is expected to give more testimony on Thursday about what occurred during the massacre itself.
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Bandidos ambush gunfire 'sounded like popcorn': witness
Accused were prepared to 'kill them all,' biker-turned-informant testifies
Thu, July 16, 2009
Informant testifies about what he saw the night eight bikers were shot dead

By JANE SIMS

The ominous words came from Wayne Kellestine in the days before the shootings of eight Toronto-area Bandidos bikers.

"If we kill one, we kill them all," he told biker visitors from Winnipeg as they prepared for a "church" meeting at Kellestine's Elgin County farm, southwest of London. Two nights later, a Winnipeg biker-turned-informant, identified at the Bandidos trial only as M.H., heard the "pop, pop, pop" of gunfire inside the barn that sounded like popcorn -- followed by loud bangs and more pops.
Moments later, M.H. testified yesterday, he saw Luis Manny Raposo -- known as Chopper to friends -- sitting on the floor of a cluttered room in the barn, his seven friends prone on the cement, some of them with shotgun wounds. Raposo's left arm was resting on a couch along the barn's east wall. "It looked like he had a wound in his neck and one in his chest," M.H. said. "There was blood on him. There was a little bit of blood on the floor." Raposo wasn't moving, but M.H. said his lips moved and it looked like he was trying to say something, but there was no sound.

That dramatic eyewitness testimony yesterday provided the first glimpse of the violence in Kellestine's barn on April 8, 2006, when eight members of the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos motorcycle club were shot to death. M.H., in the witness box for a third day as a Crown witness at the Superior Court trial of six men who have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder, didn't start his testimony until the afternoon. The jury wasn't told why. He picked up where he left off Wednesday, at the farm with four other Winnipeg Bandidos who'd shown up wanting to know why Kellestine hadn't pulled the patches -- and effectively kicked out of the club -- the rogue Toronto Bandidos.

The Toronto chapter was on the outs with the American international headquarters. The Winnipeg chapter, desperate for its full charter, needed support from its Toronto sponsors. In a move to skirt the unwanted Toronto Bandidos, Kellestine and Winnipeg president, Michael Sandham, met with American counterparts. Kellestine was told he had to pull the patches before he became national president, president of a new Ontario chapter based in London, and Manitoba would have its charter. The Winnipeg Bandidos arrived uninvited to Kellestine's farm two weeks before the shootings. They came without weapons, because Sandham had explained to the others, "if we needed weapons, Wayne would have them."

The jury saw a home movie taken at Kellestine's farm just days before the shootings showing the Winnipeg bikers -- M.H., Sandham, Dwight Mushey, Brett Gardiner and Marcelo Aravena -- and three other male visitors hanging out and joking at the farmhouse.

Kellestine moved the camera from man to man. He turned it on himself -- shirtless, his long grey hair looking wild. "It looks like I just checked out of a f---ing hillbilly convention," he joked as he turned the camera back on guests. M.H. told the jury on April 7, 2006, Kellestine invited the Toronto chapter to his farm for a "church" meeting to discuss Manitoba issues. Kellestine's wife and daughter and Frank Mather's girlfriend left for a friend's house. Then Kellestine, the Winnipeg crew, along with Mather, put together multiple guns Kellestine had on the farm. Sandham, M.H. said, put on a bullet-proof vest. "You should have told me you were bringing your vest," Mushey said to Sandham. "I would have brought mine." Sandham also had several sets of white latex surgical gloves. Everyone, except Kellestine and Mather, put them on, M.H. said. They put other gloves on over top of the surgical ones. Sandham had thin green military gloves. M.H. said he and Mushey had black leather gloves. Mushey duct-taped his onto the cuffs of his coat halfway to his wrists.

Assistant Crown attorney Tim Zuber asked M.H. if anyone said anything while they prepared. "It was kind of understood," M.H. said. "Wayne said 'be prepared for the worst.'" And at least once, M.H. said, Kellestine told them, "If we kill one we kill them all." And "no one questioned it," M.H. said. But Kellestine had concerns. "He was really worried about Boxer (Bandido national president John Muscedere)," M.H. said. "He would have trouble pulling Boxer's patch." M.H. said Kellestine wanted to "save" some of them -- George "Pony" Jessome, George "Crash" Kriarakis and Paul "Paulie" Sinopoli. But he "didn't care" about Frank "BamBam" Salerno or Raposo. And Michael "Little Mikey" Trotta was "a package deal" with Salerno. Kellestine said he thought "if he could get Boxer, the rest would fall into place," M.H. said --"cut the head off a snake." He also thought he could talk to Muscedere one-on-one, "but Chopper was always around."

While waiting for the Toronto men to arrive, Kellestine, Gardiner, Mather and Aravena stayed in the house. M.H. said the Toronto chapter didn't know Gardiner and Aravena, both Manitoba Bandido prospects, and if anyone asked they were "supposed to be from the reserve." Gardiner and Mather had the task of monitoring the police scanner -- a device that was never turned off the entire time M.H. was at the farm. M.H., Mushey and Sandham headed out to the barn with guns. M.H. had a long-barrelled black shotgun. Sandham had a .303 and a single shotgun. Mushey was armed with a sawed-off shotgun. While Sandham climbed up into the loft "for a good vantage point", M.H. and Sandham looked for a place to hide in the cluttered main room and then outside. At one point, Kellestine joined them in the barn, trying to hook up a C.B, radio before returning to the house. M.H. and Mushey ended up outside when the four Toronto vehicles began to arrive.

The first there were Muscedere and Raposo. They walked out to the barn with Kellestine. M.H. said he heard some conversation while listening through a softball-sized hole at the back of the barn, particularly Raposo, who boasted he'd "have a f---ing surprise for Taz (Sandham) when he shows up." "He said he was 'gonna put a f---ing hole in him," M.H. said. Raposo, Muscedere and Kellestine "kind of laughed about it." It took some time before all eight Toronto men were there. M.H. said from where he was at the side of barn, outside, he saw Flanz and Jessome smoking at the barn door. Not long later, M.H. heard the gunfire that lasted about 15 seconds. He and Mushey moved quickly inside the barn, while they heard Kellestine yelling, "telling everybody to get on the floor." "He's telling them not to move," M.H. said. In the barn, there was Kellestine with a .22-calibre rifle in his hands. M.H. could see Jessome, Kriarakis, Sinopoli, Salerno, Flanz and Muscedere lying on the floor, some of them with shotgun wounds and Raposo sitting up, bleeding. Sandham was still in the loft holding the .303, not saying anything. M.H. said he didn't see Trotta until 30 minutes later. He'd been on the floor behind a freezer in the room.
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Fri, July 17, 2009
Bandidos' final moments described in court

Testimony from police informant continues

LONDON, Ont. - One prayed in Greek. Another complained about wounds to his leg. As the first round of gunfire ended inside Wayne Kellestine’s barn, the president of the Toronto Chapter made an order. “Just keep your f---ing mouths shut,” said Frank Salerno, one of the eight men who would later die that night. “We’re bikers, we’re not the Boy Scouts. Stop your whining.” M.H., an informant testifying at the Bandidos trial, recalled Salerno’s words and the drama that was playing out before him while he stood with a gun and guarded the Toronto bikers, some of them with shotgun wounds.The gunfire that had erupted suddenly and mortally wounded Luis Manny “Chopper“ Raposo was over. He was dying on the floor, court heard. The remaining seven were directed to areas around the barn.

Kellestine, after the gunfire subsided was demanding to know “where are the other f---ing guns. I know you guys brought guns,” M.H. tesitfied. He grabbed the double-barelled sawed-off shotgun from near Raposo and took out a spent shell. Later, M.H. said, another sawed-off gun was found in a duffel bag. Michael Sandham had shot Raposo from the barn’s loft. He told Kellestine Raposo shot first and his bulletproof vest had saved him. “I’m here to pull your patches,” M.H. said Kellestine told the men. Kellestine began to act bizarrely, court heard. He sang a German national anthem and “did a jig." When the Toronto bikers said the Lord’s Prayer around Raposo’s body, he dropped to one knee and joined them. He was particularly mean to Jamie Flanz, calling him a “f---ing Jew,“ "a police informant” and vowing to “save you for last,” M.H. testified. It was national president John “Boxer” Muscedere who stood up and told Kellestine he was not an informant and that a murder took place in his home & he never talked about it to anyone.. He ordered all the Toronto men be searched and their property was put on a freezer. Frank Mather and Marcelo Aravena came out to join them in the barn, taking turns with M.H. guarding the prisoners while Kellstine, Sandham and Dwight Mushey had discussions outside.

Six men have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder — Wayne Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg. The shooting victims were George Jessome, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, John Muscedere, 48, Luis Raposo, 41, Frank Salerno, 43, Paul Sinopoli, 30, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31.
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Bandido leader asked to be killed first, witness says
Fri, July 17, 2009
Testimony from police informant M.H. continues
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

If they were all going to die, the Bandidos national president wanted to go first. "Do me. Do me first. I want to go out like a man," pleaded John "Boxer" Muscedere several times during the violent, savage night inside Wayne Kellestine's barn. M.H., a Winnipeg biker-turned-informant heard Muscedere, then watched Kellestine try to calm him. "John, come on, we're going to let you go." Already one Toronto Bandido, Luis Manny "Chopper" Raposo was dead & wrapped up in a large throw rug, by two other Toronto bikers with lower ranks.

By the early morning, the eight Toronto bikers who had come to the farm for a "church" meeting would be shot to death. It was a dramatic morning at the Bandidos trial when the jury finally heard what happened inside Kellestine's barn the night the men were killed. M. H., who is testifying at the trial of six men, including Kellestine, who have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder was one of the Winnipeg Bandidos who was there and saw each man led out of the barn to their deaths.

M.H.'s composure — rock-solid until today — cracked a few times as he described how the plan was carried out like a military exercise. And for the first four executions outside the barn, Kellestine was there with a .22 calibre rifle. A sawed-off shotgun was beside Raposo. Michael Sandham, the Winnipeg president and one of the accused, told Kellestine Raposo had shot at him first.

Kellestine was convinced others had guns. The eight were searched by M.H., Dwight Mushey, Sandham and Kellestine. Personal property — cellphones, identification — was put on top of a freezer. Kellestine's behaviour was erratic. He told Mushey he could "shoot Boxer if he moved from that f---ing spot." I'm here to pull your patches," he told them and that they were "done by orders of the States."

He sang a German anthem, he did a jig. He said the Lord's Prayer on one knee with the Toronto victims as they prayed over Raposo's body. He saved his most savage ridicule for Jamie Flanz — calling him a "f---king Jew", "a police informant" and promised to "save you for last." Muscedere stood up and spoke to Kellestine, defencing Flanz, and assuring Kellestine he wasn't an informant. M.H. said Kellestine struck Flanz repeatedly and told him he would be executed last, because he was Jewish and Kellestine wanted him to suffer the most.

George Kriarakis was wounded in the abdomen. Paul Sinopoli was shot in his right thigh. Frank Salerno had small holes in his calf. Michael Trotta had a swollen eye from being "butt stroked" with a gun by Kellestine. When Kriarakis prayed in Greek and Sinopoli complined about his wound and diabetes, Salerno, the Toronto chapter president told them to "keep your f---ing mouths shut." "We're bikers, we're not the f---ing Boy Scouts," he said. "Stop your whining."

Accused Marcelo Aravena joined them in the barn, carrying a baseball bat. He later had a gun in his hand to help guard the men while others were taken out out for execution. Sometimes, as the night wore on, the cellphones would ring, one more than others. One was ringing more than another.

"Boxer said it was his wife phoning," M.H. said during his fourth day of testimony. "Wayne said answer it and 'don't say anything f---ing stupid.'" Boxer told his wife "he'll be home in an hour or two," M.H. said. "we're just in church and that he loved her." After Mr. Raposo died of blood loss from wounds to the neck and chest, and was bundled out of the barn in a rug, the next to die was John Muscedere, the 48-year-old president of the Toronto chapter.

It was then M.H. had to stop, wipe his eyes, drink some water and continue. Muscedere did go first, walking behind Kellestine, with Frank Mather following and also holding a gun. M.H. said he heard "pops", then Kellestine and Mather returned.

Brett Gardiner was in the barn then, having left his post in the house where he was listening to the police scanner. "did you f---ing hear that. I should go check on Wayne," he said. Mushey told him to go back to the house. Kriarkis went next with Kellestine and Mushey. Kellestine returned for George "Pony" Jessome. Kellestine again asked for someone to fall in behind Jessome. M.H. stepped up.

They walked to the tow truck — Kellestine, Jessome and M.H. Jessome was ordered by Kellestine to get in the rear passenger seat of the truck. "Wayne shoots him in the head, lifts his shirt, sticks the gun underneath and shoots him again," M.H said, his voice breaking.

M.H. was ordered to move Flanz's Infiniti after moving the tow truck to the farm gate. On the way back to the barn, Kellestine was complaining. "He was bitching about having to do the wet work," M.H. said. "Wet work" meant "killing."

Trotta and Flanz were ordered to clean the floor of the barn. Sinopoli was taken out by Kellestine and Mushey. M.H. heard more pops. Then Salerno was told to follow Kellestine. Something happened when he walked past M.H., but the witness lost his composure. Lunch was called. The trial continnues this afternoon
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Bandidos led one by one to their executions, witness testifies
Fri, July 17, 2009
Testimony from police informant M.H. continues

By JANE SIMS LONDON FREE PRESS

Editor's note: The trial coverage is graphic and may not be appropriate for some readers.

They'd watched one biker brother die on the cold, concrete floor of Wayne Kellestine's barn. Over the next few terrifying hours, the Toronto Bandidos each waited for their turn. Leading them to their ends at the deadly "church" meeting was a twisted and erratic Wayne Kellestine, with a .22-calibre rifle in his hands and executions on his mind. Helping him, a biker-turned-informant testified yesterday, were other Bandidos who did nothing to stop the carnage. When there were complaints, it was one of the men set to die reminding them all who they were. "We're bikers, we're not the fucking Boy Scouts," said Toronto chapter president Frank Salerno. "Stop your whining." The informant, a former Winnipeg biker who can be indentified only as M.H, told a packed, hushed courtroom about the final moments of the eight men shot to death April 8, 2006. It was methodical, emotional testimony at the trial of six men, including Kellestine, who have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder.

M.H. had come to Elgin County in late March 2006 with the rest of the Winnipeg men to help Kellestine pull the patches of the "No Surrender Crew." M.H.'s composure — rock-solid until yesterday, his fourth day on the stand — cracked a few times as he described how the shootings were carried out like a military exercise. At the back of the court, family members of the dead men sobbed quietly. The patch-pulling would clear the way for the Manitoba chapter to have a full charter and Kellestine, who was on the outs with his former Toronto club, would be national president. But before that would happen, there'd be plenty of bloodshed.

The Toronto Bandidos had travelled to the Kellestine farmhouse for a meeting, and at least two of them had arrived with shotguns, the jury heard. But they were overpowered by Mr. Kellestine and the Winnipeg faction, including M.H., who, like most of the accused, was armed and had donned two pairs of gloves in preparation. When the execution-style killings began late that Friday night, one of the eight - Luis Raposo, 41 - was already dead, fatally shot in a gun battle inside the Kellestine barn with co-accused Michael Sandham, 39. Three other Toronto Bandidos had been shot and wounded and two more had been beaten. Now it was time for them all to die..

The first rounds of gunfire came in a flurry inside the barn. When it was over, Luis Manny (Chopper) Raposo was fatally wounded in the neck by Winnipeg Bandido president Michael Sandham, who was hiding in the loft. M.H. and Dwight Mushey had been outside the barn with guns when they heard the shots and quickly joined Kellestine inside. Kellestine grabbed a sawed-off shotgun near Raposo's body and demanded to know who shot first. "'Was it fucking Chopper, or was it you?'" he said to Sandham, M.H. testified. An agitated Sandham said "Chopper shot first." His bullet-proof vest, he said, saved him. M.H. said Kellestine insisted the Toronto bikers had three more guns. He ordered the men be searched, their property — cell phones, ID, pocket change, knives — placed on a deep freeze in the room. Frank Mather and Marcelo Aravena were told to search their vehicles. Later, Mather produced a blue duffle bag with a gun inside it. The Toronto bikers sat in chairs placed around the room. Kellestine told Mushey he could "shoot Boxer if he moved from that fucking spot." "I'm here to pull your patches," he announced to them, and that they were "done by orders of the States."

He ordered victim Michael Trotta, already nursing a badly-injured eye after he was "butt-stroked" by Kellestine, to take down a list of Bandido property. George Kriarakis, who prayed quietly in Greek, was wounded in the abdomen, M. H. said. Paul Sinopoli had a shot in his right thigh. Frank Salerno had small holes in his calf. John (Boxer) Muscedere, the national president, begged Kellestine to get help for Raposo and checked his pulse. Kellestine said he was already dead. Kellestine sang a German anthem and did a jig. When the Toronto group came together to say the Lord's prayer at Raposo's body, Kellestine dropped on one knee and joined in.

He saved his most savage ridicule for Jamie Flanz — calling him a "fucking Jew" and "a police informant," hitting him and vowing to "save you for last." Muscedere stood and defended Flanz and told Kellestine he wasn't an informant and that a murder took place in his home & he never talked about it to anyone. M.H. said Kellestine struck Flanz repeatedly and told him he would be executed last, because he was Jewish and Kellestine wanted him to suffer the most. Flanz and Trotta were ordered to roll Raposo's body in a carpet and take it out. It was clear to Muscedere what was going to happen. "Do me. Do me first. I want to go out like a man," he pleaded. "John, come on, we're going to let you go," Kellestine assured him. Sometimes, as the night wore on, the cell phones would ring, One rang more than others. "Boxer said it was his wife phoning," M.H. said. "Wayne said 'Answer it and don't say anything fucking stupid.'" Boxer told his wife he would be home "in an hour or two," M.H. said. "'We're just in church' and that he loved her." After Mr. Raposo died of blood loss from wounds to the neck and chest, and was bundled out of the barn in a rug, the next to die was John Muscedere, the 48-year-old National President of the chapter.

An emotional M.H. had to stop his testimony, wipe his eyes and drink water before continuing. Muscedere did go first to execution, walking out of the barn behind Kellestine, with Frank Mather following and also holding a gun. M.H. said he heard two to five "pops," then Kellestine and Mather returned. Aravena joined them in the barn, carrying a baseball bat. He later had a gun in his hand to help guard the men while others were taken out. Brett Gardiner was in the barn then, having left his post in the house where he was listening to the police scanner. "Did you fucking hear that. I should go check on Wayne," M.H. said he said. Mushey told him to go back to the house. Gardiner left.

The executions took on a repeated pattern. Kellestine would ask for each man by name to walk out of the barn, and for one of his associates to follow behind with a gun. Kriarkis went next with Kellestine and Mushey. Kellestine returned for George (Pony) Jessome. Kellestine again asked for someone to fall in behind Jessome. M.H. said he stepped up. They walked to Jessome's tow truck — Kellestine, Jessome and M.H. Jessome was ordered by Kellestine to get in the truck's back seat. Kriarakis's body was already there. "Wayne shoots him in the head, lifts his shirt, sticks the gun underneath and shoots him again," M.H said, his voice breaking. On the way back to the barn, Kellestine was complaining. "He was bitching about having to do the wet work," M.H. said. "Wet work" meant "killing."

Trotta and Flanz were ordered by Kellestine to clean the barn floor with buckets of water and Javex. Sinopoli was led out by Kellestine and Mushey. M.H. heard more "pops." Then Salerno was told to follow Kellestine. As he walked past M.H., Salerno held out his hand. "He wants me to shake his hand," an emotional M.H. said. "I don't do anything. I don't shake his hand." Mushey did shake Salerno's hand before following him and Kellestine out of the barn. There were more "pops." While waiting, Flanz talked to Sandham about his children. Trotta was led out by Kellestine and Mushey. M.H. heard more "pops." Then all of them, still armed, fell in behind Kellestine and Flanz and left the barn. Flanz was put into the back of Trotta's car where Gardiner had stuffed a variety of items including bedding and a child's mobile, M.H. said. Sandham had a handgun that had been on Kellestine earlier and shot Flanz, but then struggled with the gun, complaining it had jammed. He and Mushey went into the house to fix it. Mushey came back out, got in the car and shot Flanz again.

Meanwhile, Kellestine had retrieved some gas cans after Mather said Flanz's Infiniti needed gas. Mather and Gardiner were trying to shut the SUV's hatch where (Big Paulie) Sinopoli was shot. M.H. said Mather tried to push Sinopoli's body in with his feet. Kellestine was antsy, M.H. said. 'He said, 'Come on, come on guys, gotta get going, gotta get going.'" Kellestine told Mather to go to the Kitchener-Waterloo area. He unlocked the gate. M.H. drove the tow truck with Raposo's Volkswagen hitched to the back and followed Mather with Gardiner as a passenger in the Infiniti. Mushey, with Aravena, drove Trotta's car behind him. Sandham followed with his GMC Jimmy. They were on Highway 401 briefly but plans changed. M.H. followed Mather to a rural road where he ditched the SUV in a field. The others left their vehicles and headed back with Sandham to Kellestine's property. Kellestine was confused when they returned so soon. "Wayne's going, 'How fucking far did you guys go?'" M.H. said he asked Mather. Mather said he was running out of gas and "had to leave them where they were."

The men all stripped their clothing at the door of the house. The guns were disassembled and wiped down. Kellestine put them back in a bag and took them away. M.H. said he and Kellestine went through the dead men's personal property. He put the change in his daughter's "Potty Mouth Jar" for when anyone swore, and offered a wad of bloodied bills to Sandham as a joke for the trip back to Winnipeg. He kept Kriarakis's Harley-Davidson baseball cap and a knife. Sandham and M.H. started a pit fire, burning clothes, a couch and the ID. Then there was a quick Bandido meeting. Gardiner, who was staying behind with Kellestine, and Aravena were promoted to club prospects. "Wayne's going to keep forming the London chapter and Winnipeg is going to keep moving forward, expanding," M.H. said. Sandham was concerned about two Toronto Bandidos supposedly in Winnipeg to kill him. Kellestine told him, "'Well, do them when you get back there,'" M.H. testified. Then Sandham, Mushey, Aravena and M.H. left for the trip back to Winnipeg.
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Eight victims taunted by sadistic ring leader, then slain in cold blood, bike gang informant testifies

Witness in tears as he describes hours of execution-style slaughter, then details how the accused bungled the disposal of bodies and returned to the killing ground

LONDON, ONT. —

Clad in a combat jacket, he sang in German, danced little jigs and mockingly sank to one knee to join in reciting the Lord's Prayer.

Then, like the ringmaster in a grotesque circus, accused mass murderer Wayne Kellestine, the oldest of six outlaw bikers charged in the slaying of eight former comrades from the Bandidos motorcycle gang, began leading the victims out of the barn to their deaths.

The work, however, was apparently not entirely to his pleasure.

Partway through the slaughter, Mr. Kellestine "bitched about having to do all the wet work" - a euphemism for killing, the murder trial of the six accused was told yesterday.

The testimony came from a biker-turned-informant who twice broke down in tears as he recounted the events of April, 2006. Others in the courtroom were weeping, too, as the defector and star prosecution witness, identified by the initials M.H., painted a picture of unrelieved cruelty and violence.

But along with the horror was evidence of near-unbelievable stupidity.

Among other things, yesterday's testimony explained why the eight slain bikers ended up in an Elgin County farmer's field just 14 kilometres from the Kellestine residence, 40 minutes west of London, stuffed into four abandoned vehicles.

The plan had been to haul the corpses up to the Kitchener area, but one of the cars ran out of gas.

And when the massacre was finally over, and the weapons were being disassembled and incriminating clothing burned, soon after dawn on April 6, 2006, M.H. testified, Mr. Kellestine took the coins found in the victims' pockets and put them in his nine-year-old daughter's "potty-mouth jar."

Taking copious notes, seated alongside the other five defendants in an individualized prisoner's box, Mr. Kellestine stared hard as his adversary laid out assistant Crown prosecutor Tim Zuber's case.

Together with four other members of the Winnipeg Bandidos faction, M.H. had journeyed to Mr. Kellestine's farmhouse on a mission to "pull the patches" - strip them of membership - of the dominant Toronto chapter, to which all eight victims were affiliated.

The move came in response to orders from the Bandidos' U.S. leadership, the trial has been told. Then, a new U.S.-approved Bandidos chapter was to be founded, with Mr. Kellestine, now 60, at the helm. The Toronto Bandidos had travelled to the Kellestine farmhouse for a meeting, and at least two of them had arrived with shotguns, the jury heard.

But they were overpowered by Mr. Kellestine and the Winnipeg faction, including M.H., who, like most of the accused, was armed and had donned two pairs of gloves in preparation.

When the execution-style killings began late that Friday night, one of the eight - Luis Raposo, 41 - was already dead, fatally shot in a gun battle inside the Kellestine barn with co-accused Michael Sandham, 39.

Three other Toronto Bandidos had been shot and wounded and two more had been beaten.

Now it was time for them all to die.

As he orchestrated the overnight massacre, the trial heard, sipping beer and alternating between rage and occasional promises of mercy, Mr. Kellestine made clear to the Toronto Bandidos what was going on.

"You're done, by order of the States, I'm here to pull your patches," M.H. recounted him saying.

M.H. outlined for the jury the circumstances of the seven other killings, two of which he said he witnessed at close hand.

After Mr. Raposo died of blood loss from wounds to the neck and chest, and was bundled out of the barn in a rug, the next to die was John Muscedere, the 48-year-old president of the Toronto chapter.

Known as Boxer, Mr. Muscedere had asked to be the first to be killed and exhorted the doomed Toronto bikers to remain strong.

"Keep your fucking mouths shut, we're bikers not Boy Scouts, we know how the game is played," M.H. recounted him saying.

Mr. Muscedere got his wish.

Escorted by Mr. Kellestine and co-accused Frank Mather, 35, both of them armed, he was led outside.

"Then I hear pops, maybe two or three," M.H. testified.

After an interval of around 15 minutes, Mr. Kellestine and Mr. Mather returned without their prisoner.

Next was George Kriarkis, 28, already wounded in the abdomen and praying in Greek. He was led out of the barn by Mr. Kellestine and co-accused Dwight Mushey, 41.

Then the two accused came back.

The next to go was George Jessome, 52, and this time it was M.H. who accompanied Mr. Kellestine out of the barn.

He described leading Mr. Jessome out to his tow truck, parked in the Kellestine driveway.

In the back, dead, was Mr. Kriarkis.

Mr. Kellestine ordered Mr. Jessome to get in too, and as he was climbing in, Mr. Kellestine shot him twice with his .22 Mossberg rifle, M.H. said - once in the head, and once in the upper body, after pulling up the victim's shirt for a clear shot.

Paul Sinopoli, 30, was the next to be killed, M.H. testified, led from the barn by Mr. Kellestine and Mr. Sandham.

Again, M.H. recounted hearing "pop, pop, pop," from outside the barn, where he and other Winnipeg Bandidos guarded the shrinking pool of Toronto Bandidos, two of whom were cleaning up the large pool of blood from where Mr. Raposo was shot.

"Paulie didn't come back," M.H. told the trial.

Mr. Kellestine's next victim was Frank Salerno, 43, M.H. recounted, tearing up as he described Mr. Salerno being led away, asking for one last handshake.

This time, Mr. Mushey, carrying a pump-action shotgun accompanied Mr. Kellestine out of the barn.

"Again, I heard pop-pop-pop," M.H. told the jury.

The next Toronto Bandido to die was Michael Trotta, 31, the trial heard, led from the barn by Mr. Kellestine and Mr. Mushey.

And finally, there came the turn of Jamie Flanz, a Jew for whom Mr. Kellestine - long known locally for his Nazi sympathies - harboured a special dislike.

Several times through the long night, Mr. Kellestine had called Mr. Flanz a "fucking Jew" and told him he would be the last to die.

He was, and it was an especially brutal death, M.H. testified.

Mr. Flanz was led to the dead Mr. Trotta's car, where M.H. said he saw Mr. Sandham shoot him in the face with a handgun.

But the gun jammed, M.H. said, prompting some repair work inside the house.

Then Mr. Mushey returned, and, using the same handgun, finished Mr. Flanz off, M.H. said.

With the killing done and the victims' bodies all in their own cars, the convoy set off up Highway 401, heading east, with three of the Winnipeg Bandidos driving the vehicles (Mr. Jessome's tow truck was hauling another car).

Mr. Sandham followed in his own vehicle.

But the ghastly cargo did not get far, because Mr. Trotta's car ran out of gas, the trial was told.

So the four vehicles were abandoned in Shedden, where M.H., driving the tow truck, managed to get stuck on a soft shoulder.

Mr. Sandham picked up the others, and the crew headed back to the Kellestine farmhouse, whose owner was surprised to see them back so soon.

"Well, how far did you fucking guys go?" he demanded.

The killers stripped off all their clothes, and dumped them in a fire pit outside the farmhouse, along with all the keys, ID, cellphones and everything else the victims had been carrying.

Mr. Sandham had trouble getting the fire going, M.H. testified, so he dumped gasoline on it, creating a blaze that other witnesses have said was visible from far away.

Mr. Kellestine, however, kept a baseball hat belonging to Mr. Kriarkis, because he liked it.

The last order of business, M.H. testified, was to formalize the Bandido probationary membership of co-accused Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Brett Gardiner, 25, who were to be part of Mr. Kellestine's new chapter.

There was one other matter to be resolved: Two Toronto Bandidos were believed to be in Winnipeg, looking to kill Mr. Sandham.

Mr. Kellestine offered a solution. "Do them [kill them] when you get back," M.H. testified he said. Then Mr. Sandham took the wheel of his Jimmy, and, together with M.H., Mr. Mushey and Mr. Aravena, began the long drive back to Winnipeg.

Mr. Mather and Mr. Gardiner stayed behind at the Kellestine farmhouse.

But not for long.

By lunchtime that Saturday, provincial police were encircling the property and by the end of the weekend, all three men were under arrest.

And a few weeks later, after M.H. had decided to become an informant in the case, the accused Winnipeg Bandidos were also picked up.

M.H.'s testimony resumes Tuesday
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Bandidos informant: Getaway included shampoo stop
Tue, July 21, 2009

Apparently, in the biker world, Head and Shoulders shampoo isn1t just for dandruff.

On the way back to Winnipeg in the hours after a bloody night on Wayne Kellestine’s farm, the Manitoba chapter of the Bandido motorcycle club needed to stop at a Barrie Walmart for supplies.

Dwight Mushey, one of the six men who has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder, picked up a bottle of Head and Shoulders.

“Dwight said it’s good for removing g.s.r,” said M.H., a former Winnipeg Bandido who is the star witness at the Bandidos trial.

“That’s gunshot residue” M.H. explained.


Click here to find out more!

On his fifth day in the witness box, M.H., 40, described the trip back to Winnipeg and his hooking-up with police investigators in the aftermath of the biggest mass slaying in modern Ontario history.

The jury also heard conversations between the bikers recorded during police phone intercepts and while M.H. was wearing a body pack.

M.H. said he and Mushey, 41, Marcelo Aravena, 33 and Michael Sandham, 31, left Kellestine1s farm in Sandham1s red GMC Jimmy the morning of April 8, 2006 after the eight men1s bodies had been driven off the property and left on a quiet rural road.

They needed to stop at the Walmart because Aravena and Sandham had no footwear — theirs had been burned in the Kellestine fire pit after the bodies had been disposed.

Along with the Head and Shoulders, they picked up some chips, pop, cheesies, a couple pairs of sandals and razors. They stopped for gas and continued on their journey.

No one discussed what had happened hours earlier, even though the radio was on in the SUV.

M.H. said they stopped at an ice cream place where he tried to withdraw money from a bank machine, but couldn1t because the account was tapped.

The four men went on to a truck stop in the same community — later identified as the Cobalt Truck Stop, where they each had a shower, and

Sandham and Mushey shaved off their facial hair .

The four men slept four hours in the Jimmy. Once over the Manitoba-Ontario border, they concocted their alibi — they would say they left Ontario on Friday before the shootings and arrived in Winnipeg on Saturday night.

But within a day or two of returning to Winnipeg, M.H. called Winnipeg police officer Tim Diack.

At first, M.H. said, he was not truthful and stuck to the cover story.

In subsequent meetings with Diack, M.H. told him more. Then Diack took him to a hotel room where he told his story to two Ontario police officers. He drew sketches of the area and the farm and his statement was videotaped.

M.H. explained he entered into an agreement with the Ontario attorney-general promising to tell the truth, co-operate and provide DNA and fingerprints. In exchange he was granted immunity.

M.H. said it was Diack who spoke of $750,000 in the negotiations. But in the end, M.H. said the agreement was made for no money.

After M.H. contacted police, the Winnipeg Bandidos continued on, although there were not as many “church meetings.”

But there were some discussions about what happened in Ontario.

In the weeks following the shootings, M.H. had some gall bladder problems. He was taken to the emergency room of a Winnipeg hospital where Mushey and Aravena visited him.

And it was there Mushey talked about victim Jamie Flanz, and how the last man to die at the Kellestine property looked before “he went to finish him off.”

Mushey said Flanz1s eyes were “big and how Jamie was trying to say something,” M.H. recalled. Then Mushey laughed “like it was a joke or something.”

Aravena, M.H. said, talked about how scared he was that night. Mushey kidded him saying Aravena said, “If you have to shoot me, don’t shoot me in my pretty face” when they were driving the bodies away from the farm.

Aravena giggled too, M.H. said. He “thought it was kind of funny.”

There were phone conversations played for the jury between M.H. and other Winnipeg Bandidos.

In one, Mushey joked Aravena was “prancing around like a princess” in his new Bandido vest. Even though Aravena had been promoted to probationary, he had a prospect vest because they didn1t have enough patches ‹ and the patches were being made by the Winnipeg chapter and sewed on vests by

Aravena’s mother. There were hints that the “love, loyalty and respect” that the Bandidos shared as part of their culture was waning among the Winnipeg members. There was controversy over club funds and money owed by a puppet club called Los Monteneros.

Sandham, who had was the Manitoba president, was referred to as “Little Buddy” and “Little Beaker” in private conversations between M.H. and Mushey.

M.H. said the police wanted him to get the others to talk about the night at the farm and asked him to plant the suggestion in Mushey that Sandham took credit for killing three of the Toronto bikers.

On the way to the gym, and M.H. wearing a body pack, M.H. made the suggestion. “That’s kind of funny he would come to my number,” Mushey said.

The conversation turned to Sandham’s habit for taking credit for their work.

M.H. said Mushey used hand signals when he talked. “We talked about this after this (Mushey held up eight fingers for the eight dead), united.”

“Whoever did this (Mushey drew his fingers across his throat) or this (Mushey held his hands like he was holding a gun), it1s the same (expletive) really if you think about it.”

Then Mushey agreed Sandham acted like he had never shot anyone before during the shooting of Flanz. Sandham1s excuse later for not killing him, M.H. said, was “because Jamie Flanz has kids and Taz (Sandham) has kids.”

In the recording, M.H. explained what Mushey’s comments were about. Mushey told Kellestine that Sandham didn’tkill Flanz. He was met with a “cold stare,” and thought Kellestine was going to tell him to kill Sandham.

“At one point I thought we were all going to get it,” M.H. said to Mushey.

Mushey told M.H. that in private conversations outside Kellestine’s barn between Kellestine, Mushey and Sandham, after Sandham first killed victim Luis Raposo and before the executions began, the Manitoba president said nothing.

“I even told (Kellestine) I said our guys are with you,”Mushey said.

They laughed about Aravena and how he seemed so scared he was close to tears that night.

The trial continues today.
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Jurors hear how Bandidos met their fate
Wed, July 22, 2009
By JANE SIMS
THE LONDON FREE PRESS

While they lifted weights and worked out, two Winnipeg Bandidos talked about killing eight men.

The star witness at the Bandidos trial, a man who can be identified only as M.H., interpreted recordings he made while wearing a body pack hidden microphone for the police investigating the shooting deaths of eight Toronto Bandidos on April 8, 2006.

Dwight Mushey, one of the accused, regularly went to the gym with 40-year-old M.H. At one of their workouts June 12, 2006, two months after the shootings, as M.H. testified Wednesday in a London court, Mushey described how some of the men executed spent their final moments.

The wiretaps were played for the jury.

Mushey hand-signalled boxing, referring to John (Boxer) Muscedere, the national president.


“This guy went out like a man,” Mushey said in one wiretap. “Supposedly, the first one he got, he laughed. Went out like a man.”

Muscedere was the first one executed after Winnipeg chapter president Michael Sandham gunned down Luis (Chopper) Raposo. M.H. asked about the others. Court earlier heard that Muscedere was shot in the chest and head and that several of his front teeth were broken, when his body was discovered in a vehicles abandoned 14 kilometres from Kellestine's farm on April 8, 2006.

“A couple of them cried,” Mushey said. M.H. asked about George (Crash) Kriarakis.

“Yeah, yeah, he cried,” Mushey said. M.H. asked about Frank (Bammer) Salerno.

“He was yappin’ all the way,” Mushey said. Michael (Little Mikey) Trotta, referred to as “little kid” by Mushey, also was talking but “not too bad.”

M.H. spent the day interpreting a number of conversations he recorded for the police two months after the shootings on April 8, 2006.

The conversations were full of hand signals the jury could not see. The men used the signals in case the police were listening to them.

M.H. explained when the signals were used, what they were and what they meant.

What became clear in the June conversation was the Winnipeg bikers were losing faith in their president, Sandham, and they wanted definitive approval that they were a full chapter of the motorcycle club.

The jury heard a meeting the same day as the work-out between M.H., Mushey and Sandham in Sandham’s basement. Sandham was relaying what happened when he went to Texas to meet with the world leaders of the motorcycle club saying everything was “hunky dory.”

But there were some heavy internal politics.

A Toronto Bandido named Carlito — the jury had been told earlier his real name is Pierre Aragon — had laid claim to the Canadian presidency and was pulling together members. Sandham said the Texas leaders had told Carlito to stop.

He also skirted around a conflict he had when Texas found out about his police background, which he had told the other Winnipeg Bandidos was just training for his military service.

Sandham told Mushey and M.H. that his training caused a “kerfuffle there for a bit,” then there was some police presence while he was in the U.S. He had “to get out of that city.”

He assured the others the Manitoba chapter “was intact.”

Sandham said he assured the Americans the Manitoba Bandidos were “the meat and potatoes” of the motorcycle club and Carlito was only “one guy.”

M.H. said part of the conversation was about the shootings and Sandham told he and Mushey the Americans “don’t judge anybody” and didn’t want to hear about them.

Mushey was concerned that the Hells Angels, their rivals, would think the Winnipeg Bandidos didn’t exist if the Americans were not declaring Manitoba a full chapter on their website. Sandham said the website was under construction.

M.H. explained that if they weren’t declared a full chapter, another outlaw motorcycle club could move into Winnipeg.

Sandham said Carlito was under the impression that if they did got their group together for a year, they could re-approach for membership.

The three men discussed the ongoing police presence in Winnipeg and how officers came to their houses to tell them there may be threats on their lives because eight Bandidos were dead in Ontario. They agreed to stick to a cover story.

Sandham told Mushey he sent him an email from the United States. Mushey said he never received it. They also discussed seeing a photograph of a red Jimmy — like Sandham’s vehicle — in the local newspaper.

After, in the car, Mushey told M.H. he wasn’t convinced Sandham had told them everything.

“He’s just afraid to tell us that we’re done,” he said and told M.H. he wanted to see the website for himself.

Mushey said he would still wear his biker colours regardless what Sandham said. M.H. told Mushey he would be surprised the Americans would agree to make Sandham the Canadian president if they suspected he had been a police officer.

The jury has already heard Sandam had, indeed, been a police officer in the Manitoba communities of Ste. Anne and East St. Paul.

The next day, M.H. testified he met with Ontario police officers Mark Loader and Jeff Gateman who wanted M.H. to go to Mushey’s house. Two police officers would arrive to question Aravena. The jury heard the men playing a boxing video game and the police take Aravena outside to answer questions.

Aravena told the men the police wanted to know why he’d bought a one-way WestJet ticket to London and how he returned home. They also said they saw Aravena in his Bandidos vest. Mushey told Aravena they were just trying to get him to talk because he was the low man in the organization.

“I don’t know what they keep f---ing bugging us,” Mushey said. “F---ing Ontario is not our f---ing problem.”

M.H. identified some of the patches the Winnipeg group had made and biker vests belonging to him, Mushey, Sandham and Aravena. M.H. said Mushey knew someone who could make the patches.

Assistant Crown attorney Tim Zuber indicated his questioning of M.H. is almost completed.

Cross-examination by the defence could begin sometime Thursday.
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BANDIDOS TRIAL: Informant denies any part in killings
Thu, July 23, 2009
By JANE SIMS
THE LONDON FREE PRESS

One by one, the chilling photographs of the dead men as they were found the morning of their deaths flashed onto the courtroom video screens.

Each time, the Crown’s star witness at the Bandidos trial worked to keep his composure.

“Did you kill him?” asked defence lawyer Tony Bryant, as he went through each of the photos of the dead Toronto Bandidos — nicknamed Chopper, Boxer, Crash, Pony, Bam Bam, Little Mikey, Big Paulie and Goldberg.

“No,” the former Winnipeg Bandido biker, M.H., would say quietly.

“Did Marcelo Aravena kill him?” Bryant, who represents Aravena, asked.

“No,” would come the quiet reply.

Bryant suggested M.H. didn’t plan to kill the eight men on April 8, 2006 at Wayne Kellestine’s Dutton-Dunwich farm, near London.

“There was no plan,” M.H. said, after reaching for tissues to dry his eyes.

On the first day of cross-examination of M.H., three of the six defence teams began reviewing his six days of shocking testimony and tried to get a fuller picture of what their clients were doing when the eight men from the rival Toronto chapter were shot to death.

Among the revelations Thursday was M.H.’s testimony that he had been a police informant in Winnipeg before the Ontario shootings three years ago.

Six men have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder of the bikers found shot to death, their bodies stuffed into vehicles, along an Elgin County road near Shedden. The jury has heard evidence the men were shot to death at Kellestine’s farm before their bodies were moved.

Their deaths, the Crown says, resulted from heavy internal politics and conflict between the Bandidos Toronto “No Surrender Crew”, the U.S. world headquarters and the fledgling Winnipeg chapter that wanted full status.

M.H. was part of a probationary chapter from Winnipeg, at the farm during the shootings.

Bryant suggested his client, Aravena, was “the ninth” victim. M.H., Bryant said, had already agreed Aravena “seemed nervous,” while helping to guard the men before they were executed. Bryant pointed to a conversation M.H. had with Aravena and Dwight Mushey while M.H. was being treated in hospital for a gall bladder attack. M.H.recalled the conversation for the police and said, “Marcelo thought he was going to be killed.”

“At points, I did too,” M.H. said.

Bryant said his client was “not singing, not dancing, he wasn’t doing a jig, dancing around like a princess; he was sweating like a pig.”

M.H. said it was more like “a deer caught in the headlights.”

“Wayne was telling us all what to do,” M.H. said.

Bryant suggested M.H. might have been “Number 10.”

But Greg Leslie, lawyer for Frank Mather, pointed to evidence Wayne Kellestine might have become a victim and had his Bandidos membership yanked with the other Toronto Bandidos.

M.H. agreed the Winnipeg Bandidos showed up uninvited to Kellestine’s farm two weeks before the shootings after Sandham told them the U.S. wanted to know what was taking Kellestine so long to pull the Toronto patches and kick the members out of the club. When they arrived, the Winnipeg group at first couldn’t get a hold of Kellestine.

At the gate of Kellestine’s farm, in a cell phone call with “Concrete Dave” Weiche, the order was that if Kellestine didn’t co-operate, they were “to pull his patch, too.”

The Manitoba chapter was at odds with the international headquarters’ rules. There was also conflict between the Toronto Bandidos and the probationary Manitoba chapter.

Weiche, the jury has heard, was a Bandido living in British Columbia who helped set up a meeting on the Canada-U.S. border between Kellestine, Michael Sandham and senior American Bandidos from Washington state.

M.H. also revealed that while he’s not being paid for his evidence, his expenses are paid by the witness protection program “as long as I tell the truth.”

M.H. also agreed he’d been a police informant in Winnipeg before the eight shootings. He had called his handler, Winnipeg police officer Tim Diack, the first week the Manitoba bikers were in Ontario. From a phone booth in Dutton, he left a voice message he was there for a patch-pulling. When M.H. called him the following week, Diack’s voicemail was full.

M.H. said not even his wife knew he was a police informant.

Leslie said he was “deceiving” his Bandido brothers.

M.H. said he had “no opportunity” to call Diack before the shootings.

And he said he wasn’t “100 per cent sure” Mather was one of the people who escorted any of the men out of the barn to their deaths.

M.H. hadn’t met Mather until he came to Kellestine’s farm. Mather moved there while the Winnipeg Bandidos were there.

Defence lawyer Donald Crawford, who represents Sandham, also questioned M.H. M.H. agreed the Manitoba plates on Sandham’s GMC Jimmy would have been seen by people around Dutton during the days the men were at the farm.

Crawford also asked about the night of the shootings inside the barn and if the expectation was “supposed to be like the Wild West days, check your guns at the door.”

“I don’t know what you’re getting at,” M.H. said.

M.H. agreed the initial plan was to “pull patches.”

Crawford tried to suggest M.H. was in the barn during the initial gunfire.

“You can suggest all you want. I heard what happened. I saw what happened. I was there that night,” M.H. said.

The trial continues Friday.
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Star witness too sick to testify
Sat, July 25, 2009
The Bandidos trial will resume on Tuesday with M.H.'s eighth day on the stand

By JANE SIMS

The Bandidos trial ran into an unexpected delay yesterday when the star Crown witness -- an informant -- couldn't testify because of illness.

The jury was sent home after Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney said the former Winnipeg Bandido biker, identified only as M.H., "has taken ill."

M.H. has been testifying at the trial of six men who've pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of eight Toronto Bandidos on April 8, 2006.

Their bodies were found stuffed into vehicles along a rural Elgin County road.

The trial began March 31.

M.H. completed his seventh day in the witness box on Thursday.

M. H. has told the jury, through Crown questioning, what he saw the night the eight men were shot to death at Wayne Kellestine's Dutton-Dunwich farm. He was one of five members of the Manitoba probationary chapter of the Bandidos motorcycle club that was in conflict with its sponsoring Toronto chapter.

Toronto's "No Surrender Crew" also served as the Canadian national chapter -- but orders had come from the United States to boot them out of the worldwide club.

The Winnipeg bikers arrived uninvited to Kellestine's farm to find out why Kellestine hadn't followed the orders to "pull the patches" of the Toronto club.

They stayed at the farm for two weeks before the Toronto members were lured to the farm, the informant testified.

M.H. has said he and the others helped Kellestine clean the guns. M.H. and Dwight Mushey -- both wearing gloves -- waited near the barn with loaded weapons while Winnipeg Bandido president Michael Sandham waited with two loaded guns in the barn's loft.

Sandham shot Luis Manny "Chopper" Raposo and claimed it was self defence.

After that, M.H. has testified, each Toronto biker was led out, one-by-one, and shot to death.

The defence has begun its cross-examination. Donald Crawford, the lawyer for Michael Sandham, and Greg Leslie, lawyer for Frank Mather have completed their questioning.

On Thursday, Tony Bryant, lawyer for Marcelo Aravena dramatically began his cross by showing M.H. the grisly photos of the eight dead men as they were found stuffed in four vehicles on road near Shedden.

Bryant is expected to pick up Tuesday where he left off.
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Lawyer tries to establish low men in Bandidos pecking order
Tue, July 28, 2009
Cross-examination of star witness continues

By KATE DUBINSKI, LONDON FREE PRESS


Names like Fat Ass, Mountain Gorilla and Great White Chilean Ape followed accused Marcelo Aravena during his time with the Bandidos motorcycle club, the jury heard this morning.
"You guys made fun of him on a regular basis. You mocked him . . . You teased all the bottom people," Aravena's defence lawyer Tony Bryant asked M.H., the star witness now under cross-examination at the murder trial of six men accused of eight counts of first-degree murder. "This is the kind of guy you could step on as opposed to climb over, someone you could take advantage of." Aravena and another of the accused, Brett Gardiner, nicknamed Bull, were the two "low men on the totem pole" who were thought of as dim-witted and asked to perform menial tasks before and after eight Toronto Bandidos were killed in Wayne Kellestine's barn in April 2006, Bryant said. "Wayne told Bull to go outside and get a pickle from the pickle tree and he was stupid enough to go outside and look for a tree, isn't that right?" Bryant asked M.H. "These guys changed the brakes on the car, washed the dishes, got brush for the fire, cooked — well, by cooked I mean threw some stolen pizzas into the oven. Between the two of them, you'd have a hard time determining who was stupider," Bryant said to M.H. "Well, I believe that would go to Bull," M.H. replied.

This morning's cross examination of M.H. was focused on painting Aravena as grunt worker for the biker club. Bryant also probed into M.H.'s past - much of which can't be published because of a ban that prohibits identifying the former biker turned police informant - asking him about his high-school days and his family. Court heard M.H. dropped out of high school and did odd jobs - washing windows, painting, construction - and also dealt in cocaine. "You survived on social assistance. You were on the dole. What you're living on now as part of the witness-protection program, that's of the same order but under a different name. Blood money," Bryant said to M.H. Under the witness-protection program, M.H. has his rent, groceries, medical expenses and bill paid for. His travel expenses, accommodations, and legal expenses are also covered for the duration of the trial.

M.H.’s wife and kids – even the family guinea pig – were relocated as part of the witness-protection program. “You get to hug your wife. You get to hug your kids. You get to go downstairs and go into the fridge and grab a beer or a pop. When you go out for lunch, you have the choice of anything on the menu,” Bryant said to M.H. M.H. is taking courses to get his high-school diploma.

The testimony continues.
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Biker so dumb, thought pickles grew on trees
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Jul 28, 2009 01:03 PM
Peter Edwards
Staff Reporter

LONDON, Ont. – Brett (Bull) Gardiner, an accused member of a biker hit squad, is so stupid that he believed pickles grew on trees, a mass murder trial heard today.

A biker informant told court that Gardiner, 25, of no fixed address, and Marcelo Aravena, 33, were often the butt of jokes inside the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, and that they were sometimes teased because other bikers considered them stupid.

Defense lawyer Tony Bryant, who's representing Aravena, asked if his client was considered the dumbest of the six men who each face eight counts each of first degree murder.

"I believe that would go to Bull," the witness replied.

The witness, who's now living under a new identity, can only be identified as "M.H."

M.H. told court that Gardiner and Aravena were considered the most junior of the bikers now charged with slaughtering eight Greater Toronto Area Bandidos, whose bullet-riddled bodies were found in vehicles abandoned by a farmer's field west of London on April 8, 2006.

That meant they had to fetch water, cook pizzas, wash dishes and do general chores for more senior members, M.H. said.

"I'm saying these guys were the grunts," Bryant suggested on his second day of cross-examination today.

"In the outlaw motorcycle world, yes," M.H. replied.

He agreed with Bryant that Gardiner went out searching for a pickle tree because a more senior biker, Wayne Kellestine, 60, said he wanted some pickles from one.

Gardiner cringed and scowled at the story, while another of the accused, Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg, chuckled at the memory.

M.H. agreed that Aravena was also the frequent butt of jokes, and that he personally called him "The Great White Chilean Ape," "The Mountain Gorilla," and "Fat Ass."

Facing eight counts each of first degree murder are: Gardiner, Aravena, Mushey, Kellestine, Frank Mather, 35, of no fixed address, and Michael Sandham, 39, of Winnipeg.

Found dead in vehicles abandoned on the outskirts of the hamlet of Shedden were: Jamie Flanz, 38, of Keswick; John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham, George Kriarakis, 28, of Toronto, Frank Salerno, 43, of Oakville; Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Jackson's Point; Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga and Torontonians George Jessome, 52, and Luis Raposo, 41.

The trial continues.
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Killings not planned, jury told
Thu, July 30, 2009
By JOHN MINER


The Winnipeg Bandidos had no plan to slaughter their Toronto counterparts when they headed for Ontario in March 2006, jurors heard yesterday.

The Crown's star witness in the Bandidos murder trial, a police informer and biker at the time, said he had no plans to kill anybody when he left Manitoba for the London-area farm of Wayne Kellestine.

"We just knew we were going to Ontario," testified M.H., who is under witness protection and can't be identified.

M.H. said it wasn't until the Winnipeg Bandidos were at Kellestine's farm and had discussed pulling the Toronto members' patches -- kicking them out of the club -- that killing was mentioned by Kellestine.

M.H. testified Kellestine told the group more than once: "If we kill one, we kill them all."

He also warned the bikers at his farm to "prepare for the worst," when the Toronto bikers arrived for a meeting.

Jurors, who have already heard that Kellestine sang, danced and prayed the night of the eight killings, were told of other strange behaviour.

Lawyer Tony Bryant, who represents accused Marcelo Aravena, asked M.H. about the Winnipeg club hunting with Kellestine.

Bryant suggested Kellestine reached up into a tree, picked up a piece of black material and ate it, telling the bikers it was raccoon feces.

M.H. said he had no recollection of the incident, but agreed it was possible.

"That is pretty much Wayne Kellestine. It could have happened," he said.

M.H. also agreed with Bryant that pulling the patches of a fellow club member didn't equate with killing him.

"It really depends on the club," he said.

In the case of the Bandidos, M.H. said he understood at the time that the club was about brotherhood and getting along.

He agreed with Bryant that he wouldn't have wanted to be a Bandido if it was about killing people.

"That isn't why I joined the club," he said.

Bryant grilled M.H. on why he's now testifying Aravena was a prospect in the Bandidos when he testified at the preliminary hearing he had a lower rank in the club.

M.H. said the memory came to him after the preliminary hearing.

"It is strange. Stuff comes to me at different times. My lawyer calls me the Rain Man for that very reason," he said, referring to the savant character played by Dustin Hoffman.

When the first burst of gunfire was heard from the barn, M.H. testified earlier that he and another biker rushed inside.

Bryant suggested that when he entered, M.H. didn't know what team anybody was on.

"I had a pretty good idea. We were the ones carrying the guns," M.H. replied.

Cross examination of M.H. by Bryant is to continue at 10 a.m. today.
----------------------------------------------------------
Biker's stunt with snack was 'typical'
Jul 30, 2009
Accused claimed he ate raccoon feces, trial told


LONDON, Ont.–Accused mass murderer Wayne Kellestine reached into a tree, pulled out a black substance he said was raccoon feces, and gobbled it down in front of an alleged biker hit squad, court was told yesterday.

"It was typical of Wayne Kellestine?" defence lawyer Tony Bryant asked the star prosecution witness, a Bandido biker-turned-police-agent.

"That's pretty much Wayne Kellestine," M.H. agreed.

Court heard the bizarre incident took place in either late March or early April 2006, shortly before the biggest mass murder in modern Ontario history took place on Kellestine's ramshackle farm.

Other bikers laughed at the stunt, court was told. Kellestine, 60, of Iona Station, west of London, lowered his head in the prisoners' box and stared down at the floor as the incident was recounted yesterday.

Kellestine and five others are each charged with eight counts of first-degree murder for the execution-style slaying of members of the Greater Toronto Area Bandidos.

Court earlier heard that men hoping to join the motorcycle club didn't actually have to own or operate motorcycles.

Bryant noted that his client, Marcelo Aravena, 33, of Winnipeg, doesn't own a motorcycle or even have a licence to ride one.

"This was a bike club with no bikes?" asked Bryant, who is in his third day of cross-examining M.H.

"Pretty much, yeah," replied M.H., who was a member of the Winnipeg Bandidos and didn't own a motorcycle himself. The trial continues.
--------------------------------------------------
Informant had secret signal for police, trial told
Jul 30, 2009 01:52 PM

LONDON, Ont. – A biker working undercover for police was given a secret signal to use if he felt his life was in danger, a mass murder trial heard today.

"I was actually supposed to kick my shoe off," said the informer, who can only be identified as "M.H."

His comments came on the fourth and final day of cross-examination by defense lawyer Tony Bryant, who is representing accused killer Marcelo Aravena, 33, of Winnipeg.

Aravena is one of of six men who are each charged with eight counts of first degree murder for the execution-style slaying of eight members of the Greater Toronto Area Bandidos on the night of April 7-8, 2006.

M.H. told court today he became a police undercover agent shortly after returning from the farm of biker Wayne Kellestine, west of London, where the eight bikers were slain execution-style on the night of April 7-8, 2006.

M.H. told court today that he never actually had to use the secret signal, which was designed to alert nearby officers to come and rescue him as he was secretly recording conversations with Winnipeg members of the Bandidos.

M.H. dismissed a suggestion by defense lawyer Tony Bryant that Aravena "came within a whisper" of being the ninth murder victim that night.

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

"But you were scared?," Bryant earlier asked.

"I was scared," M.H. said.

Also facing murder charges are: Kellestine, 60; Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg; Brett Gardiner, 25, and Frank Mather, 35, each of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, of Winnipeg.

Found dead in vehicles abandoned on the outskirts of the hamlet of Shedden were: Jamie Flanz, 38, of Keswick; John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham, George Kriarakis, 28, of Toronto, Frank Salerno, 43, of Oakville; Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Jackson's Point; Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga and Torontonians George Jessome, 52, and Luis Raposo, 41.

The trial continues.
-------------------------------------------------
Memories questioned
Fri, July 31, 2009
A defence lawyer accuses the Crown's star witness of mixing up facts about the killings
By RANDY RICHMOND

The Crown's star witness in the murder trial of six bikers has mixed up facts and was diagnosed as having "very, very scattered abilities" that could affect his memory, the lawyer for one accused suggested yesterday.

Capping four days of dramatic cross-examination, defence lawyer Tony Bryant also suggested the police informant -- who can be identified only as M.H. -- claimed responsibility for killing George (Pony) Jessome.

Asked by another biker on the ride home to Winnipeg from the Ontario killings what he was thinking, M.H. made a slashing motion across his throat, then "held your hands in front as if riding a horse," Bryant suggested.

But M.H. yesterday stuck to his story of the Dutton-area Bandidos killings, and insisted he made no such signal about killing Jessome.

"That didn't happen," M.H. said.


In the final day of dramatic sparring between the lawyer and informant, Bryant suggested M.H. was wrong about seeing the body of George (Crash) Kriarakis in a tow truck with the body of Jessome.

"I am going to suggest in the strongest possible way there was nobody else (besides Jessome) in that truck," Bryant said.

M.H. testified last week he followed Jessome to a tow truck, where he was killed.

Kriarkis's body was already inside the same vehicle, he said.

But Bryant told M.H. yesterday a blood splatter specialist would later provide evidence Kriarakis could not be in that truck.

"The last time I saw Crash he was in it," M.H. insisted, breaking down on the stand.

Bryant also suggested M.H. mixed up who got killed when.

"Your sequence is wrong," Bryant told M.H.

"I would disagree with you," M.H. countered.

M.H. was one of five members of a Manitoba probationary chapter of the Bandidos that was in conflict with its sponsoring Toronto chapter.

Toronto's "No Surrender Crew" also served as the Canadian national chapter, but orders had come from the club's United States headquarters to boot them out of the worldwide club.

The Winnipeg bikers arrived uninvited to Kellestine's farm, near Dutton, in the spring of 2006 to find out why Kellestine hadn't followed the orders to "pull the patches" -- or yank the memberships -- of the Toronto club.

They stayed at the farm for two weeks before eight Toronto members were lured to the farm the night of April 7, 2006, M.H. testified earlier.

The bodies of the eight Toronto members were found stuffed into several vehicles on a rural Elgin County road not far from Kellestine's farm the next morning.

Six Winnipeg Bandidos are charged with eight counts of first-degree murder. All have pleaded not guilty.

Bryant has focused much of his cross-examination on Aravena's status in the club, painting him as a grunt worker afraid to challenge authority, and on M.H.'s memory of events.

Yesterday, Bryant produced court documents from a sentencing hearing in October 2002, where M.H. was facing other charges.

A lawyer, citing medical tests, described M.H. as having "some learning disabilities."

By Grade 9, he had the reading skills of a Grade 5 pupil, the documents suggested.

Bryant suggested to M.H. that he's had several "memory lapses" and is relying on information gathered after the killings to round out his stories.

"In many instances, you have made certain deductions . . . (based on) things you have seen and put together later," he suggested.

M.H. acknowledged he had some learning disabilities, but rejected a suggestion he'd been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder.

"I was not diagnosed with anything," he said.

He also refused to buy any attempt to paint Aravena as someone who had no choice but to follow orders the night of the killings.

"I didn't see anybody point a gun to his head," M.H. said.

The biker-turned-informant gave some glimpses yesterday into the undercover work he did for police in Winnipeg after the killings.

He and police worked out a secret signal to give if he got in trouble, M.H. said.

"I was actually supposed to kick my shoe off," he said.

Even that made Bryant wonder aloud how police were supposed to rush to his aid if they couldn't see him.

The trial was expected to continue today.
----------------------------------------------------

Bandidos trial: Jury hears of Hells Angels link
Fri, July 31, 2009
By JOHN MINER, SUN MEDIA

The star Crown witness in the Bandidos murder trial had a long history with motorcycle clubs and provided personal security for infamous Hells Angels leader Maurice (Mom) Boucher, jurors heard today.

The witness, who can only be identified as M.H., also testified he worked with another leading Hells Angels member, Walter Stadnick.

M.H. said he was close enough to Boucher to have drinks with him.

“I did security for him,” he said.

Before joining the Bandidos, M.H. had also been a member of a Hells Angels puppet club, likened yesterday to a farm team.


He said the Hells Angels were less collegial than the Bandidos, and a Hells Angels member would take another member’s wife.

“The leading cause of death amongst Hells Angels is other Hells Angels,” he said.

In other startling testimony, M.H. — whom the jury has heard was a police informant on the Bandidos — said he grossed as much as $80,000 a day or more selling cocaine from a bar. He pocketed one quarter of the sales, giving him $20,000 a day while he collected welfare as well.

Michael Moon, lawyer for accused Dwight Mushey, questioned M.H. about lies he had told in the past, including fraudulent claims for welfare and being a police informer when he started with the Bandidos.

“You were ratting them out from the very beginning,” Moon said.

“Yes,” replied M.H.

“You say that like it was nothing,” Moon said.

“It was what it was,” replied M.H.

Responding to Moon’s statement that he was a liar and a fraud, M.H. said: “Call me anything you want, it doesn’t change what happened that night.”

Earlier in the trial, M.H. testified the Winnipeg Bandidos and Wayne Kellestine killed eight Toronto Bandidos at a meeting the night of April 7, 2006, on Kellestine’s farm southwest of London.

Their bodies were found the next day stuffed into several vehicles on a rural road not far from Kellestine’s farm.

Kellestine, Mushey and four other men are accused of eight counts of first-degree murder. They have pleaded not guilty.

Yesterday, M.H. said he had understood from his police contact that he would receive $750,000 for his information about the killings.

But when he met with two police officers, they made it clear from the outset he wouldn’t get the money, he said.

M.H. agreed he was disappointed he had been “played” by his police contact.

M.H. also admitted he lied to his wife to get her to join the witness protection program with their children, telling her they would be paid $70,000 a year.

He receives $1,300 a month, little more than he got on welfare, M.H. said.

“My wife didn’t like Winnipeg anyway,” he said.

He also admitted he lied when he met his police contact after the killings and failed to disclose what happened on the Kellestine farm.

“I was originally going to tell him,” M.H. said, but he thought about his family, the biker code and Dwight Mushey.

Questioned about that meeting with his police contact, M.H. broke down and cried yesterday.

He was in tears again after a brief adjournment.

The trial resumes Tuesday.
------------------------------------------------------------------

Former biker provides O. J. moment at Bandidos trial
Puts on latex glove
Saturday, August 01, 2009

It was the O. J. Simpson moment of the Bandidos trial, although instead of high drama, it was somewhat comic.

The former biker turned police informant who can only be identified as M. H. was following the orders of defence lawyer Tony Bryant to put on a purple latex glove while testifying in court this week.

It was similar to what M. H. said he and the six men on trial wore underneath winter gloves at the farmhouse of Wayne Kellestine on April 7, 2006, while waiting for the Toronto Bandidos to arrive.

With a few jurors giggling and M. H. wearing the rubber glove, Mr. Bryant scoffed at the testimony that the defendants were sitting around for several hours inside the farmhouse near London, Ont., wearing two sets of gloves, including one that was made of latex.

"It was a joke," stated Mr. Bryant, who represents Marcelo Aravena.

"I don't know if that was a joke. Everyone was gloved up," insisted M. H. The "gloved up" recollection was just one example of what M. H. agreed was a "bizarre and strange" series of events that ended with the execution-style killings of eight members and associates of the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos.

Mr. Kellestine, 60, Mr. Aravena, 33, Michael Sandham, 39, Dwight Mushey, 41, Frank Mather, 35, and Brett Gardiner, 25, are all on trial in Ontario Superior Court, each facing eight counts of first-degree murder.

M. H. has testified for nearly three weeks about that night, the killings and the dispute between the Manitoba chapter, where he was sergeant-at-arms, and their Toronto colleagues.

Despite the gruesome nature of the killings, with the victims allegedly being led out silently to be shot with a .22 calibre rifle or vintage handgun, the picture painted by M. H. has often appeared more like a macabre episode of the Trailer Park Boys -- the Crown witness as Bubbles turned informant, albeit with much thinner glasses.

The Toronto members arrived at the farm at the request of Mr. Kellestine, not knowing he was supposed to "pull their patches" (remove memberships) under order from more senior Bandidos in the United States. In exchange, the Manitoba chapter would be granted full membership status and Mr. Kellestine would be appointed national president.

"Kellestine wanted to 'reorganize' the Toronto chapter," suggested Mr. Bryant.

"Pretty much, yeah," said M. H. In preparation, Mr. Kellestine

brought out weapons from a duffel bag. The rifles and shotguns were in such disrepair that solvent was needed to clean them before they were assembled.

M. H. testified about a trip a few days earlier to visit an elderly man with an oxygen tent, who was in his late 80s and claimed to have been in prison with the Birdman of Alcatraz. The man sold them shotgun shells that he handed over in a brown hat.

Before the Toronto members arrived, Mr. Kellestine said to "prepare for the worst" although M. H. agreed that despite the cleaning of the weapons and being "gloved up" there was no set plan to kill their colleagues.

While standing guard outside the barn, M. H. testified about hearing gunfire. He ran inside and saw Luis "Chopper" Raposo, one of the Toronto members, severely wounded.

Mr. Raposo allegedly shot first and was wounded by Mr. Sandham, head of the Winnipeg chapter.

For the next few hours, the Toronto members were guarded by M. H. and some of the men now on trial.

Mr. Kellestine, portrayed as an eccentric racist, was the person in charge, said M. H.

More than once, Mr. Kellestine indicated that he was simply going to "pull the patches" of the Toronto members and they would not be harmed. What has remained unclear is what led Mr. Kellestine to allegedly order the execution of the Toronto members and why everyone complied with this direction, including the victims, who did not try to flee or fight.

Unknown to his fellow bikers, M. H. was already a police informant. Yet he never contacted police or took any steps to prevent the massacre. "There was no opportunity," claimed M. H.

Within days of returning to Winnipeg, he reached a deal with police. Instead of facing a potential life sentence, M. H. received immunity and is in the witness protection program. His wife and children and even the family guinea pig have been relocated. Living expenses are also covered for the former drug dealer and biker.

With close-cropped hair, glasses and a suit, the stocky 40-year-old witness has appeared more like a small-town business owner. When his improved memory during the trial was greeted skeptically, he compared himself to the Rain Man character portrayed by Dustin Hoffman.

With the exception of a few occasions when he has lost composure and fought back tears, M. H. has been genial on the witness stand, even when attacked by the defence lawyers.

After Mr. Bryant ordered him to put on the glove, M. H. was then directed to see how easy it was for it to be ripped.

"I don't know how the hell you did it," said Mr. Bryant, surprised at the ease with M. H. ripped the glove.

"You asked me to do it," a perplexed M. H. responded, with an amused jury watching the spectacle.

The trial resumes on Tuesday.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Lawyer suggests star witness has 'powerful motive to lie'
Tue, August 4, 2009
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

He's been called a liar set on avoiding eight counts of first-degree murder and a life behind bars.

But M.H., the star witness at the Bandidos murder trial, insisted this morning he is telling the truth and what he did at Wayne Kellestine's farm on April 8, 2006, will still be judged.

"It will be tried someday in a higher court than this," he said, his eyes reddening, as he testified this morning at the end of a heated exchange with defence lawyer Michael Moon.

M.H. began his third week of testimony in cross-examination by Moon, the lawyer of Dwight Mushey, 41 — the fifth of six defence teams to challenge his version of how eight Toronto Bandidos were shot to death.

Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 25, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Mushey of Winnipeg have all pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder.


The shooting victims, George Jessome, 52; George Kriarakis, 28; John Muscedere, 48; Luis Raposo, 41; Frank Salerno, 43; Paul Sinopoli, 30; Jamie Flanz, 37; and Michael Trotta, 31, were found shot to death and their bodies left abandoned in four vehicles left on an Elgin County road near Shedden.

M.H. was at the Elgin County farm with the others the night the eight men came to the farm for a biker "church" meeting.

The fledgling Winnipeg chapter was there to find out why Kellestine had not pulled the patches - and effectively booting out - the Toronto group, on orders from the United States Bandidos.

The Toronto chapter was in conflict with the Americans and with the Manitoba chapter they were sponsoring.

The Toronto men were lured to the farm with a promise that Sandham, the Winnipeg-chapter president, would be there to iron out some of the issues both sides were grappling with.

Moon repeatedly suggested M.H., whose identity is protected by court order, is tailoring his evidence to live up to his immunity agreement with the Ontario attorney-general and avoid prosecution.

"I don't gain anything here by lying," M.H. said. "I lose if I lie."

Moon said he had to be "caught lying" and his agreement "goes by the way of the dodo."

He said the deal to avoid prosecution by testifyiing against the others was "a powerful motive to lie."

Moon reviewed some M.H.'s earlier statements to the police and to the court and how M.H. sometimes remembered details long after the shootings.

M.H. called them "Rain Man moments," as he explained last week during earlier cross-examination, referring to the savant character played by Dustin Hoffman.

"I remember stuff all the time," he said.

"I say you're a liar and . . . you don't want to go to jail for the rest of your life," said Moon.

"I have everything to lose by lying and nothing to lose by telling the truth," M.H. replied.

He agreed that Mushey had a problem with his Achilles tendon and sometimes walked with a cane. Mushey also had a heart issue and used "nitrous spray" if he was put in a tense situation.

M.H. agreed he didn't expect anyone would get hurt, when they armed themselves, "but we did have guns though."

Moon pointed out that M.H. was the sergeant-at-arms for the Winnipeg chapter chapter or the "brute squad" for the club.

But M.H. said there were only four members in Winnipeg and only three other chapter members living outside Manitoba, so there was "not much enforcing.”

He called victim Luis Manny "Chopper" Raposo's comment inside the barn to Kellestine that he was "going to put a hole" in Sandham "biker bravado."

"You got to understand the biker world," he said, adding he wished he had "a dollar" for every time he heard similar threats.

Moon asked if the Bandidos were just "a bunch of pot-smoking, good old boys who listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd and cruise around on weekends."

"Supposed to be." M.H. said.

But he admitted he was ready to use his gun that night if he had to.

Moon suggested M.H. showed little emotion when he first relayed his story to Ontario police officers in Winnipeg just days after the killings, yet was teary in court when he had an audience in a courtroom.

"You make it sound like it is easy to live with," M.H. said.

The trial continues this afternoon.
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Biker witness 'hit the lottery,' lawyer tells mass murder trial
Aug 04, 2009 01:47 PM

LONDON, Ont. – God will decide who's a mass murderer and who's just a liar, a biker murder trial heard today.

The comment came from the star prosecution witness, who can only be identified as "M.H.," after defense lawyer Michael Moon called him a liar. "I'm suggesting you're pedaling as fast as you can to avoid eight counts of murder," Moon said. "It'll be tried some day in a higher court than this," M.H. replied softly, while appearing to tear up. Court has earlier heard that M.H. was a personal bodyguard for notorious Hells Angels leader Maurice (Mom) Boucher and for former Hells Angels national president Walter Stadnick. "I did security for him (Boucher) and I had a drink with him, if you want to put it that way," M.H. told the trial into the largest mass murder in modern Ontario history. Boucher is now in prison serving a life sentence for ordering the murders of two prison guards.

M.H. agreed with defense lawyer Michael Moon that he also did security work for senior Hells Angels enforcer Stadnick, formerly of Hamilton and now a federal inmate after being convicted in 2004 of conspiracy to commit murder, gangsterism and drug trafficking. "Yes, Wally, yes," M.H. replied when asked if he had served as one of Stadnick's bodyguards. Stadnick is considered by police to be the architect of the Hells Angels coast-to-coast expansion in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

M.H. also agreed with Moon that his longest stint of steady employment was the year he spent dealing drugs in a Winnipeg hotel. He sometimes netted more than $25,000 a day from cocaine sales, M.H. said. At the same time, he supplemented his income with $1,000 monthly in welfare benefits, M.H. said.

He has told court that he didn't shoot any of the eight members of the Greater Toronto Area chapter of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, who were found in vehicles abandoned near a farmer's field west of London on the morning of April 8, 2006. He did admit that his past includes violence. "Did you smack people outside the (motorcycle) club?," Moon asked. "I wasn't the only one in the club that was smacking people," M.H. replied. He said that a Winnipeg police officer told him that the Ontario Provincial Police might offer him $750,000 for informing on the killers of the Bandidos. "(In your mind), this wasn't mass murder," Moon said. "This was (M.H.) hitting the lottery — $750,000." M.H. said his witness protection deal with authorities provides him with free rent, medical care and $1,300 a month for living expenses. That was only slightly more than he made collecting welfare back in his drug-dealing days, M.H. said.

The trial continues.
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BANDIDOS TRIAL: A defence lawyer alleges M.H. -- the Crown's star witness -- killed Luis Manny (Chopper) Raposo -- the first of the eight bikers to be shot dead
M.H. accused of lying and killing
The London Free Press
August 5, 2009

For more than a week in cross-examination, he's been called a liar.

Yesterday, the star witness at the Bandidos trial was accused of being a killer.

"I suggest that you shot Mr. Raposo," said defence lawyer Michael Moon, referring to the shooting of Luis Manny (Chopper) Raposo, the first of eight men man to die on April 8, 2006.

"You can suggest all you want," said M.H., who began his third week in the witness box.

The shocking accusation and M.H.'s denial came at the end of a long day of cross-examination by Moon, who represents Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg.

M.H. and Mushey were members of the fledgling Manitoba Bandidos motorcycle club chapter, along with three others who showed up unannounced at Wayne Kellestine's farm two weeks before the eight Toronto Bandidos were found shot to death.

They had come to the farm to "pull the patches" 'from their sponsoring Toronto chapter that had run afoul with its superior club in the United States.

M.H. has testified he shot no one that night, but watched seven of the eight men being led to their deaths on the Kellestine farm after Manitoba chapter president Michael Sandham had shot and killed Raposo in the barn.

Moon, part of the fifth of six defence teams to cross-examine M.H., called the witness "a liar" from the outset, suggesting M.H. is tailoring his evidence to live up to his immunity agreement with the Ontario attorney-general and avoid prosecution.

If M.H. lies, his deal is off. "I say you're a liar and . . . you don't want to go to jail for the rest of your life," said Moon.

"I have everything to lose by lying and nothing to lose by telling the truth," M.H. replied.

Later, Moon said M.H. was "pedalling as fast as you can" to avoid being charged with murder.

"It will be tried someday in a higher court than this," he said, his eyes reddening.

At times, there were tense exchanges during some of Moon's barrages of questions over inconsistencies between statements and testimony.

"I remember how it happened. I was there," M.H. said. "If I remember correctly, you were not."

Moon tried to paint a picture of Mushey as trying to help the other terrified Winnipeg Bandidos who were concerned they would also be shot. Moon pointed out to M.H. that Mushey told him to "be ready" and told accused Brett Gardiner to return to the farmhouse away from the barn.

Moon also suggested Mushey left the barn to use a puffer he had for a heart condition that would flare up in stressful situations. M.H. disagreed, saying Mushey would use his medicine wherever he was, "just like for my asthma."

Moon wanted to know why M.H. didn't try to get help. "It's not like anyone stood up and said 'hey, what's going on here?" M.H. said. "Like I said, we were all bikers that night."

"You were never a biker. You're an informant," Moon said, pointing out M .H. didn't even own a motorcycle.

"In that case, just about everybody in the box over there is not a biker, if you want to get technical about it," M.H. replied.

Moon suggested victim Michael Trotta had "15 pellets of bird shot in his head" and some of his blood was on a "centre beam" of the barn -- and that M.H. had no explanation.

Later, Moon produced a photograph of the shotgun M.H. had that night and said it was loaded with only four shells when it had a five-shell capacity.

Moon said M.H. secretly heard Raposo boast he wanted "to plug a hole" in Sandham while hiding behind the barn.

Moon suggested Raposo was still on his feet when M.H. went inside the barn and M.H. shot him with his shotgun, grazing Trotta with the birdshot.

Sandham had two guns -- a shotgun and a .303. His shotgun wasn't fired, Moon said, and there was no .303 shell in Raposo.

Assistant Crown attorney Tim Zuber objected and said Moon was "incorrect." Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney dismissed the jury for the day.

Moon also proposed M.H. had more to do with the death of George "Pony" Jessome than just watching Kellestine shoot him in the head and chest after seating him in the cab of Jessome's tow truck. The trial resumes today.
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M.H. role in crime comes under fire
Thu, August 6, 2009
Star witness accused of killing

By JANE SIMS

It was another side of Wayne Kellestine for the Bandidos trial jury to consider -- "a perfect patsy," rather than crazed killer.

Yesterday, Kellestine's defence team offered up a different theory as to how eight Toronto Bandido motorcycle club members were shot to death -- pinning the plan to kill on a group of ambitious Manitoba bikers.

But M.H., 40, the Crown's star witness at the Superior Court trial, disagreed with defence lawyer Ken McMillan and stuck to his version about what happened on Kellestine's Elgin County farm on April 8, 2006, when eight Toronto Bandidos were shot dead.

M.H., a former Winnipeg Bandido, completed his testimony yesterday after almost three weeks in the witness box,

There were parts of M.H.'s testimony McMillan couldn't ignore.


McMillan was struck by how the Winnipeg Bandidos, specifically M.H., were willing to listen to Kellestine, then fall in behind each victim as they were led out of the barn to be executed.

M.H. said he had watched two men be led out, and heard "pop, pop, pop," before he stepped forward to follow Kellestine and George (Pony) Jessome -- then watched Kellestine kill him.

"Why would you do that?" McMillan asked.

"I don't know, I just did," M.H. said.

"You had to know that Boxer (national president John Muscedere) and Crash (George Kriarakis) were executed and Pony was being taken out to be executed as well."

"Hindsight, I guess," M.H. said.

But McMillan persisted, reminding M.H. he had described Kellestine as a "crazy wild man, singing, laughing, doing a jig . . . acting bizarre."

M.H. had a shotgun. Dwight Mushey had a sawed-off shotgun and Winnipeg chapter president Michael Sandham had two guns.

"You guys didn't have to do anything you didn't want to. You could say, 'I don't think so,' and you could have blown Wayne's head off.

"I suggest you were doing the killing," McMillan added.

"You can suggest all you want," M.H. replied.

M.H. said there was no signal set for him and Mushey while they waited by the barn with loaded guns for the Toronto members to arrive for a "church" meeting.

Other points of M.H.'s testimony puzzled McMillan.

He calculated M.H. earned $5 million if his claim was true he made $20,000 a day selling cocaine.

"Maybe it was over-exaggerated," M.H. admitted, who revised his earning to an average $3,000 a day, with his highest take $9,000.

McMillan pointed out the "coincidence" the Manitoba bikers hit the road for Kellestine's farm the same time three men were in Winnipeg looking to kill Sandham.

En route to Kellestine's, Sandham had a call from his wife describing men who were looking for him.

McMillan wondered why, if Kellestine had been promoted to national president as M.H. testified, the Winnipeg bikers had "to sneak up on him?"

"You have to ask the States . . . Orders are orders," M.H. said.

Kellestine was surprised when the men landed at his place.

"You guys were set up as the only chapter in Canada and you had the perfect patsy back here in Ontario," McMillan said.

"I disagree," M.H. said.

But M.H. agreed Kellestine never put on gloves that night, while the Winnipeg bikers wore rubber gloves and that Kellestine had spoken earlier of saving the patches of some Toronto members but booting out others.

And M.H. agreed it was Sandham who came up with the idea he could shoot Muscedere off his balcony, but disagreed that Kellestine was merely cautioning them when he told the others to "be prepared for the worst" and "if we kill one, we kill them all."

"I suggest Wayne Kellestine was hoping this whole patch pulling could happen with no one being shot," McMillan said.

M.H. didn't agree.

The trial continues today.
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Biker's middle finger is focus of expert testimony
Thu, August 6, 2009
Jury learns about gunshots at Bandidos trial
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS


Luis "Chopper" Raposo often used a right-handed, middle-finger salute as his signature stance in almost all the photographs taken of him at Bandido motorcycle events.

This morning his middle finger became a key focus of the jury at the the Bandido trial when they heard Raposo's autopsy results.

Dr. Toby Rose, medical director of the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service, performed the autopsy on Raposo and three more of the eight shooting victims whose bodies were found April 8, 2006, near Shedden.

Dr. Michael Pollanen, the chief forensic pathologist of Ontario completed the other four — George "Crash" Kriarakis, 28; John "Boxer" Muscedere, 48; Frank "Bam Bam" Salerno, 30; and Michael "Little Mikey" Trotta, 31.

Raposo, 41, the Crown maintains, was the first to die inside Wayne Kellestine's barn. The rest were shot to death after they were led out to four vehicles and placed inside.


The tow truck, two cars and an SUV were found hours later, abandoned on Stafford Line.

Rose told the jury the bullet that killed Raposo first amputated the right middle finger, before it shattered, sending fragments of the bullet and his finger into his chest.

Those fragments hit his neck and lung, hitting some large arteries and veins and causing him to die. More than a litre of blood was in his chest. Some other bullet fragments were found in the palm of his left hand.

A bullet from another gun, Rose said, grazed his right upper arm.

The Crown and their star witness, M.H., a former Winnipeg Bandido, have said Michael Sandham, 39, the Winnipeg chapter president, shot Raposo from the barn's loft. Sandham had a .303 rifle and a shotgun with him.

The jury has also heard M.H. had a shotgun and Dwight Mushey had a sawed-off shotgun. Kellestine had a .22 calibre rifle.

M.H. said he and Mushey hurried into the barn after hearing gunfire.

Rose's opinion was Raposo could not have been shot with a shotgun, pointing out the bullet fragments did not resemble shotgun pellets.

Rose also reviewed the autopsy results of three other victims:

-Jamie "Goldberg" Flanz, 37, died from two gunshot wounds — one at close range into the head downward from the forehead, through the brain, before the bullet lodged in the back of the head; and the other that entered through Flanz's cheek below his left eye, through the face and neck and lodged near the second vertebra. The second wound was not necessarily fatal, Rose said, but was medically significant and could have caused death. Flanz also had a laceration at the rear of his scalp.

-George "Pony" Jessome, 52, died from two gunshots to the head and one to the chest. Rose said there was one litre of blood in his chest cavity. Bullet fragments were retrieved from the right clavicle. Rose said he was not shot with a shotgun.

-Paul "Big Paulie" Sinopoli, 30, had two gunshot wounds to the head. One to the left eyebrow penetrated his face and neck, and collapsed his eyeball, indicating, Rose said, that the gun was held at an angle. The other shot was to the temple, but was "unusual," she said because of the tiny metal fragments found in the brain and the soft tissue of the scalp. The pellets, she said, were not from a shotgun. "I believe they came from a very unusual ammunition," she said. Sinopoli also had a small graze wound on his right thigh that went through the face of a gargoyle tattoo.

Rose began her testimony by explaining to the jury the features of different gunshot wounds.

In her experience, Rose said this was the only case she has seen where there were eight bodies were brought for examination from one incident.

Rose gave a presentation showing what different wounds — both entrance and exit — look like at autopsy. She also explained close-range gunshots and what wounds look like from handguns and shotguns.

"I should say there are not many exit wounds in this case," she said.

In cross-examination, defence lawyer Donald Crawford, Rose maintained it was not a shotgun that killed Raposo, even though forensic experts have not excluded a shotgun as a weapon.

Rose said the wound does not look like it was made by a shotgun blast.

As for the Flanz wound to the cheek, she agreed that people can survive shots to the head if they get treatment immediately.

But she would not retreat from her opinion that his cause of death was from both gunshot wounds.

Six men have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder -- Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 25, of no fixed address; and Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg.

The trial continues this afternoon.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Biker boasted of being invincible, mass murder trial told
Aug 07, 2009 01:38 PM

LONDON, Ont. – Outlaw biker Wayne Kellestine bragged to police that he was "10 feet tall and invincible" immediately after being picked up by police on suspicion of taking part in the largest mass murder in modern Ontario history, court heard today.

Kellestine, 60, hadn't yet been placed under arrest for the murder of eight fellow members of the Greater Toronto Area Bandidos Motorcycle Club when he boasted to Det. Sgt. Mark Loader of the OPP that he had no fears for his own personal safety, despite the slaughter of his clubmates.

"I don't give an (expletive) about myself," Kellestine told Loader as they sat in a cruiser, driving from Kellestine's ramshackle farm to the London OPP detachment.

"I am invincible. I am 10 feet tall and invincible."

He said say, however, that he had fears for the safety of his wife and school-age daughter.

When Loader asked, "From who?," Kellestine burst into laughter and replied, "You don't know who?"

He didn't expand to the police officer, who was a member of the Biker Enforcement Unit, which targets outlaw motorcycle clubs.

The conversation was recalled as Loader took the witness stand this morning.

Loader said he wasn't interrogating Kellestine, and that the biker simply began to talk as they rode together in the police car on April 9, 2006, a day after the bodies of eight GTA Bandidos were discovered in vehicles abandoned by a farmer's field, 14 kilometers from Kellestine's farm.

Loader said that Kellestine appeared to be pretending to cry for a few seconds, and then said, "I wish that they would have put a gun to my head and killed me, too."

Court has heard that several of the murdered bikers were shot by guns pressed against their heads.

"Did you tell them that these people had been shot," Crown Attorney Kevin Gowdey asked?

"No I did not," Loader replied.

"Did you tell him where they were shot?," the Crown Attorney continued.

"No I didn't," Loader replied.

Found dead by a farmer's field were: Luis Raposo, 41, George Jessome, 52, and George Kriarakis, 28, all of Toronto; Frank Salerno, 43, of Oakville; Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Jackson's Point; John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham, Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga and Flanz, 38, of Keswick.

Facing eight counts of first degree murder are: Kellestine, Marcelo Aravena, 33, Michael Sandham, 39, and Dwight Mushey, 41, all of Winnipeg; Brett Gardiner, 25, and Frank Mather, 35, each of no fixed address.

The trial continues.
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Kellestine told wife: 'I loved all them guys'
Sat, August 8, 2009
BANDIDOS TRIAL

Freshly charged with eight counts of first-degree murder, Wayne Kellestine told his wife over the phone he "didn't do anything."

"I know it's a setup. You know it's a setup," he said to his common-law spouse, Tina, from the London OPP detachment.

He listened to Tina tell him about the dead.

"He wouldn't hurt a flea, that man," Kellestine said, though it was unclear exactly who he was talking about. "He's such a nice f---ing gentle man. (Expletive) I loved him too, with all my heart and soul. And Boxer, I loved him with all my heart and soul. And, (expletive) I loved all them guys."

Yesterday, the jury at the Bandido murder trial peered into Kellestine's mind in the hours following his arrest April 9, 2006, a day after eight dead Toronto Bandido bikers were found near Shedden about 14 kilometres from Kellestine's farm.


Excerpts from videotaped police statements were played, and showed Kellestine denying any involvement in the deaths, worrying about repercussions from other bikers, including the Hells Angels, and talking to his wife on the phone about what to do next.

OPP Det. Sgt. Mark Loader, who was part of Ontario's biker enforcement unit, testified he monitored the interviews after he and Det. Const. Jeff Gateman took Kellestine to the London OPP detachment after his arrest at his Elgin County farm.

Loader sat with Kellestine in the back seat of an unmarked police car.

Kellestine talked about his "brothers" and was crying -- but there were no tears.

"I wish they had just put a gun to my head and pulled the trigger too," Kellestine said.

"I don't care. I'm out of the club. Why me? I just lost three of my best friends."

"It appeared insincere," Loader testified.

At the detachment, Kellestine told the officers he'd been "crying over them all day."

"I don't give a (expletive) about myself," he said, crying. "I'm invincible. I'm ten feet tall and untouchable."

Moments later, Loader said, Kellestine was laughing.

During the first interview Kellestine insisted he was "drinking and partying" for three days and didn't know what day it was.

Kellestine was seated beside an interview table and stretched out with his feet resting on another chair. He kept telling Gateman he was exhausted and needed "triple-triple" coffee.

He told the officer he assumed his farm was under 24-hour surveillance.

"You know I haven't left. I haven't gone anywhere," he said.

"What am I? Houdini? I'm magic?"

At one point, it appears Kellestine tried to catch a nap.

He told Gateman he was embarrassed about crying in front of the officers

"The last thing I want is this on film in court seeing me bawling my (expletive) eyes out," he said.

Gateman assured Kellestine he hadn't seen him cry.

The officer also said he didn't think Kellestine looked burnt-out and hung over.

"I've seen you look worse," he said.

Kellestine wanted to know when he could leave. He was upset the police were "ripping my house apart."

"Did you murder these eight people? How's that for a question?" Gateman asked.

"That's a dumb (expletive) question. How could you say that to me?" Kellestine replied incredulously.

Kellestine said he wanted to go home, and clean up the mess the police were going to leave.

"I got to go home and I have to bury some friends, obviously."

But Gateman persisted. "You got eight dead people that you knew."

"You think I'm that stupid? To do something like that?" Kellestine asked.

"I am not going to dignify an answer to that.'

He also told Gateman he "wouldn't rat anybody off."

Kellestine also laments he's a "hypocrite because he had been high and drunk. "I'm always putting people down that are (expletive) drug addicts," he said.

He complained the police had "tunnel vision and you focus on me."

"And this is an old commercial. Pity," he said.

Kellestine called his common-law wife to make arrangements to leave. By the end of the interview, he had given the police his shoes for identification. When he was alone, he put on his sunglasses, pulled his ball cap over his eyes and was snoozing in the chair waiting for his release.

Instead, he was charged with eight counts of first-degree murder.

The next day, he wanted to know the whereabouts of the others who had been arrested at his house.

"You have tunnel vision here. You're focusing on the wrong people my friend, " he told OPP Det. Staff Sgt. Dave Quigley.

"Now we're all on the same team here. What, what would be my reason for wanting to harm them?"

Kellestine reminded the police he had problems with the Hells Angels who "tried to kill me three times in the past" and he'd been called by police as recently as "a couple of weeks ago" warning him about his safety.

"Now I imagine the Hells Angels are choked at me. I imagine the Bandidos are choked at me because I've been charged with this, even though you won't convict me on it."

Kellestine was worried about his family.

"You just charged me with murdering eight Bandidos who were my close brothers," Kellestine said. "Now whether or not you made a mistake or not, it'll come out in court.

"If the real perpetrators of this crime are Hells Angels, then they're still out there laughing."

Kellestine spoke to his wife and told her to sell his motorcycle, jewelry and cars.

"I want to apologize to all the neighbours for the inconvenience," he told her.

He told her there were "multiple arrests, whatever that means."

"I don't know whether they're arresting Hells Angels, who did this?. . . The police here are under the impression I helped them.

"Why would I do that? I hate them (expletive) . . . I hate them more than cops."

After the phone call, Quigley began questioning Kellestine again. Kellestine told him repeatedly to call his lawyer, Ken McMillan. "I've said way more than I should have. I realize that. I realize I opened my big (expletive) mouth and babbled on when I shouldn't have."

He denied he said to Quigley the Hells Angels were involved. Quigley said it didn't make sense anyway.

"Now quite frankly, I think you've done a great service to the H.A. (Hells Angels) by basically blowing up the entire national organization of the Bandidos," Quigley said.

Kellestine said he wanted to "recant any statements I've said."

For the rest of the interview, Kellestine repeated the same phrase.

"I deny having any knowledge or participation in any crime," he said.

The trial continues Tuesday.
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Police informant M.H. wasn't promised money, jury hears
Tue, August 11, 2009
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS


The police informant in the Bandidos trial was not promised money for his information and was told to expect jail time before he entered an agreement for immunity from prosecution.

OPP Det. Sgt. Mark Loader testified this morning that promises were not made to Winnipeg Bandido M.H., whom he was told gave details as to what happened at Wayne Kellestine's farm on April 8, 2006, when eight members of the Toronto Bandidos chapter were killed. M.H., 40, whose identity is protected by court order, gave lengthy testimony at the trial describing how the Winnipeg Bandidos arrived at Kellestine's farm unannounced and stayed two weeks.

M.H. told the jurors that the Winnipeg Bandidos devised a plan with Kellestine to get the Toronto Bandidos to the farm and described how each one was shot to death. Loader said he and Det. Const. Jeff Gateman, both members of the Biker Enforcement Unit, were sent to Winnipeg on April 14, 2006, a day after information came to Ontario investigators that a confidential source was there. Loader and Gateman focused on M.H., while other officers followed up on a second lead.

They had never met M.H. until April 16, 2006, when M.H. provided a 3 1/2-hour interview with them. Out of that interview came 33 different leads for Ontario investigators to follow while sifting through the Kellestine farm and checking other Bandidos-related information, Loader said.

After the initial contact, M.H. was instructed to call them if he recalled anything and arrange to meet them again. M.H. signed a contract with the Ontario attorney general two months later and became a police agent. Once M.H. was an agent, Loader became the primary handler of M.H., taking notes, giving directions and making decisions.

M.H. was instructed to wear body packs to record conversations and do follow-up interviews with the officers. Over the course of the investigation and preparing for the trial, Loader estimated he had "several hundred" meetings with M.H., either on the phone or in person.

M.H. required a lot of preparation time to review his statements, preliminary hearing testimony and wire taps. He was also cut off from the outside world with a new identity for himself and his family under the witness-protection program, Loader said. M.H. didn't see his extended family and didn't have time for his hobbies. He also was told not to seek employment because the case would require him to spend extended periods of time preparing for the trial.

Loader said there were days just "talking" about sports or his home province. M.H. was only given restricted access to evidence for which he provided information, Loader said. The jury also saw a short part of a longer police interview with Kellestine on April 10, 2006.

Kellestine refused to answer any questions, calling himself "a deaf mute." He told Gateman he had "the worst hangover of my life" from drinking beer. Loader monitored the interview after Kellestine was picked up at the end of his laneway during a high-risk take-down. Loader rode with Kellestine to the London OPP detachment and testified Kellestine did not smell like alcohol.

The trial continues this afternoon.
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OPP detective not impressed with Winnipeg cop, Bandidos jury told
Wed, August 12, 2009
Loader was handler of informant M.H.
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS


Ontario investigators landed in Winnipeg less than a week after eight dead Toronto-area bikers were found near Shedden, anxious to talk to a man who witnessed the shootings.

But first, they had to get past a Winnipeg police officer who used the man as an informant.

This morning at the Bandido trial, OPP Det.-Sgt. Mark Loader testified he was not impressed with the lack of professionalism displayed by officer Tim Diack when trying to arrange a meeting with M.H., a police informant.

M.H. is a former Winnipeg Bandido who has already testified at the trial. He is in the witness-protection program and his identity is protected by court order.

Loader, a former member of the Ontario Biker Enforcement Unit, testifying for a second day, confirmed Diack wouldn't let them near the informant until they took Diack out for dinner.


He ordered the most expensive thing on the menu, Loader said.

The suggestion of the steak dinner was made in a question from defence lawyer Michael Moon, who represents accused Dwight Mushey.

Loader also confirmed that he told Diack if he wasn't going to co-operate, the Ontario officers would confront M.H. on their own — based on their own intelligence.

The jury has already heard that it was Diack who suggested to M.H. that his information could be worth $750,000.

Loader confirmed that he was told M.H. would be making the request, along with a relocation for he and his family.

But he repeated that M.H. was given no promises and no money for his information.

He was told repeatedly that he could go to jail for his involvement, Loader said.

Diack did arrange for the Ontario officers to meet with M.H. and also rattled off some of the information M.H. had told him — specific details about the killings and some of the biker politics that led to the shootings.

But Loader said Diack told them detailed information off the cuff and without relying on a notebook.

Loader said during cross-examination by defence lawyer Clay Powell, who represents accused Wayne Kellestine, he had two of Diack's supervisors in the meeting when Diack relayed his information. Then Loader had the officers sign his notebook to make sure what Loader had written down was accurate.

He said he was concerned that Diack's "information was not reliable."

He also wanted the Winnipeg officers to sign off that they had told him they had "taken care of" the investigation into an alleged plot to kill Winnipeg Bandido chapter president and co-accused Michael Sandham by three other Bandidos — two sent from Toronto — while the Winnipeg bikers were in Ontario.

At the first interview with M.H. on April 16, 2006, eight days after the bodies were discovered, Loader went over Diack's information with M.H. to test its accuracy, before M.H. told his story to them for three hours.

Powell asserted that technique was "ass-backwards" and allowed the police to lay out a scenario for M.H.

But Loader disagreed, pointing out that M.H. corrected some of the information, then gave a detailed account of what happened that night at Kellestine's farm.

"It was quite successful," he said.

Once M.H. became a police agent, after signing an agreement with Ontario attorney-general on June 9, 2006, for immunity from prosecution, he wore body packs to gather audio-taped conversations.

M.H. was ordered not to fiddle with the recording device. But the first time he wore it in shorts he had on while working out at the gym, he made the mistake of taking the packs off before giving them back to the officers.

Loader said he never made the mistake again.

Loader said, M.H. was only encouraged to "tell your story" and nothing more during his trial preparation for the case.

Loader was also asked by defence lawyer Christopher Hicks, who represents Brett Gardiner, if he knew Eric Niessen, a man who the jury has seen in a videotape at Kellestine's farm and who was taken into police custody with four others at the farm the day after the bodies were discovered.

Hicks asked if Loader knew whether Niessen was a drug dealer dealing in methamphetamines.

Loader said he only met Niessen once and that his partner, Det.-Const. Jeff Gateman, would be more familiar with him — given his responsibilities were to understand the Bandidos motorcycle club in Southwestern Ontario.

Loader explained he was more familiar with the Hells Angels as part of his duties with the biker unit.
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Blood reveals death positions
Fri, August 14, 2009
BANDIDOS TRIAL
By JANE SIMS

The blood shed by eight Toronto Bandidos bikers gave clues to how they died.

David Sibley, a blood stain pattern analyst from the Ontario Provincial Police, was given the task to look at how blood pooled, dripped, flew and stained the vehicles where the dead men were found more than three years ago.

Yesterday, Sibley shared with the Superior Court jury at the Bandidos trial his conclusions from his examinations of the vehicles and the barn at Wayne Kellestine's farm where the men last gathered.

The jury reviewed grisly crime scene photos showing the men as they were found on April 8, 2006, in vehicles along Stafford Line in Elgin County.

Sibley discussed the direction the blood travelled after each man was shot and how it pooled around them.


Among his conclusions:

Most of the men were seated upright in the vehicles before they were shot. Paul Sinopoli was lying down in the back hatch of an Infiniti SUV.

Luis (Chopper) Raposo's body changed position several times, based on the flow pattern on his blood. The jury has heard Raposo was shot first inside the barn.

Jamie Flanz, found shot twice in the head in a Pontiac Grand Prix, had blood on his shoes. The Crown's star witness, a former Winnipeg Bandido known as M.H., has testified Flanz was one of the men ordered to carry Raposo's body, wrapped in a carpet, to the back of Raposo's Volkswagen Golf.

The "back spatter" blood pattern - blood that travels back to the source of force -- was in front of Flanz who was seated in the rear of the car.

A footprint with blood from Frank Salerno was found in the barn.

Blood drops from Raposo were in the vestibule of the barn.

A transfer stain of Michael Trotta's blood -- evidence that a wet bloody object touched another object -- was found on a pillar in the barn.

In cross-examination, defence lawyer Gordon Cudmore, who represents Michael Sandham, pointed out none of Flanz's blood was on the rear door panel of the Grand Prix.

M.H. testified Sandham fired the first shot into Flanz through the rear window.

Cudmore pointed out there was blood spatter on the centre console. Sibley said that he had no way of knowing Flanz's position in the car, except that he was seated based on the blood trail on his face.

The focus of defence lawyer Tony Bryant, who represents Marcelo Aravena, was about George (Crash) Kriarakis.

M.H. testified he saw Kriarakis's body in the Superior Towing tow truck before he watched Wayne Kellestine shoot George (Pony) Jessome as he was seated in the truck's rear seat.

But Kriarakis's body was found in the front driver's seat of Raposo's Golf.

Kriarakis, who weighed 238 pounds, had seven gunshot wounds -- four to the head and three to the torso.

But none of his blood was found in the tow truck and there has been no evidence that any of Jessome's blood was on Kriarakis.

Sibley testified through questions from assistant Crown attorney Fraser Kelly, blood in the car from Kriarakis would have come from his head wounds.

He would not expect "back spatter" to come from abdominal wounds because they are penetrating wounds covered with clothing that would stop any spatter from happening.

The trial continues today.
----------------------------------------------
BANDIDOS TRIAL
Crime scene tire impressions analyzed
Jane Sims
The London Free Press
August 15, 2009

All tracks seemed to lead back to Wayne Kellestine's farm, a footwear and tire impression expert testified yesterday at the Bandidos trial.

The trial of six men who have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder in he deaths of eight Toronto Bandidos bikers took another step into CSI territory with John Norman, a senior forensic analyst with the Ontario Provincial Police.

His specialty is analyzing shoes and tire impressions at crime scenes and comparing them with exhibits.

The jury was given a short tutorial on how Norman came to his conclusions about what was found using characteristics in the treads of both tires and shoes from the investigation that started on April 8, 2006,

He explained he used casts of tire impressions made from those found by identification officers in the dirt laneway at Kellestine's Dutton-Dunwich farm. He compared them with a set of tires found in a ravine outside Winnipeg and tires from the crime scene on Stafford Line, where the four vehicles carrying the dead men were found.

He could not make conclusive matches on any tread but said he "could not exclude" any, either.

The four Winnipeg tires fit accused Michael Sandham's red GMC Jimmy, he said. And those tires could not be excluded from the Kellestine driveway tire marks.

The jury has heard Sandham was seen buying new tires for the vehicle from a Walmart in Selkirk, Man., near Winnipeg, just days after he returned from Ontario, and then dumping his old tires into a ravine.

Norman could not exclude the crime scene tires from:

The Chevrolet Silverado tow truck owned by Superior Towing and driven by victim George Jessome.

The Pontiac Grand Prix rented to victim Michael Trotta's spouse.

The Infiniti SUV owned by victim Jamie Flanz.

Assistant Crown attorney Joseph Perfetto asked about the Infiniti's fuel level when it was found abandoned on Stafford Line.

Norman said investigators were able to siphon gas from all the vehicles except the Infiniti.

"There was not enough fuel to siphon out," he said.

The jury has heard from the Crown's star witness, M.H., a former Winnipeg Bandido whose identity is protected, that the vehicles were left 14 kilometres from the Kellestine farm because one of them had run out of gas.

Cross-examination of Norman is expected Tuesday.
---------------------------------------------------
Pathologist testifies about how bullets went into, through Bandidos
Death wounds of victims detailed
Wed, August 19, 2009
By JANE SIMS

John (Boxer) Muscedere had a gunshot wound that went from one ear to the other.

George (Crash) Kriarakis was shot seven times -- four in the head and three to the torso.

Frank (Bam Bam) Salerno was shot between the eyes.

The bullet that killed Michael (Little Mikey) Trotta was shot into the top of his skull.

The Superior Court jury at the Bandido trial heard more autopsy results yesterday through Dr. Michael Pollanen, who came to court with an extraordinary resume and reputation.


Ontario's chief forensic pathologist was instrumental in overturning the autopsy findings in several criminal cases reported by controversial Dr. Charles Smith. Pollanen disputed Smith's opinion that several children died as a result of foul play, leading to the Goudge Report into baby deaths examined by Smith and a review of shaken baby cases across Ontario.

It was that "excellent work" that defence lawyer Clay Powell commented on, before Elgin County Crown attorney Kevin Gowdey asked Pollanen to relate his findings in four of the eight autopsies of the Toronto Bandido bikers found shot to death April 8, 2006 near Shedden.

Eight bodies were found in vehicles along Stafford Line, all members of the motorcycle club..

The jury has already heard about the other four autopsies on George Jessome, 52, Luis Raposo, 41, Paul Sinopoli, 30, and Jamie Flanz, 37, from Dr. Toby Rose.

Muscedere, 48, the Bandidos Canada president, was shot twice in the head and once in the torso.

One bullet was shot into his right ear, through the brain and recovered under his left ear. A second head wound was shot into the right cheek and was also found near the left ear.

Muscedere was also shot in the belly, the bullet grazing his liver, then perforating his heart and left lung. The shot was at close range and the bullet was recovered in the muscle of his shoulder blade.

There were also injuries to his lower lip and inside his mouth where his teeth were broken. He also had abrasions to his knees. Pollanen said the injuries were consistent with "terminal collapse," when, after an incapacitating injury, a person falls to their knees and falls forward.

Salerno, 43, the president of the Toronto chapter, had been shot nine times, with six of the wounds noted as superficial grazes and flesh wounds to his right hand and right leg. Pollanen said the wounds couldn't have been caused by "birdshot" from a shotgun.

The other injuries were devastating. One shot between the eyes, at close range, ricocheted inside his skull and broke apart.

Another, into the right cheek, was found lodged in his sinus. A third bullet travelled essentially the same route as in Muscedere's head, from ear to ear.

Pollanen also pointed out an unusual finding of "stipling" on Salerno's face, a pattern of injury caused by fired gunpowder.

Pollanen said while Salerno had suffered the injuries, there was no bullet entrance wound associated with the marks, indicating a gun was fired near, but not into, Salerno's head.

The hair was shaved way from the top of Trotta's head to show the gun wound, Pollanen said, was made with the gun barrel pressed against the scalp.

The bullet travelled through the brain and out the left cheek. The bullet was found loose in the body bag.

Trotta, 31, was also shot in the right chest, but the bullet only entered muscle and soft tissue.

But a third wound on the right side of his head was unusual, the pathologist said. While there was blackening and burning on the skin, the bullet never entered the head. Small fragments were recovered from under the skin.

Pollanen said he called in firearms experts to look at the wound because it was "a particular type of ammunition I hadn't seen before."

A black eye, he said, would have been formed after death from seepage in the head wound. Trotta also had a scrape under his eye.

Kriarakis, 28, had two gunshots to the temple that travelled a similar route. One passed through the brain and skull but stopped just under the scalp.

Another bullet to the face was found in his forehead. An X-ray Kriarakis's head showed multiple bullet fragments lodged in his brain. Another close range gunshot wound to the head just under the ear entered the brain. Kriarakis also had a wound under his right armpit, shot into his shoulder.

A chest wound was likely fired after death, Pollanen said, because there was little bleeding even after it had grazed his liver.

A final wound to his abdomen, under the belly button perforated intestines and there was bleeding, he said, indicating Kriarakis was alive at the time of the shot.

The jury has heard the Crown's main witness, a former Winnipeg Bandido who was at Wayne Kellestine's farm the night of the shootings, testify seeing Kriarakis in the back of a tow truck when Jessome was shot to death. Police found Kriarakis's body in the front seat of the Volkswagen Golf attached to the tow truck.

Defence lawyer Tony Bryant, who represents accused Marcelo Aravena, asked Pollanen if the arm and belly wound would have incapacitated Kriarakis. Pollanen said a person could be mobile if no major arteries or veins are hit. He found no evidence of restraints on his wrists.

Bryant focused on what might happen if Kriarakis was in the back of the tow truck with those injuries when the vehicle was moved. Pollanen agreed there would be some pain.

Defence lawyer Christopher Hicks. who represents Gardiner, reviewed the toxicology results of each victim with Pollanen.

Muscedere's results were "remarkably negative," Pollanen said. Kriarakis also had negative results.

Salerno, however, had both morphine -- an active component of heroin -- and methadone in his blood. There was evidence of heroin use in his urine.

Both Salerno and Trotta had a small amount of alcohol that could have been attributed to decomposition after death. Trotta also had a small amount of marijuana.

The breakdown product of cocaine was in Raposo's and Flanz's blood. Jessome had therapeutic levels of the pain killer oxycodone.

Nothing was detected in Sinopoli's system.

The jury has heard of conflicts that rose between the Toronto chapter -- also considered the national chapter -- and its American leaders. There was also friction between the Toronto chapter and the fledgling Manitoba probationary chapter it had sponsored.

The men were shot after they had come to Kellestine's farm to have their "patches pulled" and kicked out of the organization.

The trial continues today.
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Accused made a lot of phone calls, Bandidos jury hears
Thu, August 20, 2009
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS


Michael Sandham must have had some cellphone bill.

This morning, in cross examination of an OPP analyst who looked through the records of 40,000 phone calls made by the players in the Bandidos case, it appeared it was Sandham — one of the six accused and the president of the probationary Winnipeg chapter of the Bandidos — who liked to burn up the phone lines the most.

Defence lawyer Clay Powell, who represents Wayne Kellestine, had OPP Sgt. Ed Kodis take a closer look at the Sandham's phone activity in the months leading up to the shootings.

Powell focused in on all the phone calls that seemed to be made from Sandham's cellphone to a Kellestine phone.

The timeline showed frequent and lengthy calls made by Sandham, sometimes several times a day, to the cellphone registered to accused Frank Mather — but listed as a contact for Kellestine on at least one biker phone list.

The activity heated up more in the days leading up to a trip to Vancouver and while Sandham was in the British Columbia city in early March, 2006.

Sandham made at least 20 phone calls on his cellphone, some to an American Bandido, Keinard (Hawaiian Ken) Post and Canadian Bandido David (Concrete Dave) Weiche, but most were to the Kellestine contact.

"This guy does a lot of talking," Powell said to Kodis.

"That phone gets a lot of use," Kodis replied.

On March 3, 2006, the Sandham phone, while in Vancouver, was connected to the Kellestine/Mather phone for about two hours.

"That's two hours they've been yakking on the phone," Powell pointed out.

Kodis told Powell his function was only to organize the calls into a time line. He was given limited information about each individual involved.

Powell suggested, as he moved further along in the timeline that it appeared Sandham was taking the initiative.

"I don't know what is going on, but it appears this guy Sandham is quarterbacking something," Powell said.

A month after the bodies were found on April 8, 2006 near Shedden, Sandham resurfaced in e-mails, speaking on behalf of the Winnipeg group. Powell reviewed the correspondence, Sandham's plans to visit the Bandidos international executive in Texas in May, and his attempts to retain his position after it was revealled he was an ex-police officer.

He was arrested in Winnipeg on June 16, 2006.

"I guess that shuts down his phone and computer down," Powell said.

Before the lunch break, the jury began to hear telephone intercepts of calls made by the accused after the shootings.

OPP Det.-Const. Spencer Salters made a voice identification of accused Marcelo Aravena, a former mixed martial-arts fighter, based on six phone calls made in Winnipeg from the house Aravena shared with accused Dwight Mushey and one from the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre after his arrest.

Two of the calls were conversations with women. One, with a woman named Jen, instructs her to check out heavyweightgladiators.com to see his photograph.

Another is a call to Global TV to register for one of their contests.

The jury is expected to hear more calls this afternoon.

The shooting victims were all members of the "No Surrender Crew," the Toronto chapter of the motorcycle club that doubled as Bandidos Canada.
-----------------------------------------------
BANDIDOS TRIAL: Jury listens to private conversations
Suspect denies involvement in killings
Jane Sims
The London Free Press
August 21, 2009

On the phone at the London jail, accused Brett Gardiner stuck by his story.

"We were drunk for two days watching pay per view . . . The only thing that comes to my head is this is just a big frame, " he said to friend Heather McDowell on May 13, 2006, more than a month after his arrest.

"None of us are involved in any of that . . ."

Gardiner was maintaining his story on June 2, 2006.

"Like, say (if) Bill Clinton was in that house, he would've gotten arrested himself, you know," he told her. "Anybody in that house would've got arrested."

Yesterday, the jury at the Bandidos murder trial listened in on private conversations of some of the accused during the days after eight Toronto bikers were found shot to death on April 8, 2006, near Shedden.

The Crown's case has focused on the internal conflicts within the biker club. The international executive in the United States had ordered the patches -- or memberships -- be pulled from Bandidos Canada, the same people who belonged to the Toronto chapter.

There was also friction over dues and patches with the probationary Winnipeg chapter the Toronto group sponsored.

Seven of the eight shootings are alleged to have happened execution-style at Wayne Kellestine's farm before the vehicles containing the men's bodies were driven 14 kilometres away.

Gardiner was charged with five others picked up at the farm in the days following the deaths. He told Heather McDowell he came to Ontario to work for Kellestine "'cause Wayne does shingling."

The intercepts the jury heard yesterday all involved members of the Winnipeg chapter, all of whom except Gardiner were out of custody and living in the Manitoba capital for two months after the shootings.

And they were proudly carrying on Bandidos business.

Marcelo Aravena a former mixed martial arts fighter, excitedly told his friend Lorica Allard a month after the deaths that "I got my vest."

Three days later, he talked about it again with Allard, asking how he looked in his biker colours.

"You got to admit though, eh, at least it's . . . worldwide, not . . . in the city only," he boasted.

Besides, he told her, he wouldn't be able to extricate himself from the club.

"Trust me it's too late," Aravena laughed. "The only way out for me is if I'm floating . . . in the river."

So excited was Aravena in the intercept, he asked accused Dwight Mushey, his sponsor, if he could be buried in his vest.

"I want the full thing, man," he said.

Some of the intercepts followed the Winnipeggers setting up two "church" meetings with a new member, Jeff (Bones) Smith, in May and recruiting new members.

But there seemed to be little communication between accused Michael Sandham, the president of the chapter, and the others until mid-May.

"Long time no hear," he said with a laugh on May 15, 2006, to another biker, who can only be identified as M.H. who has testified as a police informant at the trial.

In the phone intercepts from the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre in London, Gardiner told his girlfriend, Jessica McDowell, on June 16, 2006, the others had been arrested.

And he knew someone had given a statement to the police. But he didn't know Sandham had been a police officer and fiercely defended him.

Gardiner told her he'd decided he was "finished" with the biker club once he was released.

He'd told Mushey, even though he was promised full membership.

The trial continues today.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Bandido was in his underwear when cops came to take him away, jury hears
Fri, August 21, 2009

Marcelo Aravena was in his boxer shorts when the police came to arrest him.

He let the two Winnipeg police officers into the house, where he lived with Dwight Mushey, when they came to the door after 11 p.m. on June 15, 2006.

The officers asked him to get dressed and followed him to the bedroom where he pulled on a t-shirt and shorts.

Back in the living room, he bent down and kissed his dog, Harley, on the nose before he went outside with the officers to be arrested for eight counts of first-degree murder.

"Yeah, that's fine," he said to the officers before they linked together two sets of handcuffs and cuffed the large man.


"He was very co-operative," testified Winnipeg police Det.-Sgt. Scott Halley at the Bandidos trial this morning.

The focus of the trial returned to the Manitoba capital today with the jury hearing from four Winnipeg police officers.

Two of them described seeing Aravena, 33; Mushey, 41, and a biker-turned-police informant M.H. in their Bandido vests a week before the arrest, during a lengthy surveillance.

Det.-Sgt. Dennis Peterson also told the jury about arresting Mushey shortly after 10 p.m. on June 15, 2006.

Mushey was walking to his blue, late-model Mercedes when the police arrested him at gunpoint.

Peterson said Mushey also was "co-operative."

The jury also heard wiretap intercepts of Mushey on the phone with prospective members of the Winnipeg Bandidos.

It's clear from the conversations he is not in contact with chapter president Michael Sandham, 39, and wants to know what happened during a trip to Texas.

The three Winnipeg men along with Wayne Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich and Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first degree murder in the shooting deaths of eight Toronto-area members of the Bandidos motorcycle club on April 8, 2006.

The shooting victims were George Jessome, 52; George Kriarakis, 28; John Muscedere, 48; Luis Raposo, 41; Frank Salerno, 43; Paul Sinopoli, 30; Jamie Flanz, 37; and Michael Trotta, 31.

The trial continues this afternoon
---------------------------------------------------------


Kellestine laments missing funerals
Sat, August 22, 2009
By JANE SIMS

An indignant Wayne Kellestine told one friend he had been denied attending his slain friends' funerals.

To another, he said the police had "the wrong people."

But while locked up in the Sarnia Jail a month after he was charged with eight counts of first-degree murder, Kellestine told his wife he "f---ed up bad."

Tina Fitzgerald hadn't been able to go home to their farm while police searched it for clues connected to the shootings of eight Toronto Bandido bikers and she wanted some answers from the police.

"Well . . . I got us all in trouble, didn't I?" Kellestine said on May 11, 2006.


Yesterday, the Superior Court jury at the Bandidos trial, listened to short segments of phone calls Kellestine made from jail in the weeks after his arrest.

Kellestine and five others have pleaded not guilty at a murder trial that has focused on the conflicts within the Bandidos motorcycle club and how the men were shot to death during a "patch pulling" to kick them out of the organization.

Kellestine told Fitzgerald he was a "goldfish" in a "bowl" at the jail after the charges in one of the biggest mass slayings in the province's history.

"I'm the most famous person this place ever had," he said.

"Well, it doesn't matter, fame or not," Fitzgerald replied. "It's not . . . right and it shouldn't of never happened and whatever happened, I don't know."

"I should have retired when I wanted to," Kellestine said.

In the six segments of intercepted calls, Kellestine's profanity-laced conversations attempted to steer the blame away from him and his friends who also had been charged.

"This . . . happening out there, he said to Gary Gauthier.

"And to add insult to injury, I didn't even get to go to my best friends' funerals, you know what I mean. It's like (unintelligible) add . . . salt to the wound, they charge me for it."

But the conversations with Fitzgerald reveal Kellestine's fears for his family and his desire they keep their stories straight.

"I threw you out the week before, 'member?" Kellestine asks his wife. "I threw you out of the house."

In another conversation, he tells her the same thing "that way there's nothing there to do with you."

Kellestine also spoke to Deborah Moore about co-accused Frank Mather.

"Tell him I love him with all my heart and soul and I'm sorry that he came to my place for a beer. He picked the wrong day to come out for a beer," he said.

He told Moore the police had been out to get him for a long time "and they're going to look like idiots on this."

"I like what Dave's father said, you know . . . He wants his son to go into hiding 'cause the real killers are still out there."

Kellestine also refers to the rival biker gang as "weasels". "You won't catch any Hell's Angels in London when I'm out," he said.

He called the dead men his "best friends." "What . . . would I gain from doing that. If anything I'd want them around. I mean, they're a buffer between me and, you know, other clubs."

The police, he said, had "tunnel vision . . . All they'll see is me and they'll miss the real picture."

"They're going to blame everything on me, even though I was nowhere around when it happened . . ."

The jury also heard police intercepts involving accused Dwight Mushey before his arrest in Winnipeg on June 15, 2006.

Mushey was busy recruiting members for the Winnipeg Bandido chapter.

There was evidence Mushey had lost touch with accused Michael Sandham, the chapter's president, while Sandham was supposed to be in Texas to meet with Bandidos international executive to pave the way for club expansion.

"I'm not the one in charge," he said to Jeff (Bones) Smith. "I'd do things a lot differently but, like I said, he's down there so he . . . better come back with . . . answers for everybody, that's all I got to say."

Four Winnipeg police officers also testified yesterday. Two of them described seeing Marcelo Aravena, 33, Mushey, 41, and a biker-turned-police informant M.H. in their Bandido vests a week before their arrests.

Det. Sgt. Dennis Peterson told the jury about arresting Mushey shortly after 10 p.m. on June 15, 2006.

Peterson said Mushey was "co-operative." Aravena was in his boxer shorts when the police came to arrest him, said Det. Sgt. Scott Halley.

He let the two Winnipeg police officers into the house where he lived with Mushey an hour after Mushey's arrest

The officers asked him to get dressed and followed him to the bedroom where he pulled on a T-shirt and shorts. Back in the living room, he bent down and kissed his dog, Harley, on the nose before he went outside with the officers to be arrested for eight counts of first-degree murder.

The trial continues Tuesday.
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BANDIDOS TRIAL: The former police officer said he wasn't at the scene of the murders of eight Toronto-area bikers
'I wasn't even there,' Sandham insists
The London Free Press
August 26, 2009

Just told he was charged with eight counts of first-degree murder, an agitated Michael Sandham said the police had it all wrong.

"That's bull----," the ex-police officer said while sitting in the back of a cruiser after he was arrested at his Winnipeg home on June 16, 2006.

Sandham sighed heavily at the charges. He was angry he was even being considered a suspect in the shooting two months earlier of eight Toronto-area Bandidos bikers a province away in Elgin County.

Six times he told the police, "I wasn't even there. "

Sandham, the jury heard yesterday at the Bandidos trial, was arrested at 6:30 a.m. by officers from the Winnipeg police emergency response unit.

Officers had thrown a hammer through his kitchen window before he was arrested.

OPP Det. Sgt. Bruce Aitken was tasked with arresting Sandham.

Aitken testified yesterday about the terse conversation after the arrest. He recorded what Sandham said to him and a Winnipeg police detective after he was given his rights to counsel.

Sandham, 39, who had once been a police officer in a small community outside Winnipeg, was president of the Manitoba Bandidos, a probationary chapter.

The jury has heard he and four other Winnipeg members had been at Wayne Kellestine's Dutton-Dunwich farm the night eight Toronto Bandidos were shot to death on April 8, 2006, during a "patch pulling" to kick the men out of the club.

There were simmering tensions between the Toronto club, whose members called themselves the No Surrender Crew, and the American headquarters. The Toronto chapter was also at odds with the Winnipeg chapter it was sponsoring.

In the cruiser, Sandham was asked if he wanted to call a lawyer.

"A hammer just got thrown through my window. I guess I want to call a lawyer. Should've knocked on the door," he said defiantly.

He told the officers he was upset because "my kids are being marched out" and he said with emphasis, "I wasn't even there."

Sandham was annoyed at how the police treated him during the arrest. He reminded them he had been a police officer.

"I was one of you guys, for crying out loud. You think I'm going to give you guys a hassle?"

The officers told Sandham they were "acting on information".

"What information? Did I have a bazooka in the house?" he asked incredulously.

Sandham said he didn't own a firearm and didn't have a criminal record.

Sandham sighed heavily in disgust a couple times during the exchange about the homicides in Ontario.

He denied he was a member of the Bandidos.

Sandham repeatedly told the officers they didn't have any grounds to arrest him because he wasn't at Kellestine's farm when the bikers were shot.

Through cross-examination by Sandham's lawyer, Donald Crawford, Aitken said Sandham's wife and two children were removed from the house and the wife was taken to the police station for questioning.

Also yesterday, DNA was the focus of testimony by forensic biologist Brian Peck, who discussed his conclusions concerning samples found at Kellestine's farm and at the Winnipeg home of Dwight Mushey and Marcelo Aravena.

Peck tested blood found on firearms found in a compartment under the microwave oven in the Kellestine kitchen.

One gun, a Mossberg and Sons .22 calibre rifle, had DNA that could be linked to five victims -- Frank Salerno, George Jessome, Jamie Flanz, Paul Sinopoli and George Kriarakis. Sinopoli's DNA profile was inside the barrel.

The gun, with a green strap, was identified by Crown star witness M.H. as the firearm Kellestine was using.

More blood was found on a Hi Point .380 automatic pistol linked to three people, but only two could be identified -- Sinopoli and Michael Trotta.

DNA similar to victims Luis Raposo and Flanz was found on a sawed-off shotgun.

Jessome's profile was in blood on the butt of a black shotgun the jury has heard was carried by M.H.

Blood found in the barn on a carpet, on a coffee table, in a flower pot and on a wooden step inside the door and outside on piece of wood was linked to victim Luis Raposo.

Blood in a footprint in the barn was linked to Salerno.

Elgin County Crown attorney Kevin Gowdey told the jury it should be the last week of Crown evidence.

The marathon case began on March 31.

The trial continues today.
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Guns, guns, guns found at Kellestine farm, jury hears
Wed, August 26, 2009


Guns hidden in a secret compartment in the kitchen.

Guns tucked into the basement duct work.

A gun shoved into the rafters of the covered front porch.

Today, the Bandidos trial jury heard about an arsenal of firearms discovered by the police during a search of Wayne Kellestine's farm in Dutton-Dunwich southwest of London.

There were so many firearms, pieces of firearms and ammunition described by OPP Det. Const. Ross Stuart, the lead identification officer, it was easy to lose count.


Some of the firearms have been identified earlier as weapons that had DNA on them from some of the eight dead Toronto-area Bandidos found shot to death near Shedden on April 8, 2006.

Six men have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder -- Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 25, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg.

The shooting victims were all members of the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos motorcycle club.

The Toronto chapter doubled as Bandidos Canada and the group called themselves the No Surrender Crew.

The jury has heard the men were shot during a "patch pulling" at Kellestine's farm to kick them out of the worldwide organization.

The Toronto group was feuding with the Manitoba probationary chapter it was sponsoring. There were also simmering tensions between the Toronto chapter and the international headquarters based in the United States.

George (Pony) Jessome, 52, George (Crash) Kriarakis, 28, Bandidos Canada national president John (Boxer) Muscedere, 48, Luis (Chopper) Raposo, 41, Toronto chapter president Frank (Bam Bam) Salerno, 43, Paul (Big Paulie) Sinopoli, 30, Jamie (Goldberg) Flanz, 37, and Michael (Little Mikey) Trotta, 31 were found shot to death and their bodies left abandoned in cars left on Stafford Line in Elgin County.

Most of the 17 firearms were found in a cupboard under the microwave in Kellestine's kitchen that could only be hidden if the appliance was removed.

Police found a small hole in the wooden lid. The guns were inside the cupboard, many of them disassembled.

They included:

*a Mossberg and Sons .22 calibre rifle with a green strap.

*a Hi Point .380 automatic pistol.

*a Cooey Model 64 .22 calibre rifle.

*two Remington Wingmaster model 870 shotguns.

*a Remington model 812 shotgun.

*a Springfield Arms single shot shotgun.

*a Maverick Arms 12 gauge shotgun that was still loaded with four rounds.

*a Savage model 930 level action rifle that was sawed off.

*an L Stevens double-barreled shotgun.

*a Remington sawed-off 12 gauge shotgun.

Stuart also showed photographs of various ammunition and magazines that were found in two white plastic shopping bags in the compartment.

Stuart said two other guns were found in the duct work on the ceiling of the cluttered basement workshop - two Lee Enfield .303 calibre rifles, one of them partially disassembled.

A collection of gun parts was found on the workbench.

Stuart told the jury he was given specific instructions on April 19, 2006, to look for a gun under the shingles of the covered porch.

He found one in the rafters - an FN 7.62 rifle.

A Mauser model 1932 pistol was found wrapped in a towel in the garage. The towel "had a strong scent of cleaner."

A Kombat K imitation pistol was found wrapped in a towel and stuck inside box of frozen hamburgers.

And police discovered a piece of a sawed-off shotgun barrel in the shed.

Stuart reviewed where various cartridges were found, both in the vehicles where the bodies were found and on the farm - specifically in the barn, in the barn loft, in the firepit outside, along the laneway and in the grass.

Stuart described returning to the barn on Jan.13, 2007, to investigate suggestions made at the lengthy preliminary hearing regarding a shotgun blast.

Police found a shotgun spray pattern in the loft's wall.

Stuart and a firearms expert did a "trajectory analysis" almost two months later and discovered a portion of a copper bullet jacket on a small ledge in the main room of the barn.

Cross-examination by the defence ended earlier this morning of Brian Peck, a forensic biologist at the Centre for Forensic Sciences.

The trial continues this afternoon.
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Guns stashed behind microwave
Thu, August 27, 2009
It took police probing the slayings of eight bikers six weeks to find the arms haul at Wayne Kellestine's farm

The search of Wayne Kellestine's farm turned up a mountain of evidence, but after six weeks at the property police were still missing their 'smoking guns.'

The work began April 10, 2006, two days after eight Bandido bikers were found shot to death 14 kilometres from the Elgin County farm.

Police had found some guns, but couldn't locate two critical firearms a ballistic expert believed were used in the shootings.

Yesterday, OPP Det. Cons. Ross Stuart, the lead identification officer, told the Superior Court jury at the Bandidos murder trial that after May 9, 2006, the hunt was on for a .22-calibre Cooey rifle and a .380 automatic handgun.

Stuart said police used gun dogs to sniff out the firearms and called in other investigators with "fresh eyes" to look over the search.


They searched the attic, the soffits and the septic system. They tried ground-penetrating radar to try to detect if the guns were buried.

On May 24, 2006, while officers from the wiretap branch were installing a system in the kitchen, they made a surprising discovery -- the microwave compartment was cut into the cabinetry. When officers removed the oven, they found a tiny hole on the shelf. And when the shelf was pulled open, there was a stash of guns inside.

Most of the 17 firearms Stuart described were found there:

A Mossberg and Sons .22-calibre rifle with a green strap.

A Hi Point .380 automatic pistol.

A Cooey Model 64 .22-calibre rifle.

Two Remington Wingmaster model 870 shotguns.

A Remington model 812 shotgun.

A Springfield Arms single-shot shotgun.

A Maverick Arms 12-gauge shotgun, loaded with four rounds.

A Savage model 930 level action rifle, sawed off.

An L Stevens double-barreled shotgun.

A Remington sawed-off, 12-gauge shotgun.

Stuart also showed photographs of various ammunition and magazines found in two white plastic shopping bags in the compartment.

Stuart said two more guns were found in the ceiling ductwork of the cluttered basement workshop -- two Lee Enfield .303 calibre rifles, one partially disassembled.

A collection of gun parts was found on a workbench.

Stuart told the jury he had found another gun earlier in the search. He said he was given specific instructions on April 19, 2006, to look for a gun under the shingles of the covered porch.

He found one in the rafters -- an FN 7.62 rifle.

A Mauser model 1932 pistol was found wrapped in a towel in the garage. The towel "had a strong scent of cleaner"

A Kombat K imitation pistol was found wrapped in a towel and stuck inside an Our Compliments brand frozen hamburger box.

And police discovered a piece of a sawed-off shotgun barrel in the shed.

Stuart reviewed where various cartridges were found, both in the vehicles where the bodies were found and on the farm -- specifically in the barn, in the barn loft, along the laneway and in the grass.

Fifteen cartridges were in a fire pit near the barn.
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Projectiles and cartridges match guns, Bandidos jury hears
Thu, August 27, 2009
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS


Of all the guns in Wayne Kellestine's arsenal, the Mossberg .22 calibre rifle with the green strap and the Hi-Point 380 auto pistol appear to have been the most deadly.

This morning, a gun and ballistics expert told the jury at the Bandido trial he examined 16 firearms seized from Kellestine's Dutton-Dunwich farm and found the two guns matched projectiles and cartridges found after eight Toronto area bikers were shot to death on April 8, 2006.

Their bodies were found stuffed in vehicles and left abandoned on a rural Elgin County road 14 kilmoetres from the Kellestine property.

Wayne Arendse said projectiles from the Mossberg .22 were found in John (Boxer) Mucedere and George (Crash) Kriarakis. Projectiles found in George (Pony) Jessome could not be conclusively identified as coming from the Mossbert, but could not be eliminated.


Projectiles matched to the Hi-Point pistol were linked to Paul (Big Paulie) Sinopoli, Michael (Little Mikey) Trotta and Jamie (Goldberg) Flanz.

Frank (Bam Bam) Salerno had projectiles from both guns.

Arendse said Mossberg cartridges were found in the back of Raposo's Volkswagen Golf, beside Jessome in the rear seat of the tow truck, in the back of Flanz's Infinti SUV, on the Kellestine barn floor in the outdoor fire pit, near the gate by the house and on the grass beside the laneway.

Hi-Point cartridges were left in the back of the Infiniti and in Trotta's rented Pontiac Grand Prix.

Arendse also discussed the wounds to Luis (Chopper) Raposo, the victim believed to be the first to die inside the barn.

Raposo died from chest and neck wounds after the Crown says he was shot by accused Michael Sandham from the barn loft. He also had his middle finger amputated, had a graze wound on his arm and the stock of his gun shattered.

Sandham was carrying a Lee Enfield .303 rifle and a shotgun, the jury has head.

A used .303 cartridge was found in the loft, along with shotgun spray on a wooden beam under the loft that likely came from a sawed-off shotgun used by Raposo.

A distorted copper jacket similar to rifle ammunition was found on a ledge behind where Raposo would have been standing.

Assistant Crown attorney Brian White asked Arendse if one .303 projectile could have caused all the injuries.

Arendse said it was possible that after the bullet shattered Raposo's finger and gun stock, it could have separated into two projectiles — the copper jacket and the lead core.

He agreed the lead could have fragmented and entered Raposo's chest. His findings were that there was evidence of a single projectile, not a blast from a shotgun, based on the pieces taken from Raposo's body.

Arendse is back in the witness box this afternoon.

The Crown's case surrounds the internal conflicts of the Canadian Bandidos motorcycle club.

The Bandidos are one of the largest biker organizations in the world, with its international executive based in the United States.

Bandidos Canada also doubled as the Toronto chapter, with separate executive structures governing each division.

They were also sponsoring a fledgling probationary chapter in Manitoba.

But Bandidos Canada had fallen out of favour with its American masters because of a lack of communication and payment of dues.

The Americans announced the Canadians were out of the club, sparking a frantic attempt to salvage something by an ambitious Winnipeg group and Kellestine, a Toronto member who had been frozen out of many of the Toronto activities.

Kellestine was promised a national presidency if he would "pull the patches" of the Toronto group, a term that in the biker world means kicking them out of the club.

The Winnipeg chapter arrived unannounced at Kellestine's weeks after the order had been made, to help Kellestine kick out the Toronto group.

Two weeks later, Kellestine lured the Toronto chapter to his farm for "church" - a biker meeting.

By the next morning, eight men had been shot to death and their bodies left in vehicles along a rural road near Shedden 14 kilometres from the Kellestine farm.

The Winnipeg men headed back to Manitoba just as day broke and not long before the grisly discovery was made by locals, according to testimony from Crown witness M.H.

Six men have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder — Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 25, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg.

The shooting victims were George Jessome, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, Bandidos Canada president John Muscedere, 48, Luis Raposo, 41, Toronto chapter president Frank Salerno, 43, Paul Sinopoli, 30, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31.
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Crown matches bullets to victims
Fri, August 28, 2009
BANDIDOS TRIAL: Final day of Crown evidence
By JANE SIMS

The end of the Crown's evidence went out with a bang.

The jury was told yesterday on the last day of Crown evidence that of all the guns in Wayne Kellestine's farmhouse arsenal, the Mossberg .22-calibre rifle with the green strap and the black and silver Hi-Point 380 auto pistol were the most deadly.

Bandidos national president John (Boxer) Mucedere and George (Crash) Kriarakis both had projectiles pulled from their bodies that were fired from the .22.

Other pieces of lead in both of them and their biker brother George (Pony) Jessome couldn't be conclusively matched to the .22,, but the gun couldn't be excluded either.

Projectiles from the Hi-Point pistol were linked to Paul (Big Paulie) Sinopoli, and Jamie (Goldberg) Flanz. A Hi-Point projectile was found in the body bag that carried Michael (Little Mikey) Trotta -- it had travelled through his head and out his cheek.


Frank (Bam Bam) Salerno had projectiles in his head from both guns.

Yesterday, the jury at the Bandidos murder trial heard the Crown's final witness, Wayne Arendse, a gun and ballistics expert from the Centre of Forensic Sciences describe his findings after examining 16 guns from the Kellestine Dutton-Dunwich farm and the projectiles and cartridges collected during the investigation in the weeks after eight Toronto area bikers were found shot to death on April 8, 2006.

Their bodies were found stuffed in four vehicles and left abandoned on a rural road near Shedden, 14 kilometres from the Kellestine property.

Along with matching the bullets to the dead men, Arendse said Mossberg cartridges were found in the back of Raposo's Volkswagen Golf, beside Jessome in the rear seat of the tow truck, in the back of Flanz's Infinti SUV, on the Kellestine barn floor, in the outdoor fire pit, near the gate by the house and on the grass beside the laneway.

Hi-Point cartridges were discovered in back of the Infiniti and in Trotta's rented Pontiac Grand Prix.

By the end of the day, two tiny lead fragments known to the court as Item 17-1 and 17-2 became a focus of both the Crown and defence.

How they ended up in Luis (Chopper) Raposo's chest has been a contentious issue at the Bandidos trial since it began five months ago.

Raposo is believed to be the first to die inside the barn. He also had his middle finger shot off, had a graze wound on his arm and the wooden stock of his double-barrelled sawed-off shotgun shattered.

The Crown's theory is they are fragments from a .303 rifle projectile shot by accused Michael Sandham.

At the end of the day, Elgin County Crown attorney Kevin Gowdey stood to address the jury.

"Your Honour, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the Crown rests its case."

The jury will be on a break until Sept. 8 to allow the lawyers to discuss some legal issues.

Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney told the jury when they return "we will move into the next phase of the trial."

---

BY THE NUMBERS

Facts and figures about the Crown's case:

Trial days: 58

Witnesses: 71

Longest a witness spent in the box: 14 days

Longest jury break: Three weeks
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Accused in Bandidos slayings had different levels of authority, defence lawyer suggests
Tues, September 8, 2009

London, Ont. -- The six men accused of killing eight of their Bandido biker colleagues in April 2006 had very different levels of authority within the organization, a defence lawyer suggested yesterday to the key Crown witness.

“You were the top of the food chain,” said Tony Bryant to the former Bandido turned police informant who can be identified only as M.H. because he is in the witness protection program.

Mr. Bryant, who represents Marcello Aravena, told M.H. that he and defendants Wayne Kellestine, Dwight Mushey and Michael Sandham, were the only people who could give orders the night that eight members of the Toronto chapter were killed in a barn just west of London, Ontario.

M.H., a former sergeant-at-arms in the Winnipeg chapter, has played down his seniority during his testimony at the Ontario Superior Court trial.

But he agreed that Mr. Kellestine “was making the decisions” that night and could be seen consulting on more than one occasion with Mr. Mushey and Mr. Sandham, the president of the Winnipeg chapter of the Bandidos.

In contrast, Mr. Aravena, Brett Gardiner and Frank Mather were initially told to stay in the house on the farm owned by Mr. Kellestine and monitor the police scanner, after members of the Toronto chapter arrived for a meeting in the barn at the property.

All six men are facing eight counts of first-degree murder for their alleged roles in the execution-style killings during a meeting that was called originally to carry out orders from Bandidos in the United States to “pull the patches” (remove memberships) of the Toronto-based bikers. M.H. has been granted complete immunity in exchange for his testimony.

M.H. has testified that he witnessed Mr. Kellestine kill one person and believes he may have shot six of the Toronto Bandidos. Mr. Mushey and Mr. Sandham have been directly implicated in two of the deaths.

The other three defendants were either guarding the Toronto Bandidos after a brief shootout in the barn, or they were part of the cleanup, M.H. has testified.

The jury has heard that Mr. Gardiner, who has the nickname “Bull” and Mr. Aravena were often the target of jokes within the Bandidos.

Mr. Gardiner once went outside to search for a pickle tree, because Mr. Kellestine said he wanted pickles.

“They were hauling water,” and performing other chores, explained M.H. “Bull was doing most of the hauling. Marcello’s lazy,” the witness added.

M.H. agreed during cross-examination that there was no clear plan in advance to kill the Toronto Bandidos.

While M.H. was outside the barn when the initial shootout took place, the jury has heard that Toronto member Luis “Chopper” Raposo may have fired first and then was wounded by Mr. Sandham.

Mr. Raposo died from his injuries and was carried out in a blanket.

For the next few hours the other Toronto Bandidos were held at gunpoint, with Mr. Kellestine at various points promising them they would not be harmed as long as they gave up their patches. The bikers were also offered water and cigarettes.

What remains unclear is why Mr. Kellestine is alleged to have changed his mind and ordered the bikers outside one after the other to be executed.

“It was kind of fluid,” suggested Mr. Bryant.

“Yeah,” responded M.H., who testified that he never spoke to anyone during this crucial time period about what was going to happen next.

Mr. Bryant is expected to conclude his cross-examination on Thursday. M.H., who has already testified for nine days, will then be cross-examined by lawyers for Mr. Gardiner, Mr. Mushey and Mr. Kellestine.

The eight shooting victims were Mr. Raposo, George Kriarakis, George Jessome, John Muscedere, Frank Salerno, Paul Sinopoli, Jamie Flanz and Michael Trotta.
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Ex-cop accused of murder testifies in Bandidos trial
Wed, September 9, 2009
Michael Sandham says he couldn't even shoot a frightened rabbit

By JANE SIMS AND KATE DUBINSKI

Michael Sandham made the decision to hide in the loft of Wayne Kellestine's barn — and he regrets it.

He hid there and listened with an unloaded .303 rifle beside him, he said, to the members of the Toronto Bandidos chapter talk about guns and murder before all hell broke loose inside the barn on April 8, 2006.

Sandham, 39, an ex-police officer-turned-biker charged with eight counts of first degree murder and testifying at the Bandidos trial in his own defence, said he concealed himself while the eight men who were about to die assembled in the barn.

He said he heard Jamie Flanz admire the sawed-off shotgun Luis (Chopper) Raposo had with him.

"That's for Taz (Sandham's nickname) when he comes through the door," Raposo said. "That f---ing pig. I'm going to put a hole in him."

Sandham, who portrayed himself as a peacemaker, a negotiator and a gun-hater this morning at the trial, began to tell his version of what led to the shooting deaths of eight Bandidos.

And his take of the events is far different than what was described by Crown star witness M.H., who was also at the farm the night of the killings.

Several times yesterday, some of the other accused men rolled their eyes and shook their heads at what Sandham said.

His lawyer, Donald Crawford told the jury Sandham would "give a real picture of what really happened."

When Sandham was recalling Chopper's ominous words, he broke down in the witness box.

He said he realized he was cornered. There was no way out of the loft.

"I started to think about what I'm going to do," his voice breaking.

"I just started to think about my daughter. I started to think I'm never going to see her again."

Sandham said he thought he was going to be killed.

"I thought I was going to get shot by Chopper," he said. "And that I might have to shoot somebody to get out of there."

He said he heard the Toronto men discussing the killing of Keswick drug dealer Shaun Douse "in Jamie's home," he said.

John (Boxer) Muscedere," Bandidos Canada national president said Douse "definitely didn't die like a man because he wasn't a man anymore."

"I thought, 'I'm surrounded by a bunch of killers," Sandham said.

Over the next 30 minutes, he waited in hiding, until the final two Toronto men arrived. He heard Kellestine say Sandham and Marcelo Aravena were staying at a nearby motel and he would call them.

Kellestine served the men drinks, then Sandham heard him say "Come on guys. Let's go," several times.

He said Kellestine returned with Dwight Mushey and M.H. with guns drawn.

Sandham put different guns in his fellow Winnipeg bikers hands. And he said all the Toronto men had guns too.

Sandham, who was wearing a "ratty" bullet-proof vest he always wore when he sensed trouble, popped out of his hiding place.

"I'm concerned for people's safety and mine," he said.

Sandham said Raposo saw him, grabbed his gun out of a rolled up carpet and pointed it at Sandham.

Sandham had the gun resting on a ledge toward Raposo.

"I started screaming at him 'Put the gun down. We're just here to talk."

"He's just grinning and ignoring me," he said before Raposo shot at him. Sandham said he could feel the warmth of the gun and "the gases in my face" as it was shot at him.

Sandham backtracked and added he loaded his bolt-action gun quickly, after rehearsing how in his head while waiting in the loft.

The shot from Raposo's gun hit him. "I flinched and BOOM," he said.

His rifle had discharged.

Sandham said M.H. fired a "duck gun" he was holding, shocking Kellestine, who fired his gun and grazed Paul Sinopoli's leg.

He said Kellestine then yelled for everyone to stop shooting.

It was Kellestine, Sandham said, who was orchestrating the events, although none of the intitial plan had come from him. '

Sandham said the orders came from El Presidente himself, who sent them to Sandham and Kellestine during a meeting in British Columbia.

The international sergeant-at-arms, known as Mongo, met the two Canadian Bandios a couple moths after the international biker organization ordered that Canada was finished.

Another Canadian Bandido, David Weiche, originally from the London-area was there as well, Sandham said.

Sandham said he went to the meeting to "patch things up." Instead, the order was to "murder Boxer and Bam Bam (Toronto chapter president Frank Salerno).

El Presidente, they were told, "was very upset" because of a lack of communication between Toronto and him.

He had appointed George (Crash Kriarakis as president, but Muscedere overruled him.

Sandham said that was "a huge slap in the face."

Sandham said he was in "disbelief" and "shocked" when he heard the order.

Kellestine was given the duty, but told Sandham later he wasn't going to let the United States push him around.

But the patches were not pulled and the fledgling Winnipeg chapter was sent to find out why.

So they went to the farm in Elgin County and lived for two week with Kellestine's bizarre behaviour and "dark sense of humour."

Sandham said Kellestine had the others believing there would be blood.

He brought out guns, a warfare suit, dressed in camoflague and ordered the others around with military precision.

Once, sandham said, he was in the house playing Battleship on the computer, and went outside to hear the others talk about "murdering Chopper and Boxer and cut them into little pieces."

Mushey was particularly exicited about this, Sandham said. "He actually had goosebumps on his arm."

"Look at my arm, I've fantasized all my life about this," he said.

Sandham said he talked to Kellestine, who admitted he was "putting on a show for the new guys."

"No blood will be spilled on my property," he told the others.

Sandham portrayed himself as a pacifist, who didn't like guns. Once, while the rest wanted to shoot off shotguns in Kellestine's woodlot, a rabbit appeared after M.H. stepped on a log.

While the others wanted him to shoot it, he couldn't.

There were other surprises in Sandham's testimony:

- He was born in Ottawa and his parents are in British Columbia. He is married with two children, "but technically I have four."

- He started seminary training in college before joining the Canadian Armed Force. He worked in security, Corps of Commisionaires handing out parking tickets in Winnipeg, then trained to be a police officer.

- He said while he was tops in his firearms class at police training, "It's not I'm the greatest marksman in the world. There are techniques used.

- He said while he has a lot of triaining in some firearms, he has "no clue" how to take apart a shotgun and no experience with a .303.

Sandham is back in the witness box this afternoon.
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Helpless to stop the massacre, Bandidos defendant says
Wednesday, September 09, 2009

LONDON -- A co-defendant in the Bandidos murder trial insisted he was helpless to stop the massacre of eight of his Toronto-based colleagues on a farm in southwestern Ontario in April 2006.

"What was I supposed to do? I was in shock," testified Michael Sandham, who broke down several times during his first day of testimony in his own defence at the Ontario Superior Court trial. "I did not do anything. I just sucked it up and pretended I did not have a problem with it," the witness stated.

Mr. Sandham, 39, testified that Wayne Kellestine admitted to killing four of his Toronto colleagues that night, after maintaining he was just taking them outside to vehicles "to secure them" before driving the fellow bikers back home after stripping them of their Bandidos memberships.

Instead the bikers were shot and their bodies later stuffed into vehicles that were abandoned in a field about 20 kilometres from the farm owned by Mr. Kellestine.

Dwight Mushey killed three of the Bandidos, testified Mr. Sandham, who admitted to fatally shooting Toronto-member Luis "Chopper" Raposo, but said it was in self defence.

Mr. Sandham, Mr. Mushey, Mr. Kellestine, Frank Mather, Brett Gardiner and Marcello Aravena are on trial, each facing eight counts of first-degree murder.

The jury has heard that Mr. Sandham and four other Winnipeg Bandidos were summoned to the farm by Mr. Kellestine to assist in "pulling the patches" of their Toronto colleagues and strip them of their memberships.

The action was ordered by senior Bandidos in the United States because of an ongoing dispute with the Toronto chapter, which would leave Mr. Kellestine as the new president of the biker gang in Canada.

According to Mr. Sandham, there was discussion two days before the shootings about killing two of the Toronto bikers-Luis "Chopper" Raposo and John "Boxer" Muscedere. "Dwight Mushey was very excited about that. He had goosebumps. He said he dreamed about that all of his life," testified Mr. Sandham.

The witness stated that he convinced Mr. Mushey and a former Bandido turned police informant who can be identified only as M.H., that there should be no violence.

"I tried to talk sense into them," said Mr. Sandham, who added that he was assured by Mr. Kellestine that no one would be hurt and nothing more would happen than to pull the patches of the Toronto members.

When the Toronto Bandidos arrived at the farm, Mr. Sandham was hiding in the loft of its barn, armed with a shotgun, under orders from Mr. Kellestine. The witness said this was for "deterrence" and not because of any plan to kill the fellow bikers.

Inside the barn there was discussion by Mr. Raposo of his desire to kill Mr. Sandham, the witness stated.

"I thought I might have to shoot someone to get out of there," stated an emotional Mr. Sandham, clean shaven and dressed in a dark suit, attempting to appear more the former police officer than biker in the witness box.

There was confusion when M.H. and Dwight Mushey entered the barn, armed with rifles, said Mr. Sandham.

The two men along with Mr. Kellestine "drew down" and pointed their weapons at the Toronto Bandidos, said the witness.

"I popped up. I was concerned for people's safety. As soon as Chopper saw me, he pulls out his shotgun. I put out my hand and said stop. We are here to talk. But he starts grinning and shoots at me," said Mr. Sandham.

While he felt the "warmth of the gun" he was not injured because of a bullet proof vest he was wearing, said the witness. But as he "flinched" from the shots, his own rifle went off accidentally and the shot fatally wounded Mr. Raposo, said Mr. Sandham.

Mr. Kellestine was portrayed as an eccentric criminal who collected decrepit military paraphernalia, was involved in cigarette smuggling and who liked to shock people. "Wayne would do anything for a laugh," said Mr. Sandham as he spoke of an incident where Mr. Kellestine chewed on dried deer feces while they were out hunting.

The cross-examination of Mr. Sandham by lawyers for his co-defendants is expected to begin Thursday.
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Manitoban charged in biker slayings hoped to be informant
Thursday, September 10, 2009

A former Manitoba police officer charged with first-degree murder testified in Ontario Superior Court Thursday that he joined a notorious biker gang with the hopes of becoming a police informant.

In his second day of testimony at the Bandidos biker trial in London, Ont., Michael Sandham spoke up in his own defence.

Sandham is one of six alleged members of the Bandidos motorcycle gang accused of killing eight Bandidos members and associates from the Toronto area. All six have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder.

The mass killing, which the Crown alleges was an internal cleansing motivated by a dispute between the Winnipeg and Toronto chapters of the gang, is one of the worst in Ontario's history.

The bodies of eight men were discovered April 8, 2006, not far from the community of Shedden, Ont.

The victims were shot in the head execution-style and stuffed in various abandoned vehicles.

The six men charged with first-degree murder are:

* Wayne Kellestine, 59
* Michael Sandham, 39
* Dwight Mushey, 41
* Frank Mather, 35
* Brett Gardiner, 25
* Marcelo Aravena, 32

The shooting victims are:

* George Jessome, 52
* George Kriarakis, 28
* John Muscedere, 48
* Luis Raposo, 41
* Frank Salerno, 43
* Paul Sinopoli, 30
* Jamie Flanz, 37
* Michael Trotta, 31

Sandham testified Thursday that one of the six defendants on trial asked him to drive one of the vehicles away from the scene, but he refused —despite the suspicion it could have raised about his past as a police officer.

"There was no way I was getting in one of those vehicles," Sandham told the court.
70 witnesses in 2 months

Sandham spent much of his time in the witness box talking about his desires to infiltrate the highest ranks of the biker world. Police allege he was the leader of the Winnipeg chapter of the Bandidos.

Sandham said he figured if he could get deeply involved with the club, he could become a police agent.

Becoming a police informant would require getting arrested on a minor charge and then approaching investigators with the idea of becoming an informant, Sandham said. Since he was a former officer turned biker, he figured it would only be a matter of time before this happened, he said.

Thursday was just the second day of defence testimony in a trial that has already heard from more than 70 witnesses in two months.

One of the witnesses who has attracted the most attention is a former member of the Winnipeg-based Bandidos turned police informant. The witness, identified only as M.H. because he is now in a witness protection program, testified in July about a growing struggle between the Winnipeg and Toronto chapters.

M.H. testified that in the days prior to the killings, he, Sandham and two of the other defendants, fellow Winnipeg chapter members Dwight Mushey and Marcelo Aravena, travelled to a farm near Shedden to meet with defendant Wayne Kellestine. M.H. described Kellestine as a disgruntled member of the Toronto chapter who was sympathetic to the Winnipeg Bandidos' cause.

M.H. told the court that tension between the two chapters was growing around the time of the deaths because the Winnipeg members thought the Toronto Bandidos were trying to prevent them from becoming full-patch members of the gang.

On April 7, 2006, the night the killings allegedly took place, Kellestine had arranged a meeting at his farm between the Toronto Bandidos and the visiting Winnipeg members.

Sandham previously testified he overheard Kellestine, Mushey and M.H. talking about "murdering" two of the Toronto men and "cutting them up into little pieces." Sandham said he confronted Kellestine, who brushed it off as a joke.
Broke down crying

Sandham, who was also in the military for three years, broke down weeping on the stand Wednesday — for the first of what would be many times during his testimony — as he discussed his fear for his life on the night he and the others allegedly killed the victims.

"I started to think about my daughter," he said, noting earlier in testimony that he "technically" has four children, though he didn't elaborate.

"I thought I was going to get killed … that I might have to shoot somebody to get out of there."

When Sandham, Mushey and M.H. popped out of the places where they had been hiding, one of the Toronto men, Raposo, reached for a gun and despite Sandham's screams to stop, Raposo, "grinning," shot him, Sandham said.

Sandham was wearing a bulletproof vest, but when the shot hit him. he "flinched," causing his gun to go off and shoot Raposo, he said. M.H. then fired, which caused Kellestine to "flinch" and shoot as well, Sandham said.
Pool of blood

Raposo would die in a pool of blood on the barn floor. Then Kellestine, who Sandham called "a man to be feared," said the remaining seven men would be driven back to Toronto, more than two hours away, Sandham said.

"Everybody thought they were going home," he said.

Kellestine then began to lead the men out one by one. After three left and never returned, Sandham said he went outside because the sight of Raposo started to make him sick. That's when he saw Kellestine shoot one of the men, Frank Salerno.

"I was in shock," Sandham said. "I was just like: he's shooting everybody."

He considered shooting Kellestine, running away or phoning the police but did nothing, Sandham said, sniffling.

Then Mushey asked Kellestine to "do" the next two men, leaving only one — Flanz — Sandham said.

Kellestine told Sandham, "Me and Dwight want you to do Jamie," Sandham testified.

When he refused, Kellestine responded that he already killed four men and Mushey already killed two.

"If you don't like it, get in one of the cars, and I'll be right with you," Sandham recalled Kellestine telling him.

When Kellestine wasn't looking, Mushey shot Flanz for Sandham, saying, "You owe me one," Sandham testified.
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Ex-cop expected to return to stand in Bandidos trial
Thu, September 10, 2009
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

Ex-cop Michael Sandham is expected to return to the witness box this morning for a second day of testimony in his own defence.

The Winnipeg man who was the president of the probationary chapter of the Bandidos motorcycle club began his dramatic testimony yesterday, offering up a distinctly different version than what the jury has already heard about what happened at Wayne Kellestine's farm on April 8, 2006.

Eight members of the Bandidos Toronto chapter, which also doubled as the national chapter, were found shot to death and stuffed in vehicles left abandoned 14 kilometres away from the farm on a rural Elgin County road near Shedden.

The jury has heard from the Crown's star witness M.H., another ex-Bandido biker tunred police informant who described Sandham as a controlling factor in the deaths.

But Sandham portrayed himself as an unwilling participant who never wanted guns or violence involved in the process of "pulling patches" and kicking the Toronto men out of the motorcycle club.

And he increased the participation of the rest of the accused — especially Kellestine and fellow Winnnipeg Bandido Dwight Mushey.

Several times yesterday, some of the other accused men rolled their eyes and shook their heads at what Sandham said.

Sandham said he was shocked when the order was given to he and Kellestine at a meeting in British Columbia from the American Bandidos to kill two high ranking Toronto bikers — Bandidos Canada president John (Boxer) Muscedere and Toronto chapter president Frank (Bam Bam) Salerno.

In exchange, Kellestine would be the national president of the club.

Kellestine promised Sandham quietly that he would not let the Americans "dictate to him."

But the Winnipegers went to Kellestine's farm weeks later to find out why the order had not been completed.

There, Sandham said they saw Kellestine's "dark sense of humour" and bizarre behaviour as he marched around in camoflague, gave out military-like orders, showed off by eating deer feces and talked of death and murder.

Sandham said he thought it was a joke and Kellestine told him he was "putting on a show."

But the others in his group, he said were more enthusiastic about the the prospect of shooting, espeically Mushey, he said. Sandham said he wasn't brave enough to shoot a rabbit in the woods when they were all out shooting.

The night of "church" when the bikers were to be assembled, there were guns already assembled and the Winnipeg Bandidos put on rubber gloves Sandham had in his "mobile" tattoo kit — a gym bag.

Sandham said he hid in the barn with an unloaded .303. He realized it was a mistake when he heard the Toronto Bandidos talk of killing him.

He said his gun "accidently" went off after Kellestine, Mushey, and MH stormed the barn with guns drawn. The Toronto men also had guns out.

Sandham said he jumped out of his hiding place, and yelled for everyone "put the guns down. We're here to talk."

Luis (Chopper) Raposo saw him, and aimed. Sandham had quickly loaded his gun and had it sitting on a ledge pointed at Raposo.

Raposo's shot hit Sandham in the chest on his bullet-proof vest. He said he flinched and his gun went off killing Raposo.

Kellestine took his gun, he said, and he never had a gun again for the rest of the night.

What he saw, he said frightened and disturbed him. He said the Toronto men were promised a ride home. Instead he saw or heard some of them being shot.

The rest of the men guarded the others, armed with guns.

Kellestine killed most of five of them , he said. Mushey volunteered to kill two more, he said.

Sandham said he was ordered to kill Jamie Flanz, but couldn't. Mushey finished the job.

Sandham left off yesterday telling the jury he did not tell Frank Mather there was a jerry can of gas for the empty tank in Flanz's SUV because he wasn't going to follow any of Kellestine's orders.

He still has to discuss the dumping of the bodies, the trip back to Winnipeg and the series of emails with senior level Bandidos.

Court opens at 10 a.m.
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Orders to kill the top Canadian Bandido bikers came from the top, accused ex-cop testifies
Thu, September 10, 2009
By JANE SIMS AND KATE DUBINSKI

The orders to kill the top Canadian Bandido biker brass came from the top ranking Bandido in the world, an ex-cop and former Bandido on trial testified this morning.

Michael Sandham, 39, testified that during a meeting on Canada-U.S. border with American Bandidos, the world sergeant-at-arms said El Presidente Jeff Pike, based in Texas wanted Bandidos Canada president John (Boxer) Muscedere and Toronto chapter president Frank (Bam Bam) Salerno killed.

That bombshell came during his second day of his testimony in defence of eight charges of first degree murder.

Sandham, and five others are on trial for the shooting deaths of eight Toronto-area Bandido bikers on April 8, 2006 near Shedden.

The sergeant-at-arms, known as Mongo told Sandham and Wayne Kellestine "we don't want to tell you what to do, but we want you to kill Boxer and Bam Bam.'

Sandham, who is charged with eight counts of first degree murder with five others including Kellestine, said he was "quite surprised."

Kellestine agreed to the order, Sandham said, and Mongo said he would take the message back to El Presidente.

Sandham said he was at the meeting to try re-establish communication lines with the Americans, who had ordered a couple months earlier that the Canadian Bandido operation was finished. He was there to be"bridging that gap and putting us back on the right track."

He had gone to Vancouver to meet Dave (Concrete Dave) Weiche, a Toronto Bandido originally from the London area who was living in B.C.

Weiche, sandham said, had been busted down to prospect status because he was communicating with the Americans. Sandham said Weiche was very critical of the Toronto chapter and wanted them removed from offices.

Sandham said Weiche suggested "a coup d'etat."

"I didn't know what that meant. It was making me uncomfotable."

He called Kellestine to come to Vancouver and a meeting was arranged with the Americans.

By the end of it, Sandham said, Kellestine had his orders and was also national president.

At a lunch after, Weiche declared himself vice-president, Sandham said.

Kellestine told sandham later he wasn't going to let the Americans "dictate" to him. He intended to pull Muscedere's patch only, without violence.

The order to go to Ontario, Sandham said, came from Weiche, who told Sandham to go to Toronto, follow the original order and don't tell Kellestine.

The order, sandham said, originated in the States.

Sandham said he liked Kellestine's idea better and decided he and the Winnipeg BAndidos would go to Kellestine's farm, tell him the Americans were upset and help him pull Muscedere's patch.

There was extra pressure to go because two Toronto bikers were on their way to Winnipeg and Sandham said he didn't know what they wanted.

Sandham said he joined the Bandidos with an eye to becoming a police agent.

"I got an idea in my head to infiltrate outlaw motorcycle clubs," he said during his testimony at the Bandido trial this morning.

Sandham said he thought it would be "a matter of time" once he got inside a motorcycle club that the police would come to him, citing his previous experience as a police officer.

He started e-mailing the Toronto club, specifically Frank (Cisco) Lenti, about signing on with the Bandidos.

"That's basically how it all started," Sandham said.

He told the jury he researched the Bandidos, reading books by biker expert Yves Lavigne — Into the Abyss and Taking Care of Business.

However, he had no bites from the police forces.

Sandham also testified to the aftermath of the killings and how he reluctantly took part in the parade of vehicles stuffed with bodies that were abandoned on a rural road near Shedden.

Sandham refused to drive any car with a body in it, but said he drove his own truck to pick up the others.

He said he considered driving to the Dutton OPP but was concerned for his family back in Winnipeg.

Sandham said he was crying and pounding the steering wheel while following the vehicles.

He maintained he was frightened and shocked by what had happened.

When Sandham said he was "thinking I should run for it" but was concerned about his family, a man's voice in the public gallery piped up.

"You didn't think about mine," the unidentified voice said.

Sandham also described the trip back to Winnipeg with three of the bikers and their stops along the way.

He said they all decided to keep their stories straight and went home.

The next day, Sandham said he got his car cleaned because it was filthy after four large men had taken the cross-province trek and eaten in his GMC Jimmy.

The trial continues tomorrow.
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The orders to kill Bandido bikers came from "El Presidente."
Fri, September 11, 2009
By JANE SIMS

Ex-cop Michael Sandham, on trial for eight counts of first-degree murder, testified yesterday that Jeff Pike, the world president or "El Presidente" of the Bandido motorcycle club, told him first-hand in a Houston, Tex., biker bar he had ordered the killing of Canadian Bandido biker brass.

That bombshell came during the second day of Sandham's testimony at the Bandido murder trial, where he continued to minimize his involvement in the shootings of eight Toronto-area bikers and proclaim shock and fear over the deaths.

While American involvement has been pointed out during the trial, Sandham's testimony was the first time Pike has been directly linked in testimony to the shooting of the eight bikers on April 8, 2006 at Wayne Kellestine's Southwestern Ontario farm.

The face-to-face meeting with Pike was almost two months after the killings and when Sandham, 39, portrayed during the trial as the president of the Winnipeg Bandidos, travelled to Houston to meet the head bikers.


Sandham testified he first heard Pike's order during a meeting at the Canada-U.S. border, in Peace Arch Park at White Rock, B.C. with American Bandidos in the weeks before the shootings, from the Bandidos World sergeant-at-arms named "Mongo".

Mongo told Sandham and Kellestine "'we don't want to tell you what to do, but this is what you're going to do. We want to you to kill Boxer (Bandidos Canada president John Muscedere) and Bam Bam (Toronto chapter president Frank Salerno),'" Sandham testified.

There had been growing tensions between the Americans and the Canadian chapters. In December 2005, the Americans declared the Canadian operations finished.

Sandham said he was at the meeting on the invitation of Dave (Concrete Dave) Weiche, a Toronto Bandido originally from the London area living in Vancouver. Sandham said in his mind he was "bridging that gap and putting us back on the right track" with the Americans.

But when he got to Vancouver, Weiche, who had been busted down to prospect status by the Toronto chapter for communicating with Washington state Bandidos, suggested "a coup d'etat" to get rid of the Canadian biker executives.

"I didn't know what that meant. It was making me uncomfortable," Sandham said.

Sandham said he called Kellestine because he was a senior officer in the club and a meeting was arranged with the Americans at the park.

By the end of it, Sandham said, Kellestine had agreed to the kill orders and was also named national president. Mongo said he would take the message back to El Presidente.

Weiche later declared himself vice-president, Sandham said.

Kellestine told Sandham later he wasn't going to let the Americans "dictate" to him and intended only to pull Muscedere's patch, without violence.

A few weeks after the meeting, Sandham said Weiche told him and the Winnipeg bikers to go to Muscedere's house in Toronto, follow the original order to kill him -- and not to tell Kellestine.

Sandham said he liked Kellestine's idea better and decided they would go to Kellestine's farm, in Elgin County, tell him the Americans were upset and help him pull Muscedere's patch, or club membership.

There was extra pressure to go, he said, because he knew two Toronto bikers were on their way to Winnipeg. He said he later found out they had orders from Muscedere to kill him.

After two weeks at the farm, and much to his horror, the eight men were shot to death. He reluctantly took part in disposing of the bodies and said he considered going to the Dutton OPP for help.

When Sandham said he was "thinking I should run for it" but was concerned about his family, a man's voice in the public gallery of the courtroom piped up.

"You didn't think about mine," the unidentified voice said.

Back in Winnipeg, Sandham said he knew he was under police watch but never went to the police with his story.

"I wanted to make sure everyone paid for what they did," he said.

He decided to "set up an illusion" he was "a somebody" in the Canadian Bandido world to get an invitation to the U.S. by the international Bandido leaders, through e-mails.

Once invited, he rode his motorcycle to Houston and was taken to a Bandido bar. He was strip-searched in the washroom by bikers known as Bandido Pervert and Scary Larry.

And Pike met him.

Sandham said he lied to Pike, telling him he had left Kellestine's farm before the killings. He told Pike bikers were sent to Winnipeg to kill him.

Sandham testified Pike said, "Orders are orders." Pike added that if he told a biker to urinate in the corner, "he better p--- in the corner."

Then Pike told Sandham he gave the original kill order for the top Canadian bikers, Sandham testified.

The meeting had gone well but the next day when he was supposed to meet them again, they never called.

The following day, Bandido Pervert contacted Sandham and said Ontario police had told him Sandham had been a police officer. The bikers would be checking.

"I got out of there. I thought someone was going to kill me."

A few days later, Sandham was arrested in Winnipeg.

Sandham told the jury he had joined the Bandidos with an eye to becoming a police agent and "to infiltrate outlaw motorcycle clubs."

Sandham said he thought it would only be "a matter of time" before the police would come to him, because he had been a police officer.

However, he had no bites from the police forces.

The trial continues today.
--------------------------------------------------

More testimony from ex-cop, Bandidos member Michael Sandham
Fri, September 11, 2009
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

It's day three in the witness box for ex-cop Michael Sandham and the first full day of cross-examination of him at the Bandido trial.

Yesterday, Frank Mather's lawyer, Robert Lockhart, began his questioning of Sandham after the former president of the probationary Manitoba Bandidos chapter finished his version of what happened at Wayne Kellestine's farm in Elgin County on April 8, 2006.

All five defence lawyers and the Crown will have a chance to cross-examine Sandham.

Sandham is one of six men on trial for eight counts of first degree murder in the shooting deaths of eight Toronto-area Bandidos bikers and the first to offer a defence.

And his story has been markedly different from what the jury has heard in the trial — particularly from the Crown's star witness, a former Winnipeg Bandido identified as M.H.


Sandham has told the jury he was concerned about the ordered "patch pulling" of the Toronto Bandidos that led up to the night of violence and he was shocked, scared and appalled by what happened the night the men were killed.

He said he shot Luis (Chopper) Raposo "accidentally" by flinching when a shot from Raposo's gun hit his bullet-proof vest. The flinch triggered a shot from the .303 rifle he had with him in the loft in Kellestine's barn.

He testified he never had a gun for the rest of the night — but said the others did. Kellestine and accused Dwight Mushey used theirs to kill, he said.

Sandham's account placed all the accused men in the barn with weapons. He said he would not kill victim Jamie Flanz when Kellestine ordered him too and Mushey stepped in to do the work.

He said he could not run or get help.

Sandham also levelled blame on a Toronto Bandido living in Vancouver, David (Concrete Dave) Weiche, who is originally from the London area.

Sandham said Weiche orchestrated a meeting with the American Bandidos where an order was given to kill Bandidos Canada president John (Boxer) Muscedere and Toronto chapter president Frank (Bam Bam) Salerno.

And Sandham implicated the highest levels of Bandidos, testifying yesterday that "El Presidente," American Jeff Pike, the world leader of the motorcycle club, personally gave the original kill order.

Sandham, who was born in Ottawa and began his education in seminary school, eventually became a police officer with the East St. Paul police department near Winnipeg.

He has extensive training in firearms use, but told the jury he wasn't trained on some guns, including a .303 rifle.

He told the jury that he joined the Bandidos with an eye to infiltrating outlaw motorcycle clubs and becoming a police agent.

Sandham said he never went to the police with his version, but instead arranged a meeting with top Bandidos brass in Houston because he wanted to take down everyone involved in the original orders.

Court opens at 10 a.m.
-----------------------------------------------------------

Ex-cop testifies he learned how to be a 1% biker on the Internet
Fri, September 11, 2009
By JANE SIMS AND KATE DUBINSKI

Ex-cop Michael Sandham swore he didn't want a deal when he gave his police statement — but he had hope.

Sandham, 39, one of six men on trial for eight counts of first degree murder, gave a six-hour police statement to the OPP six months after he was arrested in Winnipeg.

Before the statement, the interrogating officer reviewed a letter from his lawyer outlining his demands in exchange for his statement.

The letter said Sandham wanted all charges dropped, witness protection for him and his family or he was willing to go back undercover or go back into the military under a different name.

Sandham testified he was "surprised" the information was in the letter because he assumed the demands were private conversations between he and his lawyer.

Defence lawyer Christopher Hicks, who is cross-examining Sandham, reminded him he was given an opportunity to read the letter before it was given the police.

"I didn't read the letter," Sandham said.

This morning, Sandham said he made the six-hour statement on Dec. 29, 2006 "to do the right thing."

He was not looking for a deal, he insisted, but hoped after a full investigation of his story he would have options.

It was a confusing morning at the Bandido trial where Sandham entered his third day in the witness box.

Sandham has downplayed his involvement in the shooting of eight Toronto-area Bandidos and pointed the finger at his co-accused, the Crown's star witness and Bandidos south of the Canadian border.

But at times, the exchanges were perplexing.

Sandham was having trouble explaining whether the Manitoba bikers were a chapter or not.

Sandham, told Hicks he was not the president of a probationary Bandido chapter in Winnipeg as the jury has heard — he was just "acting" like one.

In a confusing exchange, Sandham said there really wasn't a probationary Bandido chapter in Manitoba because there weren't the required six probationary members.

No probationary charter status was ever issued by the sponsoring Toronto executive, he said.

And as a probationary member, Sandham said he didn't have any influence anyway.

But, he said, the Bandidos in Winnipeg decided they would act like a chapter anyway and he would be president.

The meetings he said, "were pretty loose" where they all got together and chatted.

"It sounds like a garden club," Hicks said.

Sandham said he didn't know how to be a 1% biker except from what he read on the Internet.

"So you just Googled 1%er?" Hicks asked.

"There's a lot of information there," Sandham said with a knowing nod.

Sandham said he flew out to Vancouver in the weeks before the shootings to salvage the Canadian Bandidos who were ordered to cease operations by the Americans in December 2005.

He went there on an invitation from Dave (Concrete Dave) Weiche, a Toronto Bandido originally from the London area who had been busted down to prospect member for communicating with the Americans in Washington State.

Weiche wanted an ally, he said.

Sandham said Weiche told the Americans that Sandham was the president of the probationary chapter in Winnipeg. "He basically threatened me to back up his story," he testified.

He disagreed with Hicks that he was "magically transformed" into a president in Winnipeg after the Vancouver meeting.

He said there was no conflict about money with the Toronto chapter before December, 2005 when the Americans ordered the Canadian operation finished.

The jury also heard that Sandham made three statements to police after his arrest. In his first after police picked him up, he said "I wasn't there" 223 times.

He made another statement to the OPP on Dec. 29, 2006 and again after the preliminary hearing.

There were signs of the stress between the legal teams in the courtroom.

Sandham's lawyer Donald Crawford stood to argue a legal point without the jury during Hicks' cross-examination.

Before the jury was out of the room, Hicks gave a page reference to the police statement.

"I don't need your help, Mr. Hicks," Crawford said.

"Oh yeah, you do," Hicks replied.

"Professional courtesy please," Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney instructed.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Cop-turned-biker claims he served as guard for princess who died in 1974
Tue, September 15, 2009

Ex-cop Michael Sandham boasted he guarded "Princess Patricia," a 50-something woman who would come inspect the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry when he was a member.

This morning, he was surprised to find out Princess Patricia died in 1974.

"I think you are thinking of a different Princess Patricia," Sandham — with a perplexed look on his face — said to defence lawyer moment Michael Moon.

"You're catching me a little off-guard. I'm going to have to do some checking."

It was another bizarre moment at the Bandidos trial with Sandham, one of six accused, back in the witness box and working hard to avoid straightforward answers to questions from laywers.


Moon produced a document already an exhibit at the trial that boasted Sandham's unique experiences to bolster his new security company.

Sandham had said he was a VIP-protection specialist and had guarded generals, other high-ranking military staff and former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

And Princess Patricia.

Sandham said he was told the 'princess' he guarded — as secondary protection, he noted — was not from Great Britain.

The resume also boasted of tours of duty that never happened, particularly to Bosnia.

He also claimed to have been part of the now-defunct Airborne Regiment, but admitted in court, he got pneumonia before he could join up.

The bombshells kept going off during the cross-examination.

Sandham's police background also came under scrutiny.

He was a police officer for only two years before he abruptly resigned from the East St. Paul, Man., police force.

The reasons were confidential, he wrote in his resignation letter. This morning, there was some insight into why he left.

Two months before leaving the force, in August, 2002, Sandham was seen at the funeral of an Outlaw motorcycle club member in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

Sandham was an auxiliary police officer in Ste. Anne's, Man., for a year, before joining East St. Paul as a full constable in 2000.

He left and joined Prairie Bylaw Enforcement in 2002.

Moon suggested Sandham's "status was revoked."

He read from Sandham's letter of resignation, dated Oct. 15, 2002, where he wrote the reasons were to be confidential between he and the police chief.

Moon suggested it was because of Sandham's previous involvement with outlaw motorcycle clubs.

He asked him point-blank about attending the Outlaw funeral.

"Your police administration took some issue with that, didn't they?" Moon asked.

"Some people took issue, some people didn't," Sandham replied.

Sandham said there were "other issues I don't want to go into," and suggested there were ongoing investigations into the now-defunct police force.

He said he didn't want to "jeopardize them."

"There were a lot of issues I had, sir, with the the East St. Paul police," he said.

Moon asked the jury to be sent out for a morning break to discuss legal issues.

When they returned, Moon produced a photograph of Sandham with Outlaws in Sault Ste. Marie.

Then he asked Sandham if he was facing disciplinary action after the funeral.

Sandham said he was, but resigned before there was a hearing.

Sandham admitted he told the chief of police he was going to a funeral of a relative in Vancouver and he was the executor of the will.

Sandham said he didn't know the Outlaw who died in Ontario, but went as "a friend of a friend."

"You must have known that going to the funeral was a bad thing?" Moon asked.

"I wasn't doing it for bad reasons," he said.

Sandham also admitted he was questioned in July 2007 by the FBI about American Bandidos connections to the Canadian shootings.
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Sandham denies motivation to kill
Wed, September 16, 2009
The ex-cop is challenged on boasts about his experience in security

By JANE SIMS

Ex-cop Michael Sandham has portrayed himself as an unwilling dupe in a quickly cobbled-together plot to kill eight Bandidos.

But yesterday, on his fifth day in the witness box, it was suggested he was the one with the motivation to kill.

"What are they going to do when they find out you're a cop?" asked defence lawyer Michael Moon, who is cross-examining Sandham, 39. "You're a dead man. You're going to kill them over self-preservation."

Sandham's eyes reddened for a moment. "You're wrong about that, sir," he said,

Moon noted Sandham got over the crying "pretty fast."


The day was spent catching Sandham, on trial with five others of eight counts of first-degree murder, in a number of fictions from his time as a police officer until his arrest on eight counts of first-degree murder.

Eight Toronto Bandidos were found shot to death April 8, 2006, their bodies stuffed in vehicles along a rural Elgin County road. The jury has heard they were shot at Wayne Kellestine's farm 14 kilometres away during a "patch pulling" to kick them out of the worldwide motorcycle club.

Moon hammered home all day that Sandham, who the jury has heard was president of the fledgling Winnipeg chapter, was more than willing to advance himself by lying and creating elaborate stories to get his way.

Sandham tried to sidestep many of the questions.

Sandham had been a police officer in East St. Paul, outside Winnipeg, from 2000 to 2002.

A newspaper article, Moon suggested, outed Sandham as a former cop now inside the Bandidos and that the Toronto chapter had discovered his secret.

Moon constructed a theory that had Sandham killing Bandidos Canada president John Muscedere and Luis (Chopper) Raposo before two Bandidos sent to Winnipeg killed him.

Moon said Sandham had allowed himself to be "bait" for the Toronto bikers once he was at Kellestine's Elgin County farm and was with Kellestine at a pay phone in Dutton to make a phone call and set up the meeting.

"For what? A patch on someone's back? I don't think so, sir," Sandham said.

The testimony also had its bizarre moments.

Sandham, a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces who served with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, boasted in a brochure he wrote for his security services and training he had guarded "Princess Patricia."

In the witness box, he was surprised to find out Princess Patricia died in 1974.

"I think you are thinking of a different Princess Patricia," Sandham -- with a perplexed look on his face -- said to Moon.

Sandham said he helped guard -- as secondary protection -- a 50-something woman who wore a full uniform and would inspect the troops and was not from Britain.

"You're catching me a little off-guard. I'm going to have to do some checking," he said.

The brochure said Sandham was a VIP-protection specialist and had guarded generals and former prime minister Brian Mulroney. He admitted there was "some padding" in his credentials.

The resume also boasted of tours of duty that never happened, one particularly to Bosnia.

Moon said Sandham has "a mindset, an ability to create fictions to advance your own cause." After a brief pause, Sandham agreed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wed, September 16, 2009
Bandidos jury sees video of accused Sandham

Michael Sandham told a police officer he wasn't at Wayne Kellestine's farm when eight men were shot to death.

"I wasn't there," he said in a police interview played for the jury at the Bandido trial this morning and recorded the day after he was arrested in Winnipeg in June, 2006 for eight counts of first-degree murder.

OPP Det. Sgt Michael Bickerton showed him a photo of he and other accused at the London airport.

"I wasn't there," Sandham, 39, said.

The officer told him they had numerous tire impressions that matched the tires that had been on Sandham's red GMC Jimmy.

"I wasn't there," Sandham said.

Bickerton said the police had watched him change his tires in Selkirk, Man., then dispose of the old ones by rolling them into a ditch.

"I wasn't there," he said impatiently.

He was told there was a police agent at the farm who identified Sandham.

"I wasn't there," he said.

Sandham was told police had video surveillance of him at the Wal-Mart in Barrie.

"I wasn't there. I don't even know where Barrie is," he said.

Sandham is on trial with five other men in the deaths of eight Toronto-area Bandidos on April 8, 2006.

The jury is seeing the video during Sandham's cross-examination by defence lawyer Michael Moon.

Sandham, an ex- cop turned biker, is in his sixth day in the witness box and has been engaged in a verbal sparring match with Moon since Friday.

There were more exchanges today, with Sandham unable to give a straight answer to many of Moon's inquiries.

Among this morning's Sandham revelations are:

- Accused Dwight Mushey said shampoo was good for removing gunshot residue, but Sandham wasn't concerned because he shot Luis (Chopper) Raposo by accident and in self-defence.

- He was in the Dutton phone booth with Wayne Kellestine when they lured the bikers to the farm but didn't agree he was being used as "bait" to convince the men to come to "church."

- As a former police officer, Sandham reluctantly agreed he was most familiar with the .380 handgun and previously testified he could take apart a service sidearm blindfolded.

- He agreed the Toronto Bandidos had likely figured out he had been a police officer but still believed he could act as a peacemaker. Moon referred to Sandham as "the why-can't-we-all-just-get-along guy."

- Sandham disagreed he was tying to "ambush" the Toronto bikers by positioning himself in the barn loft, but said he was only "hiding" on Kellestine's orders.

- Sandham who said he was in the loft with the 303 rifle, said he had no idea whether there was a bullet in the chamber, and didn’t recall loading it a second time after he shot Raposo.

- Moon referred to the shot as "an almost Kennedy-like" shooting of Raposo's finger, despite evidence Sandham was a trained marksman.

- Sandham said he felt ill most of the night and "I couldn't even look" at Raposo afer he had been shot.

The video was introduced to the jury later in the morning.

From the moment he was arrested he denied being at the farm the night of the shootings. The jury has heard he kept up the mantra, repeating his denial 223 times.

Sandham told Bickerton he was home raking dirt at his house. He said he wasn't a member of the Bandidos and he wasn’t known as Taz.

"I told you I can't be in two places at once," Sandham insisted to Bickerton.

When speaking of the tire switch, Bickerton said it was peculiar to roll old ones into a ditch instead of letting Wal-Mart take them.

"They didn't offer," Sandham said to the officer.

In testimony, Sandham said he was lying to protect his wife — who was in custody on a charge of accessory after the fact for her role in the tire disposal — and children.

He told Moon he was convinced if he gave up any information about the Shedden shooting his wife would be formally charged and his children taken into care.

He said he didn't trust what Bickerton was telling him. "Police officers lie all the time," Sandham said. "I couldn't take him for his word."

"You have to imagine what was going through my head," he told Moon.
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Accused biker sticks to story under questions from Powell
Thu, September 17, 2009

By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

'I wasn't there,' Bandidos suspect says Twitter Cop-turned-biker denies, denies, denies Sandham denies motivation to kill Cop-turned-biker claims he served as guard for princess who died in 1974

Ex-cop and former Bandido Michael Sandham has testified he wants to bring everyone to justice involved in the killing of eight bikers near Shedden.

Defence lawyer Clay Powell suggested Sandham's motives in the weeks before and after the bodies were found near Shedden were not so noble.

"'I have survived the massacre and I, Michael Sandham, will become King Bandido in Canada,' — that was your plan from the start," Powell who represents accused Wayne Kellestine during a blistering cross-examination.

"You started it, raised the flag and said 'Here I am.'"

Sandham, in his seventh day in the witness box, disagreed with Powell's assessment, sticking to his version that he was more of a bystander than a participant in the shootings.


Powell didn't buy it and pointed out the holes in Sandham's explanation.

He couldn't understand why Sandham, a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces, and member of the East St.Paul police department and professed to wanting to be a police informant, couldn't bring himself to go to the police about what happened at Kellestine's farm on April 8, 2006.

Powell pointed to times when Sandham could have gone to the police weeks earlier after the meeting at Peace Arch Park in British Columbia when Sandham said there was an order given to Kellestine from the American world headquarters to kill John (Boxer) Muscedere and Luis (Chopper) Raposo.

Sandham said he had assurances from Kellestine he was not going to carry out the order.

And he said he had heard bikers talking about killing people before.

There were other times he could have easily gone to the police, Powell noted, particularly when two officers came to his house after the shootings to ask him questions.

Sandham said he thought he left "a big hint" that he might be willing to talk.

After the shootings, Sandham travelled to Houston to meet El Presidente Jeff Pike, the world leader of the Bandidos, he said, to confirm Pike gave the kill order.

Sandham said he told Pike he wasn't there when the men died because he was afraid he was walking into "a trap.”

"You're the only one in this whole shooting match to tell the truth," Powell quipped.

"You had no more intention to go to the police than fly to the moon."

His biggest chance, Powell said, was during the police interview after Sandham's arrest where OPP Det. Sgt Michael Bickerton "gave you every opportunity" to tell what happened.

Instead, Sandham said he wasn't at Kellestine's farm more than 200 times because he was afraid the police would charge his wife.

Powell's initial attack on Sandham's credibility came by way of a Winnipeg Sun newspaper article on Sept. 20, 2005.

Sandham has told the jury the Winnipeg Bandidos didn't know he had been a police officer and had swallowed his lie that he had only been an auxilliary constable at a small, rural police force.

Powell referred to the story about the arrival of the Bandidos in Winnipeg and the surpise twist that the president was Sandham who "was an East St. Paul police officer."

"Were these guys stupid?" asked Powell referring to the other Bandidos in the Manitoba club.

He denied that his resignation from the police force was because he had attended an Outlaw motorcycle club funeral.

Powell went through the other jobs he had — security and private investigation before he was a police officer, then tattooing, a gravel pit, home renovations and auto disassembling after being a police officer.

But he wanted to become a police informant, he said by infiltrating outlaw motorcycle clubs. He chose the Bandidos after researching 1%er clubs and began to communicate with them by e-mail.

None of the original people trying to start the Bandidos in Winnipeg were among those charged in the deaths of eight Toronto-area Bandido bikers on April 8, 2006, he said.

Powell went over the events before April 8, 2006, remarking that Sandham "and his group of thugs" headed to Ontario to carry out the orders given to him by the Americans and Canadian Bandido Dave Weiche.

Powell said the "patch pulling" could have gone peacefully had Sandham not shot Raposo.

Sandham said it was self defence, but it was up to the jury to decide.

"That's too bad for you," Powell said.

And he questioned how Sandham could have been walking around Kellestine's farm without a gun while men were being killed all around him.

He suggested Sandham was terrified the Toronto Bandidos had discovered he had been a police officer and knew they had sent two men to Manitoba to kill him.

And when the dust settled at Kellestine's farm, all the men who knew his secret were dead.

"It all adds up — eight dead and you and your happy band of thugs drive back," Powell said.

Sandham disagreed, saying there were other Bandidos who knew he had been a police officer.

Then why not go to the police, Powell asked.

"That's not what happened, sir," Sandham said repeating he wanted to get the confirmation from the top of the Bandidos.

"I don't know what difference it makes," Powell said.

"It makes all the difference, sir," Sandham said.

Powell didn't buy it.

"I put it to you that you had a weapon and killed more people than Chopper that night,” he said.

Sandham disagreed.
---------------------------------------------

Ex-cop's undercover claims questioned
Fri, September 18, 2009
Michael Sandham testifies he was a bystander and a peacemaker when eight Toronto bikers were killed

By JANE SIMS

When ex-cop Michael Sandham was supposed to be serving and protecting, he was hanging out at a biker clubhouse.

His boss, the police chief in East St. Paul, Man., thought his constable, now one of six men on trial for eight counts of first-degree murder, was at a relative's funeral in Vancouver when he was at an Outlaw motorcycle club member's funeral in Sault Ste. Marie.

When Sandham returned to work and immediately asked for sick leave, the chief didn't know his officer was heading to Woodstock to live at the Outlaw clubhouse for a week.

Sandham's attraction to biker clubs as far back as 2002 came under attack yesterday at the Bandidos trial.

Sandham has insisted he was a peacemaker and bystander when the eight Toronto-area Bandidos were shot to death in Elgin County on April 8, 2006.

The revelations about his involvement with the Outlaws came out during cross-examination by assistant Crown attorney Tim Zuber.

Sandham has testified he joined the Bandidos to infiltrate them and eventually become a police agent.

The jury saw Sandham on police surveillance video at the biker funeral with a group of full-patch Outlaws. Sandham said he contacted the Outlaws because he knew a couple of people in Winnipeg were trying to join. He said he was invited to the funeral.

Sandham said he knew there was police surveillance at the funeral and was planning to tell his employer he had been there.

What Sandham didn't know was the Outlaws were the focus of a large police project.

Police quickly found out Sandham was a police officer and informed East St. Paul, where Police Act charges were initiated.

Sandham resigned before there was a hearing. He told Zuber the charges were because he lied to his chief.

Zuber said Sandham had burned bridges with the Outlaws and the police. Any idea of being a police agent made no sense because he couldn't be trusted, he said.

Zuber wanted to know what evidence Sandham collected while inside the Bandidos and without police support. There was none, he said, because "I wanted to get as deep as possible."

Zuber said he couldn't have gotten much deeper than at a meeting where Sandham said he heard American bikers order the killing of two high-ranking Toronto Bandidos.

Sandham faced a blistering cross-examination from defence lawyer Clay Powell, who represents Wayne Kellestine.

Powell questioned Sandham's motives for travelling to Texas and meeting the highest-ranking bikers in the organization.

Powell suggested Sandham was terrified the Toronto Bandidos had discovered he had been a police officer and knew they had sent two men to Manitoba to kill him.

When the dust settled at Kellestine's farm, all the men who knew his secret were dead
---------------------------------------------

Lawyer tries to portray cop-turned-biker as full of ambition
Disputes Sandham's picture of himself
Fri, September 18, 2009
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

They were orders, the Crown says, and ex-cop and Bandido Michael Sandham was determined to follow them.

Kill Boxer. Kill Bam Bam. Do something or the Americans will come to Canada and find out why.

Sandham denied the Crown's proposition this morning that his blind ambition to lead a Bandidos chapter was more important than anything else in his life.

Assistant Crown Tim Zuber in cross-examination, methodically took Sandham, 39, through each step of events from June 2005 to the shooting deaths of the eight biker brothers at Wayne Kellestine's farm on April 8, 2006.

It's Sandham's eighth day in the witness box, where he has portrayed himself as a peacemaker and bystander in the conflict between the Toronto bikers and the American mother chapter based in Texas.

In doing so, he has implicated virtually everyone but himself in the shootings.

Sandham has denied he was president of the Manitoba probationary chapter. He has denied there was a probationary chapter at all.

Zuber began the morning returning to a video shot at Kellestine's farm at a party Sandham attended, where the air is full of goodwill and biker brotherly love.

But Zuber suggested as the autumn came, Sandham was frustrated that the Toronto bikers, specifically Luis (Chopper) Raposo, who was against expanding the club beyond the Toronto chapter. And only the national chapter that was made up by the Toronto members could approve expansion.

Kellestine envisioned a club that spanned the country and Sandham agreed Kellestine spoke to him about creating a London chapter as well as a Winnipeg crew.

Kellestine was also being frozen out by his Toronto brothers and was upset about their drug use, Sandham said.

By December, the American world chapter pulled the plug on Canadian operations. Zuber suggested that frustrated the ambitious Sandham.

Sandham spoke to Kellestine after Kellestine went to a meeting with the Toronto No Surrender Crew. They were considering burning their Bandidos patches and hooking up with the Outlaws.

The jury has heard Sandham burned his bridges with the Outlaws in 2002 when he tried to join up while still serving as a police officer in Manitoba.

He would also not be able to join the Hells Angels who had a stronghold of Winnipeg.

"You've come to the end of your rope. Through the actions of others you are done," Zuber suggested.

Sandham denied entering a pact with Kellestine to eliminate the Toronto crew and contact the Americans to promote the Manitoba chapter and expansion.

But Zuber pointed out a long list of phone calls made by Sandham to Kellestine in late December, 2005 and January 2006. They totalled six-and-a-half hours.

Sandham maintained he was following direction from Kellestine, the national sergeant-at-arms, by going to British Columbia and meeting with David (Concrete Dave) Weiche, a Toronto Bandido busted down to prospect status.

That led to the meeting with the Americans at Peace Arch Park. Both Sandham and Kellestine were there.

Sandham said Kellestine was given the order to kill Bandidos Canada president John (Boxer) Muscedere and Toronto chapter president Frank (Bam Bam) Salerno.

Zuber said Manitoba would have its coveted chapter status with Sandham at the helm — what he had always desired.

Sandham said that Kellestine told him he wasn't going to let the States "dictate" to him and he was only going to take Muscedere's patch.

Zuber pointed out the Toronto Bandidos had support from overseas brothers. Sandham denied the No Surrender Crew knew he had been in contact with the Americans.

A couple weeks later, Sandham said he received a calls from Weiche ordering him go to Ontario and kill Muscedere. Sandham said he called Brian Bentley, a high ranking American Bandido who confirmed they wanted "something done" or they would come up to Canada.

Sandham said he decided to take his crew to Kellestine's to tell him the American were upset and introduce the new members of the Winnipeg prospects, Marcelo Aravena and Brett Gardiner.

By then, Zuber said, Sandham knew two Toronto bikers were coming to Manitoba to kill him.

"I didn't believe they were coming to do that, " Sandham said.

Zuber pointed out that for two weeks the Manitoba bikers bunked in at Kellestine's house, despite it's rustic surroundings, the flawed plumbing and the lack of beds.

Zuber said they were there to follow the orders.

He suggested Sandham boasted to all of them of his military training and being a sniper.

"I never boasted, sir," Sandham said.

Zuber pointed out other areas of conflict in Sandham's testimony:

-He brought pairs of latex gloves and a bullet-proof vest. Sandham said the gloves were left from his mobile tattoo kit and that he wore the vest often.

-He hid in the loft of the barn with a loaded gun -- the high ground with a good vantage point. Sandham said he was just hiding.

-Sandham never went to the police or warned Muscedere or Salerno of any plan.

The trial continues Tuesday with a new witness.

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New day at Bandidos trial, more testimony expected
Tue, September 22, 2009
Accused Michael Sandham portrayed himself as peacemaker

By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

New testimony is expected at the Bandidos trial this morning.

The question is who will give it.

Last week, accused Michael Sandham, 39, ended his marathon eight days in the witness box. He was the first of six bikers charged with eight counts of first-degree murder to testify in his own defence.

The men are charged in the death of eight Toronto Bandido bikers who were found shot to death on April 8, 2006 in vehicles parked haphazardly on a rural road near Shedden.

The jury began hearing the case on March 31.

The Crown's case focused on an internal "patch pulling" of the Toronto Bandidos members, who had run afoul of their American bosses and were in conflict with the probationary Manitoba chapter they were sponsoring.

The main Crown witness was M.H., a former Winnipeg Bandido who was at Wayne Kellestine's farm the night the men were shot to death.

Sandham's testimony attempted to distance him from any criminal act, while placing the responsibility for the shootings squarely on the shoulders of everyone else, including the head Bandido in the world, "El Presidente" Jeff Pike in Houston, Texas.

Sandham denied he was president of the probationary chapter — he denied there was a chapter at all — and portrayed himself as a peacemaker and mediator in the violent events.

Throughout the trial, each defense team has taken turns based on the order on the indictment — Sandham, Frank Mather, 35, Marcelo Aravena, 33, Brett Gardiner, 25, Dwight Mushey, 41 and Kellestine, 60.

Court opens at 10 a.m.

---------------------------------------------------

Aravena insists he feared for life
Wed, September 23, 2009
He says he saw three bikers shot dead

Marcelo Aravena says he went to Wayne Kellestine's farm to impress the Bandidos.

He didn't know the trip would have him fearing for his own life after watching three of eight Toronto bikers be shot to death on April 8, 2006.

Aravena, 33, a mixed martial artist with a learning disability and one of the six men on trial for first-degree murder at the Bandidos trial, began his testimony yesterday, adamant that he travelled to Ontario to become a biker and denying he knew of any plot to kill members of the Toronto Bandidos chapter that night.

By the end of yesterday, Aravena's testimony had reached the moment the Toronto Bandidos arrived at the Kellestine farm.

Defence lawyer Kathryn Wells had mapped out a framework in an opening address to the jury, telling them Aravena watched Toronto Bandidos John Muscedere, Paul Sinopoli and Jamie Flanz get shot.

She said Aravena watched in horror when Kellestine killed Muscedere, and listened to Kellestine's chilling warning.

"I ain't doing 25 years for you," Kellestine said to him. "If you say anything, I'm going to kill you and your family."

Those words, Wells said, convinced Aravena to tow the line for the rest of the night, fearful he could be the next man to die.

"He will testify for you and wants to testify so you know what really happened," Wells said.

Aravena is giving the third version of events surrounding the deaths of the men whose bodies were found near Shedden. The jury has heard from the Crown's star witness, a Winnipeg Bandido who can only be identified as M.H., and from Michael Sandham, one of the accused and the purported president of the probationary Winnipeg Bandidos chapter who finished his testimony last week.

Aravena testified he had difficulties in school and dropped out when he was 17.

He had a passion for martial arts, specifically muay thai , and became a professional fighter, with seven or eight bouts a year. His record was not enviable -- seven wins, one draw and 32 losses.

He augmented his income with stints working for pizza joints and as security in Winnipeg bars.

He met Dwight Mushey at a club called Phat Daddy's where Mushey was a part owner.

Shattered after his cousin was gunned down in Winnipeg in 2005, Aravena said he turned to cocaine, both to sell and to use.

He was moving frequently and using crack cocaine every day by December 2005 and sold everything but his car, including his computer, to support his habit.

Aravena said he knew Mushey was hanging out with the Bandidos in the summer of 2005. He had met Sandham then and knew him as "president of the Bandidos." Brett Gardiner became a good friend. He also met M.H.

He moved in with Mushey and Brett in Winnipeg in early 2006. Aravena said he wasn't interested in joining the bikers until after he started living with Mushey.

Aravena said Gardiner woke him up one day in March 2006 to say the group was going to Ontario and if things went well, they could be Bandidos prospects.

He said he met Kellestine the first time at the farm.

"He had crazy long hair, no shirt and a gigantic smile on," Aravena said. "I thought he was a bit of a weirdo."

Over the following days, Aravena spent a lot of time watching TV, playing on computers and playing with the dog. Mather came later and was at the farm only part of the time.

He and Gardiner did menial tasks, including putting dog feces on the garden "to make the vegetables fresh," he said.

The group went hunting in the woods and he saw Kellestine take a bite out of what appeared to be be raccoon feces. "It was funny, he was a funny guy," Aravena said.

On the day of the shootings, Aravena said, Kellestine brought out guns to be cleaned and Sandham passed out gloves. Aravena said he, Gardiner and Mather had them on, but took them off later when their hands became sweaty.

They stayed in the house, and assumed M.H., Mushey, Sandham and Kellestine went to the barn.

Aravena continues his testimony today
-----------------------------------------------

Aravena recalls biker's last minutes
Wed, September 23, 2009
Kellestine shot Muscedere in the face, accused testifies

By JANE SIMS, AND KATE DUBINSKI, LONDON FREE PRESS

The last moment of John (Boxer) Muscedere's life, ending with a smile on his face, was witnessed by Marcelo Aravena.

Aravena brought up the rear of the three-man parade to Muscedere's death, Aravena testified this morning at the Bandidos trial, and saw the final exchange between Wayne Kellestine and the Bandidos Canada president.

During the march from Kellestine's barn to one of the cars, Kellestine, armed with a rifle, complained Muscedere was following too close.

"What are you talking about? I'm right behind you. I'm not doing nothing."

Kellestine ordered Muscedere into the front seat. Muscedere initially refused, telling Kellestine "I'm going to get two bullets in the back of my head."

Muscedere sat down in the front seat, Aravena said. Kellestine shot him in the face.

"I thought he missed him," Aravena said.

He could see that Muscedere had "a big smile on his face." Kellestine shot him again.

"I think he died instantly," Aravena said, adding it looked like Muscedere immediately "went to sleep."

Kellestine shot Muscedere under his shirt, then to turned to Aravena and put the gun to his chest.

"I ain't doing 25 years for you. If you say anything I'll kill you and your family."

Aravena replied, "I ain't saying shit. I ain't a rat."

It was that moment Aravena said he was paralyzed by fear so intense he did nothing except what he was told to do the night the eight Toronto Bandido bikers were shot to death on April 8, 2006.

Aravena's testimony was an account from a participant on the sidelines, a wannabe Bandido who hadn't been privy to the internal politics and conflict inside the outlaw motorcycle club.

By the end of the night, Aravena said he witnessed the shooting of three of the men.

But in the minutes after Muscedere's death, he said he was assured by Michael Sandham, the president of the Winnipeg Bandidos that Muscedere "is the only one who is going to get it."

The rest were going home, he was told.

It wasn't the case.

Over the next few hours Aravena said he saw the men led out by Kellestine, accompanied by others — although he was never specific — and didn’t see some of the Toronto men ever again.

He watched Michael Trotta and Jamie Flanz mop the bloodied floor, stained with Luis (Chopper) Raposo's blood.

He saw Frank (Bam Bam) Salerno try to shake hands with the Winnipegers, even though his hand was bloody. Aravena said he refused.

Aravena said he was with Kellestine when Paul (Big Paulie) Sinopoli was led out.

"Paulie looked scared," Aravena said.

"I said 'Don't worry, you're going home,' I don't think he heard me."

Sinopoli was ordered into the hatch of a car. Kellestine shot him with the rifle and tried to shoot again, but the gun jammed.

When the hatch closed on Sinopoli's arm, and the biker moved, Kellestine pulled out a handgun and shot again.

"Die like a man," Kellestine said.

Aravena said he saw Sandham shoot Flanz, but turned his head before seeing who fired a second shot.

He said he went to the barn, where Kellestine said to him, "They better kill Flanz. Why should I have all the fun?"

Aravena said he was terrified he was going to die. While Kellestine told Frank Mather to dump the bodies near Kitchener, he approached M.H., the Crown's star witness and asked to go with him.

"If you guys are going to kill me, please don't shoot me in the face," he told M.H.

Aravena said M.H. laughed.

Sensing danger, he looked for Dwight Mushey, who he considered his best friend.

"I knew he wouldn't do anything."

He climbed into the Grand Prix with Mushey and begged not to be shot.

"What are you talking about?" Mushey said to Aravena. "This shit was not supposed to happen."

"Right there we made a pact to watch over each other," Aravena said.

When Aravena made that statement today in court, Mushey, sitting in the prisoner's box, dropped his head and rubbed his forehead.

After the bodies were disposed of, Aravena went with Sandham, M.H. and Mushey back to Winnipeg. He told Kellestine, after they hugged, "Don't worry about me," indicating he would keep his mouth shut.

"I was just happy to get out of there," he said.

On the trip home, he said M.H. made a gesture to Aravena suggesting he had shot George (Pony) Jessome.

In Winnipeg, Aravena was given his Bandidos prospect patch.

"I knew there was no way out now after what I had witnessed," he said.

Cross-examination begins this afternoon.
--------------------------------

Kellestine wanted me to lie for him, Aravena testifies

Thu, September 24, 2009
The two had contact while in custody

By JANE SIMS, AND KATE DUBINSKI, LONDON FREE PRESS

Bandido hopeful Marcelo Aravena said he came to Ontario a physically broken man.

Fresh off an unsuccessful mixed martial arts fight, he boarded the plane to London from Winnipeg in March 2006, to join his Bandido friends. He had a suspected concussion, chills and sweats. He had a badly broken hand — so injured he couldn't use it.

Assistant Crown attorney Fraser Kelly wondered then why he was able to carry his suitcase with his injured hand and wear a t-shirt when he came off the airplane in London.

This morning, the jury saw the London Airport surveillance video again showing an able-bodied Aravena grasping his suitcase and walking through the airport with Dwight Mushey, Michael Sandham and the Crown's star witness, M.H.

Kelly began his cross-examination this morning, methodically attacking Aravena's credibility.

Aravena has testified he had no idea of club politics and the conflict inside the Canadian Bandidos club when he arrived at Kellestine's farm.

He said he was there to impress the bosses and hopefully become a Bandidos prospect.

But as the violence and executions erupted the night of the shootings at the farm, he said he was terrified of Kellestine, 60, and said his life was threatened.

Aravena proudly corrected Kelly about his fighting record and his vital statistics at the time of the shooting of eight Bandidos bikers on April 8, 2006.

Aravena said he was 6'2" and 280 pounds.

Kelly showed a portion of a video tape of a scrawny, shirtless Kellestine at the farm just days before the shootings.

"How many of your opponents look like that?" Kelly asked.

"One was old but he wasn't that old," Aravena said.

Kelly questioned why Aravena stood and watched while the Toronto Bandidos were captive and bleeding inside the barn.

He was specific about victim Jamie Flanz, who was forced to sit on the floor. Sometimes Kellestine put a handgun to his head and said "just kidding."

Aravena agreed he heard Kellestine call Flanz "a fucking Jew."

He said he found one of Muscedere's teeth and told Kelly he saw Muscedere show everyone where his teeth were knocked out.

He said he didn't noticed some of the injuries and said he didn't shake Frank Salerno's bloodied hand because "I had nice clothes on and I didn't want to ruin them."

He added he thought the men were going home.

He said when he first arrived at the barn, he couldn't see Luis (Chopper) Raposo's body behind a freezer — but he wanted to.

"I wanted to see. I'd never seen a dead body before," he said.

Aravena has testified he witnessed the execution of Muscedere and Paul Sinopoli and said he was not armed when he watched Kellestine shoot them.

Kelly said Aravena's memory was sometimes selective, particularly when recalling who went with Kellestine to shoot each man, suggesting he was protecting his Winnipeg friends.

Aravena agreed Mushey had been his friend and mentor and said Mushey "was a big part of keeping me alive."

"I trusted Mushey, that's why I wanted to join," he said.

Earlier this morning, Aravena agreed he had a surprising conversation with OPP Const. Dean Croker earlier this month while he was being loaded into a transport van for court.

Defence lawyer Ken McMillan, who represents Kellestine asked Aravena to confirm he spoke to Croker on Sept. 9, the day Michael Sandham entered the witness box.

At the time of the conversation, Aravena didn't know if he would be testifying that morning.

"You told him you were not feeling good about testifying and your testimony was going to hurt Wayne," said McMillan.

"But you told Officer Croker you can't do 25 years."

"For something I didn't do," Aravena added.

McMillan reminded Araven he did not add that comment in his remarks to the officer.

Then McMillan recited the rest of the conversation.

"Wayne will only live 10 more years if he didn't get killed in the pen and that means I will do the last 15 by myself."

McMillan reminded Aravena he told the officer the Hells Angels in Winnipeg had contacted his family and told them Aravena should do whatever he could "to get out of court."

"What have I got to hide," Aravena said, adding it was his cousin who relayed the Hells Angels message.

Aravena has maintained he knew nothing about Bandido club politics and conflict and had no idea that violence would erupt at the farm or eight men would die.

McMillan said to Aravena that he "was not as uninformed or as stupid as you want the jury to believe."

"Some people might say I'm stupid but I think I'm bright," Aravena replied.

McMillan pointed out both Aravena and Kellestine have been in segregation at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre but have spent time together in the yard.

Aravena agreed they had conversations about the case.

"He wanted me to lie for him," Aravena said.

But McMillan said Aravena was smarter than he wanted to appear to the jury and was setting Kellestine up, just as the Winnipeg bikers had set up Kellestine in April 2006.

"All the time you were preparing to testify against him.

"I don't know how many times I told him I was going to testify," Aravena said.

"He said, 'Be nice to you Uncle Wayne.’"

McMillan said Aravena was just stringing Kellestine along.

The Crown is about to begin its cross-examination.

------------------------------
Aravena denies part in killings
Fri, September 25, 2009
The Winnipeg biker says he wouldn't have turned up if he knew what was going to happen
By JANE SIMS

Marcelo Aravena can't turn back time, but he told the Bandidos trial jury yesterday he wishes he could.

"If I knew what was going to happen, I wouldn't have shown up" at Wayne Kellestine's farm, he said during cross-examination from assistant Crown attorney Fraser Kelly.

"And I'm sure (Dwight) Mushey and Brett (Gardiner) wouldn't have shown up either," he added, referring to his former Winnipeg roommates who are also on trial with him for eight counts of first- degree murder, along with three other men.

Aravena, 33, the former mixed martial arts fighter and Bandidos prospect from Winnipeg, was combative in the witness box, maintaining he was only at the farm in March and April 2006 to impress the Bandidos bosses, not kill anyone.

He and Gardiner, he said, hoped to be Bandidos prospects and came to Ontario with Mushey, Winnipeg Bandidos president Michael Sandham and Crown star witness M.H., to gain approval.

He repeated several times he was not aware of any internal Bandidos conflict, and was assured several times that he, Gardiner and Frank Mather "were not needed" for a meeting in the barn on April 8, 2006.

"I thought it was their problem, they were going to deal with it."

But Kelly reviewed what Aravena did see and hear before and early the night the men were shot to death:

Aravena and Gardiner were told to say they were from Oneida reserve.

Gardiner was ordered to clean up rusty shotgun shells.

Kellestine's wife and daughter and Mather's pregnant girlfriend were told to leave.

He overheard Kellestine talk about "salvaging Crash, Paulie and Pony."

Guns were brought out to be wiped down and assembled and Mushey cut the barrel off a shotgun.

Rubber gloves were passed around to everyone.

A CB radio was set up between the house and the barn.

Aravena was told by Kellestine to watch for cars coming.

Aravena, Gardiner and Mather were told to stay in the house.

Despite the warning, Aravena, armed with a baseball bat and Mather, with a rifle, jogged to the barn when they heard a gunshot.

"I had a close friend there," Aravena said.

At the barn, he saw the Toronto bikers on the floor and Kellestine yelling at them to stay down.

Kelly questioned why Aravena stood and watched while the Toronto Bandidos were captive and bleeding inside the barn.

He was specific about victim Jamie Flanz, who was forced to sit on the floor. Sometimes Kellestine put a handgun to his head and said "just kidding."

Aravena agreed he heard Kellestine call Flanz "a (expletive) Jew."

He said he found one of Muscedere's teeth and told Kelly he saw Muscedere show everyone where his teeth were knocked out.

He said he didn't notice some of the injuries and said he didn't shake Frank Salerno's bloodied hand because "I had nice clothes on and I didn't want to ruin them."

He added he thought the men were going home.

He said when he first arrived at the barn, he couldn't see Luis (Chopper) Raposo's body -- he had been shot by Sandham -- behind a freezer -- but he wanted to.

"I wanted to see. I'd never seen a dead body before," he said.

Aravena has testified he saw Muscedere and Paul Sinopoli executed and said he was not armed when he watched Kellestine shoot them.

Aravena maintained he didn't know anyone else would be shot. If that was the case, Kelly suggested he knew Muscecdere was going to die because he was ordered into Raposo's Volkwagen Golf that was hoisted on the tow truck with Raposo's body dumped in the back.

"You can suggest all you want. I know I am telling you the truth," he said.

Aravena is back on the witness box tomorrow
--------------------------------------------

Crown to continue questioning Aravena this morning
Fri, September 25, 2009

By JANE SIMS, AND KATE DUBINSKI, LONDON FREE PRESS

Marcelo Aravena heads to the witness box for the third day this morning, where it's expected he'll face more tough Crown questions.

Yesterday, Aravena was starting to bristle at assistant Crown attorney Fraser Kelly's inquiries, maintaining he was telling the truth about what happened at Wayne Kellestine's farm on April 8, 2006 when eight Toronto-area Bandidos were shot to death.

There were some glaring gaps in his memory, particularly when it came to the activities of his former close friends from Winnipeg who were also at the Elgin County farm.

While Kellestine, 60, has been fingered as the man orchestrating the slaughter, Aravena couldn't remember which Winnipeg Bandido accompanied Kellestine to some of the executions.

Aravena said he watched Bandidos Canada president John (Boxer) Muscedere die at the hands of Kellestine.

He said Kellestine threatened him and he feared for his life.

Kelly pointed out that Aravena was a 6' 2", 280-pound mixed marital arts fighter at the time of the shootings and could easily have overtaken the scrawny Kellestine.

Aravena also testified he watched Kellestine kill Paul (Big Paulie) Sinopoli.

Aravena testified he touched three guns and a baseball bat that night, but never shot anyone.

He said he made a pact at the end of the ordeal with Dwight Mushey, 41, the man he considered one of his best friends, to watch out for each other.

But, he testified, he would not lie for his former friend.

Avavena has also told the jury he flew to London to join the others with the hope of impressing Bandido "bosses" and becoming a prospect.

He said he had no prior knowledge of any internal biker politics or the seething conflict within the ranks of the Canadian Bandidos in Toronto and Wininpeg.

He was not aware of any order from the United States to "pull patches." He said his Bandido friends told him they had business to take care of, but Brett Gardiner — another Bandido wannabe — and Frank Mather were not involved.

Aravena is the second of the six accused men to testify. Former Winnipeg Bandido president Michael Sandham finished his testimony at week ago.

The jury has heard a third version of what happened from a Winnipeg Bandido who can be identified only as M.H., who was also at the farm and later became a police agent.

Three other accused — Gardiner, 25, Mushey and Kellestine — wait in the wings to declare to the court whether they will call any evidence.
--------------------------------------------------

Kellestine signalled for me to lie, Aravena testifies
Fri, September 25, 2009
Third day in witness box for biker

By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

Aravena denies part in killings

In the yard at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre, Marcelo Aravena caught Wayne Kellestine's hand signals.

"Marce," Kellestine said to get his attention.

Then he mouthed the words and held up his fingers.

"(Dwight) Mushey: four," he said. "Me: two."

Then he referred to the Crown's star witness, who can be identified only as M.H., and mouthed "One."

And for Winnipeg Bandidos president Michael Sandham, Kellestine signalled, "One."

That added up to eight — the same number of Toronto Bandidos found shot to death on April 8, 2006.

"I said, 'Yeah, don't worry about me," Aravena, the former mixed martial arts fighter testified this morning at the Bandidos trial.

Aravena, 33, was back in the witness box this morning for the final phase of his cross-examination by assistant Crown attorney Fraser Kelly.

But his description of what happened in the jailyard came after an inquiry from his own lawyer, Tony Bryant.

Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney reminded the jury that any out-of-court statement made by an accused person can only be used against the person who said it and has no evidentiary value against anyone else.

Aravena has testified he came to the farm to impress the Bandidos bosses with the hope of becoming a biker prospect.

He said he didn't know of any biker politics or any internal conflict within the organization between the Toronto chapter, the fledgling Winnipeg probationary chapter and the international biker bosses in the United States.

And while he was able to recall that Kellestine was with each man who was taken out of the barn to be executed the night of the shootings, he could not recall who would go with them out of the barn each time.

Kelly suggested Aravena knew exactly what was going on: he knew there was a plan and wanted to impress the others.

"You wanted to show how tough you were to your brothers," Kelly said.

"You were loyal to your brothers and you're loyal to this day."

"They're not my brothers,' Aravena said.

Kelly asked Aravena why the biker church with the Toronto chapter was being held in the cold barn and not the warm house, where he, Brett Gardiner and Frank Mather were ordered to stay.

There had been churches involving Sandham, Kellestine, Mushey and M.H. in the Kellestine kitchen, and each time Aravena, Gardiner and Mather — when he was there — were not allowed to attend.

Aravena said he wondered why too, and would have offered to go to the barn.

At the barn, with Luis (Chopper) Raposo on the floor fatally wounded by Sandham, Aravena said Kellestine told him to "Tell the guys on the roof everyone's OK."

Aravena said he replied "OK", but he wondered why Kellestine said that, because there was no one on the roof, but "he said a lot of weird things that night."

"Wayne's a loud-mouth, even when he doesn't yell," he added.

Kelly asked how Aravena would think everyone was going home safely after seeing Raposo's body wrapped in a carpet and put in the hatch of his Volkswagen Golf that had been hoisted on the back of the tow truck.

He also saw John (Boxer) Muscedere shot by Kellestine while Muscedere was seated in the Golf's front seat.

Aravena said he thought Geroge (Crash) Kriarakis would be taken to the hospital even though he was loaded into the tow truck "because it was warm."

Aravena said Kellestine said Kriarakis would be taken to a Toronto hospital, where they would "say it was a drive-by."

"It didn't cross your mind there was no way a tow truck with two bodies in it would go to a hospital?" Kelly asked.

Even after Toronto chapter president Frank (Bam Bam) Salerno said "Tell my family where my body is," Aravena said he still thought everyone was going home.

He said he thought Salerno was being "an idiot."

Aravena testified he watched Kellestine kill Paul (Big Paulie) Sinopoli and that Kellestine then ordered him to get into the car.

Aravena said he told Kellestine "Fuck no," and walked away.

"I thought he was going to smoke me too," he said.

Kelly questioned why Aravena would say to his good friend Mushey "If you guys are going to kill me, don't shoot me in the face," when they were about to move the bodies to Stafford Line.

Kelly suggested Aravena was "making a joke" inside the Grand Prix, where Jamie Flanz's body was in the backseat with a shot to the face.

"I value life," Aravena said.

"I went through the same things as these parents are going through," referring to the shooting death of his cousin in Winnipeg.

Kelly reminded Aravena he could remember details after the shootings in Winnipeg right down to eating at Burger King and where he bought his biker vest for his prospect patch.

Yet, "On the single most important night of your life, you don't remember who went out."

"All I remember is what I told you," Aravena said. "I would if I could."

He said he told Mushey, his roommate, the details of Muscedere's death, but otherwise they did not talk about the details of the night at the farm.

Kelly noted Aravena bragged about becoming a Bandido to a friend and was seen wearing his vest at Ross and Elgin streets in Winnipeg.

He told Mushey that if he died he wanted to be buried in his vest.

Aravena agreed he was happy to be a Bandido. "I accepted my life for what it had become," he said.

Through questions from Bryant, his lawyer, Aravena said he did believe he owed his life to Mushey.

"A lot of stuff has happened in the last couple of years," he said. "That debt was paid with interest."

"I can't lie," he said.

Bryant said he did not want to close his case today.

The jury was told to return Tuesday afternoon when the trial will resume.
--------------------------------------

Defence continues at Bandidos trial this afternoon
Tue, September 29, 2009

By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

The Bandidos trial is back on this afternoon, picking up where it left off Friday with more of the defence's case.

The jury was asked not to return until 2 p.m. today.

Defence lawyer Tony Bryant, who represents accused Marcelo Aravena, 33, asked Friday to wait until today for a decision to close his case.

That leaves three of the six accused with the option to call a defence. All six have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder.

Former Winnipeg Bandido Michael Sandham, 39, has testified. Frank Mather, 35, who moved into Wayne Kellestine's farmhouse just days before the shootings, opted not to call any evidence.


Once the Aravena case is closed, Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney will ask Brett Gardiner, 25; Dwight Mushey, 41; then Kellestine, 60, if they intend to call any evidence.

Once the defence cases are in, the trial will move into a legal home stretch.

The jury began hearing the case on March 31, when Elgin County Crown attorney Kevin Gowdey gave a two-hour opening statement of the Crown's case.

Eight Toronto-area Bandidos were found shot to death on April 8, 2006. Their bodies were found stuffed in vehicles left abandoned on a rural road near Shedden.

The jury has heard the men were shot at Kellestine's farm.

They had been lured to the farm for a biker "church," or meeting where Kellestine and the probationary Bandidos from Winnipeg intended to pull their patches and kick them out of the worldwide motorcycle club.

The jury has heard three distinctly different versions of what happened on the farm from the two accused and a Winnipeg Bandido who can be identified only as M.H., who testified for the Crown.

The trial continues this afternoon

--------------------------------

Evidence in; arguments start Oct. 13
Wed, September 30, 2009
BANDIDOS TRIAL: The case into the shooting deaths of eight bikers in 2006 near Shedden began on March 31
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

The evidence is finally in at the Bandidos trial.

Almost six months to the day the jury began to hear the case surrounding the shootings of eight Bandidos bikers, the six men and six women were told yesterday during a five-minute court sitting they would be moving into the "next-to-last phase of the trial."

Tony Bryant, lawyer for Marcelo Aravena, 33, told the court he was not calling more evidence. Aravena was the 72nd witness in the trial and finished his testimony last Friday.

The jury had already heard from accused Michael Sandham, 39. Frank Mather, 35, decided not to call evidence.

The remaining three of six accused yet to call a defence -- Brett Gardiner, 25, Dwight Mushey, 41, and Wayne Kellestine, 60, chose yesterday not to call evidence.


"The evidentiary phase in the trial has now been closed," Justice Thomas Heeney told the jury.

He explained closing arguments will be heard next, but the lawyers need time to prepare.

He instructed the jury to return Oct. 13.

Heeney suggested the jury take time to relax and "clear" their heads before the six defence teams and the Crown begin their addresses. He said his charge will follow and estimated he would talk to the jury for two days.

The jury began hearing the case on March 31.

Eight Toronto-area Bandidos were found shot to death on a quiet, rural road near Shedden on April 8, 2006.

The men were members of the motorcycle club's Toronto chapter and called themselves the No Surrender Crew.

The jury heard the chapter -- which doubled as Bandidos Canada -- had run afoul with the world Bandidos headquarters based in Texas.

There was also conflict with their fledgling probationary Bandidos chapter they had sponsored in Winnipeg.

The tension reached a boiling point at Kellestine's farm, where there was supposed to be a "patch-pulling" to kick the men out of the club.

By the end of the night, the eight men were dead. One was shot in the barn and the rest were killed while sitting in the vehicles they came in.

The case returns in two weeks.
-------------------------------------------
Closing arguments start Oct. 19

More time granted to prepare remarks for the jury

By JANE SIMS


Closing arguments at the Bandido trial have been put off for another week.

The jury hearing the case was informed yesterday it was not required to return to court until Oct. 19.

Evidence in the lengthy trial of six men facing eight counts of first degree murder was finished Sept. 29.

It was expected both the defence and Crown would start their closing arguments on Tuesday.

Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney had explained to the jury the lawyers needed preparation time.

Eight Toronto area members of the Bandidos motorcycle club were found shot to death on April 8, 2006.

Their bodies were in vehicles left abandoned on Stafford Line, near Shedden.

The evidence trail led to Wayne Kellestine's farm in Dutton-Dunwich where it is believed the men were killed during a biker "church" or meeting meant to kick the men out of the worldwide biker club.

The jury has heard about the simmering tensions between the Toronto "No Surrender Crew" and their American bosses that are in charge of the worldwide biker organization.

There was also conflict between the Toronto chapter and a probationary Winnipeg chapter it had sponsored.

The jury began hearing the case on March 31 with Elgin County Crown attorney Kevin Gowdey's opening address.

There were more than 70 witnesses, including the star Crown witness, M.H., a Winnipeg Bandido who was at the farm during the shootings.

He had been at the farm for two weeks with four other Winnipeggers before the meeting was organized.

The jury also heard from two accused -- ex-cop Michael Sandham and former mixed martial arts fighter Marcelo Aravena -- who gave different versions of the events on the farm.

Charged with eight counts of first degree murder are Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 25, of no fixed address; and Sandham, 39, Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg. All of them have pleaded not guilty.

The victims were George (Pony) Jessome, 52; George (Crash) Kriarakis, 28; Bandidos Canada National president John (Boxer) Muscedere, 48; Luis (Chopper) Raposo, 41; Toronto Bandidos chapter president Frank (Bam Bam) Salerno, 43; Paul (Big Paulie) Sinopoli, 30; Jamie (Goldberg) Flanz, 37; and Michael (Little Mikey) Trotta, 31.

--------------------------

Sandham's lawyer pleads his case

By JANE SIMS, AND KATE DUBINSKI, LONDON FREE PRESS

Michael Sandham is like the fabled little boy who cried wolf, his lawyer told the jury.

And like the child in Aesop's fable who continued to lie, when it really mattered, Sandham is difficult to believe when he is telling the truth.

Defence lawyer Gordon Cudmore, in his closing address to the jury at the Bandido trial, said "incredible people can be telling the truth."

"He has damaged his own credibility, but on the things that matter, he is telling the truth," he said.

Cudmore's closing was the first of seven expected this week as the seven-month trial enters its final phases.

Sandham, 40, and five other men are charged each with eight counts of first- degree murder in the deaths of eight Bandidos bikers on April 8, 2006.

The members of the Toronto Bandido chapter were found shot to death and their bodies left abandoned on a quiet rural road near Shedden.

This morning, the jury of six men and six women heard both from Cudmore and Greg Leslie, the defence lawyer for Frank Mather, 35.

In Cudmore's one-hour address, Cudmore said, despite more than 70 witnesses and countless exhibits, the case comes down to the credibility of the Crown's main witness, a former Winnipeg biker who can only be identified as M.H.

M.H., Cudmore said, makes a practice of lying about everything — drug dealing, lying to receive welfare and to probation officers.

He is, Cudmore said, "an unsavory witness" more concerned about his own well-being than caring about anyone else — and that includes the jury and the judge.

And he noted, he has cut a deal to ensure his own freedom.

"The truth did not set (M.H.) free. The telling of a credible story did."

Sandham, Cudmore said, is easy not to like after listening to him lie to police more than 200 times after he was arrested in June, 2006.

But there is evidence to support his story, he said.

Cudmore said blood-spatter evidence in the car where Jamie Flanz was shot to death proves his client did not shoot him through the driver's side rear window.

"Michael Sandham would have had to defy the law of physics to have shot Flanz," Cudmore said.

And Sandham has been the only one to admit he shot anyone by taking responsibility for Luis Raposo death, but in self-defence, Cudmore said.

"We have the right in our society to defend ourselves against attack," he said, and his client should be acquitted on that count of first-degree murder.

At the highest level, he said, Sandham is guilty of seven counts of manslaughter for the rest, if the jury believes the only plan in place was to "pull patches" and kick the men out of the motorcycle club

Cudmore said if there are questions why the men prepared themselves with firearms for the meeting at Wayne Kellestine's farm, all of them were living in "the pseudo macho world" of bikers, where "being prepared for trouble was not unreasonable."

There are inferences other than murder that can be made about what happened on "that night of horror."

The "night of chaotic madness" was started with Raposo's gun, he said.

The Crown, he added, may try to say Sandham's ambitions drove him to kill, but "no one had to die for him to achieve his goal."

Fear, he said, is not a defence, although "the smell of fear permeated the farm that night and that fear was not confined to the Toronto 8."

Cudmore cautioned the jury that their work is not "a black-and-white decision" and that it was "natural when eight people are killed" the immediate reaction is to make someone pay.

"That is not justice," he said, reminding them about reasonable doubt.

Greg Leslie, lawyer for Frank Mather, then began his closing address to the jury.

Leslie told the jury there is no evidence his client was a Bandidos biker.

He referred to him as Frank "The Mystery Man" Mather, who was not known to any of the Winnipeg bikers, except Sandham who saw him at a barbeque in June, 2005.

"Frank Mather made a mistake. He became friends with Wayne Kellestine," Leslie said.

Leslie structured much of his argument on accused Marcelo Aravena's testimony, who Leslie said had "an air of truth."

Leslie said Mather was at the house with his girlfriend because they had no where else to go. He was not privy to Bandidos’ business and didn't know about the patch-pulling.

Aravena said he and Mather were in the house with Gardiner until they heard the shots. And there is no clear evidence to show Mather was involved in escorting any of the men to their deaths when they were shot execution style.

At no time has the Crown said Mather shot anyone, Leslie said.

Leslie also attacked M.H.'s credibility.

"He is a person who lies — inconsequential stuff, important stuff, he lies."

Mather didn't have a motorcycle or a licence and only met the age criteria of over 21 to be a Bandido, he said.

And Leslie repeated his client did not know anything that night.

Next up this afternoon is Tony Bryant, defence lawyer for Aravena.

The dead men are: George Jessome, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, John Muscedere, 48, Luis Raposo, 41, Frank Salerno, 43, Paul Sinopoli, 30, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31.

On trial on eight counts each of first-degree murder are: Michael Sandham, Frank Mather, Marcelo Aravena, Brett Gardiner, Dwight Mushey and Wayne Kellestine.

-----------------------

OCTOBER 20 2009
'Kellestine is a psychopath'
By JANE SIMS AND KATE DUBINSKI, LONDON FREE PRESS

Psychotic killer, Psychopath, Monster, All three labels were given to notorious biker Wayne Kellestine this morning as lawyers for his co-accused at the Bandidos trial continued to bury him in guilt during closing arguments.

This morning, it was lawyer Christopher Hicks turn on behalf of Brett Gardiner, 25.

Hicks, in his hour-long address, argued the jury should acquit his client of all charges because Gardiner was not aware of any plan or did not participate in any part of the killing of eight Toronto area Bandidos bikers on April 8, 2006.

Hicks said Gardiner was an unknowing dupe, wanting to advance in the Bandidos and was convinced he was at the farm to meet the Bandido bosses.

Drugs, Hick said, lay at the root of the Canadian conflict. The Toronto Bandidos were thought to be in the drug trade — making a lot of money — and using cocaine and crack cocaine. The drug use went directly against club rules.

Kellestine, too, Hicks said, disapproved of the drug use but had "a dirty little secret" — he was using drugs as well.

The other secret he had was that he and accused Michael Sandham had been elevated to national officers in the motorcycle club, provided they pulled patches from the Toronto Bandidos.

Kellestine, Sandham, Crown star witness M.H., and Dwight Mushey were the only biker officers at the farm. It was they who lured the Toronto Bandidos to the farm and only they could pull Bandidos patches, Hicks said.

Hicks said Kellestine said "be prepared for the worst" because he knew the Toronto Bandidos would bring guns.

And only the officers went out to Kellestine's barn initially that night. Gardiner and two others were in the farmhouse watching TV.

Sandham, who had a personal conflict with Luis (Chopper) Raposo, was ready with a loaded gun in the loft.

Once Sandham shot and killed Raposo, there was, Hicks said, "a parade of death."

"Mr Kellestine is driving this train and Mr. Sandham is right behind him," Hicks said.

Gardiner had been told to stay in the house and listen to the scanner — but the scanner was on all the time at Kellestine's, Hicks said.

And Gardiner, who had performed all the grunt tasks with the other non-ranking biker wannabes, didn't appear in the barn until long after Raposo was shot.

Even participating in the cleaning of the gun shells was part of that work, he said.

And when he did hear gunshots, he was more concerned about Kellestine's well-being.

Hicks said his client is of limited intelligence and would have needed any plan explained to him.

Even M.H. testified there was no other plan than to "pull patches" and was convinced all the men were going home that night.

If there was a plan, it was formulated during mini "churches" held outside the barn between Mushey, Sandham and Kellestine.

And it was Kellestine's plan alone, Hicks said.

"Kellestine is a psychopath, a psychotic killer," he said. "There are no kinder or gentler words, to be truthful."

"There are monsters among us and Kellestine is one of them."

Hicks said the men were executed in "a serial fashion" and noted that Kellestine complained of doing "all the wet work."

The other men were just trying to survive Kellestine and just being there "does not make you a party to a crime."

Even M.H., Hicks said, "was shocked and stunned to be in the centre of a human abbatoir."

He added Gardiner was in the barn for "a New York minute" and had "a true cameo part."

He should be acquitted, Hicks said.

Next up is Michael Moon, defence lawyer for Dwight Mushey.

-------------------------------

Powell goes to bat for Kellestine

By JANE SIMS AND KATE DUBINSKI, LONDON FREE PRESS

Last Updated: 21st October 2009, 2:06pm

Accused killer Wayne Kellestine is an easy target for conviction.

But his lawyer argued this morning that the jury should ignore the rhetoric and must take a long, hard look at the evidence before pinning the blame on his “notorious” client.

Defence lawyer Clay Powell had a heart-to-heart with the Bandidos trial jury during his closing, presented without a written note, telling them he decided after a night of thinking on his front porch in Hyde Park that he has "things I have to say."

"I don't think I've ever represented anybody who's been labelled a psychopath and a maniac," he said, referring to the comments from some of the other defence lawyers he labelled "Bay Street thumpers."

He told the jury he didn't intend to point any fingers except at Michael Sandham, the president of the probationary Winnipeg chapter — and who Powell dubbed "the genius."

Powell said everyone has called Kellestine "the mastermind" of the shootings at his farm.

But he asked "where did this all start?"

Powell told the jury Kellestine was at his farm with his family in March, 2006, when the Winnipeg Bandidos arrived unannounced.

They had left Winnipeg knowing two Toronto Bandidos had been sent to Winnipeg to kill Sandham and that the Americans wanted to know why the memberships of the Toronto chapter had not been pulled.

And it was David (Concrete Dave) Weiche who told them if Kellestine didn't co-operate, "they should take him out too."

"Frankly I don't know why Concrete Dave isn't sitting over there (he pointed to the prisoner's box) with them," Powell said.

Powell said it was Sandham and the Winnipeg crew who had the true motive to kill.

He pointed to Sandham, "a cutie boy and ex-cop."

"He had everything to gain."

It was Sandham who convinced Kellestine to come meet the Americans at Peace Arch Park and it was Sandham who wanted to be a biker president.

"He's smart, he's cunning and he's ruthless," Powell said.

Sandham did not come alone to take the biker colours, "he brings his happy gang" of other Winnipeg bikers.

They stay at the farm for two weeks and its clear, Powell said, they would not leave until the job was done.

Kellestine's plan was simply to take the patches. "That's what Texas wanted," he said.

The "kill one, kill them all” remark by Kellestine, Powell said, could be interpreted as a warning to not kill anyone.

But, when the Toronto members showed up armed, everything changed.

And Sandham — who knew Luis (Chopper) Raposo wanted him dead and had a sawed-off shotgun — shot and killed Raposo.

Sandham has claimed it was an accident.

"Hogwash," said Powell.

As for the rest of the seven Toronto bikers on that "horrible, horrible night," Powell said they can't say exactly what happened.

Instead, the jury must weight the unreliable evidence of Crown star witness M.H., an ex-Winnipeg Bandido who was at the farm that night; Sandham; and accused MArcelo Aravena.

M.H., Powell said, "is not worthy of belief" and should be in the prisoner's box.

"He's a liar, he’s a game player," Powell said. "And he's in it up to his eyeballs."

Powell doubted there was no discussion on the way to Ontario, as M.H. testified, about going to Kellestine's.

Sandham, certainly cannot be believed, Powell said. "If Sandham stuck a parking ticket on you're windshield in Winnipeg, it would likely be forged," Powell said.

Sandham had a "very strong motive" to kill and was desperate to be a 1%er.

And Aravena, "the letter writer", referring to defence lawyer Tony Bryant's creative closing, "he's got his neck to save, too."

"If I had to decide the case on the evidence of (M.H.), Sandham and Aravena, I'd worry about that, Powell said.

The rest, he said, didn't come to meet the biker bosses."

And in a deep voice, pretending to be Aravena, Powell mocked his testimony that he was scared of Kellestine.

"Give me a break," he said.

He told the jury the Crown will likely "jump on the bandwagon" to convict Kellestine.

"Really look carefully at what evidence ties Mr. Kellestine to these homicides other than the words of those three men," he said.

The Crown begins its close this afternoon.

--------------------------------------------
Crown says M.H. as guilty as the rest

Defends testimony of star witness

By JANE SIMS AND KATE DUBINSKI, LONDON FREE PRESS

Last Updated: 22nd October 2009, 2:57pm

He’s an informant and a police agent — and if not, he would be on trial for eight counts of first degree murder.

The Crown's star witness at the Bandidos trial, a former Winnipeg Bandido who can be identified only as M.H., has been the focus of the defence attacks on the Crown's case, calling him unreliable and dangerous.

This morning, Elgin County Crown attorney Kevin Gowdey, in Day Two of his closing address, acknowledged to the jury that M.H. is as guilty as the rest.

But his testimony only bolsters the strong Crown case presented over the last seven months.

"Any feelings you have about (M.H.'s) immunity agreement is understandable," Gowdey said.

He said M.H. has honoured his agreement to tell the truth.

"This was his only shot at freedom," Gowdey said. "Tell the truth."

M.H.'s story does confirm the rest of the evidence, he argued. Gowdey asked the jury to consider his details and observations and compare it to the other aspects of the investigation.

The entire Crown case does not rest on M.H.'s credibility, he said.

Gowdey said M.H. was able to describe conversations among the Winnipeg Bandidos before they left for Wayne Kellestine's farm in Elgin County and the trip to Ontario.

And M.H. was able to describe the luring of the men to the farm, how each of the eight dead men were shot, how the bodies were disposed and what happened after returning to Winnipeg.

Gowdey used M.H.'s account and compared it to other relevant pieces of evidence.

The jury heard pieces of wire taps and saw photos that matched up to M.H.'s testimony.

And Gowdey reviewed the night of horror inside the barn, pointing out the directness of M.H.'s accounts in describing how each Toronto-area Bandido was led out to execution.

Gowdey hammered home that the men were confined in the barn by "the Farm team" made up of Wayne Kellestine, the Winnipeg Bandidos and Kellestine's friend Frank Mather.

Several family members of the victims were in the courtroom this morning to hear Gowdey repeat the sequence of who died and when.

Court broke for lunch early after accused Marcelo Aravena indicated he was not feeling well.
--------------------------------------------
All guilty, Crown argues

All six men on trial should be found guilty of first-degree murder, jury told
By JANE SIMS, THE LONDON FREE PRESS
23rd October 2009


They were "a team in every sense of the word."

The men who came together at Wayne Kellestine's Elgin County farm in the weeks before the shooting deaths of eight Toronto-area Bandido bikers, dubbed "the farm team" by Elgin County Crown attorney Kevin Gowdey, worked together to gather up their rivals, eliminate them and clean up their tracks.

On the second day of his closing argument in the Bandidos murder trial, Gowdey continued his methodical approach and showed the jury how the Crown believes all six men on trial are each guilty of eight counts of first-degree murder.

All the men have pleaded not guilty in the deaths of the men found shot to death along a rural road near Shedden April 8, 2006.

The Crown's evidence review has been detailed -- it includes wiretaps of the accused before and after the shootings, conversations between the victims on the way to the Kellestine farm on April 7, 2006, e-mails and ballistics reports.

All of it, Gowdey said, adds up to the conclusion there was a plan in place to eliminate the Toronto chapter.

Gowdey reminded the jury of two routes to reach first-degree murder verdicts -- forcible confinement, and planning and deliberation.

Forcible confinement, he said, can be applied in seven of the eight shootings. The men were held in the barn at gunpoint after accused Michael Sandham gunned down Luis Raposo.

Only accused Brett Gardiner, who was in the farmhouse to listen to the police scanner, didn't take part in holding the men in the barn until they were taken outside and executed, Gowdey said.

Gardiner is guilty, he said, because he was part of the plan. The men prepared weapons, put on rubber gloves, concealed themselves and set up an ambush.

Kellestine had told them in the hours before the bikers arrived, "We kill one, we kill them all," and "be prepared for the worst."

The worst would be if the Toronto bikers showed up with weapons and resisted the order to leave the club. When the gunfire started, Raposo had a gun. Later, during searches of the cars, another gun was produced from a duffle bag.

The group's lowest-ranking men -- Gardiner, Frank Mather and Marcelo Aravena -- were "good soldiers" who wanted "to prove to their new general they were Bandido material.

Sandham, Dwight Mushey and Kellestine, who were to be the top dogs in the new Bandidos Canada, needed the approval from the Bandidos headquarters in Texas where the orders had come to strip the Toronto Bandidos of their patches.

Gowdey noted all of the "farm team" walked away without injury after the night. The "no surrender crew" -- the name given to the Toronto Bandidos -- were all dead.

"Put it all together -- it has planned ambush written all over it," Gowdey said.

He said the defence has tried to convince the jury the Crown's case hinges on star witness M.H.'s evidence, which he said the defence lawyers called unreliable and dangerous.

"He's important, but he's not everything," Gowdey said.

If M.H. had not become an informant and police agent and been given immunity, Gowdey said he would also have been put on trial for the eight counts of first-degree murder.

His detailed testimony bolsters and confirms the evidence collected by investigators, he said.

M.H. has honoured his agreement. "This was his only shot at freedom," Gowdey said. "Tell the truth."

Gowdey is expected to continue his close today.
----------------------------
More closing arguments from Crown today
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

Last Updated: 23rd October 2009, 9:07am

The Crown's closing address at the Bandidos trial enters its third day this morning.

Elgin County Crown attorney Kevin Gowdey started the address Wednesday afternoon and told the jury his remarks would likely take a full two days.

Gowdey is making the case to convict all six men on trial of eight counts of first-degree murder.

Wayne Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 36, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 25, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 40, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg have all pleaded not guilty in the deaths of the Toronto Bandidos on April 8, 2006.

The bodies of the eight men were found abandoned in their own vehicles left along a quiet rural road near Shedden. All of them had been shot to death.

So far, Gowdey has given the six men and six women a tutorial on the legal principles and applied some of the Crown's mountain of evidence to his argument.

The jury has been reminded of e-mails, telephone calls and body-pack recordings they heard months ago when they began hearing the evidence on March 31.

The review comes after the jury has heard the six closing addresses from the defence earlier this week that challenged the credibility of the Crown's star witness and deflected responsibility from their clients.

Gowdey has asked the jury to consider the whole of the evidence, not picking out small pieces.

He has told them the testimony of M.H. — the former Winnipeg biker who participated in the night of horror at Wayne Kellesitine's farm, then was given immunity for his testimony — is a important piece but certainly not the only strong evidence the Crown has.

M.H.'s evidence bolsters the Crown's theory, Gowdey said, that the group that assembled at the farm in the days before the shootings had a plan — to eliminate the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos motorcycle club.

Gowdey has reviewed the internal squabbles that plagued the club, the decree from the American headquarters that the Toronto "No Surrender Crew" were finished, the orders given to Kellestine and Winnipeg probationary president Michael Sandham at Peace Arch Park, the ongoing and escalating conflict between Sandham and the sponsoring Toronto chapter, and the evidence two Toronto Bandidos had been sent to Winnipeg to kill Sandham.

Gowdey said all the Winnipeg Bandidos were aware of why they were heading to Ontario — to help Kellestine "pull the patches," or kick the Toronto Bandidos out of the club.

And it was clear the Toronto group would not peacefully, he said.

At the farm, all the men helped get guns ready, cleaned ammunition, and the Winnipeg crew put on rubber gloves.

Kellestine was able to lure the Toronto group to his farm by telling them someone was just passing through town — Sandham, an ex-police officer, was the bait.

They would ambush their rivals, Gowdey said.

Kellestine told them "if we kill one, we kill them all" and to "be prepared for the worst."

The worst would be if there was resistance.

M.H. and Dwight Mushey hid behind the barn with their guns. Sandham, with two guns, took a place in the loft — a place, Gowdey argued, that have him a good vantage point.

The Toronto members arrived and M.H. told the jury he heard Luis (Chopper) Raposo say he was "going to put a hole in (Sandham)."

The plan was engaged, then put into action.

Gowdey said the Crown believes Kellestine shot his .22 first, then Sandham took out Raposo, who had fired his sawed-off shotgun.

Then all the men except Brett Gardiner — who had orders to stay in the house and man the police scanner — entered the barn with weapons.

Over the next few hours, each Toronto Bandido was forced to wait in the barn at gun point, then taken out individually to be executed.

Gowdey said everyone had a part to play.

After all the men were dead in vehicles, the "farm team" dumped the bodies, destroyed evidence and everyone got the promotions they wanted within the biker club. Kellestine would be national president, Sandham would be president of Manitoba and the chapter would receive its charter.

Mushey and M.H. would be full-patch members. Frank Mather, Marcelo Aravena and Brett Gardiner would be bumped up to probationary members.

Some were arrested within hours, but the four Winnipeg Bandidos safely made it back to Winnipeg, where more evidence was destroyed.

They began to try to build the club again and Sandham went to Texas for approval. He beat it back to Manitoba when he found out they had discovered he had been a police officer.

Gowdey said everyone had something to gain in eliminating the Toronto bikers and they all deserve to be convicted of first-degree murder.

The men who died were George Jessome, 52, George Kriarakis, 28, Bandidos Canada president John Muscedere, 48, Luis Raposo, 41, Frank Salerno, 43, Paul Sinopoli, 30, Jamie Flanz, 37, and Michael Trotta, 31.
---------------------------------
Convict them, Crown urges jury

By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

Last Updated: 23rd October 2009, 11:43pm

The Crown closing continues at the Bandido trial with Elgin County Crown attorney Kevin Gowdey analysing the evidence and encouraging the jury to convict six men of eight counts of first-degree murder.

This morning, Gowdey first focused on the reliability of M.H., the Crown star witness who was part of the Winnipeg Bandidos and participated in the events at Wayne Kellestine's farm on April 8, 2006.

He recited to the jury a long list of evidence — almost five dozen separate points — that corroborates M.H.'s testimony. Where M.H. said something happened, investigators found evidence.

"Confirmatory evidence is everywhere you look," he said.

He said M.H. never tried to diminish his role in the events. He gave a statement and wore a body pack knowing there was a possibility he could be prosecuted.

"He put himself right in the middle of everything," Gowdey said. "He did not minimize anything."

He gave the police his DNA and allowed complete scrutiny of his evidence by the police.

Gowdey said he understood if the jury did not like the immunity agreement and “I'd be shocked if anyone in the room liked (M.H.)"

"The case is not all about him but to the extent it is he's credible, he's reliable."

Gowdey could not say the same for each of the accused.

He has been examining the evidence surrounding each accused individually to show the jury why the Crown believes they should be convicted of eight counts of first degree murder.

Michael Sandham, he said, "wanted to be a 1%er (outlaw biker) more than anything in the world."

Sandham, an ex-police officer, had made overwhelming sacrifices to join the biker world and when it was in sight, it was snatched away when the Toronto Bandidos were ordered to give up their memberships.

Gowdey reviewed the elaborate ways Sandham worked to gain favour with the American bosses and how he scooped up his Winnipeg crew to go to Ontario once the order came to help Kellestine "pull patches."

He admits to killing Luis Raposo while hiding in the loft. The Crown says this was part of the planned ambush. And he participated in the plan as it unfolded.

Gowdey pointed out Sandham's lies to police and in his testimony — how he said he joined the bikers to become a special police agent, even though he never called police; how he said the Winnipeg Bandidos chapter wasn't really a chapter; how others told him what to say; and how he said he was a peace maker.

"It is a pack of lies, a collection of tales that defy common sense," Gowdey said.

Gowdey also reviewed the roles of Frank Mather and Marcelo Aravena, both of whom were "good soldiers" and wanted to impress "the farm team."

Mather was a willing "henchman", guarding prisoners, cleaning up and driving vehicles.

Aravena — whose testimony was thoroughly dissected and dismissed — was also a willing participant, who admitted he was "excited" when given a biker promotion and bragged to his friends.

Gowdey continues this afternoon.
-------------------------------------------
Crown wraps case

BANDIDOS TRIAL: Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney is expected to begin his charge to the jury on Monday

By JANE SIMS, THE LONDON FREE PRESS

Last Updated: 26th October 2009, 9:17am

The Bandido case is finally in the home stretch.

The marathon trial that's lasted almost seven months was passed to the judge's hands yesterday.

On Monday, Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney is expected to begin his charge to the jury.

Heeney warned jurors yesterday at the end of the Crown's closing address his comments will be lengthy. He expects to address the jury for the better part of two days.

After Heeney finishes, the six men and six women will begin to decide the fate of the six men who have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder.

Elgin County Crown attorney Kevin Gowdey spent day three articulating how the jury could reach findings of guilt for each accused.

Gowdey first focused on the reliability of an informant known only as M.H., the star Crown witness who was part of the Winnipeg Bandidos and took part in the events at Wayne Kellestine's Dutton-Dunwich farm on April 8, 2006.

He recited to the jury a long list of evidence -- almost 60 separate points -- that corroborates M.H.'s testimony. Where M.H. said something happened, investigators found evidence.

The motives, the biker ambitions and the actions of each man was reviewed in detail.

Michael Sandham "wanted to be a 1%er (outlaw biker) more than anything in the world," Gowdey said, but just as his full patch, or club membership, was within sight, the Canadian Bandidos were ordered kicked out of the worldwide club.

Gowdey reviewed the elaborate ways Sandham worked to gain favour with the American bosses and how he scooped up his Winnipeg crew to go to Ontario once the order came to help Kellestine "pull patches."

Gowdey pointed out Sandham's lies to police and in his testimony. "It is a pack of lies, a collection of tales that defy common sense," Gowdey said.

Frank Mather, Gowdey said, was "a trusted supporter" and a boarder at Kellestine's who was rewarded with Bandido membership after his participation -- guarding prisoners before they were taken for execution, dumping bodies and cleaning up.

"He was a good soldier doing what he was told," Gowdey said.

Marcelo Aravena gave "implausible" evidence and was "a soldier" clearly wanting to impress the "farm team," as Gowdey called them, by participating fully in the plan to ambush the Toronto Bandidos.

While in the witness box, Aravena went to great lengths to protect himself and Dwight Mushey, his mentor and his friend. His reward was Bandido membership, which he said he was "excited" about shortly after he helped dump the bodies, Gowdey said.

Brett Gardiner, Gowdey said, also craved biker membership, having moved form Saskatchewan to Winnipeg to live with Mushey, his sponsor to become a club prospect.

His part in the plan was to listen to the scanner in the farmhouse. At one point, he walked to the barn and would have walked right past the death march for John Muscedere before he was shot to death.

In the house, he had many chances to call police. "The most powerful weapon available that night to save lives wasn't used," Gowdey said.

Mushey, Gowdey said, "was one eager Bandido" who was desperate for a full patch. He was frustrated with the lack of progress for the Winnipeg chapter and was "a central character" in the plot to kill the men.

Mushey both guarded and killed three of the men, Gowdey said. He bragged later in Winnipeg about his actions, his comments caught on body pack intercepts.

Gowdey's final comments were saved for Kellestine, "the general" who was "one of the prime movers" of the plan.

"No accused was more involved than Mr. Kellestine," Gowdey said.

Kellestine, disenfranchised by his Toronto biker friends, took part in every aspect of the plan -- collecting guns and ammo, giving orders, luring the men to the farm -- and he killed that night at his own farm.

Gowdey said Kellestine's words to his common-law spouse over the phone summed up the case -- "I (expletive) up bad, didn't I? I got us all in trouble, didn't I?

At the end of his address, Gowdey held up a full Bandido biker vest, saying the patch was "more than just a piece of embroidered cloth to the men." He pointed to a collage of picture of the dead bikers. "On a cold night in April 2006, these men were executed by these men," he said, pointing to the prisoner's box. "All, so they could get this on their back."

The jury returns Monday.

--- --- ---

THE DEAD

George Jessome, 52; George Kriarakis, 28; Bandidos Canada National president John Muscedere, 48; Luis Raposo, 41; Toronto Bandidos chapter president Frank Salerno, 43; Paul Sinopoli, 30; Jamie Flanz, 37; and Michael Trotta, 31.

--- --- ---

THE ACCUSED

Wayne Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 36, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 25, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 40, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg. All have pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder.
-----------------------------------------------
Look at the evidence, judge tells Bandidos jury

Bandidos trial: Judge continues his charge to jury today

By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

Last Updated: 27th October 2009, 4:26am\

Forty-eight verdicts need to be rendered at the Bandidos trial once the case is put in the jury's hands.

That won't happen until Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney completes his charge that he began yesterday -- an exercise he said will last the better part of two days.

It's the final step before the jury begins deliberations in the trial of six men who have each pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder.

The marathon criminal case that began along a quiet rural road in Elgin County on April 8, 2006, has the finish line in sight.

The bodies of eight men, all members of the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos motorcycle club, were found shot to death in vehicles left along Stafford Line not far from Shedden.

The jury has heard the bikers were shot to death at Wayne Kellestine's Dutton-Dunwich farm, about 14 kilometres from where the bodies were found.

Heeney told the jury his charge has many complex instructions. Copies of his charge will be made available once the jury retires for deliberations. He also said they should rely on what they remember about the evidence.

"I'm going to help you with your decision, not tell you what decision to make," he told them in the early goings of his address.

Heeney said the jury members could have stereotypical images in mind about biker clubs and the biker lifestyle. He cautioned jurors that they must render their verdicts based solely on the evidence.

"They can only be convicted for what they do, not who they are."

He had special instructions regarding the evidence of M.H., the former Winnipeg Bandido and Crown star witness who testified to what he saw happen the night the men were shot to death.

M.H., a former drug dealer, has immunity from prosecution. He and his family are living under witness protection.

Heeney told jurors that given M.H.'s background, they should look at his evidence "with the greatest care and caution" and look for confirmation in other evidence tendered at the trial.

Heeney listed 21 points where the jury may find M.H.'s evidence was confirmed through other testimony and exhibits.

Heeney is expected to instruct the jury on the law surrounding first-degree murder and review parts of the evidence.

The charge continues today.
---------------------------------------------
Judge coaches Bandidos jury

Remarks come before placing case in hands of jurors

By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

Last Updated: 27th October 2009, 1:27pm

The judge's discussion on the Bandidos and the law continued this morning.

Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney is reading his charge to the jury discussing the first- and second-degree murder and manslaughter charges and how they apply to both shooters and non-shooters.

He also discussed post-offence conduct and how the jury should address it during their deliberations.

The jury must render 48 verdicts. Each accused are charged with eight counts of first degree murder in the deaths of eight Toronto-area Bandido bikers.

Heeney provided the jury with copies of a "decision tree," a road map for the jury to follow when considering its verdicts.

Heeney told the jury from the outset that his charge would be long and complicated. He said it would last the better part of two days.
------------------------------------------
Bandidos fired lawyers

The jury is finally out

By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

Last Updated: 28th October 2009, 2:42pm

Even in the courtroom, the biker code ruled.

It could be seen in the alliances that lined up in the prisoners’ dock. It was a reason why some testified and some didn’t.

And it was why, last week, two defence lawyers were fired by their clients the day after they’d given their closing addresses to the jury.

The jury, now deliberating its verdicts at the Bandido trial, doesn’t know Christopher Hicks, lawyer for Brett Gardiner, and Michael Moon, lawyer for Dwight Mushey, were discharged on Oct. 21 “for personal reasons,” the accused men said.

It appeared to be a bizarre time to remove a lawyer from the case. But for Mushey, a true-blue biker who honoured a code of silence, and his loyal underling and pal, Gardiner, it made perfect sense.

Of all the men sitting in the prisoner’s dock, Mushey and Gardiner have been most chummy.

Mushey, who was the Winnipeg Bandido chapter secretary-treasurer and second in command, had been Gardiner’s sponsor into the club.

Gardiner hooked up with some Bandidos in Saskatchewan before deciding to fast-track biker ambitions by moving to Winnipeg.

He moved in with Mushey and became an enthusiastic prospect.

Also in the house was Marcelo Aravena, the mixed martial arts fighter, who had fought an addiction to cocaine.

While Gardiner was too broke to buy a biker vest, the jury heard, he still did the duties of a prospect with gusto.

On March 26, 2006, he willingly came to Ontario to Wayne Kellestine’s farm with his sponsor and the other Winnipeg Bandidos.

His job, the Crown has argued, on the night of April 8, 2006, was to listen to the police scanner while the ambush was carried out inside the barn.

And, after the shootings, he stayed with Kellestine while the other four Winnipeg Bandidos returned home. It would be the last time Gardiner would see his sponsor in freedom.

Gardiner was questioned at the farm April 9, 2006, and released.

He was later arrested and in detention could be heard in phone taps spouting the cover story - they’d been partying for two days, it was a frame-up.

But Gardiner’s loyalty to Mushey resurfaced and alliances formed.

Michael Sandham, the ex-cop, was placed in protective custody. Since the preliminary hearing, his prisoner’s partition was covered in paper to shield him.

The rest were crammed together. But Aravena was later removed for reasons never explained. He was put in protective custody after a beating on his jail range.

Kellestine, Mushey, Gardiner and Mather remained on friendly terms. It all changed in January.

Kellestine was moved to protective custody. He’d been beaten up in the showers.

That came as the court reviewed his initial police interviews, where he tried to deflect all responsibility and put it on the Hells Angels. It was a major mistake. He was labelled “a rat.”

The biker code insists you say nothing. No statements to police. No other label would be more troubling to Kellestine.

That left the loyalty between Gardiner, Mushey and Mather.

One day, Kellestine complained to his lawyer, Clay Powell, Mushey had threatened him in a note he’d slapped against the partition.

“You’re a dead man,” it said.

Kellestine said Mushey then ate the piece of paper before anyone could see it happen.

Aravena went to great lengths to pin all the blame on Kellestine and portray his old friend, Mushey, as a hero.

During an argument without the jury present, Aravena’s evidence about a signal given by Kellestine at the jail was vetted.

Aravena said Kellestine’s signal was to say Mushey killed four Bandidos. Kellestine denied it.

Mushey began making a hand gesture that appeared to be someone talking.

“Rat,” he said. “Rat. Rat. Rat.”

Both Moon and Hicks gave searing closing addresses that larded the responsibility for the shootings of eight Toronto Bandidos on Kellestine, calling him a psychotic, a psychopath, a monster. They said their clients were unwilling participants.

Afterward, it was clear both Mushey and Gardiner had grown gravely serious.

The next morning, the court’s start was delayed almost two hours after Hicks and Moon asked for and got a recess.

When the judge returned, Mushey addressed the court.

“For personal reasons I request I remove Michael Moon as my primary counsel,” he said.

Gardiner parroted the apology. “I’m going to be doing the same thing as Mushey here. I’m going to be removing Christopher Hicks as my counsel.”

“Your reasons are what?” the judge asked.

“Personal reasons,” Gardiner said.

Powell suggested if the lawyers didn’t stay, the jury might think “Kellestine put a contract out on them.”

During Elgin County Crown Attorney Kevin Gowdey’s closing address, both Mushey and Gardiner were ashen-faced.

Their lawyers had pinned the blame on Kellestine. Through their lawyers, they could be perceived in the outlaw biker world as what they had made Kellestine - rats. By firing their lawyers, they may have bought some protection under the biker code.
------------------------------------
Judge wraps up charge to jury

By FREE PRESS

Last Updated: 28th October 2009, 10:53am

The charge to the jury in the Bandidos murder trial was completed yesterday, but lawyers were back in court late last night with an opportunity to comment on the judge's charge.

The jury was sequestered, but instructed by the judge not to begin its delibrations.

Jurors are to return to the court in London this morning.

Six men have been on trial since March in the shooting deaths of eight Toronto-area Bandidos bikers, whose bodies were found in rural Southwestern Ontario, near Shedden, in April 2006.

The six men are each charged with eight counts of first-degree murder.

Wayne Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 36, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 25, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 40, Marcelo Araven, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg have all pleaded not guilty.
------------------------------------
As jury goes out, bikers fire lawyers in murder trial
Peter Edwards Staff Reporter
Published On Wed Oct 28 2009

LONDON, Ont. — The jury in the largest mass murder trial in Ontario history began deliberating this morning, unaware that two of the six accused had just fired their lawyers.

"The reasons are what?" Justice Thomas Heeney asked Dwight Mushey, 42, of Winnipeg. Mushey and the five other accused men, all connected to the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, each face eight counts of first-degree murder.

"Sorry your Honour," Mushey replied. "They're personal reasons." He denied firing lawyer Michael Moon was a "delay tactic."

Brett Gardiner, 25, of Winnipeg, fired Christopher Hicks, telling the judge, "Same thing. There's no ploy here."

People familiar with the outlaw biker culture suggested the firings might be an attempt by the accused to disown any finger-pointing at other bikers as part of their defence. There is a strong outlaw biker code of honour that condemns any co-operation with authorities.

Nor does the jury know that two other accused men in the April 2006 slayings of eight GTA-area Bandidos members at an Iona Station farm were beaten in jail. They are Wayne Kellestine, 60, owner of the London-area farm and Marcelo Aravena, 33.

Earlier this month, Mushey leaned towards Kellestine in a Plexiglas stall next to him in the prisoners' dock, and mouthed the words, "Rat, rat, rat."

In his closing remarks to the jury, Hicks, called Kellestine a "psychopath," "psychotic" and a"monster" and accused him of being the sole driving force behind the massacre.

Kellestine's lawyer, Clay Powell, suggested the firing of the lawyers just before his closing remarks to the jury was a stunt to throw him off his game at a critical time in the seven-month trial.

The jury was not present when the lawyer firing was discussed. The judge instructed the fired lawyers to remain in the courtroom as Powell made his final remarks.

What might have escaped the jury's notice were the several books Gardiner read per week, supplied by his lawyers. A female court observer was expelled from the courtroom for providing him with a romance novel.

Much of Gardiner's defence has been that he is too dumb to have been part of a plot that ended with mass murder.

His lawyers argued he is a thoroughly dense and watched television in Kellestine's farmhouse, unaware that seven men were being executed in vehicles immediately outside the building.

"It was the opinion of all observers that he (Gardiner) simply wasn't very bright," Hicks told the jury.

Crown Attorney Kevin Gowdey described Gardiner as being more ambitious than stupid, and noted that Gardiner moved to Winnipeg to live with Mushey, and then agreed to stay behind with Kellestine after the slaughter of the No Surrender Crew, to help re-establish the club in Ontario.

Gowdey accepted that Gardiner, Frank Mather, 36, of no fixed address, and Aravena didn't actually shoot anyone, but said they were essential to the execution of the Toronto bikers. Also charged with eight counts of first degree murder is former Winnipeg-area police officer Michael Sandham.

Sandham, who is in protective custody, committed an extreme violation of the biker code of not co-operating with prosecutors. He unsuccessfully tried to cut a deal with police himself, and then told the jury that he was never really an outlaw biker at all, even though other bikers described him as president of the Winnipeg Bandidos.

Sandham claimed he was really a police undercover agent, even though he had no agreement of any kind with any police force to infiltrate outlaw biker groups.

Gowdey said they all of the accused men were part of the murder plot, and all heard Kellestine say, "If we kill one, we kill them all," several times in the days before the massacre.
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Bandidos guilty;

All six found guilty of first-degree murder or manslaughter

By SUN MEDIA

Last Updated: 29th October 2009, 4:49pm

The verdicts have been handed down in the Bandidos trial.

All six of the accused bikers were found guilty.

Wayne Kellestine, Michael Sandham and Dwight Mushey were found guilty of eight counts each of first-degree murder.

Frank Mather and Marcelo Aravena were found guilty of one count each of manslaughter and seven counts each of first-degree murder.

Brett Gardiner was found guilty of two counts of manslaughter and six counts of first-degree murder.

Of the 48 counts of first-degree murder against the six Bandidos, the jury found them guilty of 44 counts.

The only exceptions were four killings in which three of the accused were found guilty of manslaughter.

Of those, Brett Gardiner was found guilty of two counts of manslaughter — one in the death of John Muscedere, the other in the death of Luis Raposo.

Others convicted of manslaughter were Marcelo Aravena and Frank Mather, in both cases for the killing of Raposo

The jury of six men and six women returned to the Middlesex courthouse in London at about 3:35 this afternoon, only about 18 hours into their deliberations.

Jurors heard seven months of evidence in Ontario's worst mass slaying, with six men accused of eight counts of first-degree murder.

The trial centred on a struggle between the Toronto-area wing of the Bandidos biker gang and a rival wing from Winnipeg.

The bodies of the eight slain bikers were found stuffed into vehicles along a rural Southwestern Ontario road, in Elgin County, the morning of April 8, 2006.

After about 18 hours of deliberating 48 charges, the jury returned to the Middlesex County Courthouse.

The verdicts were returned about 3:45.

The seven-month trial told the story of blind ambition, failed loyalties and deadly solutions.

Eight Toronto-area Bandidos were found shot to death on April 8, 2006. Their bodies were found shot to death along Stafford Line near Shedden in Elgin County.

The Shedden Eight as they are sometimes called made up both the Toronto chapter and Bandidos Canada.

They had fallen out of favour with their American bosses who had demanded they cease operations because of communication issues and lack of dues payments.

Wayne Kellestine, the club's sergeant-at-arms, had been alienated by his Toronto brothers. He was upset with his Toronto brothers over suspected drug use and knew the club was on thin ice with the Americans.

The Toronto chapter sponsored the probationary Winnipeg chapter, where the ambitious ex-cop Michael Sandham was the president. There was already tension between him and the Toronto bikers. He began to campaign the Americans to save the chapter.

After a meeting at Peace Arch Park in British Columbia, Kellestine was ordered to pull the patches of the Toronto chapter and would be given the national mantle in return. Sandham would get his chapter and be second-in-command in Canada.

When Kellestine didn't yank the memberships, Sandham and his crew of Winnnipeg members headed to Ontario unannounced, and arrived at Kellestine's farm.

They stayed for two weeks, over which time, the Crown argued, a plan was formed to take the patches by gun point. If there was resistance, Kellestine had told them "kill one, kill them all."

On April 8, 2006, they prepared guns and the Toronto men arrived at Kellestine's farm, lured there for a "church" or biker meeting.

One of them was shot inside the barn during an initial shoot-out. The rest were taken one-by-one out to the vehicles and executed.

The bodies were dumped 14 kilometres away after one of the cars ran out of gas.

Kellestine, Gardiner, Mather and two other people were arrested April 9, 2006, hours after the four Winnipeg bikers had left for home.

They were arrested in June, 2006.

The trial has lasted seven months. They jury of six men and six women saw more than 70 witnesses and more than 500 trial exhibits.

They also heard from a former Winnipeg biker who was there, became a Crown witness and was given witness protection for his evidence.

THE DEAD: George (Pony) Jessome, 52; George (Crash) Kriarakis, 28; Bandidos Canada National president John (Boxer) Muscedere, 48; Luis (Chopper) Raposo, 41; Toronto Bandidos chapter president Frank (Bam Bam) Salerno, 43; Paul (Big Paulie) Sinopoli, 30; Jamie (Goldberg) Flanz, 37; and Michael (Little Mikey) Trotta, 31.

THE CONVICTED: Wayne Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 25, of no fixed address; and Michael Sandham, 39, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg have all pleaded not guilty to eight counts of first degree murder.

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Kellestine guilty of eight counts of murder at Bandidos trial
Five co-accused guilty of numerous charges including murder and manslaughter

29th October 2009
Peter Edwards STAFF REPORTER
The Star

LONDON, Ont. – A member of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club spat on his lawyer after he and five other club members were each convicted of multiple counts of first degree murder for the ambush and execution-style slayings of eight Greater Toronto Area bikers in the biggest mass murder in modern Ontario history.

Marcelo Aravena, 33, of Winnipeg, exploded in anger in the prisoners' dock after hearing he had been convicted of seven counts of first-degree murder and another of manslaughter for the massacre of the bikers in tiny Iona Station, west of London, on the night of April 7-8, 2006.

"F---ing goofs," Aravena, a 280-lb pro fighter said, glaring at the jury and making obscene gestures with both hands.

"You know that some of us are innocent," Aravena shouted. "You're pieced of f---ing s--t."

When his lawyer, Tony Bryant, moved to calm him, Aravena shifted his glare and said, "F--- off, Tony"

During a brief recess, Aravena spat over the Plexiglas wall of his cubicle.

Within seconds, Aravena was escorted to prisoners' cells in the basement of the courthouse by police.

The rest of the men took their convictions silently, and Dwight Mushey, 41, a Winnipeg nightclub owner, bowed his head slightly at the jury after hearing their decision.

There were about 10 family members of their victims in the courtroom as the verdicts were read out.

Teresa Muscedere, 24, whose father John Muscedere was one of the murdered men, fought back tears as the jury foreperson called out the verdicts.

The oldest of the accused, Wayne Kellestine, 60, shrugged his shoulders as he heard he was found guilty of eight counts of first degree murder for massacring his Bandidos clubmates in his ramshackle farm.

A few minutes later, he looked towards reporters and smiled faintly.

It took 20 minutes for the jury foreperson to read out the 44 convictions for first degree murder and four for manslaughter.

None of the six accused men were acquitted of any of the charges they faced.

The jury reached its decision after deliberating for 14 hours.

A conviction for first degree murder brings a mandatory life term.

After hearing the sentence, the son of one of the murder victims said he was elated by the verdicts.

"I'm literally jumping in the street, I'm so happy," Richard Jesso, whose father George was killed that night, said via email to The Star.

The youngest of the six accused, Brett Gardiner, 25, of Winnipeg, looked up at the ceiling and then dropped his head and stared at the floor as he heard he was found guilty of six counts of first degree murder and two of manslaughter.

His co-accused Michael Sandham, 40, a former police officer from rural Manitoba, sat down in his chair and stared straight ahead as he heard he was found guilty of eight counts of first degree murder.

Frank Mather, 35, of no fixed address, showed little emotion as he was found guilty of seven counts of first degree murder and one of manslaughter.

The jury in the seven-month trial heard that Gardiner, Mather and Aravena didn't fire any shots in the massacre, but the Crown argued they were an important part of the crime nonetheless.

Court heard the Texas headquarters, or "Mother Chapter", of the international motorcycle club was upset with the Canadians for numerous breaches of club rules, including repeatedly shunning their calls for meetings and for admitting new members, without the permission of the Texans.

On the night of the murders, Gardiner was assigned to monitor police scanners from Kellestine's farmhouse, as other bikers attempted to "pull the patches," or kick the Toronto bikers out of the club at a meeting in Kellestine's barn.

Mather and Aravena acted as guards, keeping victims confined in Kellestine's barn until they were led outside to be shot dead.

Court heard that Gardiner drove from Winnipeg to Kellestine's farm with Sandham, Mushey, and a longtime biker who can only be identified as "M.H."

Within days of returning back to Winnipeg, M.H. was working for the police, wearing a hidden recording device and capturing conversations with Mushey, Aravena and Sandham.

M.H. had been "sergeant-at-arms" of the Winnipeg Bandidos, in charge of enforcing club discipline. He is now living in a witness protection program, under a new name, after agreeing to cooperate with police to escape murder charges himself.

M.H. told the court he didn't shoot anyone that night, but was present for the execution of the GTA bikers. All of the victims except Raposo was shot twice in the head, execution-style.

The first GTA biker killed that night, Luis Manny Raposo, 41, was killed in an exchange of gunfire with Sandham, who was hiding with two loaded rifles in the beams of Kellestine's farm, where the bikers gathered for a "church," or club meeting.

Court heard that Raposo hit Sandham with a blast from a sawed-off shotgun, but Sandham was wearing a bullet-proof vest, saving him from injury or death.

In often-gripping testimony, punctuated by bouts of tears, M.H. told court how Kellestine exhibited wild mood swings during the systematic executions, which Kellestine called "wet work."

Kellestine alternately sang, danced, prayed between the murders of his biker brothers, M.H. said.

At some points, Kellestine promised the Toronto bikers they would all be allowed to go home safely, M.H. said.

At several other points, Kellestine taunted the victims, especially Jamie Flanz, 38, of Keswick. Court heard that Kellestine told Flanz he would be executed last so that he could suffer most, because he was Jewish.

Court heard that Kellestine is a Nazi sympathizer who had swastikas and Nazi memorabilia throughout his farmhouse and a large Nazi flag in his barn, where the victims were confined before being led out to vehicles and executed.

Sandham testified in his own defense, and told a wild story of how he had been working undercover for police at the time of the slaughter, even though he didn't have any agreement with any police force to do so.

Court also heard that Sandham lied repeatedly to police after the murders, and denied more than 200 times that he was at Kellestine's farm at the time of the murders.

Mather's lawyer, Greg Leslie, told court that Mather was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, having dropped by Kellestine's farm with his pregnant girlfriend days before the murders because he needed a place to stay.

While Mather wasn't a member of the Bandidos club, M.H. testified that Mather was with the bikers as they readied guns and ammunition, hours before the slaughter.

M.H. said that Mather also held a shotgun in Kellestine's barn as the Toronto bikers were confined before their murders.

Aravena testified that he was not part of any discussions involving murders, and simply went to Ontario to "meet the bosses," in the club.

He also testified that Kellestine threatened his life immediately after Kellestine murdered John Muscedere, 48, of Toronto, the Canadian president of the Bandidos.

Muscedere was the second murder victim of the night, court heard, and told his killers, "Do me first. I want to go out like a man."

Mushey's lawyers argued that the Crown's case against him was built of the testimony of a lifelong liar, M.H., and that Mushey had no idea that Kellestine was going to murder the Toronto men that night.

The Crown suggested that Mushey killed three men that night, and noted how a secret police recording captured Mushey as he described the facial expressions of Flanz as he was shot dead.

Kellstine's lawyers presented their client as a "perfect patsy," for the Winnipeg bikers, and noted they showed up at his farm unannounced, on March 28, 2006, with orders from the U.S. Bandido to kick the Toronto bikers out of the club.

Kellestine's legal team of Clay Powell and Ken McMillan suggested their client lost everything and gained nothing through the massacre of his clubmates.

Found dead in vehicles abandoned by a farmer's field 14 kilometers from Kellestine's farm were: Muscedere, Flanz, Raposo, George Jessome, 52, and George Kriarakis, 28, all of Toronto; Frank Salerno, 43, of Oakville; Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Jackson's Point and Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga

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News Canada
Chronology of the events in Bandidos slayings
By THE CANADIAN PRESS
Last Updated: 29th October 2009, 8:30pm

LONDON, Ont. — A chronology of the events leading up to Thursday’s convictions of six men in the slayings of eight others linked to the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos biker gang:

March 2006 — Michael Sandham and Wayne Kellestine meet with U.S. Bandidos officials in Peace Arch Park, which borders Washington state and British Columbia. During this meeting Kellestine is ordered to strip his fellow Toronto Bandidos of their gang affiliation, the Crown alleges.

March 2006 — U.S. Bandidos officials order Sandham to take the rest of the Winnipeg Bandidos and visit Kellestine’s farm in southwestern Ontario to see what is happening with Kellestine “pulling the patches” of the Toronto chapter, according to informant’s testimony.

March 2006 — Sandham, Dwight Mushey, Brett Gardiner and MH - the Winnipeg Bandido turned informant - drive from Winnipeg to Kellestine’s farm. Marcelo Aravena flies to the London airport a few days later as he had a mixed martial arts tournament. The five men stay at Kellestine’s for about two weeks. Frank Mather and his girlfriend are already living at Kellestine’s.

April 7, 2006 — George Jessome, George Kriarakis, John Muscedere, Luis Raposo, Frank Salerno, Paul Sinopoli, Jamie Flanz, and Michael Trotta are called for a meeting at Kellestine’s farm, a two-hour drive away from Toronto. They arrive in four vehicles.

April 8, 2006 — The bodies of those eight men are found stuffed into those four vehicles around a farmer’s field just 14 kilometres from Kellestine’s property.

April 9, 2006 — Police charge Kellestine, Mather, Gardiner and two others with eight counts of first-degree murder. The two other people eventually have their charges reduced to accessory after the fact to murder. One later has charge dropped, other pleads guilty to obstruction of justice.

June 16, 2006 — Sandham, Mushey and Aravena are arrested by Winnipeg police and charged with eight counts of first-degree murder.

Jan. 9, 2007 — Preliminary inquiry begins.

March 27, 2008 — Fire destroys Kellestine farmhouse.

Feb. 23, 2009 — Jury selection begins in trial.

March 31, 2009 — All six men enter not guilty pleas and the trial begins in earnest with the Crown delivering its opening statement.

Sept. 25, 2009 — Jury hears the last day of evidence in the trial as Aravena completes his testimony.

Oct. 28, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. — Jury begins deliberations.

Oct. 29, 2009 at 3 p.m. — Jury returns with verdicts of 44 counts of first-degree murder and four counts of manslaughter against the six men. As the judge thanks them for their service, Aravena raises his middle fingers and shouts obscenities at the jury, then at his own lawyer.
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All shocked by speed with which jury reached verdicts
By KATE DUBINSKI
Last Updated: 30th October 2009, 2:53am

Disappointment, resignation -- even shock.

The reactions of the defence lawyers in the Bandidos trial were as varied as their clients.

After hearing the jury deliver eight first-degree murder verdicts against his client, lawyer Clay Powell, who represented Wayne Kellestine, left the courtroom for a cigarette.

His client had been described as a psychopath and a monster by some of the other lawyers.

"It was a pretty tough case. I've known Wayne before this happened and he's none of those things. He's a farmer from Shedden," Powell said.

"Wayne didn't point any fingers at anybody and the ones that did were labeled rats. That'll cause them some problems in prison."

Up against several accused, lawyers and a Crown who cast their client as the mastermind behind the eight murders, Kellestine's defence team had a tough job.

Kellestine was relaxed as he listened to the verdicts. Powell said he was probably expecting the outcome.

Outside court, OPP Det. Insp. Paul Beesley, in charge of the case, was pleased. "We think justice was served today," he said.

"I want everyone to understand that biker gangs are inherently violent and I think that this trial has given us a glimpse into that lifestyle of the motorcycle gangs. Killing is wrong. It doesn't matter if you're a biker or not. I think the jury recognized that."

No one involved in the case expected the jury to come back so quickly. The six men and six women deliberated 14 hours, after seven months of evidence. "My main concern is how the jury could get through all that evidence . . . in something like a day and a half," said defence lawyer Don Crawford, who represented Michael Sandham, who also was found guilty of eight counts of first-degree murder.

"However . . . I'm prepared to live with the results (but) I wouldn't rule out an appeal."

His client, Crawford said, was "stoic" about the outcome.

Defence lawyer Greg Leslie, who represented Frank Mather, said his client was "almost in a state of shock" and he's starting immediately on an appeal.

"I expected (the jury's deliberations) to go into the weekend. Once I got the call, I had a bad feeling. Mr. Mather is very disappointed," Leslie said.

Mather was found guilty of one count of manslaughter and seven of first-degree murder.

Also disappointed was Brett Gardiner's lawyer, Christopher Hicks, fired after giving his closing address last week in an apparent attempt by Gardiner to save face with other bikers. Hicks had implicated Kellestine in his argument before the jury.

The jury found Gardiner guilty of two counts of manslaughter and six of first-degree murder.

"For Mr. Gardiner, I had higher hopes, so there's disappointment there," Hicks said. Whether he will appeal will be up to his former client, Hicks said.

Dwight Mushey, found guilty of eight counts of first-degree murder, fired lawyer Michael Moon. Moon made no comment.

Defence lawyer Tony Bryant, who represented Marcelo Aravena, also didn't speak to the media. Aravena was found guilty of one count of manslaughter and seven of first-degree murder.

Crown Attorney Kevin Gowdey read a prepared statement, thanking the police, the jury, and the prosecution team.

"We thank the families of the victims for their patience with the justice system," he said.
-----------------------------------

Guilty
44 counts of first-degree murder/4 counts of manslaughter
By JANE SIMS, THE LONDON FREE PRESS
Last Updated: 30th October 2009, 3:34am

The final chapter in one of the worst bloodbaths in Ontario history ends with first-degree murder convictions against six Bandidos bikers, more than three years after an eight-man massacre

They're murderers -- all six of them.

After only 14 hours of deliberations, all six men charged with killing eight Toronto-area Bandidos bikers were found guilty yesterday.

Forty-four of the 48 possible verdicts were first-degree murder.

The remaining four were manslaughter decisions.

The verdicts, after a seven-month jury trial, signalled the jury heeded the Crown's argument that all six men knew the deadly intentions on April 8, 2006 and took part either by following a plan or forcibly confining the men before their executions.

The men all face life sentences with no chance of parole for 25 years for first-degree murder. They're to be sentenced today.

The case centred on the conflicts and tensions between the Toronto group that doubled as Bandidos Canada, known as the No Surrender Crew, and the fledgling Winnipeg probationary chapter it sponsored that wanted full status in the biker gang.

There also was conflict with the American world headquarters based in Texas that had ordered the Canadian Bandido operations be shut down because of communications problems and lack of dues payments.

The breakdown in the biker brotherhood led to an ambush at Kellestine's farm where the men were to be kicked out of the club. They paid for the breakdown with their lives.

Their bodies were found stuffed into vehicles abandoned along the quiet Stafford Line in Elgin County, near Shedden.

The 14th-floor courtroom of the London courthouse was hushed as the jury gave its verdicts.

Some of the men in the prisoner's box appeared anxious.

Wayne Kellestine, 60, the local biker with the long reputation, looked over where family members of the victims sat.

Marcelo Aravena chewed his fingers as he leaned over the prisoners' the box. Michael

Sandham, 40, the biker president of the Winnipeg Bandido chapter, heard his convictions first.

On all eight counts, he was found guilty of first-degree murder.

Sandham didn't flinch. While the others stood to await their fates, the former police officer sat in the stall -- a brown paper covering the glass that hid him from the others.

Frank Mather, 36, the quiet red-headed friend of Kellestine's, who was boarding at his farmhouse at the time of the murders. was next.

He was found guilty of manslaughter in the shooting of Luis Raposo, the first to die in the bloodbath, shot dead from the loft by Sandham.

The rest of the verdicts were first-degree murder.

Mather, the jury heard, was one of the men who helped guard the other seven Toronto Bandidos before they were led off for execution.

He stared at the floor.

Aravena, 33, the mixed martial arts fighter from Winnipeg, who wore his Bandido vest with pride after the murders, stood with his hands clasped in front of him. One manslaughter conviction for Raposo's death; on all the rest of the killings, first-degree murder.

Aravena sat down and buried his head in his hands.

Quiet sobs could be heard from a small group of victims' families in the courtroom.

If there was any room left for doubt about what would happen to the last three men on trial, it surrounded the fate of Brett Gardiner, 25. Originally from Calgary, he'd moved to Winnipeg to fast-track his Bandido ambitions.

He was the lookout in the farmhouse the night of the murders, who came out to the barn briefly just as Bandidos Canada president John Muscedere was led out to be shot to death.

The convictions against him: Manslaughter for Raposo's death; manslaughter for Muscedere's death; the rest, first-degree murder.

Gardiner looked up at the ceiling. His eyes reddened.

Dwight Mushey, 41, the Winnipeg chapter's second-in-command, with a black belt in martial arts, appeared calm as his convictions came down. Eight counts of first-degree murder. He bowed politely, like he was respecting an opponent at the end of a match.

That left Kellestine, 60, whose reputation was well-known long before his eight former friends were shot to death.

He nodded slightly at the first verdict of first-degree murder, then was silent for the rest.

Later, he looked over to the reporters covering the case, grinned slightly, cocked his head to the side and shrugged in resignation.

Aravena, Mather, Gardiner and Kellestine asked the jury be polled. All 12 members said they agreed with the verdicts.

Mushey's lawyer, Christian Angelini, told Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney his client accepted the jury's verdicts are unanimous.

Mushey bowed again with respect.

Heeney thanked the six-man, six-woman jury for their "personal sacrifice" over seven months and attentiveness to the case.

That's when Aravena exploded.

"They're f---ing goofs," he screamed, holding up his hands and making obscene gestures.

"You know some of us are innocent. They're pieces of sh--."

His lawyer, Tony Bryant, tried to calm him down but Aravena continued to wave his arms. "(F---ing) Tony."

OPP officers on the security detail moved into action.

Heeney continued to thank the jury, calling them "truly extraordinary."

"I thank you on behalf of the people of Canada," he said before they were dismissed.

The court took a break. Aravena was removed from the courtroom on Heeney's order, but not before he tried to spit on his lawyer.

Bryant apologized for his client.

The men all face life sentences with no chance of parole for 25 years for first-degree murder.

But the three "non-shooters" convicted of manslaughter must also be sentenced on those counts.

The families of the victims, many who live far away, want to give victim impact statements.

The lawyers for Sandham, Mushey, Aravena and Gardiner asked they be sent to prisons in Manitoba, their home.

Mather's lawyer asked his client be sent to his home province of New Brunswick.

None of the family members appeared before the media afterward.

Some defence lawyers said they were surprised at the speed of the verdicts and are considering appeals.

Elgin County Crown attorney Kevin Gowdey, who led the prosecution team, thanked the jury, police and especially the families.

"While no verdict can turn back the clock for them, we have really appreciated their support during these many months in the face of the great loss that they have suffered," he said.

OPP Det. Paul Beesley, who headed up the investigation, pointed out the trial had international Bandido tentacles reaching the U.S. and Europe.

"It wasn't just a field in Shedden, it was a global enterprise that we were dealing with," he said.

"Clearly the evidence shows that there was some involvement of American Bandidos in Washington state and Texas, too. We hope that justice is served. If that involves other agencies doing investigations, let's hope that's the case."

Both Gowdey and Beesley paid tribute to OPP Det. Sgt. Dean Morrissey, the lead investigator, who died suddenly in January weeks before the case he worked so hard to put together finally went before the jury.

"He was the heart and soul of this investigation and we miss him dearly," said Beesley, his voice breaking.

Kellestine's lawyer, Clay Powell acknowledged his client was expecting the verdicts and was resigned to his fate long ago.

He said Kellestine didn't mind waiting an extra day to be dealt what can only be a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.

"It's another day closer to home," he said.
-----------------------------------

Bandidos killer reserves worst insult for jurors
Thursday, October 29, 2009 11:23 PM
"Fucking goofs."

That insult, hurled by killer biker Marcelo Aravena (inset) at the jury that convicted him today of seven counts of first-degree murder, was no small slight. It's one of the most offensive slurs among rounders - regulars in the criminal subculture. Aravena was one of six men convicted in one of Ontario's worst mass murders, the April 8, 2006 slaughter of eight members of the Bandidos motorcycle gang on a farm near London. The victims, who had been shot, were found stuffed into several vehicles.

Aravena's barb, apparently the first words from his mouth after his conviction in the Bandidos mass murder case, according to the Star, is akin to saying: 'You're a worthless, no good, scum-sucking piece of shit who should be killed.' Jurors likely need not take it as a threat though, since in this context Aravena is simply trying to demonstrate his extreme displeasure in the vernacular of his peers. In the right context, disparaging someone with an accusation of 'goof' is a threat and a challenge. There have been at least two murders in Kingston, Ontario, Canada's penitentiary capital, in which that loaded word was a factor.

On March 23, 1991, ex-convict Raymond Bruce, then 44, heavily intoxicated at the time, shot to death Douglas Cranston, 38, inside the Plaza Hotel, what is today Kingston's only strip club. Cranston also had a criminal record. A judge was told that the two men got into a "brutal exchange" in which Cranston called Bruce a "goof" at least twice. After the second insult, Bruce pulled out a handgun and started firing. Bruce pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to five years in prison.

On October 26, 1990, Paul David Murphy, then 45, stabbed to death "one of his best friends," Douglas Albert Carroll, 31, during a feud that capped a week-long binge of drug and alcohol taking. Murphy was on early release from prison at the time. He had reportedly been called a "goof" by Carroll. Carroll pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to six and a half years in prison.

If you're visiting Kingston, be careful of who's within earshot if you plan to say 'goof' out loud.

Aravena was convicted in the Bandidos massacre along with:

* Wayne Kellestine, 59, of Dutton-Dunwich Township
* Frank Mather, 35, of Dutton-Dunwich Township
* Brett Gardiner, 24, of no fixed address
* Michael Sandham, 39, of Winnipeg
* Dwight Mushey, 41, of Winnipeg


None will be eligible for faint hope – the provision that allows a person sentenced to 25 years to seek a hearing after 15 years to have their parole ineligibility reduced. Multiple killers don't qualify for faint hope. The Tory government wants to repeal the faint hope clause.

The victims were:

Luis Raposo, 41, George Jessome, 52, and George Kriarakis, 28, all of Toronto; Frank Salerno, 43, of Oakville; Paul Sinopoli, 30, of Jackson's Point; John Muscedere, 48, of Chatham, Michael Trotta, 31, of Mississauga and Flanz, 38, of Keswick. They were slaughtered as part of an internal club cleansing that grew out of a feud between two chapters, in Toronto and Winnipeg.

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Trial tidbits jurors never knew
By JANE SIMS
Last Updated: 30th October 2009, 2:53am

In the end, it was what the police always maintained it was -- the internal cleansing of an outlaw motorcycle club.

For more than three years in court, The Free Press has followed the saga of six men brought together under the biker symbol of the Fat Mexican.

The jury in the Bandidos murder trial based its verdicts on what it heard in court. But a lot more -- some of it serious, some of it silly -- went on between the accused, the lawyers and in the courthouse halls. Now, after the seven-month legal odyssey, some of those tidbits the jury never knew can now be told.

---

Brett Gardiner's signal from the prisoners' dock in the courtroom was clear. He pointed to his eye. Then, he moved his hand like a mouth talking.

And then he pointed at me.

It was a tad jarring, but courtrooms often turn into small communities during long trials. Everyone falls into a routine. Everyone keeps the same seat. Everyone recognizes each other.

The accused often looked out at the public for familiar faces. Almost daily, some of the men would wave at me or nod.

There's lots to think about when you're on trial for eight counts of first-degree murder.

So what did Gardiner, the young biker prospect, want? Not wanting to cause concern for the security detail, or raise the suspicion of my media competitors at the trial, I signaled back the accused to talk to his lawyer.

Later, as I walked out of the court, he waved a piece of paper.

"Give it to your lawyer," I said.

Near the coffee lineup after sharing the potential scoop with Free Press colleague Kate Dubinski, Gardiner's lawyer, Christopher Hicks, gave me the piece of foolscap written in pencil.

It was a letter to the editor:

"My name is Brett Gardiner and I was wondering what had happen to the comic strip. I am currently residing at Elign Middlesex detention center, so you have to understand that it gets boring and redundant in this place so please understand that the best part of my day is opening up the today section of your paper and reading your comic strips mostly the De-flocked strip. I love reading that stupid sheep and I keep all the one's that I get my hands on, but know I have ordered your paper for one of those reasons. So please consider returning the comic's as they where .

Sincerely

Brett Gardiner.

I passed on Gardiner's request to senior Free Press editors.

---

Gardiner was portrayed at the start of the trial as a voracious reader, but by the end was held out as a man who thought pickles grew on trees.

He had one fan, a community college teacher, who came to court often. She said she was writing a book about him. When it was discovered she was sending him romantic novels without permission, she was banned for a short time.

---

Gardiner wasn't the only man on trial who wanted to talk to The Free Press. Wayne Kellestine also wanted my attention, a few days after the Crown's star witness had told the jury about what happened the night the Toronto Bandidos were shot to death. Kellestine's lawyer, Clay Powell, approached me with a request: "Wayne wants a copy of Saturday's paper," he said. "He wants to see what you wrote."

I got a copy of the paper to the lawyer, but then came another request from Kellestine, delivered personally over the rail of the prisoners' box as I was leaving court.: "Do you think The Free Press would give me a complimentary 30-day subscription?" he asked with a smile.

Powell arranged a paid subscription.

---

There were lots of complaints over the years as the men wended their way through the court system -- about the hard benches, the rate at which evidence was disclosed and more. They didn't like the food, either.

On the first day of pre-trial motions, the roast beef sandwiches brought in from the jail were deemed spoiled.

Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney allowed the men to eat Covent Garden Market sandwiches (bought by their lawyers) in the prisoner's box, after getting no food in the courthouse cells during the lunch break.

An application was made to allow lawyers to bring in food for the accused. A bid was even made to make a jail-issued ham sandwich an exhibit to show it didn't have enough meat.

The accused were sick of the ham sandwiches they got for lunch in the court cells. But security had spotted one of them on video-tape, flushing some meat down the toilet.

The application was dropped.

---

For a time, some defence lawyers refused to be searched by the OPP security detail.

Eventually, there was an agreement the lawyers wouldn't be searched as long as they didn't touch their clients.

Only lawyer Tony Bryant objected. He asked to be searched so he could shake hands with his client, Marcelo Aravena, to make him seem more "human."

---

There were various mentions in evidence of the men eating a lot of pizza at Kellestine's farm.

The jury didn't know how the pizzas were found, nor their importance to the evidence. The pizzas came to the farm after some of the men had gone to a nearby native reserve to steal a trailer they believed had illegal cigarette inside. To their surprise, it wasn't smokes they found but 200 frozen pizzas, some carted back to Kellestine's.

During that trip, Sandham's truck bumper was scraped -- a tell-tale mark that would become part of the evidence.

---

The toughest days in court were when grieving families were there. In the early going, some came often and would return for key evidence. Some would even testify. One was Joe Muscedere, brother of Bandidos Canada president John Muscedere, who described a phone chat he had with Kellestine after his brother went missing and was suspected dead. Jurors never heard how he met Kellestine years earlier: " 'Hi, I'm Wayne Kellestine. I sell drugs and I kill people.' "

---

The atmosphere was tense when M.H., the Crown's star witness to the shootings, testified in exchange for witness protection and immunity. There were hard stares from the accused and a lot of note-taking. Once, M.H. couldn't go on because of chest pains and needed a CAT scan.

Aravena, who sometimes appeared to be asleep, was caught one day by OPP Const. Dean Croker doing more than just listening. Croker was part of the courtroom security detail. He reported he saw Aravena give M.H. the finger, by putting his middle digit up to his nose as if scratching it. He was also seen making a hand gun signal. "If it continues, steps will have to be taken," the judge said.

---

The jury never heard both the Winnipeg and Toronto Bandidos were trying to start up illegal drug businesses. They failed.

---

Powell, 73, a courtroom veteran, predicted when the jury was chosen in March the case would drag on until Halloween. Everyone, including the judge, scoffed. Seven months, more than 70 witnesses and 500-plus exhibits later, the end of October arrived and the trial ended. "I told you so," Powell said.

-------------------------------

Bikers get life sentences amid families' palpable grief

Bandidos bikers on trial for eight counts of first-degree murder. Clockwise from top left: Michael Sandham, Marcello Aravena, Frank Mather, Wayne Kellestine, Dwight Mushey, Brett Gardiner.

Victim-impact statements leave many in tears as six convicted killers given prison terms

Amid a tide of anguish that left many in the courtroom weeping, six outlaw bikers convicted of murdering eight men were each sentenced to life in prison Friday.

The grief flowed from victim-impact statements read to the court before Mr. Justice Thomas Heeney sentenced former Bandidos members Wayne Kellestine, Michael Sandham, Dwight Mushey, Frank Mather, Marcelo Aravena and Brett Gardiner.

A day earlier, the six were convicted by a jury on 44 charges of first-degree murder and four of manslaughter.

Before being handed the automatic penalty of life, two of the killers turned to the 20-plus bereaved relatives of their eight victims and voiced remorse.

“I truly am sorry for what I’ve put you through,” Mr. Aravena said.

“I know that nothing I can say will bring your loved ones back, but I did not know this was going to happen.”

Mr. Gardiner simply said: “I apologize to the families.”

In all, 25 victim-impact statements were filed, and six read out in the packed courtroom.

“This senseless, unbearable act took away the peace, comfort, security, hope and dreams not only from my family but from all the families,” said Marilyn Di Florio, the mother of victim Frank Salerno.

“We will never understand this brutality that happened.”

Because all six defendants were convicted on multiple counts of murder, they will have to serve at least 25 years behind bars before seeking parole.

All were also ordered to supply DNA samples to authorities. As well, they will be subject to lengthy or permanent bans on owning firearms if and when they eventually go free.

All the defendants and victims were full-patch members or associates of the Texas-based Bandidos motorcycle gang, which had two chapters in Canada at the time of the April 2006 murders – one in Toronto and one in Winnipeg.

Slain were Mr. Salerno, John Muscedere, George Jessome, George Kriarakis, Luis Raposo, Paul Sinopoli, Jamie Flanz and Michael Trotta, all from the Greater Toronto area. The six killers were mostly drawn from the Bandidos’ probationary chapter in Winnipeg.

The jury’s verdicts Thursday, following just 14 hours of deliberations, came 31/2 years after the killings, and seven months after the trial began in a heavily secured 14th floor courtroom in downtown London.

Prosecutors successfully made the case that the murders stemmed from a power struggle between the two Canadian chapters, and that the rivalry exploded into violence when the parent Texas group ordered the Toronto Bandidos stripped of their membership.

Before sentencing the men for what he described as “horrific acts of violence,” Judge Heeney acknowledged the bereaved relatives’ “eloquent outpouring of grief, which says everything.”

Her voice trembling, Tereasa Muscedere, Mr. Muscedere’s 24-year-old daughter, was in tears as she told the court that losing her father had left her alone, frightened and confused.

“The six accused did not only take eight men,” she said. “They have taken away a piece of my soul … I will have a lifetime of suffering to do.”

Mr. Muscedere, the Bandidos’ Canadian president, was the second to die in the slaughter at Mr. Kellestine’s farm and the first of three to be shot by Mr. Kellestine, who looked on with seeming indifference as Ms. Muscedere read her statement.

Next up was Vickie Kriarakis, mother of George Kriarakis, who died reciting the Lord’s Prayer, the trial earlier heard. Shot seven times and grievously wounded in the abdomen before finally being taken out to his car and executed, Mr. Kriarakis probably suffered more than any of the other victims.

On the day he died, “my heart stopped, my joy was replaced by utter dismay,” his mother told the court. “He was the son that any mother would want to have … As I stand in front of you, all hope is gone.”

The address by Ms. Di Florio, Mr. Salerno’s mother, was particularly eloquent.

“During the evidence of the wiretap conversations I continually heard the expressions love, loyalty and respect, apparently a mantra of the Bandidos club,” she said.

“Where was the love, loyalty and respect on the night of April 8 when our loved ones were ambushed and murdered by their so-called brothers? How two-faced, disloyal and full of deceit, how cowardly those killers were. They shattered our lives forever.”

The three shooters in the massacre – Mr. Sandham, Mr. Mushey and Mr. Kellestine – said nothing.
-----------------------------------------

Abandoned Bandidos massacre scene is a haunting place
A Confederate flag still hangs in Wayne Kellestine's empty barn, where eight outlaw bikers awaited their deaths

As night falls across surrounding corn fields and pasture, the abandoned farm where eight outlaw bikers were shot to death more than three years ago is a spooky place.

Along Aberdeen Line, a half-hour drive west of London in the municipality of Dutton/Dunwich, carved pumpkins and other Halloween fare decorate the neat homes dotted up and down the road.

But in their midst are what's left of a real house of horrors, the long-time lair of Wayne Kellestine, the most notorious of six Bandidos motorcycle club members convicted yesterday of murdering eight of their brethren.

It was at the Kellestine farm that the killings took place in April, 2006.

One of the eight died in a gun battle, the trial heard.

But all the others were held captive overnight in the huge barn adjoining the farmhouse before being taken out to their cars at intervals, forced inside and shot dead.

Then their bodies were hauled a short way up Highway 401 to the nearby hamlet of Shedden, dumped and almost immediately discovered.

From a few hundred metres away, the crime scene looks like any other Ontario rural property on a late fall afternoon: Rolling fields, a clutch of buildings, cows grazing in the distance.

But up close, inside the wire fence and double-padlocked gate that encircle the property, it feels decidedly more sinister.

Local residents give the place a wide berth.

Plenty had a passing acquaintanceship with Mr. Kellestine during the 19 years he lived here up until his arrest, 36 hours after the murders.

“He didn't bother us too much most of the time, but everybody knew he was trouble, there was often biker types around, and there was always talk that he had killed people,” said a retired farmer, who like other neighbours was adamant his name not be included in any article about Mr. Kellestine.

Inside the compound, padlocked shut by the Municipality of Dutton/Dunwich after a lien was placed on the property in lieu of unpaid taxes, is a tableau of decay: A thicket of waist-high grass, a rusting red tractor, children's swings and toys, a listing flag pole.

Gone is the farmhouse, centrepiece of the 50-acre property for which Mr. Kellestine, now 60, paid $50,000 in 1987.

His live-in girlfriend Tina Fitzgerald and their young daughter were allowed to return there and live after police spent weeks combing the property.

But 18 months ago the house caught fire – from careless smoking, neighbours say – and earlier this year it was demolished.

Now Ms. Fitzgerald and her daughter live in a rented apartment in nearby West Lorne.

Three other structures, however, still stand: A mobile home on wheels, in which bikers have been seen staying, although not recently; a tumbledown garage; and the enormous post-and-beam barn that was the main venue of the massacre, towering above the flat farmland.

On its north wall, easily visible to anyone driving along Aberdeen Line, is a white, circular emblem displaying a fist clutching a black-and-red dagger redolent of a swastika; the logo of the Annihilators, a long-gone biker gang to which Mr. Kellestine once belonged.

Inside the barn, where the Bandidos prisoners lay on the floor for hours before being executed, is a vast dusty jumble of old furniture, farm machinery and other detritus.

And still on one wall hangs a large Confederate flag.

Now 60 and facing at least 22 more years behind bars, its owner is unlikely to see any of his stuff again.

And no one from around here is going to miss him much.

“Time to put this all behind us and move on,” said an auto mechanic who lives up the road.

“It was bad but it's over.”
-----------------------------------------------

Book on massacre available already

Author suggests the bikers were killed to avoid all-out war with Hells Angels

By BY RANDY RICHMOND

Last Updated: 31st October 2009, 4:09am

The ink on the verdicts is barely dry, but the first book about the Bandidos massacre has already hit store shelves.

The book also drops what's bound to be a controversial bombshell.

The Fat Mexican: The Bloody Rise of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, by Alex Caine, proposes that the killings of eight bikers may have been a sacrifice by the Bandidos to avoid an all-out war with their rival, the Hells Angels.

Why? Because one of the dead, Jamie Flanz, inadvertently took a $300,000 shipment of cocaine in Toronto that belonged to the Hells.

The Crown's star witness in the just-finished trial, publicly identified under court order only as M.H., may have still been working for the Hells Angels and helped accomplish the deed, Caine writes.

Neither Caine nor his publicist at Random House Canada

could be reached yesterday.

According to his biography, Caine was raised in Quebec and ended up on a military tour of Vietnam, followed by prison time for marijuana possession. He then became a contracted agent for police forces around the world, infiltrating criminal groups.

Caine told the story of his undercover work in the 2008 book Befriend and Betray. One of the groups he infiltrated during his career was the Washington State Bandidos.

The Fat Mexican, referring to the Bandidos logo, is one of at least two books about the killings.

The release of The Bandidos Massacre: A True Story of Bikers, Brotherhood and Betrayal was waiting for the end of the trial, its author, Peter Edwards, said yesterday.

His book focuses in part on how two longtime friends, Wayne Kellestine and John Muscedere, ended up on opposite sides of the Southwestern Ontario massacre in April 2006, Edwards said.

"It's kind of like Cain and Abel on Harleys," said Edwards, a Toronto Star investigative reporter and author of several books.

"The first person he (Kellestine) killed that night was his best friend."
-------------------------------------
'The best-laid plans . . .'

By JANE SIMS

Last Updated: 31st October 2009, 4:42am

SHEDDEN -- Eight men slain, their bodies stuffed into vehicles abandoned along a rural road after one ran out of gas. It wasn't just the getaway plan from the Bandidos executions that went astray. So did the peace and quiet of the farm couple on whose land the dead were left, The Free Press's Jane Sims reports.

The silk flowers around the white cross at the side of Stafford Line are faded and wind-blown.

Only six of the eight smaller crosses, once attached to a small fence in front of the cross, still mark the place where the bodies of the No Surrender Crew were abandoned, stuffed into vehicles after being shot to death over biker power and failed loyalties.

All signs of violence on the idyllic wooded property, not far from Shedden, have vanished.

So has any hint of the hordes of police who descended there April 8, 2006, after Mary and Russell Steele made the first calls to 911 about unfamiliar vehicles left on their property.

The sign on the large white cross has the name George written in Greek, remembering George Kriarakis, a Toronto Bandido. His family asked to put it there and the memorial grew.

An empty beer can sits in a flower pot of long-dead mums. Sometimes, the Steeles have found beer cases there.

"Occasionally, we have people come and toast these guys," said Mary Steele, who has become something of an unofficial tour guide for the grieving families and the gawkers.

Three years ago, not long after the eight men were found shot to death near the site, the memorial was "quite large," she said,

As time passes and memories fade, the plot of sadness has shrunk.

Long gone is a blue spruce tree planted shortly after the bodies were found. So is the Doug Gilmour Toronto Maple Leafs hockey jersey, left there to remember the dead.

The floral tributes are smaller. The streams of cars that once passed by and stopped at the memorial have dwindled to a trickle of three or four a month.

On a fence post beside the cross, "Dearly Missed" can barely be read on the old wooden board nailed near the top. It's the same for the message left on the top of the cross: "R.I.P All."

---

Mary Steele sat at the same kitchen table beside the window, looking out to the road, where she and her husband were that April morning the Bandidos' bodies were discovered.

On this bright fall day, Russell Steele is out farming, part of the annual rush to harvest before the cold winds of winter descend.

The Steeles are practical, down-to-earth farmers who only moved to the place in 2005.

After a long and successful run in the dairy farming business near Kintore, north of Woodstock, they decided on a change of scenery.

They found the Stafford Line property with its charming, newer house, a heated workshop, a 20-acre woodlot, a farm pond that can be lit up for soothing summer scenery or skating parties in the winter and its almost impenetrable security system.

They met new neighbours and fell back into the regular routine of watching familiar cars drive along their gravel road, and giving a wave.

"You always did talk to people," she said about their deep-seeded rural roots.

But after what happened along the road that morning in 2006, Mary has taken a more reserved approach.

"Often times, I will be out cutting lawns and I'll have people stop and talk to me," she said.

And many times, people come with an agenda.

Before offering up any information, Mary said she takes their business cards and searches them out.

"I've heard three or four books written, rumours of a movie," she said. She heard about people wanting to hawk T-shirts and memorabilia.

For a while, Steele said she would try to predict who was in the cars depending on the day.

On a Friday, she said, she might see three black cars driving closely past the place. "I'd think, 'Oh, it must be lawyer day,'" she said.

For a time, her ears would perk up when she'd hear a motorcycle.

One day a car with four women stopped by. One said she once owned Wayne Kellestine's, property 14 km away, where the eight men were shot to death.

There were many others -- some just curious, others seeking some peace.

Some of the families of the dead introduced themselves to Steele.

"Here were families that I felt such sorrow for them. You still feel for their sons, their husbands . . . They still lost somebody who was dear to them," she said.

But the first people to ever look closely at the spot where the bodies were found were the Steeles -- and Mary admitted she has had some reservations about stopping to look at an abandoned car again.

---

On that frosty Saturday morning in April, the Steeles got a phone call from a neighbour after he'd delivered a newspaper to a nearby home.

He'd seen strange cars in their bush, they were told.

The Steeles drove down to where victim Michael Trotta's rented Grand Prix had been backed down a deep ditch and into a grove of thorn trees.

Up the road was a Superior Towing truck with a Toronto phone number on the side and victim Luis Raposo's VW Golf hooked on the back.

"Even when we went out there, we thought a bunch of guys had been partying," Mary said. But the tow truck threw them off.

They went back to the house and called 911 with the licence plate numbers.

"Curiosity got the best of us," Steele said, and the couple drove back to the road and eventually found Jamie Flanz's Infiniti SUV in a field beside their property. Steele's husband walked up for a better look at the licence plate.

"Rusty's up there and he's yelling out the number. I thought the guys were going to pop out of the vehicle," she said.

The windows were frosted over. He never walked around the SUV.

If he had, he might have had a close-up view of the three dead men inside.

Because they never did see any body up close -- a blessing, Mary said -- they can both sleep peacefully at night.

After the police came and the Infiniti's hatch was lifted, Mary said they could see what they thought were two people in the back.

It was the large body of Paul Sinopoli, who weighed more than 400 pounds.

Then the Steeles heard the police say there were more.

---

The police came in droves once the news spread that what had happened on the Stafford Line was more than just a few cars left behind after a party.

"The amount of police procedure I learned from this is something I never wanted to know. I've got lot more respect for police than I ever did," Mary said.

They found out quickly the long reach of the media. The Steeles went to a neighbouring house for about an hour as police began searching the property. They came back across the police line to retrieve their old deaf dog. There were 56 messages on their phone, including one from the BBC.

The Steeles didn't know the body count had grown to eight, but the World Wide Web did.

Two SWAT teams had assembled on their lawn and about 150 police officers came and went. Helicopters passed overhead. The Steeles called their daughters to make sure they knew their parents were safe.

"It just seemed you were in some sort of a movie," she said.

They feared who left the bodies there, and didn't want them to come back. The police stayed close and assured them they were safe. "Things are going to be okay. We think we know who's done it. And we're going to have arrests."

That night, Mary said, as she lay in bed with the police outside, she thought she was "in the safest place in the world.

---

Before April 8, 2006, the Steeles knew nothing about the neighbourhood legends of Wayne Kellestine or the Bandido motorcycle club. Their only brush with the media had been when two OPP officers helped Mary with a calving years earlier.

Their only presence on the Internet was for a renowned dairy cow they raised and sold, named Stelbro Renita Ranger.

People ask them now if they're going to put up a museum or how they're going to cash in. They're not interested.

As the Bandidos trial where she testified ended, Mary said she had no need for closure -- the couple had no connection to the men on trial, nor to those who died.

Neither does the rest of the nearby community, who have gone back to their routines.

"They're bikers. The bikers are the murderers. The bikers are the ones who died," Mary said. "And the people are kind of 'so what?'"

The Steeles, she said, were just innocent bystanders "going through the everyday pattern of life."

They do have one plan: They're putting the property up for sale -- not because of what happened there, but because Mary's aging parents need her closer to their home.

When she does think about the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the Shedden Eight -- the internal politics, the violent solution, the senseless loss of life -- she thinks about her dad.

He's a fan of the Scottish poet Robbie Burns and would often quote him while milking. "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley."

"The best laid schemes of anybody often go astray," Mary said. "And this is what's happened to these fellows."

---

THE SLAIN

George Jessome, 52; George Kriarakis, 28; Bandidos Canada National president John Muscedere, 48; Luis Raposo, 41; Toronto Bandidos chapter president Frank Salerno, 43; Paul Sinopoli, 30; Jamie Flanz, 37; and Michael Trotta, 31.

THE CONVICTED

Wayne Kellestine, 60, and Frank Mather, 36, of Dutton-Dunwich; Brett Gardiner, 25, of no fixed address; Michael Sandham, 40, Marcelo Aravena, 33, and Dwight Mushey, 41, all of Winnipeg. All were convicted of eight counts of first-degree murder except Gardiner, found guilty of six counts plus two counts of manslaughter, and Mather and Aravena, each of whom was found guilty of seven counts of first-degree murder and one of manslaughter.
----------------------------------------------
'I pray for vengeance'

The killers got life sentences with no parole chance for 25 years

By JANE SIMS

Last Updated: 31st October 2009, 4:08am

They were sons, fathers, uncles and brothers.

Their families loved and miss them.

They were bikers -- proud members of the Bandidos brotherhood, murdered on Wayne Kellestine's Southwestern Ontario farm during in an internal club power struggle three years ago.

Yesterday, a day after 44 first-degree murder and four manslaughter convictions came down, the killers were sentenced in court in London to mandatory life terms in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

But first, the court heard six of 24 victim impact statements from the grieving families.

As they listened, two of the killers, Brett Gardiner and Dwight Mushey, stared at the floor.

Wayne Kellestine -- "a thug of the first order," as one bereaved mother said, and on whose farm the massacre took place -- listened intently.

Frank Mather stared straight ahead.

Marcelo Aravena leaned back and looked at the ceiling.

Michael Sandham wiped away tears.

The families sobbed.

----

John Muscedere was the rock in his family's life.

He loved "to sing Italian music, train young kids to box," said his daughter Tereasa Muscedere, 24.

"He loved God, he raised all of us to love and respect."

He was a caring son to his parents. And a loving father to his kids.

Tereasa told the court it was like a black cloud descended over the family after her father, the Bandidos Canada president, was murdered.

Muscedere's father died a year after he did, a day after he visited his son's grave. Her grandmother had already cried "365 days straight."

Then Tereasa's young daughter was badly hurt in a car crash that left her with a catastrophic brain injury. Tereasa described how difficult it was to face her daughter's long recovery without her father's love.

"My daughter will never remember the tickle of my father's moustache or the way she loved to jump on the front of his Harley and pretend it was hers," she said. "She will always remember his picture, but never his touch."

She said she faces a lifetime of suffering. "I believe it is their time to suffer," she said about her father's killers.

Outside court, Tereasa said she has some satisfaction now at the close of the case.

"I feel that today justice was served in the courtroom and now I'll pray to God for vengeance and, in the same breath, ask him for forgiveness."

---

"The day of my greatest joy," said Vickie Kriarakis, was 31 years ago when her son George was born.

"I saw the world in his eyes and I knew his future was limitless. Her "special gift" was taken away April 8, 2006.

He was, she said, "the son that any mother would want to have." His "outer and inner beauty were stolen by these men here who all played a pivotal role in my son's death and who had no respect for human life and freedom."

Kriarakis said she and her family didn't know about her son's Bandido affiliation until after his death. She said he was recruited by men "who preached loyalty, respect, honour and brotherhood and who, instead, practised betrayal, disrespect, indignity and hatred."

No mother should live as she does, she said. Often, she wakes up in the middle of the night "and I see the terror in his eyes."

She still expects to hear her son's voice on the phone, or sees him to walk through the door, smiling and laughing. Within a year, Kriarakis's family saw him married, then buried. "I am begging for these men, my son's killers, to be held accountable for their crimes and for justice to be served for the murder of my son," she said.

-----

George Jessome's brother, Kevin Jessome, came all the way from Prince Edward Island to give a tribute to his brother -- a man who loved to play the guitar and bingo and make people laugh.

The tribute came with a poem directed at the murderers, telling them the Jessome family's loss is great.

"Came the day in his life when he met you all.

I believe he called you all brothers, I recall.

I wonder what's the true meaning of a brother as I write.

To me a brother will protect your for life."

Assistant Crown attorney Brian White read comments from Robert Jesso, another brother, who wrote their mother "sees her dead son every night in her nightmares and for her firstborn son every day. It would be fitting for his killers to see the same in their dreams when they get to their new homes," he wrote.

-----

Marilyn DiFlorio, mother of Frank Salerno wanted "to let the world know that Frank had a family that loved him and loves him still."

"Your Honour, I know when this tragedy occurred, many ignorant individuals expressed the opinion that the world was a better place with eight less bikers. This deeply saddened me, because Frank was my son."

He was, she said, "an intelligent, compassionate and sensitive human being," loyal to his friends and loving to his wife and baby son who was only eight weeks old when his father died. "That is all he ever wanted in this life, to have a family of his own to raise and be proud of," she said.

Salerno was "overcoming his struggles" and she was "proud of him for that."

She received the news of his violent death as she stepped off a plane in Switzerland to start a vacation with her daughter.

"We will never understand the brutality that happened. Frank and his friends who died with him were so undeserving of this wicked act."

She said Kellestine is "morally craven, maliciously egotistic" and "a thug of the first order."

Michael Sandham and Dwight Mushey also fall within this category," she said.

"None of these killers should ever be released into society again," she said.

Michael Trotta's sister, her full name not released, said her brother was "denied the right to life."

He was "a free spirit," funny, compassionate and outgoing, she said.

On the night before his death, he and his fiance took photos of him with his son on new furniture they'd bought for their house. They used the pictures to help police identify him through the clothing he wore.

The grief, the fear, the constant media frenzy, took a toll on their family. Trotta's father died within a year of his son.

The family is haunted by how Trotta died. "We can only imagine what he was thinking," his sister said, "What he was feeling as he was forcibly confined by men armed with weapons on a remote farm within a fenced yard, in a cold barn, surrounded by others who were wounded and dying, knowing that his own death was imminent."

Trotta's sister asked for justice for her murdered brother and for her shattered family.

-----

Each murderer was asked if they had anything to say before sentencing.

Aravena, who called the jury "goofs" after he was convicted, tearfully apologized to the families.

"I truly am sorry for what you are going through," he said. "I'll tell you I didn't know this was going to happen, I'll promise you that."

Gardiner also wanted to speak. "I apologize to the families," he said.

All six were dealt concurrent life sentences with no chance of parole for 25 years. Aravena and Mather also were sentenced to 10 years for manslaughter, to be served concurrently. Gardiner received two, 10-year manslaughter sentences on top of his life term.

Sandham, Mather, Mushey and Kellestine declined to say anything.

Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney said he wouldn't comment on "the horrific acts of violence" that brought them all to court. The "eloquent outpouring of grief" sufficed.

Along with weapons and DNA orders, Heeney said he would recommend Sandham, Gardiner, Aravena and Mushey -- the Winnipeg chapter of the Bandidos -- be transferred to a prison in Manitoba.

Mather would be sent to New Brunswick.

All six men left the courthouse for the last time, to begin new lives behind prison walls

---------------------------------------
In the end, Kellestine knew he had lost

By JANE SIMS

Last Updated: 31st October 2009, 4:09am

The once-mighty Kellestine homestead, long feared and legendary, has fallen apart.

The intercom that acted as a gatekeeper at the crumbling, big stone gates by Aberdeen Line is pulled out of its moorings. The rutted gravel driveway is starting to grow over. The house, once filled with Wayne Kellestine's eccentric memorabilia, is gone, destroyed by fire. A small recreational trailer with a satellite dish is parked on the lawn. Some cattle graze lazily in the pasture nearby.

But the barn remains intact -- the ghostly reminder of where eight men, once close friends of Kellestine's, spent some of their final moments before their murders.

I wondered sometimes, during the seven months I sat in the same courtroom as Kellestine during the Bandido trial, what he was thinking when the courtroom was allowed to look at photos of his house, his barn, his shed and his property and listened to how he lived not far from Iona.

I'd sneak glances at the man, now convicted as a mass murderer, looking at his video screen while lawyer discussed his arsenal of guns, the Potty Mouth Jar on the shelf, the general clutter and disarray around the property.

That was his world. The biker world.

He loved it. He was proud of his patch and brotherhood. He called his fellow bikers his brothers. He had a vision. And then it all fell apart.

And he became the perfect partner for a Winnipeg Bandido up-and-comer, ex-cop Michael Sandham, who also had a plan for power a province away, but needed a someone to carry out his dirty work.

Sandham was the match. Kellestine was the spark.

Through every version of testimony about what happened on April 8, 2006 -- from biker turned informant M.H., the lying Sandham, and the newbie Bandido. Marcelo Aravena -- the only clear string that ran through the whole mess was based in a preposterous plan that had no chance of succeeding.

I couldn't get my head around why Kellestine could shoot his old friend John (Boxer) Muscedere, the Bandidos Canada president, over membership in a so-called brotherhood.

If there is a hero in this mess, it was Boxer, the target of much of the wrath, who stood up and begged to be shot first, perhaps hoping his death would satisfy the power intentions and save the rest.

But once one died, all had to die. Kellestine had said it as he was winding up his murderous troops.

And even he understood later how he overestimated his response.

"I got f---ed and I f---ed," he said during a phone conversation.

Even after all the legal wrangling, there wasn't much question this case was a slam-dunk for the Crown -- an indication as to why it only took the jury 14 hours of deliberations over two days to sink all six men on trial.

There will be questions about the cost of this case, and why it took so long.

And there will those who will wonder if it was worth making an immunity deal with a man who should have been sitting in the prisoners' dock with the others.

M.H., even though he spoke up to police, was as culpable as the rest. He knew of the plan, he held the prisoners at gunpoint before their executions, witnessed George (Pony) Jessome's execution, helped dump the bodies and destroyed evidence.

The Crown's circumstantial case without him, was enormous. But what M.H. did was lead the police to other evidence and added the necessary context to lock up the rest.

While some of the men -- the non-shooters -- appeared chagrined and pathetic when the verdicts were read, all eyes turned to Kellestine, the local biker legend, well-known to police, who had used up the last of his criminal nine lives.

He, just like everyone else in the courtroom knew, what the outcome would be.

Kellestine looked over at the reporters he recognized and as polite as he had been throughout his lengthy jury trial, he shrugged his shoulders in resignation.

He knew what was coming. He knows where he's going.

And he knows what he lost.
-----------------------------------------

Oct 30

Bikers guilty of massacre

Posted by Reporters in Labels: Bikers guilty of massacre

"Do me. Do me first. I want to go out like a man."

THE VICTIMS
John 'Boxer' Muscedere, 48
Luis 'Porkchop' Raposo, 41
George 'Pony' Jessome, 52
George 'Crash' Kriarakis, 28
Frank 'Bam Bam' Salerno, 43
Paul 'Big Paulie' Sinopoli, 30
Jamie 'Goldberg' Flanz, 37
Michael 'Little Mikey' Trotta, 31
Six members of a Canadian motorcycle gang have been convicted of murdering eight fellow bikers found shot to death in deepest Ontario. John "Boxer" Muscedere told his killers: "Do me. Do me first. I want to go out like a man." Muscedere, who was betrayed by his best friend Wayne Kellestine, was one of eight men shot dead in a barn in Ontario. Their bodies were found on 8 April 2006 in three cars and a tow truck which had been dumped in a field near the town of Shedden, 14km (10 miles) from where they had been killed. Ironically several of the men - suspects in another murder case - had been under surveillance by the Ontario Provincial Police only hours earlier. All eight were associated with the Bandidos, one of North America's most notorious biker gangs and second only in power to the Hells Angels worldwide.
The motive for the bloodshed lay in a deep schism that had developed within the Bandidos' Canadian chapters. The victims were members of the Toronto chapter, who were sponsored by the gang's Scandinavian wing but were not recognised by the Bandidos' head office in Texas. Peter Edwards, a journalist with the Toronto Star and expert on the case, explained: "There was a chapter based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, who came under the auspices of Toronto. "But Winnipeg were not granted full patches by Toronto. They effectively had no job security and they grew really frustrated." The killers were led by Michael Sandham, a former soldier and police officer who became president of the Winnipeg chapter. He tried to claim that he had actually been working undercover for the police, but was unable to explain why he had initially denied being at the scene. Sandham was helped by Kellestine, an Ontario native who was allied with the Winnipeg chapter. The victims were lured to their deaths in his barn, after being told they would meet to settle their grievances. When police arrived, they found blood smears and pieces of flesh amid the detritus of a biker party - beer bottles on a table and Confederate and Nazi flags hanging on a wall. Kellestine and five of his buddies were arrested. Three years later they finally went on trial. The star prosecution witness was another Bandido, known only as MH, who testified about the events leading up to the killings. MH, who hailed from Winnipeg, told the court the original plan was to "pull the patches" of the Toronto members, effectively throwing them out of the Bandidos.
But Kellestine then decided they would have to kill all eight.
MH described a messy and farcical situation in which Kellestine frequently changed his mind about whether or not to let his rivals live and at one point allowed Muscedere to call his wife as long as he "didn't say anything stupid". He broke down as he described the stoic reaction of one of the men, Frank "Bammer" Salerno. "Bammer went to shake my hand. I didn't do it," said MH.


THE KILLERS
Wayne Kellestine, 60
Michael Sandham, 39
Dwight Mushey, 41
Marcelo Aravena, 33
Frank Mather, 35
Brett Gardiner, 25
MH said Kellestine had been promised that in return for carrying out the killings he would be named Canadian president of the Bandidos and could start up his own chapter based in nearby London, Ontario. But Mr Edwards, who has covered the trial, said the killers were disorganised and bungling. "They were at the very bottom rung of biker gangs. Some were in their 40s but still lived with their parents. They were not making any money, many of them had been rejected by the Hells Angels and half of them didn't even own a motorbike," he said.
Mr Edwards says they were forced to dump the cars with the bodies in because they were "too cheap to buy enough gasoline". "They didn't even set fire to the bodies or the cars," he says.
The massacre, and Thursday's convictions, have left the Bandidos effectively defunct in Canada. According to Mr Edwards, there is very little public sympathy for the victims because they were bikers, and Canada has seen a lot of biker wars in the past.
---------------------------
November 10 2009

Four Men Convicted in Bandidos Murder Trial Launch Appeals

Four men convicted in the mass slayings of eight men associated with the Bandidos biker gang have declared their intent to appeal their ``unreasonable'' and ``perverse'' convictions.

Wayne Kellestine, Dwight Mushey, ex-police officer Michael Sandham, Marcelo Aravena, Frank Mather and Brett Gardiner were convicted late last month of 44 counts of first-degree murder and four counts of manslaughter.

Kellestine, Mushey and Sandham were all found guilty of eight counts each of first-degree murder. Mather and Aravena were found guilty of seven counts each of first-degree murder and one count each of manslaughter and Gardiner was found guilty of six counts of first-degree murder and two counts of manslaughter.

They were all sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

Sandham, Mushey, Mather and Aravena have each filed inmate notices of appeal. Sandham and Aravena indicate they want to appeal their convictions, while Mushey and Mather write they wish to appeal their convictions and sentences.

``The 48 verdicts were perverse and make no sense,'' Sandham wrote in his notice of appeal, dated the same day the six men were sentenced in London.

Sandham also alleges the trial judge, Ontario Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney, made several errors, including in his charge to the jury, the use of circumstantial evidence and not allowing self-defence.

Sandham admitted shooting one of the men, Luis Raposo, and Sandham and his lawyer suggested it was an accident, or alternatively, self-defence.

He also appears to take issue with the jury's deliberations, noting in his notice of appeal that although the judge's charge to the jury spanned two days, and that jurors heard from more than 70 witnesses and saw more than 500 exhibits, they returned verdicts after 1 1/2 days.

The six men were portrayed at trial as power-hungry schemers or wannabes gunning for status in the outlaw motorcycle club. The killings were preceded by months of rising tensions between the Toronto Bandidos, to which the deceased men belonged or were associated with, and the probationary Winnipeg chapter.

The bullet-ridden bodies of the eight men were found on April 8, 2006, stuffed into four vehicles on and around a rural property near Shedden, just kilometres down the road from Kellestine's farmhouse.

It's believed to be Ontario's largest mass slaying.

``The verdict was unreasonable and unsupported by the evidence,'' writes Mather, who also alleges he was ``wrongfully'' deprived of his lawyer of choice, when that person had to be recused.

In his inmate notice of appeal Aravena suggests several grounds of appeal.

``The trial judge erred by ruling that I could not advance the defence of duress,'' he writes.

In addition, Heeney erred by ``improperly restricting the cross examination of the main Crown witness,'' Aravena alleges, likely referring to a man who can only be referred to as MH.

MH was a Winnipeg Bandido who made the trip to Kellestine's farm with Sandham, Mushey and Gardiner and was present on the night of the killings. As the only person there during the massacre who isn't now dead or in jail, MH is an informant in witness protection.
-----------------------------------

Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Four men convicted in Bandidos biker gang murder trial launch appeals
By JANE SIMS, LONDON FREE PRESS

Last Updated: 10th November 2009, 1:29pm

Four of six men convicted in the mass murder of eight Toronto-area Bandido bikers have made the first steps toward appeals.

The Ontario Court of Appeal confirmed that three Winnipeg Bandidos — probationary president Michael Sandham, 40, secretary-treasurer Dwight Mushey, 41 and Marcelo Aravena, 33 — along with Frank Mather, 36, of Dutton-Dunwich have filed inmate appeal notices.

They, along with Wayne Kellestine, 60, of Dutton-Dunwich and Brett Gardiner, 25, who lived in Winnipeg, were convicted on Oct. 30 after a seven-month trial at the Middlesex Courthouse.

They were found guilty in the shooting deaths of eight members of the "No Surrender Crew" — the name given to the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos motorcycle club — on April 8, 2006.

All eight were shot at Kellestine's farm before their bodies were left abandoned in their own vehicles along a quiet rural road in Elgin County.

The men died because of an internal power struggle within the club. The Toronto group, which doubled as the national chapter, had fallen out of favour with its American world headquarters and was in conflict with the fledgling Winnipeg chapter it had sponsored.

Mather, who was living at Kellestine's farm at the time of the shootings, was first out of the gate with his appeal notice, placing it on file Nov. 3, just five days after he was found guilty of seven counts of first-degree murder and one count of manslaughter.

Mushey, found guilty of eight counts of first-degree murder filed his notice on Nov. 4.

Sandham, who was found guilty of eight counts of first-degree murder and Aravena, found guilty of seven counts of first-degree murder and one count of manslaughter, both filed their appeal notices on Monday.
-----------------------------

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
News Bandidos trial
Bandidos trial
Four serve notice of murder appeals
By JANE SIMS

Last Updated: 11th November 2009, 11:35am

Four of six men convicted for the mass murder of eight Toronto-area Bandidos have made the first steps toward appeals.

The Ontario Court of Appeal confirmed that three Winnipeg Bandidos -- probationary president Michael Sandham, 40, secretary-treasurer Dwight Mushey, 41, and Marcelo Aravena, 3 * -- along with Frank Mather, 36, of Dutton-Dunwich, have filed inmate appeal notices.

They, along with Wayne Kellestine, 60, of Dutton-Dunwich and Brett Gardiner, 25, who lived in Winnipeg, were convicted on Oct. 30 after a seven-month trial at the Middlesex Courthouse.

They were found guilty in the shooting deaths of eight members of the No Surrender Crew -- the name given to the Toronto chapter of the Bandidos motorcycle club -- on April 8, 2006.

All eight were shot at Kellestine's farm before their bodies were left abandoned in their own vehicles along a quiet rural road in Elgin County.

The men died because of an internal power struggle within the club. The Toronto group, which doubled as the national chapter, had fallen out of favour with its American world headquarters and was in conflict with the fledgling Winnipeg chapter it had sponsored.

The appeal notice forms were filled out at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre. Sandham and Mushey, both found guilty of eight counts of first-degree murder, dated their paperwork the day after the convictions.

Sandham wrote that the verdicts were "perverse and made no sense." Mushey simply indicated to contact his Toronto lawyer.

Mather's paperwork from the jail is dated Oct. 31. In his grounds for appeal, he says he was deprived of his lawyer of choice and the verdicts "were unreasonable and unsupported by the evidence."

He directed any questions to a Toronto law firm.

Aravena's paperwork was dated last week.

He wrote that Superior Court Justice Thomas Heeney made errors in his charge and in his rulings.

No paperwork has been filed with the court for Kellestine or Gardiner.
---------------------------------------

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
News Bandidos trial
Bandidos trial
5th man to appeal Bandidos murders conviction

By THE CANADIAN PRESS

A fifth man convicted in the mass slayings of eight men associated with the Bandidos biker gang has declared his intent to appeal.

Brett Gardiner was convicted last month of six counts of first-degree murder and two counts of manslaughter.

He has filed his inmate notice of appeal, on which he writes the verdict was “unreasonable and contrary to the evidence.”

Four other men convicted along with Gardiner — Dwight Mushey, Michael Sandham, Marcelo Aravena and Frank Mather — have already filed their inmate notices of appeal.

Wayne Kellestine, the man portrayed at trial as the mastermind of the murders, has not filed one, though the deadline has not yet passed.

The bodies of the eight men were found on April 8, 2006, stuffed into four vehicles on and around a rural property in southwestern Ontario, just kilometres down the road from Kellestine’s farmhouse.
------------------------
Friday, November 20, 2009
News London
Kellestine to appeal Bandidos conviction
By Free Press news services

All six men convicted of multiple murder in the deaths of eight Bandidos bikers will appeal.

Wayne Kellestine, 60, convicted of eight counts of first-degree murder last month, filed an inmate notice of appeal this week.

He is taking issue with evidence allowed at his trial.

Kellestine is one of six men charged and convicted with the murders of eight Bandidos bikers. The murders took place on Kellestine’s farm in Shedden in April 2006.

Kellestine’s appeal notice says Nazi paraphernalia he owned shouldn’t have been used against him during the murder trial.

During the trial, the jury was shown videos and pictures of the barn in which the eight men were held and then eventually led out of and shot.

A large Nazi flag hanging in the barn was prominent in many of the pictures shown before the court.

The jury also heard that during the murderous night, Kellestine sang a German anthem and danced.

In the notice filed with the Ontario Appeal Court, Kellestine writes that the judge erred in allowing “the German swastika flag” to be used as evidence of his character.

He also alleges the judge erred in “refusing to give a warning on the dangers” of co-accused Michael Sandham’s evidence.

Sandham, a former police officer from Manitoba, testified to his version of events on the night of the murders, placing the lion’s share of the blame on Kellesteine.

Sandham admitted on the stand that he’d previously lied to police when he told them over and over again – more than 200 times – that he wasn’t at Kellestine’s farm on the night of the murders.

The other five men convicted for the murders have already filed notices of appeal.

-----------------------------

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CAN)Lessons Learned from Tweeting a Biker Gxxx Trial

Mediashift

We fell into Twitter somewhat accidentally in our newsroom at the London Free Press in Ontario, Canada.

The Bandidos biker gang trial was going to be a big one for the Free Press. We'd extensively covered the crime when it first happened: eight bikers from Toronto found dead on a rural road near London, and six men charged with eight counts of first-degree murder. None of us was likely to see a trial of this caliber again anytime soon, and it turned out we also got to be groundbreaking in the live-tweeting arena as well.

When I first signed up for Twitter, about a month before the Bandidos trial started, I was riveted by the Winnipeg Free Press' in-courtroom tweeting of the trial of Vince Weiguang Li, the accused in the case of the Greyhound bus beheading. Call me morbid, but I thought the Bandidos trial would be just as perfect to tweet. It had a compelling cast of characters, a judge who was willing to let media use the Internet in one of the courtrooms, plenty of visual evidence, and all kinds of drama built right in -- the biker gang lifestyle is a big draw.
Planning Coverage

We decided our regular court reporter, Jane Sims, would cover the trial from the main, high-security courtroom. Members of the media had already asked and been approved to use electronics in the overflow courtroom. This room wasn't quite as secure, and the proceedings were available for viewing on two television screens. One showed the jury and witness box, and the second showed the six accused bikers and the lawyers. A third screen was hooked up to the computers that were used to display evidence, such as photos and videos.

The only time journalists weren't allowed to tweet from the overflow courtroom itself was during the testimony of M.H., the [prosecution] witness who is in the witness protection program. Electronics weren't allowed at all during his testimony. During his week on the stand, I'd listen to the evidence and then run out of the courtroom with my BlackBerry to type a tweet. It was exhausting, and my coverage wasn't as in-depth as it could have been.

At first, I tweeted the opening arguments on my BlackBerry. The tiny keyboard made for lots of typos and mistakes, though, so the newsroom invested in a Rogers Rocket Stick, which enabled me to use a laptop for the rest of the trial. As the trial progressed, more people started paying attention, and more and more followers started interacting with me and John Miner, another Free Press reporter, who tweeted in my absence. Sims, our court reporter, also occasionally tweeted, but she was usually in the main courtroom, and working on the daily stories.
Response to Tweets
Twitter users responded to the tweets, especially those that put them right inside the courtroom. I couldn't tweet actual pictures of evidence, but I could get people as close as possible. If the [prosecution] was talking about a particular caliber of gun, for example, I'd Google the gun, find an image, and tweet a link to it. Being limited to 140 characters, tweeting links was often a good way to let people know what was going on in the courtroom. We also used links to direct people to the Free Press' website, where we had videos and picture galleries that showed things we couldn't put in the print product.

Eventually, I started corresponding with bikers from New Zealand, British Columbia, Australia and Texas. (The latter is the Bandidos' North American headquarters, and a lot of the evidence related to Texas.) A lot these followers knew the accused and the dead, and others were just curious observers.

Sims has since done interviews with some of the bikers who were mentioned during the trial but were never arrested. It was really interesting to be speaking to guys who knew the ins and outs of the organization that was being exposed on the stand.
Consistency a Challenge, Lessons Learned

The biggest problem we encountered was consistency. I went from a couple dozen followers at the beginning of the trial to more than 1,000 by the end. (Of course, I'm not sure how many people were following the day-to-day of the trial.) Sometimes, I just couldn't be in court. I had other assignments or I had days off. It was a lot for the Free Press newsroom to lose two reporters from the daily rotation. But if the editors and reporters decided we wouldn't tweet a certain part of the trial, the followers would get very angry that we weren't there.

I felt bad that we couldn't always be there to cover the proceedings. Telling them to "go follow John for the day" didn't really work and, in retrospect, next time we'll create a trial-dedicated Twitter account, even though the personal aspect of interacting with a reporter with a name would be lost.

Having one reporter covering a trial and another sending the tweets is essential, though. I thought of myself as the play-by-play announcer and Sims as the analyst after the game. Thinking of how to write something quickly, coherently and engagingly in 140 characters is enough of a challenge without having to analyze the overall picture for the next day's paper, too.

At first I took notes, then typed them into the BlackBerry. But as I got a feeling for what 140 characters looked like, and learned which words I could cut out and what I could abbreviate, I just typed the tweets directly into Twitter. (I used TweetDeck on the laptop.)

Eventually, I knew what would make a good tweet -- a lot of information, written succinctly. Followers would often ask for specific information: what the accused were wearing, their facial expressions, etc. I couldn't really see their faces, so I got Sims to fill me in on breaks, and then I'd tweet the info.

Having someone tweet an entire trial is certainly an investment -- you have a body that is producing for the web, but not for the next day's paper. It challenges the traditional way of thinking about court reporting.
Huge Potential

In my view, the potential for Twitter is huge. By using it, we were first to report the verdicts, for example. It offers a way to get people into the courtroom (or City Council chambers) in a way that you can't with print. We interacted with people we never would have tracked down if it hadn't been for tweeting the trial, and we interviewed them for more in-depth stories after the court case.

A final note: anyone from London could have come into the courtroom and tweeted their hearts out. Not a soul did. It takes time, it takes effort, it takes knowledge of the law (knowing not to tweet developments that occur when the jury isn't there, for example).

In my opinion, it's another way that journalists and media outlets can differentiate themselves from the pack.

Kate Dubinski is a reporter and occasional columnist for the London Free Press in Ontario, Canada. She is @KateatLFPress on Twitter.
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MJF | 16 Dec : 14:46
Comments: 1339	Well Kate, sounds like you are trying to be responsible, and keep people informed so I will give you that, but lessons learned ? How about this one .....IT"S NOT A FUCKING GANG !

HELLRAISER | 16 Dec : 16:30
Comments: 410 Registered: 01 Mar : 23:18	I can't get into that Twitter shit. I think I just found a good use for it though. Kate can shove her gxxx tweets up her twat.

----------------------------------------

Cold blood among Canadian Bandidos

Wayne Kellestine (centre) seen in this picture entered as a Crown exhibit in the Bandidos trial. (Peter Edwards / The Bandido Massacre)

View Larger Image

By Geoff Nixon, CTV.ca News Staff

Date: Sunday Feb. 7, 2010 7:16 AM ET

Imagine an outlaw motorcycle club whose members can barely afford to pay their cellphone bills.

The Toronto president is a Jenny Craig client and an elder member is a terminally-ill cancer patient looking for companionship while he waits to die. Another guy is too fat to ride a conventional motorcycle.

Other clubs turn down the chance to join this crew and several members take it upon themselves to quit. Existing members squabble to the point where they can't agree on how they should design their club Christmas card. The group is so inept, that it is on the edge of being kicked out of its parent organization -- one of the biggest biker clubs in the world.

These are descriptions of the same Bandidos chapter which saw eight of its members slaughtered at an Ontario farmhouse nearly four years ago, in the worst mass-killing in provincial history.

The story of how they came to die is detailed in "The Bandido Massacre," a newly released book by Peter Edwards, a Toronto Star reporter who covered the story since it hit the front page in April 2006.

Their quest to wear what Edwards describes as "leather sandwich boards" with Bandidos logos, is a story that is both sad and compelling for readers trying to understand how they became involved in such a dangerous situation.

In a recent interview, Edwards told CTV.ca that it's a story of a group of grown men "who should have stepped away and didn't."

Bandido living

Four years ago, the rollcall of the doomed Bandidos members sounded like the line-up card of a beer league softball team: Bam Bam, Big Paulie, Boxer, Crash, Chopper, Goldberg, Little Mikey and Pony.

Most of these guys were relatively new to the biker scene and they didn't have much luck drumming up respect, despite the Bandido logo they wore on their backs.

Some of them were catching the wrong type of attention, with police frequently watching the crew for their suspected involvement in the murder of a Keswick, Ont., drug dealer.

They were on the verge of being kicked out of the worldwide biker club and were the target of frequent email rebukes from upper-level Bandidos in the southern U.S.

Several of the eventual victims had grumbled about getting out of the rag-tag biker crew, the types of guys Edwards said had the potential "to grow out of" the biker lifestyle.

But they didn't.

"These guys totally brought it on themselves," said Edwards, noting that it was not the police, nor the Hells Angels, who brought them down. Instead, it was members of their own club, who were supposed to be their friends.

The farm

The demise of these eight men took place at a farm property in Iona Station, a small Ontario hamlet located more than 200 kilometers southwest of Toronto.

The property was owned by Wayne "Weiner" Kellestine, a long-time biker and fellow Bandido who was well-known to police by the time the eight murders took place in his barn.

Bodies had twice turned up near his property over the years and Kellestine had served time in prison. He'd also survived an assassination attempt.

In his personal life, Kellestine once shot his ex-wife with an air gun "for a joke", Edwards reports in his book. On another occasion, Kellestine threatened to shoot a DJ in the foot for playing rap music instead of Lynyrd Skynyrd at a Toronto club.

His home had a similarly creepy vibe, according to Edwards' description.

Inside the main floor of his farmhouse in Iona Station, Kellestine decorated a room with Confederate and Nazi flags and other racist memorabilia, a collection Edwards describes as "a shrine of sorts to violent losers." It was also filled with weapons, which Kellestine was banned from possessing.

It was in his junk-filled barn where his eight brother Bandidos would be ambushed and marched to their deaths.

But overall, Kellestine's farm was a place where his biker friends had travelled many times before, where they felt safe, and where they would let down their guard.

A day of death

The Bandidos converged on the Iona Station property on the night of April 7, 2006.

The bikers travelled to the farm to attend what they called a church session -- a mandatory meeting for club members, where they hashed out club business.

But they didn't know that other Canadian Bandidos had made their way to the farm from Winnipeg. They were hiding at various points around the property, waiting for their Ontario brothers to arrive.

An ambush ensued, the eight Toronto Bandidos were caught off guard and within hours, they were marched, one-by-one, to their deaths in the cars parked outside the barn.

By the end of the night, Jamie Flanz, 37; the terminally-ill George Jessome, 52 ; the recently-married George Kriarakis, 28; Luis Raposo, 41; Frank Salerno, 43; young father Paul Sinopoli, 30; recent recruit Michael Trotta, 31; and their leader, factory worker John Muscedere, 48, lay dead.

Their killers drove down the road and parked the cars carrying the victim's bodies in a farmer's field about 14 kilometres away from Kellestine's farm. They didn't drive very far because one of their makeshift hearses -- a vehicle that victim Flanz drove to the farm while being trailed by police -- ran out of gas and it was already past dawn by the time they went to cover their tracks.

The bodies were found by mid-morning and police began an intensive investigation that eventually saw six suspects convicted of 44 counts of first-degree murder.

The aftermath

With so much wasted life and wanton violence in the Bandido massacre story, it's a tale of an unfortunate brotherhood with violent members.

"I didn't set out to write a cautionary tale," said Edwards. "In the end, that's where I ended up."

The bottom line is that for the eight slain Bandidos, they joined a club they thought would bring them brotherhood.

Instead, the slain bikers' membership brought them less freedom, unnecessary stresses and tickets to an early grave.

The people who killed them wanted to gain control of a dysfunctional club, in what was described in court as an internal cleansing. But it's still hard to understand how eight people could be wiped out in a single night by people they thought were their friends.

"This one, here, you have to get to the core of madness to understand what happened," said Edwards, summing up a mass murder that served little benefit to the biker world.

For now, the six men convicted of killing eight of their so-called brothers wait to return to court. Each one -- Marcelo Aravena, Brett Gardiner, Frank Mather, Dwight Mushey, as well as Sandham and Kellestine -- has appealed their convictions on eight counts of first-degree murder.

A seventh member of the killing party became a Crown witness and now lives under a new name. He was identified only as M.H. at trial.

Kellestine based his appeal in part on the judge's decision to allow Crown prosecutors to show jurors a picture "the German swastika flag" hanging at his house.

Edwards said he considers Kellestine "a joke" whose image he did not want to build up when writing his book.

"I wanted people to laugh at Kellestine, not fear Kellestine," he said.